8 June 2019
Booking was easy, Emma always answered our question quickly. The wonderful thing about a cruise is that you wake up someplace new each day. We stayed in lovely quite coves and bays after a day’s exploring on shore. The crew were full of information and Will knew the wild flora and fauna of each place we visited. I really appreciated his knowledge of the birds and plants. There is nothing that the crew could have done to have made our trip any more enjoyable. They even arranged for the weather to be good, other than one day of rain, and arranged that to be on a day that we were steaming. Do it! The ten day trip was wonderful but any trip would be an adventure worth taking.
Ron and Ann Ablowich
Chris went out of his way to avoid the threatened weather, with the happy result that the weather was much better than expected at this time of year. The team also arranged the itinerary to make sure that, where a guest had specific requests, these were accommodated (and without having a negative impact on the other guests). They tried very hard to show us as many species of wildlife as possible and to introduce us to areas and their history that we might not have been aware of. The guided walks were much more interesting than going on our own and the crew took great care in getting us all on and off shore, with radios for safety when we decided to split up. The presence of Hannah, in particular, made all the difference. Her knowledge of the local wildlife was exceptional and it was very interesting to hear about the islands and communities that we visited. She (and Chris) kept a look-out to make sure that anything of interest was highlighted to us on the voyage and her end of day wrap up reminded us of what we’d seen. Craig looked after us very well and seemed to be everywhere – he was certainly very hard working. I think that he cleaned the cabins as well – he definitely did a good job there. Along with Hannah, the meals that Izzy cooked were the best thing about the cruise for me. On a previous cruise (with another small company), the quality and service of the food (and the garrulous chef) spoiled the cruise for me. I was a little worried about this when I joined this cruise, but needn’t have been. Izzy was a great cook, providing a nice variety of well-cooked meals. Serving sizes were appropriate for the daily menus and we did not go hungry (or leave the table feeling too full). I looked forward to seeing what the next meal would be and also very much enjoyed her cakes. The whole team looked after us very well, but weren’t too obtrusive, allowing us to have quiet moments and to talk amongst ourselves.
Jo Boait: 21 September 2024The Small Isles and sea lochs: Wildlife havens