It’s a hotel that will surely float your boat.
First of all, it’s a boat. Then there’s the fact that it was named the UK’s best luxury hotel in the Tripadvisor Travellers’ Choice Awards 2024.
Forget any thoughts about sailing the Seven Seas, however, because this 62-year-old ship isn’t going anywhere: it’s permanently docked on Leith Harbour’s vibrant waterfront, close to the equally static Royal Yacht Britannia. The trust that owns Queen Elizabeth’s retired ship bought MV Fingal in 2014, converting it over several years into a five-star hotel.
In her previous life, Fingal was a ship built by Clyde that, for 30 years, roamed the Northern and Irish Seas during North Lighthouse Board (NLB), transporting lighthouse keepers and supplies to the dangerous rock outcrops of Scotland.
At Fingal, the hotel has just 22 rooms, one of which is the Skerryvore Suite, a luxurious space repurposed and greatly expanded from a sparse cottage in which Princess Anne, patron of NLB since 1993, slept. Her Royal Highness spent nights aboard the work-a-day during resupply missions, and also slept in the Skerryvore suite following Fingal’s £5 million conversion.
Carlton Reid checked into a luxurious duplex suite at Fingal, a Clyde-built tender named UK’s best luxury hotel at the Tripadvisor Travellers’ Choice Awards 2024.
The ship, shown here, spent 30 years sailing “the Northern and Irish Seas for the Northern Lighthouse Board,” Carlton notes.
The ship’s decommissioned engine is shown behind glass on either side of a panoramic walkway (above)
The suite has outdoor seating on a private terrace, but due to Leith’s aggressive seagulls, if you are ordering a meal from room service it is recommended to eat it at the eight-person dining table inside rather than risk going outdoors.
The rooms are named after 22 of the 200 lighthouses the Fingal once visited.
We stayed in Ornsay, a luxury duplex suite.
It has an upper living area connected to the bedroom below with a spiral staircase. The curved exterior wall of our bedroom reminded us that this space was once the hull of the ship.
Beyond is a luxurious bathroom with a freestanding bathtub and a gigantic shower cubicle.
Noble Isle toiletries are complemented by Scottish seaweed cosmetics brand Ishga. As well as the stinkers, there was an Ishga sea salt scrub and the company’s £39 bag of natural Hebridean seaweed. After exfoliating with the scrub, we place the algae under running water for an aromatic bath. (That scent, of course, is that of the salty beach.)
“The rooms are named after 22 of the 200 lighthouses the Fingal once visited,” says Carlton. Above is the Kinnaird duplex.
Carlton stayed in the ‘Ornsay’ suite (above) and says: ‘The curved outer wall of our bedroom reminded us that this space was once the hull of the ship.’
Above: Carlton bathroom toiletries
Fingal’s bathroom faucets are made of knurled brass, and the ship sports many other nautical and lighthouse-themed fixtures and fittings.
There are anchor-shaped coat racks, leather-covered chairs inspired by the ship’s original sailor’s chair, and a circular elevator next to reception that resembles the lens of a lighthouse lamp.
For originalists, there are log books from the MV Fingal displayed on the ship’s bridge and, below, the ship’s decommissioned engine is displayed behind glass on either side of a panoramic walkway.
The blankets and bed cushions are made from a Fingal-specific yellow-trimmed tartan by Scottish designer Araminta Campbell. At the head of each bed is an embroidered suede contoured map of the lighthouse site that gives each room its name.
Fingal’s Art Deco Lighthouse restaurant (pictured) offers ‘exceptional food’
The log books of the MV Fingal are displayed on the ship’s old bridge.
The ballroom (above) in Fingal, opened in 2019, features a gallery for musicians.
Fingal’s Art Deco Lighthouse Restaurant offers excellent food, including Wester Ross salmon smoked in the smokehouse on board the ship.
As an aperitif, it would be rude not to try a G&T made with Fingal Gin, which contains orange blossom, grapefruit and a dash of Fingal’s own tea.
Fingal opened in 2019 with 23 rooms. One of them was later converted into a large supply closet.
I mention this mundane detail because space is at a premium on board and, as the hotel usually books up months in advance, an extra room would be a good source of income, but Fingal’s management thinks it’s better to have one less. room and more space to meet the needs of the most demanding guests of the boutique hotel.
This emphasis on customer service explains how Fingal not only won this year’s Tripadvisor award, but also last year’s AA Scottish Hotel of the Year award.
Stay here and you’ll soon understand why Leith’s boatel continues to win these awards.
