Ferry operators in the Northern Isles have moved to reassure customers after four passengers were injured in rough seas.
One elderly women received a knock to her head after being thrown from her chair during the 29-hour Northlink crossing from Aberdeen to Kirkwall and Lerwick at the weekend.
The ferry operators say customer safety remains their top priority when sailing in stormy conditions.
They added that the weather at the weekend was far worse than forecasters had predicted.
A company spokesman said that forecasters had indicated "acceptable conditions for a routine autumnal crossing" when the Hjaltland, packed with 429 passenger returning from their autumn breaks, left Aberdeen at 5pm on Saturday.
However, on route to Kirkwall, in Orkney, the vessel encountered "not as forecast" heavy seas and gale force winds gusting to force 10, resulting in an elderly passenger being thrown from her chair.
Her injuries were attended to by a GP travelling on the vessel. Three other passengers also suffered minor injuries.
The vessel was three hours late arriving in Kirkwall, where the weather worsened.
The Hjaltland finally set off for Lerwick at midday on Sunday, 12 hours after schedule, and arrived at 9pm.
Passenger Gavin Morgan, who boarded the vessel in Kirkwall said friends had told him they “couldn’t believe” the ferry had left Aberdeen because the weather was so bad.
He said the trip to Lerwick, coupled with the outgoing trip the Wednesday prior were two of the worst he had experienced.
Northlink chief executive Bill Davidson said: "We take weather forecasts from three providers and there's no doubt that over the weekend, particularly as it affected Hjaltland, the wind and sea conditions experienced were significantly worse that those forecast.
"This is something that we will be raising as part of regular dialogue with our weather forecasters."
“Sometimes you do hit unexpected and much worse than forecast bad weather. That's what happened with Hjaltland at the weekend.
"It was an uncomfortable trip but not an unsafe one. Nevertheless, I'd take this opportunity again to apologise to passengers who suffered discomfort or distress.”
Last updated: 26 October 2009, 16:00
The links provided allow you to bookmark this page into your favourite social media website. For users with JavaScript disabled copy and paste the URL from the address bar into your chosen social bookmarking site.