No room at the cabin on overnight ferry to Scottish island - so I took the cargo ship instead

This is the reality when trying to get a cabin fairly last minute on a ferry to Shetland in the summer months.

“Yes,” I replied, after taking a moment to be sure that’s what I was doing, given how unusual it sounded.

Other passengers in the waiting room turned around and stared at me.

I tried to book a cabin on the standard passenger ferry to Shetland a few weeks in advance after being warned spaces fill up fast.

There is widespread concern on the island about capacity issues, particularly in peak tourist season. The northern archipelago, which has a population of about 20,000, welcomed some 90,000 visitors last year alone, and that’s excluding the cruise ship passengers. The lack of adequate cabin space has resulted in overcrowding on sailings, with some islanders unable to secure bookings for essential travel, including for work or medical appointments.

When I initially booked online, I saw there was only one sailing within a three week period that had a “pod” available. Excited by the sound of it, I went ahead and booked for one at a cost of £61 - £43 for the ticket, plus £18 for the “pod.” Note: ticket prices vary depending on time of year.

Much to my disappointment, a week or so before the sailing, a friend told me that a pod was a reclining seat.

The word made me think of a “camping pod”, wooden cabin-like structures becoming increasingly popular as tourist accommodation around Scotland’s countryside, so I assumed it was another name for a cabin. Note to self, for the millionth time: never assume.

My friend, a seafarer, told me freight ships that travel between the mainland and the islands sometimes have cabin space for passengers.

I had never been to Shetland and hoped to enjoy the cabin experience, so I tried to change my ticket.

This involved a quick call to NorthLink to see if they could swap my booking. The customer phone line was excellent - quite different to my experience trying to contact CalMac. NorthLink confirmed there was a spare cabin on a freight ship running on the same day of my initial booking. A payment over the phone to make up the difference in cost saw me booked on with the cargo.

The price was the same as reserving a cabin on the standard passenger ferry: £111 for a two-berth cabin in peak season, plus the ticket price of £43.

“It might be a bit more choppy on the freight ship,” the man on the other end of the phone chuckled.

“The crew will look after you though.”

At the terminal, the man in the high-vis escorted me away from the other NorthLink passengers in a pick-up truck at about 3pm to MS Hildasay, berthed in Aberdeen harbour.

I was ushered up to the passenger deck where a smiling member of the crew dressed in white overalls thrust a food menu into my hand before I could even say hello. “Choose a starter, main and pudding,” he said. “Dinner is at 5pm.” Unlike the standard passenger ferry, meals are included in the ticket price, which includes a cooked breakfast the next morning and free coffee and tea onboard.

There’s a choice of three different options for each course, similar to what I imagine the passenger ferry offers in its canteens. I ordered the soup, haddock and chips and the cheesecake to finish.

I touched down in my cabin which had a bunkbed, a desk, a large cupboard and an en-suite with a toilet, shower and sink. It was cosy and had a great view out the window with a rubber ring with ‘Hildasay’ stamped on it in shot.

I headed out shortly after to see if any other non-crew passengers were onboard. There were four of us: a couple from Poland and an ex-bobby from Scotland.

Gazing from the balcony to the lower deck, I saw all sorts, from tractors to lorries, miscellaneous machinery to large containers being loaded on to the ship. Asking one of the crew members what was it that we were taking over, he replied: “Just everything you can think of.”

There was a mild farmyard smell about the boat, which was likely animal feed being taken over. There were no live animals onboard that day.

The captain kindly invited me up onto the top deck to get better views over Aberdeen before we set sail. Granite city looked even more muted in the hazy summer day that it was. As we pulled away, the towering cathedral steeples shrunk to mere specks. It wasn’t long before it was just us and the North Sea.

I was told to keep a look out for dolphins when departing Aberdeen which are apparently a common sight, but no luck this time. Unpredictability is one of nature’s strongest traits after all.

The 216-mile trip, the longest internal ferry ride in the UK, was smooth thanks to a warm, still August day. Northlink Ferries website says the freight crossing between Aberdeen and Lerwick takes 15 hours. It was about 17 hours on my journey, with a stop over in Orkney at about 2am. Sometimes the freight ships stop over on the more southern of the northern isles to pick up and drop off more goods. I stayed up to watch the Hildasay pull into Kirkwall, observing the crew busy at work through sleepy eyes with a cup of tea from where my cabin was on the middle deck.

Lightning flashed across the night sky as we pressed on towards Lerwick, where we arrived the following morning at 10am.

Around 900,000 tonnes of cargo – from essential supplies for islanders to materials and products for and from local industries - pass over Lerwick’s quays annually.

Shetland is currently looking into two new freight flex vessels to serve the Aberdeen to Kirkwall/Lerwick route at an estimated cost of £200m because of capacity issues.

It is not widely advertised that the freight journey is an alternative option, probably because there are only a handful of cabins available as it is. But if you are travelling to Orkney or Shetland and can’t get a cabin space, put in a call for the freight boat. It’s certainly something a little different.