A cruise ship operator has responded to public outrage over the visit of a 'monster' cruise ship to St Kilda.
Earlier this week, the Spirit of Adventure, a 58,000-ton cruise ship operated by Saga Cruises, visited the remote archipelago while on a 14-day 'West Coast Explorer: from Orkney to Ireland' cruise that departed Dover on May 9.
The itinerary listed on the Saga Cruises made no mention of a stop over at St Kilda, which is situated around 40 miles west-northwest of North Uist in the North Atlantic Ocean.
The UK’s only dual UNESCO World Heritage Site, and one of only 39 in the world, St Kilda is home to nearly 1 million seabirds, including the UK’s largest colony of Atlantic puffins.
READ MORE: Images of cruise ship visiting St Kilda spark outrage online
Photos showing the cruise ship docked off the main island of Hirta sparked outrage on X, formerly known as Twitter, with some calling the visit "irresponsible" and others expressing concern over the potential environmental impact of the visit.
In response to the outcry, The National Trust for Scotland (NTS), which owns St Kilda, said it would raise concerns about the unscheduled visit with the cruise ship company.
NTS wrote: "We work with the cruise ship industry to encourage responsible tourism and we limit the number of vessels calling into St Kilda.
So how is this helping the climate issues in St Kilda https://t.co/b8cS0dA6SM pic.twitter.com/FWPcH79h83
— Fiona Drane (@FionaDrane) May 14, 2024
We also limit the number of passengers who come ashore. The companies we work with agree to our biosecurity procedures and wildlife-watching codes. However, on this occasion, we believe this vessel was sailing past the island en route to another destination."
Saga Cruises said that the visit was "a scenic sail past" and that the ship's captain took the necessary steps "to avoid disruption" to wildlife on St Kilda.
A Saga spokesperson told The Herald: “Earlier this week, the Spirit of Adventure passed through the Bay of St Kilda on its planned sailing around the Hebrides.
"Prior to approaching the area, the ship made the relevant local authorities aware of the scenic sail past.
"Given that this is a sensitive area for wildlife, and having worked previously in the region along with the National Trust for Scotland, the captain took all the appropriate procedures to avoid disruption and any adverse impact.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel