December 2023 NorthLink news round-up

Monday 1st January 2024

As we enter the final month of 2023, all of us here at NorthLink Ferries hope that our passengers and customers have a wonderful festive season and a very happy new year. We have had another busy month here at NorthLink Ferries introducing our new availability calendar, celebrated two incredible milestones for the company and released the rest of our 2024 bookings.

Monday 4th December:

Once a month, for the next few months we will select, at random, one of the well-behaved dogs that travels in the MV Hamnavoe dog lounge. The good dog will receive a special NorthLink Ferries dog bandana, and will star here on our social media!

The dog lounge is available to book for free on all crossings between Scrabster and Stromness. Well done to Daisy the Dalmatian from Dounby – this gorgeous girl is this month’s Good Dog!

Tuesday 5th December:

NorthLink Ferries were pleased to introduce a new cabin availability calendar online this month. This new tool allows passengers to quickly check available cabin and car deck spaces over the months ahead.

Developed by Softronic with the assistance of software engineer James Stewart, we hope that the availability calendar, which covers sailings between Aberdeen, Kirkwall and Lerwick, will assist our customers with their journey planning.

Friday 8th December:

We were delighted to welcome Port Chaplain Steve Murray and volunteer Josephine Soon from Aberdeen Seafarers Centre to the Aberdeen Ferry Terminal for their annual Christmas drop off.

Over the years, Aberdeen Seafarers Centre has given thousands of festive gifts to seafarers annually. You can find more information about what they do on the website https://seafarercentre.org/christmas2023

Pictured L-R: Seumas Campbell (Hotel Director NorthLink Ferries) Steve Murray (Port Chaplain Aberdeen Seafarers Centre), Captain Sean Smith from MV Hjaltland, Josephine Soon (volunteer Aberdeen Seafarers Centre) and Fiona Anderson (Customer Service Manager NorthLink Ferries)

Friday 8th December and Friday 22nd December:

At the beginning of December, for the first time ever, over 200,000 passengers have sailed on MV Hamnavoe across the Pentland Firth in one year! As we set sail on Friday evening, our 200,000th passenger, Margaret Ross, was presented with a bottle of champagne and some complimentary trips on MV Hamnavoe (see header image).

Also for the first time ever, in 2023, over 400,000 passengers have sailed with NorthLink Ferries across all routes in one year! As we set sail on Friday evening, our 400,000th passenger, Bethany Harrison (pictured above with NorthLink Ferries staff), was also presented with a bottle of champagne and complimentary travel vouchers.

Wednesday 20th December:

This month, we have updated the background artwork in the children’s play area on board the MV Hamnavoe. The new imagery features our newest Vikling characters pictured at the iconic Ring of Brodgar in Orkney.

The artwork onboard the MV Hjaltland and MV Hrossey is due to be installed in January – and we look forward to sharing images then.

Thursday 21st December:

We are pleased to let you know that you can now make bookings with NorthLink Ferries from 1st April to 31st December 2024.

Bookings can be made by visiting https://www.northlinkferries.co.uk/ or by calling 0800 111 4422 (free from UK landlines and mobiles) or 01856 885500 (International callers).

We would like to thank all of our customers for their continued support and for their patience. We wish you all an enjoyable sailing with NorthLink Ferries in 2024.