12 nights, Southampton to Southampton

The itinerary, port by port

9 calls over 12 nights, round-trip from Southampton. Open any port for my full day-ashore guide, what to see, when to go, and how the day actually runs.

Getting there: Flights to Southampton (LHR) are already bookable for these dates. I watch the fare for booked clients so you book at the right moment. When to book your flights →

1. Embark
   Southampton

   Southampton is England's main cruise gateway, a working port city on the south coast whose old quarter holds some of the best-preserved medieval town walls and gatehouses in the country, plus a maritime… Port guide →

2. 2
   Trondheim

   Trondheim is Norway's third-largest city and its medieval religious capital, founded by Viking king Olav Tryggvason in 997 at the mouth of the Nidelva River. Port guide →

3. 3
   Brønnøysund

   Brønnøysund is a small coastal town on Norway's Helgeland coast, a compact harbor community whose reason for the call is Torghatten, the nearby mountain pierced clean through by a natural hole. Port guide →

4. 4
   Leknes (Lofoten Islands)

   Leknes is a modern service town in the middle of the Lofoten archipelago, above the Arctic Circle, and is plainly the least scenic spot on islands that are otherwise spectacular. Port guide →

5. 5
   Tromsø

   Tromsø sits on an island 350 km inside the Arctic Circle and runs as a real city, not a frontier outpost: a wooden cathedral, working university, and a bar scene, ringed by fjords and the peaks of the… Port guide →

6. 6
   Honningsvåg (Nordkapp)

   Honningsvåg is a small fishing town on Magerøya island and the staging point for the North Cape, the cliff plateau marketed as continental Europe's northernmost point. Port guide →

7. 7
   Harstad

   Harstad is a working town of about 25,000 on Hinnøya, the gateway to the Vesterålen and Lofoten side of northern Norway. Port guide →

8. 8
   Ålesund

   Ålesund sits on a cluster of islands on Norway's west coast, rebuilt almost entirely in Art Nouveau after a 1904 fire leveled the town, leaving over 400 turreted, spired buildings in a tight, walkable center. Port guide →

9. Disembark
   Leirvik (Stord)

   Leirvik is the commercial center of Stord island in the Sunnhordland region, set among the fjords and skerries between Bergen and Haugesund. Port guide →