To Shetland By Cruise Ship
Shetland is a popular cruise ship destination, with visits throughout the islands all year. Popular ports of visit include Lerwick, Fair Isle and Scalloway.
One of the busiest hubs, Lerwick Harbour welcomes up to 25,000 cruise passengers to Shetland a year. It has long been a port-of-call for cruise ships which have arrived in record numbers over the last decade. With nearly 50 ships in a single season, Lerwick is one of Scotland's top cruise ship destinations.
It is ideally located as a midway port on cruises between Iceland, the Faroe Islands and Norway and the Scottish mainland and Europe.
Cruise ships up to 205 metres in length can berth alongside at the Port. Larger ships anchor in Bressay Sound, with passengers just five minutes by launch from a floating pontoon in a sheltered dock close to the town centre. The small 1.7 metre tidal range facilitates transfer.
In 2006 the Lerwick Port Authority installed a much larger pontoon system for tenders from the largest cruise ships that are at anchor in the sheltered harbour. This improved the speed of transfer and provides a safe dedicated area for assembly of cruise passengers. On days not used by cruise ships tenders, the new pontoon is available to expand berthing for yachts that already enjoy modern pontoon berthing equipped with integral water and electricity points across the street from the town centre.
Useful Information:
Lerwick Port Authority provides a list of all the scheduled cruise ships visits for the year here: LPA Cruise Ship List (PDF document)
On This Site
- Find out what to see and do when in Shetland
- Take a look at how to get around Shetland
