Iceland cruise and Northern Europe guide: Norway fjords, British Isles and the Baltic

“Northern Europe” covers four different trips, and most cruises focus on one or two of them:

• Iceland (often with Greenland or the Faroe Islands): round trips from Reykjavik, or longer loops from Southampton, Amsterdam or Rotterdam.
• Norwegian fjords: 7- to 12-night round trips from Southampton, Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Copenhagen or German ports, sometimes north to the Arctic Circle.
• British Isles and Ireland: round trips from Southampton or Amsterdam calling in Scotland, Ireland and Northern Ireland.
• The Baltic: Copenhagen, Stockholm, Helsinki, Tallinn and Riga, often one way between Copenhagen and Stockholm.

For the Mediterranean side of Europe, see our European cruises guide.

Best time to go

• May: the season starts. Cooler and quieter, with snowmelt waterfalls in the fjords.
• June and July: the peak. Longest days; in northern Norway the midnight sun lasts from mid-May to the end of July, and in Iceland it barely gets dark. The busiest and usually most expensive weeks.
• August: still warm by northern standards, with most Iceland and Arctic routes still running.
• September: the last sailings, lower fares and the first chance of northern lights on late-season routes.
• Winter: the big lines leave, apart from a few Christmas-market cruises in the Baltic and northern lights voyages along the Norwegian coast, which run from September to March.

Lines compared for Northern Europe

• Holland America LineThe deepest program: three ships in 2027 from Rotterdam, Amsterdam, Dover and Reykjavik, 7 to 21 days, including the Sognefjord, Iceland, Greenland and 14-day Baltic routes.
  Fares change daily; check current prices
• Celebrity CruisesThree ships in 2027: Celebrity Apex from Southampton to the fjords and Arctic Circle, Eclipse from Amsterdam to the British Isles, Norway and the Baltic, and Silhouette on Iceland round trips from Reykjavik.
  From $1,223 per personChecked September 2026
• Princess CruisesSky Princess and Majestic Princess from Southampton, and Caribbean Princess on 12-day Baltic round trips from Copenhagen, new for 2027.
  From $1,017 per personChecked September 2026
• Norwegian Cruise LineNorwegian Prima sails from Southampton and Reykjavik in 2027, and Norwegian Jewel runs Baltic routes from Copenhagen and Helsinki.
  From $1,449 per personChecked September 2026
• Royal CaribbeanMariner of the Seas from Southampton (2 to 9 nights, including the fjords) and Freedom of the Seas in Northern Europe and the U.K. Best for families.
  From $532 per personChecked September 2026
• MSC CruisesUsually the lowest fares, with fjord and Baltic loops from northern European ports and a mostly European crowd.
  Fares change daily; check current prices
• Oceania CruisesInsignia, Marina and Vista in 2027, 10 to 14 days, including a 10-day Iceland circuit from Reykjavik on the small Insignia.
  Fares change daily; check current prices

For one of the Southampton ships in detail, see our Sky Princess guide. Expedition and luxury lines (Silversea, Seabourn and others) go further north to Svalbard and Greenland; see the best luxury and small-ship cruises.

Typical length and price

• 7 nights: a Norwegian fjords round trip from Southampton, Amsterdam or a German port, or a Baltic sampler.
• 10 to 14 nights: Iceland from the U.K. or the Netherlands, British Isles circuits, Baltic capitals with overnights, or the fjords up to the Arctic Circle.
• Longer: Holland America runs Northern Europe voyages of up to 21 days and longer crossings via Iceland and Greenland.

Fares are usually a step above a similar-length Mediterranean cruise, and prices ashore in Norway and Iceland are high, so budget more for excursions. Two local rules affect these trips:

• Iceland’s cruise fee: since January 2025 Iceland charges an infrastructure fee per cruise passenger for each 24-hour period in Icelandic ports. Some lines have cut Iceland calls, and Cruise Iceland forecast fewer bookings in 2026 and 2027, so check the ports before you book.
• Norway’s heritage fjords: from January 2026, ships under 10,000 gross tons must be zero-emission in Norway’s World Heritage fjords, such as the Geirangerfjord and Nærøyfjord. Larger ships have until 2032, so the big lines still sail there in 2026 and 2027.

Departure ports

• Southampton and Dover (for London): Celebrity, Princess, Royal Caribbean, Norwegian and Holland America.
• Amsterdam and Rotterdam: Holland America and Celebrity.
• Copenhagen: Princess and Norwegian; the usual Baltic start.
• Reykjavik: Celebrity, Norwegian, Holland America and Oceania round trips. Fly-cruise is easy: there are nonstop flights from several U.S. cities.
• Kiel, Warnemünde and Hamburg: mainly MSC and German lines.

Cruise to Iceland from the USA

A few sailings go straight from the U.S. East Coast to Northern Europe via Canada, Greenland and Iceland; Holland America’s “Voyage of the Vikings” between Boston and Europe is the best-known. See our Boston cruise port guide. Cunard’s Queen Mary 2 also crosses from New York to Southampton in about a week, from where you can join a fjords or Iceland cruise; see our New York cruise port guide.

Sailings snapshot

Ports of call

• Reykjavik, Iceland: the Golden Circle and the Blue Lagoon are the big excursions.
• Akureyri and Isafjordur, Iceland: fjord towns in the north and west; whale watching.
• Geiranger, Norway: the most famous fjord call, often by tender.
• Flåm and Bergen, Norway: the Flåm Railway and Bergen’s old harbor.
• Tromsø and Honningsvåg (North Cape), Norway: Arctic Circle routes.
• Edinburgh (South Queensferry or Leith), Scotland and Invergordon for the Highlands.
• Dublin, Belfast and Cork (Cobh), Ireland: the core of an Ireland cruise.
• Copenhagen, Stockholm, Helsinki and Tallinn: the Baltic capitals.

Northern Europe cruise FAQ