Britannia’s maiden visit to Kirkwall

Britain’s biggest cruise ship — P&O Cruises’ Britannia — is making her maiden call into Kirkwall today, as part of her first British Isles cruise.

According to the OIC, the visit comes in the middle of an extremely successful 2015 cruise season for Orkney.

2016 looks to bring more of the same, with the county expected to hit 100 cruise ship visits across the season.  This, said the council, should bring Orkney’s 750,000th cruise passenger and 1,500th cruise ship port call since 1992.

Michael Morrison, business development manager with the council’s Marine Services team said: “2015 has already proved itself to be a fantastic cruise season.  The weather may not have been so kind to us in the last couple of months, but that hasn’t dampened our spirits at all.

“The feedback from the cruise companies has been extremely positive with Carnival, the largest of all the cruise companies, describing us as the ‘UK success story for cruise’.  We’re delighted to be welcoming the brand new Brittania.”