Top 10 Cruise Itineraries Sailing From Southampton In 2025
There is a heavy focus on locations such as the Med, the Canaries, the Norwegian Fjords, Channel Hopping and transatlantic’s and whilst they are all great options and you can, and we have, great cruise holidays to those locations, for those looking for a more adventurous getaway, it is possible as many cruise lines now offer a diverse range of itineraries.
There is so much more of the world that can be experienced either on a round trip from the port or on a repositioning cruise from or to Southampton and whilst some will only be open to those with a big budget and plenty of time, there are some that can be done is the same time and for the same cost as visiting those destinations listed above.
In this list we look at what we believe are the top 10 cruise itineraries to sail from Southampton in 2025.
What we believe is the best and what you believe is the best will differ considerably, but we hope that you find these itineraries interesting and that they give you some inspiration for what is available aside from the more ‘usual’ cruise ports.
Our Top 10 Cruise Itineraries Sailing From Southampton In 2025
Southampton-Lisbon (Portugal)-Santa Cruz (Tenerife)-Praia (Cape Verde)-Rio de Janeiro (Brazil)-Ilhabela (Brazil)-Montevideo (Uruguay)-Buenos Aires (Argentina)-Punta Arenas (Chile)-Valparaiso (Chile)-Robinson Crusoe Island (Chile)-Hanga Roa (Chile)-Papeete (French Polynesia)-Bora Bora (French Polynesia)-Rarotonga (Cook Islands)-Nuku’ Alofa (Tonga)-Sydney Overnight (Australia)-Melbourne (Australia)-Hobart (Australia)-Albany (Australia)-Fremantle (Australia)-Port Louis (Mauritius)-Reunion-Gqeberha (South Africa)-Cape Town (South Africa)-Luderitz (Namibia)-Walvis Bay (Namibia)-Jamestown (St Helena)-Dakar (Senegal)-Santa Cruz (La Palma)-Funchal (Madeira)-Southampton-Liverpool
If you had almost unlimited funds and all of the time needed to enjoy that, there is only option for many and that is a world cruise.
In researching this list, it was kind of surprising just how many options there were when it came to World Cruises from Southampton including a variety of lines, ships and routes offered.
For me, there was one itinerary that stood out over the others and that was a 106-night World Cruise onboard Fred Olsen’s Bolette cruise ship that not only sails around the world, but it sails around the bottom of the world taking in an incredible variety of destinations.
The cruise starts by heading south down the Atlantic Coast of Europe and then crosses the ocean via the Canaries and the Azores before arriving in Rio de Janeiro in Brazil.
You then visit some of South Americas top cities such as Buenos Aires and Montevideo, before cruising through the Chilean Fjords and around Cape Horn.
You then set sail across the Pacific Ocean and take in many of the islands that can be found there before arriving in Australia and visiting the likes of Sydney, Melbourne and Perth- great for any Rugby League fans out there.
Its then time for another Ocean crossing as you sail across the Indian Ocean to South Africa and then head up the Atlantic coast of Africa back to Southampton.
What an itinerary, what an adventure and what can I do to get onboard?
Southampton-St John’s (Newfoundland)-Iles de la Madeleine (Quebec)-Halifax (Nova Scotia)-Portland (USA)-Boston (USA)-New York (USA)-Newport (USA)-Rockland (USA)-St John (Canada)-Sydney (Nova Scotia)-Southampton
This itinerary is a great one for those who don’t like to fly but still want to experience the laid-back nature of towns and cities of the Canadian Atlantic Coast and/or hustle and bustle of some of the biggest cities on the Northeastern coast of the United States.
Sailing with P&O Cruises, this 30-night getaway onboard the Aurora cruise ship starts with a relaxing 5 day crossing across the Atlantic before arriving at St John’s on the Canadian island of Newfoundland.
That is one of our favourite entries into any cruise ports and the next few days continue with stunning arrival into ports full of outstanding natural beauty as you sail south from Canada, across the border into Maine and then you arrive at the huge city of Boston in Massachusetts.
You get an overnight stay in the city which allows you to explore all that is on offer during the day before heading out for a meal or a theatre show at night.
The same can be said for your next port of call where you get an overnight stay in the metropolis of New York before heading north for more beautiful ports across the US/Canadian border and then starting off on your long trans-Atlantic voyage across to Southampton.
Southampton-Greenock (Scotland)-Reykjavik (Iceland), Grundarfjordur (Iceland)-Isafjordur (Iceland)-Akureyri (Iceland)-Eyjafjordur (Iceland)-Hrisey Sail By (Iceland)-Honningsvaag (Norway)-North Cape Sail By (Norway)-Leknes (Lofoten Islands)-Narvik (Norway)-Kristiansund (Norway)-Alesund (Norway)-Southampton
If you have always wanted to experience the midnight sun, and I would recommend it, this is our pick of the many itineraries heading up to the Norwegian Arctic in 2025.
This is a popular route for cruise ships in the summer months, but most will simply head up the Norwegian coastline, call into the fjords and then come back down the coast again.
That is a journey I have done myself and it is an incredible cruise journey to take but this itinerary gives you all of that and more as it also starts across the North Atlantic by taking in some of the best ports of call in Iceland.
You start in Greenock, one of the UK’s most picturesque cruise ports before overnighting in Reykjavik. You then spend the best of a week sailing around Iceland before heading to the northern coastline of Norway and a stay in Honningsvaag.
Here you can stay up late, watch as you sail past the North Cape and then take in the midnight sun as you look north over the Arctic Ocean.
Your trip back to Southampton takes in the stunningly beautiful Loften Islands and then a range of Norwegian cruise ports, including some in the fjordland region before heading across the North Sea and back to Southampton.
Southampton-Gran Canaria (Canary Islands)-Antigua-Tortola (Virgin Islands)-Castries (Saint Lucia)-Bridgetown (Barbados)-Santana (Brazil)-Manaus (Brazil)- Parintins (Brazil)-Santarem (Brazil)-Santana (Brazil)-Devils Islands (French Guiana)-Tobago (Trinidad and Tobago)-Cartagena (Colombia)-Colon (Panama)-Panama Canal-Puerto Limon (Costa Rica)-Roatan (Honduras)-Belize-Cozumel (Mexico)-Georgetown (Cayman Islands)-Montego Bay (Jamaica)-Grand Turk (Turks and Caicos Islands)-Freeport (Bahamas)-Hamilton (Bermuda)-Praia Da Vitoria (Azores)-Southampton
If you were to name 100 places you can visit directly from Southampton, the chances are that you won’t list going up the Amazon River and into the Amazon Rainforest, but not only can you do but you can do it with a major cruise line.
Sailing onboard P&O Cruises Aurora cruise ship, this adventure starts off in the Canaries before island hopping in the Caribbean and then continuing south to Santana, a suburb of the state capital of Macapa and a port on the Amazon River.
You then continue cruising along the river to the city of Manaus which is around 1,000 miles from the ocean and deep in the heart of the rainforest.
You then visit a few other ports on the river before heading north to take in destinations in Central America and the Caribbean, including a partial transit of the Panama Canal.
You finish by crossing the Atlantic once again and after stopping off in the Azores, you arrive back at the port of Southampton after an adventure that you will never forget.
Southampton-Praia da Vitoria (Azores)-Port Canaveral (USA)-Fort Lauderdale (USA)-Grand Turk (Turks and Caicos)-Bridgetown (Barbados)-Fortaleza (Brazil)-Salvador (Brazil)-Buzios (Brazil)-Rio de Janeiro (Brazil)-Montevideo (Uruguay)-Buenos Aires (Argentina)-Puerto Madryn (Argentina)-Ushuaia (Argentina)-Cape Horn (Chile)-Punta Arenas (Chile)- Puerto Montt (Chile)-San Antonio (Chile)-Coquimbo (Chile)-Arica (Chile)-Callao Overnight (Peru)- Manta (Ecuador)-Panama Canal Transit-Oranjestad (Aruba)-Nassau (Bahamas)-Fort Lauderdale (USA)-Freeport (Bahamas)-Hamilton (Bermuda)- Ponta Delgado (Azores)-Southampton
On the face of it, it is perhaps surprising that there are not all that many ships setting off from the UK to South America as its basically a straight line across the Atlantic Ocean to get there but with most transatlantic’s heading to either the USA or the Caribbean, it is just something that often gets overlooked.
This 78-night getaway onboard Cunard’s Queen Victoria not only takes you across the Atlantic, but it takes you around Cape Horn and up the Pacific Coast of South America, before crossing the Panama Canal and heading back to the UK.
Living up to its name of a South American Adventure, this cruise visits plenty of famous cities including the likes of Rio De Janeiro, where you have an overnight stay, Montevideo, Santiago and an overnight in Buenos Aires.
It not all about the cities that you explore however as in a region known for its natural beauty and incredible wildlife, you have plenty of time in the Chilean Fjords and in smaller ports perfect for wildlife watching excursions.
To finish with, you also visit some of the Caribbean best islands and tick of a full transit of the Panama Canal from your bucket list.
Southampton-Falmouth (England)-Cobh (Ireland)-Qaqortoq (Greenland)-Nanortalik (Greenland)-Reykjavik (Iceland)-Isafjordur (Iceland)-Akureyri (Iceland)-Southampton
This entry allows you to take advantage of the long summer days up near the Arctic and visit a couple of our favourites countries for visiting on a cruise, Greenland and Iceland.
Sailing on Princess Cruises Emerald Princess cruise ship, the itinerary starts with a stop off in Cornwall and the Republic of Ireland before setting off on the long journey up to the stunning scenery of Greenland.
After a couple of stops there, in Qaqortog and Nanortalik it is back out in the North Atlantic Ocean for a couple of days before arriving in Reykjavik, the capital city of Iceland.
You then head from there up to the fjords region of the country before making a beeline for Southampton.
I love the scenery, wildlife and remoteness of this part of the world and the chance to visit without flying directly from the UK and in the height of summer is my idea of a perfect cruise.
Southampton-Vigo (Spain)-Malaga (Spain)-Barcelona (Spain)-Livorno (Italy)-Civitavecchia (Italy)-Naples (Italy)- Istanbul Overnight (Türkiye)-Heraklion (Crete)-Rhodes (Greece)-Kusadasi (Türkiye)-Santorini (Greece)-Mykonos (Greece)- Piraeus (Greece)- Valletta (Malta)- Palermo (Sicily)-Cadiz (Spain)-Lisbon (Portugal)-Southampton
The Sky Princess is one of the Princess Cruise Lines biggest and newest cruise ships, so this 31-night Mediterranean adventure will give you plenty of time to explore all that it has to offer.
We tend to have two big issues with Med sailings starting with the number of ports that are so big you dock far from where you want to be leaving you to either get a port shuttle or an excursion.
The second issue we have is that most itineraries will take in many similar cruise ports, for example visiting ports in the north of Spain before heading into the Med to visit ports in the south or east of Spain.
On this cruise, you not only go to plenty of smaller ports where you can simply walk from your ship and set on exploring on your own, but it also takes in a great variety of ports including those in the Western Mediterranean and the Eastern Mediterranean and a mix of big cities, small islands and historic attractions.
The journey also takes in some of our favourite cities in the region, including Lisbon and Barcelona and you get an overnight stay in Istanbul.
Southampton-Madeira (Portugal)-Bridgetown (Barbados)- Willemstad (Curacao)-Panama Canal Transit-Cabo San Lucas (Mexico)-San Francisco (USA)
Set sail with P&O Cruises onboard their Arcadia cruise ship in January to avoid the cold of British weather with a Caribbean and North American adventure that also takes in a Panama Canal transit.
This adventure has lots of variety and plenty of bucket list ticking off as you head west from the UK to the Pacific.
After warming up from a probably cold Atlantic crossing by spending a few days in the Caribbean, you then enjoy a full transit of the iconic Panama Canal before visiting the Mexican Riviera and ending in San Francisco.
You can then spend time exploring one of the United States top tourist spots before flying home with plenty of memories and photos to keep you going through the dreary last legs of winter.
Southampton-Copenhagen (Denmark)-Warnmunde Overnight (Germany)-Tallinn (Estonia)-Stockholm Overnight (Sweden)-Oslo Overnight (Norway)-Zeebrugge (Belgium)- Southampton
If you want a great itinerary onboard a luxurious cruise ship such as Vista from the Oceania cruise line, this 14-night summer getaway could be the itinerary for you.
This one is similar to many itineraries that head to the Baltic Sea, where they just visit the bigger cruise ports in the region, but this one does stand out for one big difference- you get overnight stays in many of the ports.
With the likes of northern Germany, Stockholm and Oslo having so much on offer, the chance to spend a couple of days exploring really does add on to this itinerary and with the long days in the region during the summer, you can really make the most of your time onshore.
Southampton-Zeebrugge (Belgium)-Ijmuiden (Netherlands)-Warnemunde (Germany)-Gdynia (Poland)-Klaipeda (Lithuania)-Nynashamn (Sweden)-Tallinn (Estonia)-Helsinki (Finland)-Copenhagen (Denmark)
The Baltic Sea is one of the most popular regions for ships to head to from the UK and whilst these itineraries have had to change recently to avoid St Petersburg, there are still lots of great places to visit.
Unfortunately, so many head to the same ports, in major cities and spend far too much time at sea in an area where countries are close to each other.
For our number 10 entry, we have chosen the 11 night sailing onboard the Norwegian Prima between Southampton and Copenhagen in Denmark, via many great ports in the Baltic Sea.
This itinerary does have a slow start with some ports that are well away from the destinations the line promotes them as (Zeebrugge for Bruges, Ijmuiden for Amsterdam and Warnemunde for Berlin) but after that, it takes you to a good mix of big cities, popular tourist spots and some hidden gems that often get overlooked.
You also end your journey in one of our favourite Northern European cities with great connections to get back home.
