Northern European Cruise: Why Cruise Through Northern Europe?

July 7, 2025 | From the Founder, Patrick Verst

Greetings:

I recently had the incredible opportunity to go on a ten-day solo cruise through parts of Northern Europe on Norwegian Cruise Line's Norwegian Prima. Although the cruise visited ports in Iceland, Norway, Netherlands, Belgium and England, if I'm being fully transparent, Iceland was the only reason why I booked this cruise.

Having lived in Florida for the past six years, where the heat index exceeds 90 degrees Fahrenheit (32 degrees Celsius) every day for approximately eight months of the year, I've had this yearning desire for years for an escape from summer. Don't get me wrong, I typically prefer hot weather over cold weather. If it weren't for that, then I would have never moved to Florida. That being said, like most things in life, extreme heat is best when consumed in moderation—AKA not eight months straight every year.

After years of wanting a cool vacation for the summer, there were two things that kept holding me back: I couldn't decide on a destination, and travel ain't cheap!

For years, my family had been discussing going on a family cruise to Alaska. However, as more grandkids entered the family, and certain people in the family had very little desire to go on a cruise, it became quite obvious after more than a decade of waiting that an Alaskan cruise was likely never going to happen anytime soon.

As a result, I decided in June of 2024 that it was time to begin planning for a solo cruise to some cold, dream destination that was yet to be determined. I had already been on a short, solo, three-day cruise in the Bahamas once in 2022. So Patrick going on a cruise by himself wasn't exactly the most foreign thing to my family. After more than a decade of wanting to go on an Alaskan cruise and a couple of years of obsessing over the otherworldly natural landscapes of Iceland, thanks to TikTok's For You Page, I was left deciding between Alaska and Iceland. While Alaska was an easier destination to default to as a U.S. citizen, the Capricorn in me said, "Go big, or don't go at all." Iceland it was!

I've been following the cruise industry since I was in college, but I have especially been following Royal Caribbean, Norwegian, Virgin and Disney in particular. Although I had an overall very pleasant experience sailing with Royal Caribbean in the Caribbean, I ultimately decided that I wanted to try a different cruise line when exploring Europe. I started looking up Norwegian Cruise Line's itineraries for 2025 that included Iceland specifically. After perusing the options they had, I realized the one and only ship I have been following since before its christening in 2022 just so happened to offer what seemed to be the perfect itinerary that I didn't know I needed in my life. Three days in Iceland, three days in Norway, one day in Amsterdam, one day in Belgium, two sea days and concluding in London. All of this on the one and only Norwegian Prima!

To be completely honest, I never had any desire to go to Norway, Amsterdam or Belgium, and I had already been to London once. As stated in the opening paragraph, I was going on this cruise solely for Iceland. The fact that I also got to visit those countries while simultaneously visiting Iceland was just the icing on the cake!

Spending over $4,000 on such a trip by myself felt insane, but the deed was done. I began paying off the cruise in small monthly payments over the next ten months. Approximately 50 days before it was time to fly off to Iceland, it was finally time to tell my parents of this exciting solo adventure!

Most people would introduce the topic of going on a big solo trip during a routine phone call with their parents. Instead, I opted to send them a casual (albeit very detailed) text while I was at work. That way, if they called immediately out of concern, I could reject the call because I was at work. Much to my surprise, they took the news very well both via text and when we talked over the phone the following evening! Thanks, Mom and Dad :)

Going into this cruise, I generally had the mindset that I was dipping my toes into the world of Northern Europe, and I would eventually revisit any place I that really peaked my interest. For me, cruising is a great way to see a lot of the world in a short amount of time on a fairly reasonable budget. If you've never been on a cruise, maybe you don't now how great it is waking up in a new country almost every morning while never having to lug your suitcase around from hotel to hotel with every country you visit. If you've never been on a cruise, maybe you don't know how great it is to technically never have to worry about currency exchanges, paying for meals, etc. Although I certainly did have some meals on land that I paid for out of pocket, you could technically go on a 20+ day cruise and never have a single cash 0r card transaction the entire time if you choose to eat all of your meals on the ship. Heck, there are people who sell their homes after their retire and live on cruise ships for years! That's what I love about cruising...it's a big upfront cost, but that one big upfront cost covers so many different expenses that you would otherwise have to factor into your travel budget.

And those are the reasons why I decided I wanted to cruise through Northern Europe. It wasn't just to "check some countries off my travel list" or to have bragging rights to be able to say, "Yeah, I've been there." It was to scope out new places to dive deeper into later in life. I may have gone just for Iceland and Norwegian Prima, but I was so very happy I got to stay for a whole lot more than just Iceland and Norwegian Prima.

Please stay tuned for more blog posts in the coming weeks!