This is a guest trip report written by Carol, who sailed on the most recent 10 night cruise to the Norwegian Fjords and Iceland on the Disney Magic on August 16, 2018. You can start the trip report from the beginning by clicking here.
Day 9: Invergorden, Scotland
Our next day brought us to our last port – Invergordon, Scotland! We were really looking forward to this port as we all were excited to see Loch Ness, among other things. We were arriving into Invergordon at 11:00 am, so we had plenty of time to sleep in and have a leisurely breakfast at Cabanas. We had arranged for a private tour in Invergordon with Ness Tours so we could see the many things we wanted to see in the time that we had. Robert from Ness Tours had agreed to take us to Fort George, and then the beach, and then to Loch Ness and Urquhart Castle, including a cruise on Loch Ness. The tour included drinks and snacks as well, we would just have to pay for attraction entry fees. Robert agreed to meet us at the pier when the ship docked. We got off the ship and met Robert across the street from the pier, and off we went! The first place he took us was to Chanonry Point, just outside of the town of Fortrose, which is a place known for dolphin watching. It was a beautiful outlook and we were lucky enough to catch sight of several dolphins while we were there!
Then we went to Fort George, which is still an army base for the British Army. It was built in the wake of the Battle of Culloden (1746) as a secure base for King II’s army. If you want to learn more about the history of the fort, you can read about it here. The Fort is large, beautiful, with an amazing view and impossible to see all in one day. However, what we did get to see was amazing, educational and a great time! It was an unbelievable site to visit and one I would highly recommend if you are ever in Inverness!
We then went into downtown Inverness. We did a little shopping at Primark, for which my daughter was ecstatic to find a Primark because she has been dying to shop at a Primark for ever! We also saw a place called McGonagall’s, which my Harry Potter loving kids just thought was awesome! We then went to Inverness Cathedral, which was just beautiful.
We then went on our cruise on Loch Ness. The Loch was beautiful and the scenery was amazing! We took the cruise one way to Urquhart Castle, and then disembarked and enjoyed our time at Urquhart Castle. Once one of Scotland’s largest castles, Urquhart saw great conflict during its 500 years as a medieval fortress. To learn more about the history of Urquhart, you can read about it here. The castle is now in ruins, but it was amazing to visit and imagine what it would have looked like when it was built. The views of Loch Ness were just amazing, both from the cruise and from Urquhart Castle. Robert, our guide, dropped us off at the beginning of the cruise and said he would pick us up after our tour of Urquhart Castle. We were very excited about this because this was the main thing we had wanted to do during this port, and the views did not disappoint!
View of Urquhart Castle from Loch Ness:
After our visit to Loch Ness and Urquhart Castle it was time to head back to the ship. On the way, Robert stopped for us at a stream where salmon will swim up-stream and jump out of the water. We did get to see the salmon jump out of the water but they were too fast to catch a picture! We then headed back to our ship and said good-bye to Robert who was a great tour guide for the day. He was fantastic with the kids and provided us with great drinks and snacks all day long. We boarded our ship and were treated to an amazing farewell by a group of bag pipers!
Our dinner that night was in Lumiere’s and was delicious as always! We were back on the ship late that night, so didn’t attend our show, which was a tribute to the Beatles so we didn’t mind missing it (I minded but no one else did) and anyway my husband and I saw the adult only version later in Fathoms. All in all it was a fabulous day. We saw many amazing sites and even got to see dolphins and salmon! We were looking forward to our last sea day the next day, even though it meant our cruise was almost over. We had been having such an amazing trip so far it was hard to be sad!!
.
Up Next: Day 10 – At Sea
Click here to visit Carol’s blog about her family’s travels all over the world.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.