Kirkwall Orkney Hatston, United Kingdom
Today I was leaving Orkney and taking the sleeper ferry from Kirkwall to Aberdeen. The ferry departure time was 11.45pm and boarding time at 11.15pm. The tourist office said the terminal would open from 7pm. That essentially left he whole day to kill with nowhere to hang out and spend time. There had been heavy rain for the entire day in Kirkwall which was expected to slowly clear after 7pm.
There are no indoor places to hang out on the heavy rain day except for restaurants or souvenir shops. I'd managed to make it to 5pm hiding out from the rain and was slowly heading to the terminal now
There was a giant tesco store where I went up and down every aisle twice to spend time. Next door was a Lidl where I again walked up and down every aisle twice and found some more food items to buy. I couldnt buy any more as my luggage was already full of UK supermarket goods to bring back
Next there was a Co-Op supermarket where I again tried to spend time. The rain was finally clearing out as I slowly walked towards the ferry terminal
There is a ferry terminal in the town centre to go to some of the islands but the ferry terminal to Aberdeen is further out from the town centre. It is walkable if you do not have heavy luggage but there did not seem to be buses
It looked easy on a map but it was maybe 3km walk and lucky there were no heavy rains walking in open areas with no shelter
When I reached the passenger terminal the security booth saw me coming, nobody else was here. I told him I was here for the 11pm ferry so he had to call to see if the terminal was open yet. They had told me 7pm and he confirmed it was open now.
Finally somewhere to sit down and use the toilets now the rains had finally cleared to beautiful skies. There was a German cruise ship playing music, loading its last passengers, and finally leaving helping the four hour wait go by
I had the whole waiting area to myself except for one couple with their child who were already here. More passengers started to arrive after 10pm and watching the same taxis returning bringing more passengers. It was still daylight past 11pm.
After the cruise ship had left we then later saw our ship slowly arrive from the same route. It was impressive with its giant Viking logo and I was looking forward to my overnight sleeper cabin
The cabin was giving me issues when I was trying to book two months before. No cabins were available despite being listed on the website until later in August. I tried to message the website three times but nobody responded. The only cabins available were two handicapped cabins for most of July
I did not want to book a handicapped cabin in case somebody actually needed it but after three attempts messaging and getting no response I reluctantly booked. It was not cheap. Ferry ticket was 37 pounds + Cabin 131 pounds + breakfast 10.99 pounds = 178.99 pounds
All cabins come with ensuite bathroom/shower. The other options was to book a "sleeping pod" which is just a reclining chair like on an airplane. I would have got no sleep, comfort, or privacy and a chair lounge would have nowhere to keep my luggage
I just went straight to bed until the morning buffet breakfast opened. We arrived on time at 7am and you could stay until 8am but I already had a train ticket booked and not much time to explore Aberdeen
See also Vlog of Orkney visit and sleeper ferry (14 mins) - https://youtu.be/S9L5Vg2QkXM
.
2025-05-23