PS Waverley (The World's last ocean-going Paddle Steamer)

[Rob Lightbody]

Waverley has had a good year.

And I absolutely loved being back on board.

See you next year!

[Peter Mugridge]

The current issue of Steam Railway magazine, issue 547, has a very large multi page article about Waverley in it; starting on page 74.

Why might a railway magazine be interested in the Waverley, I hear you ask...?  Well... remember who Waverley was built for...? 

[Clydebuilt1971]

Hi Folks,

Waverley has had the best start to any season in memory!
The short Clyde season, Western Isles then followed by visits to Northern Ireland (Warrenpoint - which was a bunkering stop anyway but an evening cruise was arranged which sold out in minutes), the Bristol Channel and the Mersey pulled in revenue that in recent seasons anyway is unheard of!
The ship is now mid way through her normal Clyde "summer" (in quotes as its raining just now) season - the month of July is normally quite quiet so there have been some Itison deals available which have helped numbers.
Hopefully August will be a good month for her before she heads down south for her South Coast and Thames season.

Heading to Brodick, Isle of Arran from Greenock on her next Thursday. Love this sailing so cant wait!!

Gav

[Rob Lightbody]

I'd like to get on board this year, but really just a few hours would do me... I'll need to find a slot in my hectic schedule before she goes South!

[Isabelle Prondzynski]

A friend of mine has just come back from a Norway trip including Lake Mjøsa, where he sailed on board Skibladner, die oldest still working paddle steamer of the world (which presumably explains why Waverley adds the word "ocean-going", since Skibladner stays on the lake).

https://www.skibladner.no/home
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skibladner

A ship with a interesting history!

Apologies for the tangent -- we could create a separate topic for Skibladner. Beautiful looking ship!

Photo : Peter Besselmann

[Rod]

Did you notice that the gubmint has made it the equivalent of a heritage site?

[Rob Lightbody]

Hello from Waverley!

Dreich but brilliant so far. Cracking breakfast rolls!!

[Rod]

Beautiful, not the first picture, but the scenery in the second...if I was 30 years younger.

[Rob Lightbody]

Couple more

[Isabelle Prondzynski]

Beautiful, not the first picture, but the scenery in the second...if I was 30 years younger.

I really like the first picture... excellent photograph!

[Chris Thompson]

There's definitely something about that livery, Black Hull with Gold lines and White topping capped off with Red funnels, looks like every ship I used to see in childhood books by Ladybird etc

[Rob Lightbody]

I'll post some more pics soon however in brief....

Website & booking process - hugely improved

Food offering - simplified & improved.  Nice coffee.  Awesome breakfast roll.  It was even possible to assemble a rather convincing Cunard afternoon tea from the tearoom up top!

Crew - superb, in all respects.  They had a difficult gig on Saturday, but they handled it with aplomb.

Ship itself - looking mostly very good.

[Rod]

Rob, what sort of cargo would she carry in the forward hold/s. 

[Clydebuilt1971]

Had a great day on board Waverley for her last Clyde sailing of 2023 on Sun 15th October.
The ship had just returned from a very successful South Coast & Thames season and was heavily loaded both of her final days on the Clyde too. We heard that the ship was only seven short of her pax cert of 770  leaving Largs on Sunday!

It was a long while since I had been ashore at Tighnabruaich and it was nice once again to get shots of the ship alongside the pier in the afternoon sun.

On the return leg to Greenock it was announced that sailings for 2024 were already being planned and dates were given for some which tells me that for once at the end of a season the ship's operators have some money in the bank ready for 2024.

The new management team (put in place 2019 after the removal of the previous regime who were failing the ship monumentally) havent had an easy few years, boilers condemned in 2019, COVID in 2020 & 2021 so it was really heartening to see their efforts finally bearing fruit this season. Its amazing what can happen when you think outside the box and publicise properly!!

I sailed on the ship six times this season which is the most I have done in almost ten years and loved every minute of it.
On a sailing to Tarbert, Loch Fyne in August Shelagh was called in her medical capacity to assist the very able crew with a gentleman who had taken ill. He was offloaded into the care of the NHS on arrival at Tarbert. Shelagh never found out what happened next so was delighted when he sought her out on board during the last Sunday to give his thanks to her.

Waverley has got her "mojo" back - she is so close to the ship she was when we fell for her in 2004. I cannot wait to see what she achieves in 2024!

Here are some shots taken on the final day:

(1) Arriving at Greenock, Custom House Quay
(2) Jeanie Deans Lounge (fwd bar)
(3) Sailing through the Narrows - Kyles of Bute
(4) Exiting the Narrows - Kyles of Bute
(5) Alongside at Tighnabruaich
(6) Leaving for her afternoon cruise
(7) All aboard for the return leg!
(8 ) Looking fwd from the starboard sponson - main deck.

Gav

[Rob Lightbody]

Had a great day on board Waverley for her last Clyde sailing of 2023 on Sun 15th October.
The ship had just returned from a very successful South Coast & Thames season and was heavily loaded both of her final days on the Clyde too. We heard that the ship was only seven short of her pax cert of 770  leaving Largs on Sunday!

It was a long while since I had been ashore at Tighnabruaich and it was nice once again to get shots of the ship alongside the pier in the afternoon sun.

On the return leg to Greenock it was announced that sailings for 2024 were already being planned and dates were given for some which tells me that for once at the end of a season the ship's operators have some money in the bank ready for 2024.

The new management team (put in place 2019 after the removal of the previous regime who were failing the ship monumentally) havent had an easy few years, boilers condemned in 2019, COVID in 2020 & 2021 so it was really heartening to see their efforts finally bearing fruit this season. Its amazing what can happen when you think outside the box and publicise properly!!

I sailed on the ship six times this season which is the most I have done in almost ten years and loved every minute of it.
On a sailing to Tarbert, Loch Fyne in August Shelagh was called in her medical capacity to assist the very able crew with a gentleman who had taken ill. He was offloaded into the care of the NHS on arrival at Tarbert. Shelagh never found out what happened next so was delighted when he sought her out on board during the last Sunday to give his thanks to her.

Waverley has got her "mojo" back - she is so close to the ship she was when we fell for her in 2004. I cannot wait to see what she achieves in 2024!

Here are some shots taken on the final day:

(1) Arriving at Greenock, Custom House Quay
(2) Jeanie Deans Lounge (fwd bar)
(3) Sailing through the Narrows - Kyles of Bute
(4) Exiting the Narrows - Kyles of Bute
(5) Alongside at Tighnabruaich
(6) Leaving for her afternoon cruise
(7) All aboard for the return leg!
(8 ) Looking fwd from the starboard sponson - main deck.

Gav

Thanks for the write-up!

I very, very much enjoyed my trip on her this year too.

Maybe we should try to put together a QE2 Story gathering on board once again for next year?