New £2m vessel for 'bucket-list' Loch Ness cruise after tours run out of capacity
The cruise has previously welcomed celebrities including Billy Connolly, Robin Williams and Ewan McGregor.
More visitors can enjoy trips across Scotland’s famous Loch Ness following a £2m investment in a bigger boat.
Fort Augustus-based company Cruise Loch Ness Ltd launched the 236-seat ‘Voyager of Loch Ness’ for visitors for the first time last week, increasing capacity for tours to over 450 passengers per hour.
Sourced from Plymouth, the boat sailed 650 miles to Buckie in Moray to be refurbished before being delivered to Fort Augustus. The six-month £800, 000 re-fit of the boat includes new bar, tables, leather seating and passenger comforts including state-of-the-art heating and air conditioning systems. It also includes sixteen 20-inch sonar fish finding monitors so passengers can view in real-time the underwater life of the loch, including any ‘mystical’ creatures, should they appear.
The investment comes amid a burgeoning demand for trips on Scotland’s most well-known loch and a general confidence in the Highland cruise market, the company said. Putting the new boat on the water has also created four new jobs.
The family-run firm, established in 1968 by the late Norman Hugh Mackenzie, started out with a single, 12-seat former lifeboat.
Owners said the new ‘Voyager’ will safeguard the future for the company and its 20 employees and cater for the increase in demand.
The new vessel has joined the ‘Spirit of Loch Ness’ and high-speed RIB, ‘Ness Quest’ in the company’s flotilla at its base on the Caledonian Canal.
Owners said last winter was the company’s busiest ever and the investment comes as the firm was awarded 5-star visitor attraction status by the Association of Scottish Visitor Attractions (ASVA).
Managing director Ron Mackenzie, who took over from his late father, Norman, said: “It’s great to see the boat running after six months of overseeing and project managing.
“Tourism is booming in the Highlands at the moment and we were basically running out of capacity.”
He added: “When you are out on the loch, there can be something different every time.
“You will often see red deer. There is a seal in the loch at the moment. It’s a bit of a bucket list for people.”
While the company runs a smaller vessel in tandem with a bigger boat, when the latter was in for a winter service or inspection work, capacity issues arose given demand was still high during winter.
Director and co-owner Debi Mackenzie said: “Having Voyager safeguards the company’s future. We didn’t want to get to a position where we were having to turn away long-standing tour partners. This gives us the capacity we need, longer-term.”
The new larger boat ‘Voyager’ has double the capacity of its predecessor and will take passengers up and down Loch Ness, passing the loch’s only island, Cherry Island, and Fort Augustus Abbey, on the way.
The company has catered for nearly 2 million passengers since it was first founded, including celebrities such as actors Billy Connolly, Robin Williams and Ewan McGregor.
Despite a fall-off in the Chinese markets after Covid, the offering remains popular with visitors from America, Europe and India as well as domestic travellers.
“I think the reason the interest remains so strong is that it is such a beautiful area. People love the scenery. Obviously, the mystery about the Loch Ness monster continues to be a draw as well but there is so much to see, here,” added Ms Mackenzie.
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