Queen Mary 2 turns heads on Black Isle en route to deepwater port in Invergordon
READER Fran Tilbrook shared this eye-catching image of a now familiar sight in the Cromarty Firth - a massive cruise liner bearing thousands of passengers and crew to the Highlands.
Cunard’s Queen Mary 2 arrived in Invergordon today, the latest in a long line of visiting cruise liners this season.
She has capacity for around 3000 passengers and 1250 crew.
Many will have pre-booked tours across the Highlands with a fleet of buses and taxis awaiting their arrival.
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Many visitors arriving in Invergordon to the Highland capital while others take tailored tours to points of interest before re-embarking for a late afternoon departure.
The flagship Queen Mary 2 is 1132ft in length.
Further arrivals are expected on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday, bringing thousands more visitors to the deepwater port.
They include Princess Cruises’ Caribbean Princess on Saturday (carrying up to 3300 crew) and Regal Princess on Sunday (up to 3800 passengers).
It’s expected that a total of 118 cruise ships will call at Invergordon in the 2024 season, down from the 129 which visited in 2023.
However the Highland tourist economy is not expected to feel any ill effects as the vessels are expected to have a higher average number of passengers aboard.
This means that the 221,000 passengers who were reported to have visited in 2023 are predicted to be surpassed this year despite fewer ships – with Port of Cromarty Firth earlier predicting a total of roughly 230,000 tourists this time round.
The season, which started at the beginning of April, is scheduled to run until October 10.
