15/07/2026
๐ข๐ The ship a Queen named โ BRITANNIA spent her one and only day of 2026 with us today. What a day she picked for it the weather is phenomenal!
๐ฌ๐ง For those here in or around Invergordon you have likely seen that gentle giant towering over the town since a bright and early 7 o'clock this morning. Many will know her just by the livery she carries but for those who do not, she is the Britannia โ P&O Cruises' flagship, all 330 metres of her, and the biggest ship P&O had ever built at the time she launched. In from Kirkwall today and now basking under this glorious Highland sunshine. Although she is not staying for as long as many, she is casting off for Southampton at 4pm โ so catch the seafront here in Invergordon soon if you want to wave her off, because she won't be back again this season. ๐๐ผ
To the thousands aboard who came ashore today โ we hope you've had the very best day exploring Invergordon and the Highlands in this weather. You brought the sunshine with you and we hope it continues along with you making your onward journey just as pleasurable and memorable! โ๏ธ
๐ Here is something cool too. Its not only people that this mighty Cruise Ship carries with her either, she also carries quite the story with her too:
๐ She was named by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II herself โ Southampton, March 2015, one of the last ships the late Queen ever named. Here's the bit we love: 62 years earlier, in 1953, the very same Queen launched another Britannia โ the Royal Yacht โ here in Scotland, at Clydebank on the Clyde. That first Britannia now rests just down the coast at Leith in Edinburgh. Two Britannias. One Queen. Both with a Scottish chapter ๐ฅ
๐พ No champagne allowed! At her naming, the Queen smashed a giant Nebuchadnezzar โ that's 20 bottles' worth โ of English sparkling wine from Sussex's Wiston Estate against her hull, breaking centuries of champagne tradition. (The Royal Yacht got a bottle of Empire wine in 1953 โ the royals do like to keep it home-grown.) ๐
๐ฌ๐ง Now take a look at her bow too โ that's the world's largest version of the Union Flag, 94 metres of it, painted with 280 litres of red paint alone. You can spot it from the shore and its incredible WOW ๐คฉ
๐ She's a survivor, too. In August 2023 a freak storm in Palma, Mallorca snapped her mooring lines and set her drifting โ witnesses said she floated off "like a paper boat" โ into a tanker. Minor scrapes, nobody hurt, and she sailed on. Making her not just elegant but tough as her name would suggest too! ๐ช๐ผ
๐ฒ And today's fact of the day: When she is at full capacity Britannia carries 3,800 passengers. What we find even more relevant and cool here in town is that number is the same as the entire population of Invergordon at the last census? 3,799. Her passenger list outnumbers our whole town โ by exactly one person. Add the crew into that which increases it by another 1,350 crew and our wee town has more than doubled by a huge amount today! ๐คฏ
โ In port today: 7:00am โ 4:00pm
๐ From Kirkwall โ next stop Southampton (home)
Safe travels south, Britannia โ thank you for choosing Invergordon for your one Highland day of 2026. To wrap this post up we would like to say to everyone aboard: "haste ye back!" ๐ด๓ ง๓ ข๓ ณ๓ ฃ๓ ด๓ ฟ๐
