Loch Ness in Winter

At Jacobite our tours and cruises run all year, and despite the cold, snow and ice in January 2012, visitors from around the world still come to see one of the world’s most fascinating and famous stretches of water, and we hope that they enjoy sharing it with us.

Loch Ness, January 2012

For the Jacobite staff, the quieter times of the year also occasionally let us get time to appreciate Loch Ness and to enjoy looking at it in the winter light, which can be spectacular. It’s amazing how we never get tired of looking at the loch and how different it can look depending on the seasons and the time of day.  Our crew member John is very good at capturing Loch Ness come rain or shine, and in all seasons.

Loch Ness - A Peek Through Our Office Window

Here are just a couple of John’s photos – you can catch more in the ” A Peek Through Our Office Window” collection on our Facebook page. We hope you enjoy looking at Loch Ness as much as we do!

Posted in Scotland, Staff | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

New Year Dip in Loch Ness

New Year Dip in Loch Ness

As we’ve said before in this blog, our visitors to Loch Ness are varied come in all shapes and sizes, and even though the majority are happy to see Loch Ness from a boat, some like to get a little bit closer – even in freezing weather!

Some Danish visitors to Scotland decided to treat themselves to a dip in the loch at the Clansman Harbour a couple of days ago and our team member Sue managed to capture the event on camera.

New Year Dip in Loch Ness

The hardy souls said they didn’t think the water was as cold as they had expected but one of them is in the Danish army so perhaps he is used to the freezing temperatures!

Whether you think them crazy or brave, a big warm hello our friends for embracing Loch Ness and the New Year in Scotland – we wish them a very Happy New Year!

Posted in News, Scotland, Weather | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

How do you measure a year in the life of Jacobite

The end of the year always calls for a bit of reflection on how things have gone – here at Jacobite we’ve had an extremely eventful year and lots of activity to keep us busy. So, how do you measure a year in the life of Jacobite Cruises? Well, let’s have a go:

• New boats: 1 – The Warrior – a special lady – she has even inspired the writing of poetry!

• Staff & Crew: Experienced, professional, good-looking (well, the first two are true!)

• Cups of tea and coffee: 1, 305 and that’s just the office staff – don’t ask!

• Biscuits to accompany tea and coffee: Of course and they have to be chocolate

• Staff on diets: See above

• Bacon rolls: Yes please but don’t tell the dieters

• Hangovers: Can’t remember…??

• Smiles and laughs – too numerous to mention but they certainly kept us all going

• Sunshine – We remember that day well

• Rain – We’ve left if off the Christmas list for next year

• Unusual visitors aboard for 2011: Garden Gnome from Julia (you had to be there)

• Sightings of Nessie: For us to know and you to find out – when you come aboard!

• Photo competitions – Yes, one every month and our customers exceeded our expectations and gave us not only great photos but wonderful feedback.

• Social Media: We’ve tweeted, we’ve chatted, we’ve Facebooked, we’ve Flickr’d, we’ve Linked in, we’ve YouTubed, we’ve Googled and blogged and we’ve loved every minute of Scotland Hour so far…and made lots of new friends in the process.

• Jacobite Jess sightings: World Earth Day at Urquhart Castle, Visit Scotland Expo 2011, Social Media Week Glasgow – our girl gets around.

• Celebrity visits: Golfers, singers, X-Factor winners, writers…ducks (!)

• New developments: Plenty and they’re keeping us all very busy!!

• Goodbyes to: Our boat, The Spirit – farewell dear friend – we’ll still see you on the loch!

• Customers and visitors to Jacobite: About 150,000 this year – we’ve kept the best till last.  That’s a lot of smiles and a lot of bottoms on seats – but really, they are our reason for doing what we do.

And do you know what? We love every minute.

So, here’s to coming back next year, bigger and better. We wish all of our customers, friends and colleagues a wonderful festive season and all the very best for 2012.

A Happy New Year, from all at Jacobite.

Posted in Staff | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Jacobite Experience Loch Ness in Pictures: 2011 Photo Competition

Here at Jacobite, although we only started our monthly photo competition in May of this year, our customers have really done us proud and we’ve had great fun receiving and judging the monthly entries.

We’ve built up a wonderful archive of our customers’ “Jacobite experience”, unique to each of them, and it has been such a pleasure to be able to share these photos from visitors who have come from all over the globe; whether our local friends, neighbours and business colleagues, those who live in the Highlands or our many and varied visitors from other parts of the UK and abroad; who choose to visit us in the Scottish Highlands.

Not only have our customers sent us wonderful photos of themselves on tour with us, but they have also let us into the secrets of what they liked best about their trips and of course, about their love and fascination for Loch Ness and Inverness.

What did our customers and visitors like about Loch Ness? They loved viewing the scenery from the water, the views of the loch they can have from our boats, visiting Urquhart Castle, interacting with the Jacobite team, and of course, looking out for Nessie…and more!

Jacobite Monthly Photo Comp 2011

There are few better ways to spark a memory or a good story than looking at a photograph, and we’re sure you’ll agree that our customers have really got into the spirit of things by entering our monthly competition. Jacobite Jess is of course delighted too!

The entries above are just a selection – you can also check out our photo gallery on Facebook or our little video too. A big “thank you” to all who have contributed so far and congratulations again to all our monthly winners.

We hope to see many more of your unique and very special “Jacobite Experience Loch Ness” moments in 2012!

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Party Time at Jacobite

Tomorrow night is party night for the Jacobite motley crew.  We are all heading to the Heathmount Hotel, for Chrismas dinner and then it’s party time :)    A good time should be had by all – photos’s MAY or MAY NOT be posted later.  Watch this space !!!

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Spirited Away

Jacobite Spirit

The ‘Spirit’ left the Jacobite fold last week to go off to pastures new. Many of us have spent a lot of time on this boat, so it was a little sad to see her go. Luckily, she is not going too far away though, and will still be working on Loch Ness.  It is all part of making way for the new Jacobite vessel, the ‘Warrior’, to be fully revealed next season.  So make sure you book your tickets early! www.jacobite.co.uk

Posted in Boats, Staff | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

All aboard for Scotland Hour

Here at Jacobite Cruises we’re looking forward to joining in with other lovers of all things Scottish and celebrating the best of what Scotland has to offer for visitors in the next #ScotlandHour on Twitter.

Scotland HourIf you haven’t come across Scotland Hour yet, it’s a one-hour Twitter-based chat, on the last Wednesday of each month between 9-10 pm GMT. It’s a great idea started by Douglas Baird of Baird’s Travel, and via several other chatty Scottish tourism tweeters it continues to grow into an entertaining group of fans who all share one thing in particular – we’re all passionate about Scotland and what it has to offer visitors and travellers.

This month, #ScotlandHour falls on St Andrews Day, Wednesday 30th November, giving us a great opportunity to promote Scotland to the world, and our Twitter friends @VisitStAndrews will be our co-hosts for the evening.

Whether it’s your favourite hill or glen, café or pub, mountain-bike trail or bus tour, monument or museum; monster and loch (well, we had to mention those two!) and more, why not come and join our conversation and share your tips and experiences of Scotland?

Check out the Baird’s Travel website for more information or you can even reply to a special Twitter invite.

Why not get on board for ScotlandHour and join the conversation? We look forward to tweeting with you!

Posted in Scotland, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment