News and Updates

To meet demand, we are providing an extra sailing for foot passengers on the Nordic Sea for the Shapinsay Show on 5th August

Sailing times are as follows

AM Service

• Depart Kirkwall 10:35
• Arrive Shapinsay 10:55
• Depart Shapinsay 11:00
• Arrive Kirkwall 11:20

PM Service

• Depart Kirkwall 17:25
• Arrive Shapinsay 17:45
• Depart Shapinsay 18:00
• Arrive Kirkwall 18:20

Boarding will be from the North Isles link span in Kirkwall and the old pier in Shapinsay.

This service must be booked and paid in advance through our Kirkwall Office – it is not available online as we will need to inform customers where to board for this service.

We recommend everyone travelling to the Shapinsay Show on any service to have their return journey booked in advance. We are unable to guarantee return travel for anyone not booked.

We would like to confirm our sailing to North Ronaldsay tomorrow, Saturday the 2nd of August, will go ahead to the following schedule

Depart Kirkwall: 09:30

Arrive North Ronaldsay: 12:00

Depart North Ronaldsay: 13:00

Arrive Kirkwall: 15:30

We would like to remind our Shapinsay customers of changes to our timetable on Tuesday the 5th of August for the Shapinsay Show.

There have been changes and additions to the Shapinsay timetable to allow more sailings to and from Shapinsay.

Bookings must be made and paid for in advance for these sailings to ensure a confirmed spot onboard.

Please see our Sailings for Special Events | Orkney Ferries page for full information regarding timetable changes and additions.

This Sunday we will have the 4th of 6 Sunday Excursion days to our Outer North Isles.

This excursion takes passengers from Kirkwall, Eday and Stronsay to North Ronaldsay.

The timetable for this excursion is as follows:

- Depart Kirkwall: 08:40

- Arrive Eday: 09:55

- Depart Eday: 10:05

- Arrive Stronsay: 10:40

- Depart Stronsay: 10:50

- Arrive North Ronaldsay: 12:20

- Depart North Ronaldsay: 15:50

- Arrive Stronsay: 17:20

- Depart Stronsay: 17:40

- Arrive Eday: 18:15

- Depart Eday: 18:25

- Arrive Kirkwall: 19:40

Bookings must be made at least 1 hour before the morning departure from Kirkwall and 1 hour before the afternoon departure from North Ronaldsay

We would like to advise customers that the Nordic Sea will be providing an additional foot passenger service between Kirkwall and Stronsay, Sanday & Eday from the 2nd June to 28th September.

The timetable for this service can be found here - Orkney Ferries | Timetables and Fares

All passengers wishing to use this service must book and make payment in advance of travel.

In response to customer feedback, and to facilitate onward travel from Westray we have replaced the 07:30 departure with a 07:00 and a 08:00 departure on the above route.

The sailing times will be as follows:

• Depart Pierowall 0700
• Arrive Papa Westray 0725
• Depart Papa Westray 0730
• Arrive Pierowall 0755

• Depart Pierowall 0800
• Arrive Papa Westray 0820
• Depart Papa Westray 0825
• Arrive Pierowall 0850

For more information on our timetables, please see Orkney Ferries | Timetables and Fares

We are pleased to be able to offer three late sailings over the summer period for Rousay, Egilsay and Wyre

These are scheduled for Saturday 14th June, Saturday 12th July and Saturday 9th August.

Sailing times will be as follows:

- Depart Rousay 22:00
- Depart Tingwall 22:35
- Depart Rousay 23:10 – on request
- Depart Wyre 23:20 – on request
- Depart Egilsay 23:40 – on request
- Arrive Rousay 23:55

On request sailings must be booked and paid in advance either over the phone or online.

We would like to remind customers that it is advisable to book all journeys even if you are travelling as foot passengers without vehicles.

We have recently noticed a large influx of foot passengers on our services. Prebooking avoids disappointment and ensures customers are guaranteed their space onboard.

This is particularly important as we move into our busiest time of year.

- We would like to encourage our passengers to book travel as far in advance as possible -

You can make bookings online - Orkney Ferries, or you can phone any of our offices to make your bookings - Orkney Ferries | Contact Us.

We would like to remind customers as we move into our busiest time of year, there are limited car parking facilities at our Houton terminal.

To avoid disappointment, where possible we would like to encourage passengers wishing to travel from Houton as foot passengers to make use of the ample long stay car parking facilities in Kirkwall and to utilise bus services from Kirkwall & Stromness that go directly to the Houton terminal.

- Further information on car parking facilities can be found here - Parking and Car Parks (orkney.gov.uk).

- Further information on the bus timetables can be found here (Service 2 & Service 5) - Bus Services (orkney.gov.uk).

Orkney Ferries offer customers a way to receive disruption and cancellation messages to a smart phone or computer via Telegram.

Telegram is a free and simple messaging app with a focus on speed and security.

You can use Telegram on smartphones, tablets, and even computers. It’s very easy to use and only requires a name and mobile phone number to create an account.

To receive updates from please download the Telegram app from your app store, set up your account and then return to this page and select our unique link, which you can access by clicking here - Orkney Ferries Telegram Channel

Once on the channel you will be messaged with any updates on disruptions or cancellations in real time.