Norwegian Prima - Iceland & Norwegian Fjords to Southampton

Where this cruise calls, day by day

9 ports and 2 sea days over 10 Nights.

1. Day 1

   Reykjavik

   IcelandDepart

   Most ships berth at Skarfabakki, a plain working pier about 4km northeast of the centre with nothing around it, so it is a shuttle or a taxi in - only smaller ships get Midbakki in the Old Harbour. Reykjavik itself is compact and low-rise and takes a couple of hours. The point of the day is usually outside it: the Golden Circle fills a whole one, the lagoons half.

   • The Golden Circle - Thingvellir's rift valley, the Strokkur geyser at Geysir, and Gullfoss
   • Hallgrimskirkja's tower for the view over the coloured rooftops
   • Harpa concert hall, and the whale and puffin boats from the Old Harbour
   • The Blue Lagoon out on the Reykjanes peninsula, or the Sky Lagoon much closer to town

   Getting ashore

   Docked at Skarfabakki, roughly 4km out, with a paid shuttle or taxi into town; small ships get Midbakki in the Old Harbour, half a kilometre from downtown.

   Best months

   Jun-Aug (midnight sun); May and Sep quieter

2. Day 2

   Isafjordur

   IcelandPort

   Isafjordur is the main town of the Westfjords - about 2,700 people on a sand spit inside a steep fjord, with mountains rising straight off the end of the runway. It is Iceland's third-busiest cruise port, and the town takes twenty minutes to walk. What justifies the call is up the valleys behind it, above all Dynjandi, a tiered waterfall ninety minutes away over a pass.

   • Dynjandi, a broad tiered waterfall in the next fjord system, about 90 minutes each way
   • The Westfjords Heritage Museum at Nedsti, in merchant buildings from the 1750s that are among Iceland's oldest
   • Osvor, a reconstructed turf-and-stone fishing station about 15 minutes away at Bolungarvik
   • The boat to Vigur island, where thousands of eider ducks nest alongside puffins and Arctic terns

   Getting ashore

   Most ships come alongside the town quays, 0.8km from the centre; vessels over about 270m anchor and tender instead.

   Best months

   Jun-Aug

3. Day 3

   Akureyri

   IcelandPort

   Akureyri sits at the head of Iceland's longest fjord and is the closest thing the north has to a city, at around 19,000 people. Ships tie up on the town's own waterfront, so the centre, the stepped church and the botanical garden are all on foot. Most passengers leave anyway - Godafoss is 45 minutes east and Lake Myvatn's craters and steam vents an hour beyond that.

   • Godafoss, the horseshoe waterfall on the Skjalfandafljot, about 45 minutes out
   • Lake Myvatn - the Dimmuborgir lava formations, the Namaskard mud pots and the Nature Baths
   • Akureyrarkirkja on its steps above the town, and the botanical garden, one of the world's most northerly
   • Whale watching in Eyjafjordur, or the drive over to Husavik for the better-known boats

   Getting ashore

   Docked on the town waterfront; the centre is a five-minute walk and every major sight is a coach ride east.

   Best months

   Jun-Aug

4. Day 4 · At sea

5. Day 5

   Ålesund

   NorwayPort

   A fishing town on a fish-hook of islands that burned to the ground in January 1904 and was rebuilt within three years almost entirely in Art Nouveau - turrets, spires and stone dragons, unusual in Norway. The harbour cuts right through the middle, so ships park among the buildings. Many passengers use it as a springboard for Geiranger by road.

   • The 418 steps up Mount Aksla to the Fjellstua viewpoint
   • Jugendstilsenteret, the Art Nouveau centre in a preserved pharmacy
   • Atlanterhavsparken aquarium on the seaward tip of the island
   • Sunnmøre Museum's collection of historic boats and turf houses

   Getting ashore

   Ships dock alongside in the harbour at Storneskaia or Prestebrygga, right in the centre; the Skateflua berth is a 15-minute walk in.

   Best months

   May-Sep

6. Day 6

   Maloy

   NorwayPort

   An island town of about 3,000 at the mouth of Nordfjord, connected to the mainland by a long bridge and built on herring and pelagic fishing. It is one of the more exposed spots on the Norwegian coast - the Stad sea outside has a bad reputation among sailors - and the town's other claim is the 1941 Commando raid on Vågsøy.

   • Kannesteinen, the wave-carved mushroom rock at Oppedal, 20 minutes away
   • Måløy Raid Centre on the 1941 Operation Archery raid
   • Refviksanden, a long white-sand Atlantic beach
   • Kråkenes lighthouse on the cliff edge facing the Stad sea

   Getting ashore

   Ships dock alongside at Garpeskjærkaia next to the centre, a 5-10 minute walk in; taxis are scarce, so pre-book anything outside town.

   Best months

   May-Sep

7. Day 7

   Bergen

   NorwayPort

   The usual start or finish of a Norwegian fjord itinerary, wedged between seven mountains and a deep harbour. Rain is the default - locals hand out umbrellas without comment. The draw is Bryggen, the row of leaning wooden Hanseatic trading houses on the north side of the Vågen inlet, and the funicular that climbs straight out of the old town to a mountain plateau.

   • Bryggen wharf and the alleys behind its facades
   • Fløibanen funicular up Mount Fløyen, 8 minutes from the centre
   • The fish market at the head of Vågen
   • Troldhaugen, Edvard Grieg's lakeside villa and composing hut

   Getting ashore

   Ships dock at Skolten, a 10-minute walk from Bryggen, or at Dokken/Jekteviken further south, which is 25-30 minutes on foot and usually shuttled.

   Best months

   May-Sep

8. Day 8 · At sea

9. Day 9

   Amsterdam

   NetherlandsPort

   One of the few big European cities where the cruise berth is genuinely in town - the Passenger Terminal Amsterdam sits on the IJ waterfront, a ten-minute walk from Centraal Station. Note that the city has capped sea cruise calls at 100 a year from 2026 and plans to move the terminal out of the centre by 2035, so berths here are getting scarcer. River ships moor nearby along the same quays.

   • Anne Frank House on the Prinsengracht (timed tickets, book weeks ahead)
   • Rijksmuseum and the Van Gogh Museum on Museumplein
   • A canal boat through the 17th-century grachtengordel
   • Cycling out to the Jordaan or the Albert Cuyp market

   Getting ashore

   Ships berth alongside at PTA on Piet Heinkade; it is a flat 10-15 minute walk west to Centraal Station and the top of the Damrak, no shuttle needed.

   Best months

   Apr-Oct (tulip season mid-Apr)

10. Day 10

    Bruges (Zeebrugge)

    BelgiumPort

    Zeebrugge is a container and gas terminal with no town to speak of, and the port day is really about getting out of it. Bruges, 15 km inland, is the point: a medieval cloth-trading city that stagnated when its sea channel silted up, which is exactly why the canals, belfry and guild houses survived intact. Ghent is an alternative for people who have already done Bruges.

    • Climbing the 366 steps of the Bruges Belfry over the Markt
    • A canal boat through the Groenerei and Rozenhoedkaai
    • The Groeningemuseum's Flemish Primitives
    • Beer and chocolate stops - De Halve Maan brewery pipes its beer under the city

    Getting ashore

    Ships dock in the industrial port; Bruges is 25-30 minutes by cruise-line coach or port shuttle, or take the shuttle to Blankenberge station and a 15-minute train.

    Best months

    Apr-Oct

11. Day 11

    Southampton

    United KingdomArrive

    Britain's main cruise homeport, on Southampton Water at the head of the Solent. Almost nobody calls here as a port day - you join or leave your ship at one of five terminals (Mayflower, Ocean, QEII, City and Horizon), which are spread across the working docks and reached by taxi or coach rather than on foot. The city itself was heavily bombed in 1940, so the old core is patchy: surviving medieval walls, the Bargate, and a good maritime museum.

    • SeaCity Museum and its Titanic exhibition - the ship sailed from Berth 44 here
    • Walking the medieval town walls and the Bargate
    • Day trip to Winchester Cathedral, about 20 minutes by train
    • The New Forest for wild ponies, roughly 30 minutes by road

    Getting ashore

    Ships berth alongside; terminals are 2-4 km from the city centre and from Southampton Central station, so use a taxi or the cruise line coach, and allow about 80 minutes by train to London Waterloo.

    Best months

    Apr-Oct (peak turnaround Jun-Aug)