One of the world's largest cruise liners will dock in the Outer Hebrides this week on its maiden call, during which it will also visit a number of other Scottish areas.

The Queen Elizabeth cruise ship will visit the Isle of Lewis for the first time and dominate the horizon along the harbour of Stornoway.

It set sail from Southampton on Thursday on a 12-day voyage which also calls at Edinburgh, Inverness and Orkney before arriving at Lewis and returning via Glasgow.

At 211.1ft tall the QE, operated by Cunard, is the second largest vessel the cruise liner has ever built and also sits as 965ft long.

This makes the vessel one of the largest to ever dock in the port at Stornoway, a town with a population of around 8000 - around half of which speak Gaelic and a quarter of the overall population would be able to fill each of the 2092 spaces for passengers on the Queen Elizabeth.

The port normally only receives around 15,000 cruise passengers a year and was last week visited by the Azura, also run by Cunard.

Alex MacLeod, chief executive of Stornoway Port Authority, said: "We are thrilled to be hosting the Cunard cruise ship Queen Elizabeth on Wednesday and have been looking forward to the visit since it was announced last year.

"A big team effort lies behind our cruise ship season and we are delighted that some larger cruise ships are now calling into our port to make 2016 our busiest season ever."

"We were delighted when the P&O cruise ship Azura, the largest cruise ship to ever visit Stornoway, brought 3000 passengers to the island, giving a buzz to the town and a valuable contribution to the island economy.

"Positive feedback from the vessel confirmed that the passengers had a wonderful time and that nothing can beat the kind and warm hospitality that the tourists received from the island community."

The ship visits a number of Scottish locations on its way to the maiden call before also heading to Belfast, Liverpool and Guernsey.

While picturesque and easy for ships to call in, the average temperature for this month only sits between six and 12C according to the Met Office, with an average rainfall of 63.8mm. Not ideal for one's immediate thoughts of a cruise holiday.

For passengers not disembarking the ship at any call there are plenty of other attractions over the 12 decks of the QE. There are 11 different places to eat or drink including: five restaurants, three bars, two cafes and a Garden Lounge.

And in many of those you'll find a dedicated 24-hour sports channel exclusive to passengers as well as many exotic and expensive wines - the priciest of which is a £2200 bottle of Château Pétrus, Pomerol (3) from 1996.

Any excessive eating can be run off on the sports deck or tennis court, the numerous dance classes in the on board ballroom or cooled off on the games deck. Alternatively there is a library filled with 6000 different titles or the art gallery with paintings in the region of £70,000 by the likes of Sherree Valentine Daines and Jack Vettriano.

The ship has a webcam on board, however, it only works when there is sufficient "satellite strength".