15 incredible cruises for less than £125 a day
A survey last year by online travel agency Cruise.co.uk found most cruise holidays were being offered at the same price they were a decade earlier, while others actually cost less.
From being a holiday only for those with deep pockets, cruising has become an affordable vacation for millions thanks to all the added extras. Now, alongside your accommodation, meals in the main restaurants, afternoon tea, theatre shows, live bands, kid’s clubs, water slides and gym passes are all often included in the price tag. Plus, you’ll be transported to different ports, cities or countries almost every day.
The bargains are not just close to home either: holidays in Alaska, Asia, the Caribbean and US all came in at under £100 a day. Choose a cruise departing from the UK and you’ve made your first saving.
Read on to discover 15 cruises for under £125 per night. (Prices quoted are for a cabin with no window, but include most meals and entertainment. Speciality dining, tours and drinks are mostly optional extras; flights will add to the cost.)
1. Norway in winter
From £124 per day
Havila Voyages’ cruises along Norway’s picturesque coastline (think snow-capped mountains, deep fjords and picturesque villages) run year-round and are quite the port fest, with 34 stops in all. Some are quick, others allow time for passengers to explore ashore on sea eagle safaris, king crab fishing expeditions and visits to North Cape – the very northern edge of the European continent. Choose the winter season for lower prices, Arctic walks, dog- or reindeer-sledding and snowmobiling.
How to do it:
An 11-night Bergen-Kirkenes-Bergen cruise in Norway with Havila Voyages costs from £1,363pp, departing November 22, 2025 (03455 280 026; havilavoyages.com).
2. Croatia’s coastline
From £112 per day
There is only one sensible way to explore Croatia’s 1,104 miles of coastline: on a boat small enough to call into the 75 or so islands guarding its western shore. This cruise, aboard the 36-passenger Tempera with Sail Croatia, covers a small part of the coast – with overnight calls into Hvar, Vis, Korcula and Mljet – and keeps passengers on their toes with ziplining, wine-tasting, bike rides and swim stops.
How to do it:
A seven-night Split to Dubrovnik cruise costs from £789pp, departing April 26, 2025, including breakfast and lunch daily, and one dinner (020 4525 7534; sail-croatia.com).
3. Iberian peninsula
From £104 per day
It’s said you never really know a place unless you have sampled the nightlife. So kudos to Fred. Olsen, which has scheduled overnights in each of the ports visited on this no-fly cruise (Gibraltar, Cartagena, Cadiz and Lisbon) so passengers get to know them all. With war tunnels, Barbary macaques, Roman amphitheatres, castles, cathedrals and vintage trams, passengers will be kept busy by day and still have time to venture out after dark for some authentic flamenco, fado or tapas.f
How to do it:
A 14-night City Sights & Overnights cruise in Gibraltar, Spain and Portugal with Fred. Olsen includes a round-trip from Portsmouth and costs from £1,459pp, departing November 12, 2025 (01473 736175; fredolsencruises.com).
4. Gondolas and palaces
From £104 per day
Staying in Venice is notoriously expensive, so this mini cruise with CroisiEurope is the ideal solution for those who’d love a few nights in La Serenissima without splashing the cash. Alongside spending time in the city – with trips to the Doge’s Palace, the Rialto Market, Mazzorbo, Burano, Murano and Padua – the cruise includes accommodation, meals and drinks on board, as well as Wi-Fi. Plus, the river ship, Michelangelo, holds just 154 passengers, so it can dock within walking distance of St Mark’s Square.
How to do it:
A five-night Venetian Treasures round-trip cruise from Venice with CroisiEurope costs from £523pp, departing March 25, 2025 (01756 691269; croisieurope.co.uk).
5. Caribbean in winter
From £103 per day
The commercialisation of Christmas is enough to make you want to, well, run away. Hop on this trip with Celebrity Cruises and there’s not only the promise of blue skies and sunshine, but also rum tastings, beaches, kayaking and manatees. Fancy revving things up a gear? Roller coasters, ziplines and speedboats await at the private resort of Labadee, while Puerto Plata, Key West, the Bahamian islands of Bimini and three days at sea round off the itinerary.
How to do it:
A seven-night Key West, Bahamas & Labadee round-trip cruise from Port Canaveral costs from £722pp, departing December 13, 2025 (0344 493 2043; celebritycruises.co.uk).
6. Alaskan adventure
From £100 per day
Fancy adventure on a budget? This cruise with Holland America through Alaska’s Inside Passage not only offers thrills and chills in equal measure at a fraction of the price of a land tour, but it’s the easy way to travel between islands connected only by sea or air. It comes with icy encounters in Glacier Bay and ticks off the Juneau, Skagway, Ketchikan golden triangle, where days are filled with zipwiring, panning for gold, kayaking and axe-throwing contests.
How to do it:
A seven-night Alaska Inside Passage round-trip cruise from Vancouver costs from £699pp, departing September 13, 2025 (0344 338 8607; hollandamerica.com).
7. Spanish sojourn
From £93 per day
Portugal’s capital, Lisbon, sneaks in at the end of this MSC cruise, which also calls in to La Coruña, Cádiz, Málaga, Alicante, Palma, Barcelona and Valencia. Visit the pilgrimage town of Santiago de Compostela, taste sherry in Jerez, step inside the Moorish Great Mosque in Córdoba and ride a vintage train in Mallorca – all without splashing out on flights or tips (the cruise is from the UK and the service charge is covered).
How to do it:
A 14-night Mediterranean round-trip cruise from Southampton with MSC costs from £1,299pp, departing September 13, 2025 (0203 426 3010; msccruises.co.uk).
8. Asia on a budget
From £87 per day
A peculiarity of cruise pricing means it can be cheaper to sail in Asia than the Mediterranean – excluding flights, of course. Not that anyone is complaining. After all, who would say no to two weeks sailing round exotic locations at an affordable price? And exotic this cruise certainly is, with spice markets, temples, trishaws, ancient mosques and paddy fields to discover ashore, and hot tubs, spas and a laid-back vibe to enjoy on board.
How to do it:
A 14-night India, Thailand, Malaysia and Sri Lanka cruise with NCL, from Singapore to Qatar, costs from £1,215pp, departing March 29, 2025 (0333 241 2319; ncl.com).
9. Northern star
From £86 per day
The chance of seeing the aurora borealis flash across the night sky aboard Alta, in northern Norway, is the star of this cruise – but there’s lots more to love, including a ‘time-machine’ in Ȃlesund that takes you back to the great fire of 1904, World War Two history in Trondheim and Narvik, and Tromsø’s Arctic Cathedral, which looks more iceberg than house of God. As a bonus, it’s from the UK so there are no flights to rack up the price.
How to do it:
A 16-night Land of the Northern Lights & Scotland cruise with Ambassador, a round-trip from Tilbury, costs from £1,369pp, departing October 27, 2025 (0808 1028701; ambassadorcruiseline.com).
10. Stingrays and shopping
From £85 per day
Apparently, there aren’t enough island resorts in the Caribbean – so Carnival is building another. Set to be an exclusive fun-in-the-sun destination and port, Celebration Key, in the Bahamas, will offer up miles of soft sand, an adult-only beach club, family lagoon, restaurants, bars and shops. But that’s not all: cruisers will also visit Half Moon Cay, a private island with less razzmatazz, Grand Turk and Amber Cove in the Dominican Republic, where snorkelling and stingray adventures await.
How to do it:
A 10-day Eastern Caribbean round-trip cruise from Galveston costs from £850pp, departing November 10, 2025 (0808 234 0680; carnival.com).
11. Best of the Baltic
From £83 per day
With theme parks, canal boat rides and a peek into life behind the Iron Curtain, there are numerous reasons to cruise the Baltic this summer. This trip With P&O Cruises promises castles and buried churches, picturesque towns, medieval cities, stories from World War Two and the Cold War, plus calls into Skagen, Copenhagen, Gdańsk, Klaipeėda, Visby, Helsinki, Warnemünde and Bruges. Better still, it departs from Southampton and tips are included in the price, so extras won’t break the bank.
How to do it:
A 16-night Northern Europe and Scandinavia round-trip cruise from Southampton costs from £1,329pp, departing May 6, 2025 (0345 356 9999; pocruises.com).
12. Around the Adriatic
From £80 per day
The ancient Greeks did the Olympics a bit differently from us. For one thing, only men could take part; for another they had to compete without, ahem, any clothes on. All is revealed (no pun intended) at Olympia, site of the original games, located just 30 minutes from Katakolon – one of six ports visited on this Adriatic journey. Expect wine-tasting, gin-making, hiking, biking, medieval architecture, beehive-like houses and palaces on calls into Kefalonia, Dubrovnik, Kotor, Bari and Corfu.
How to do it:
An eight-day Heavenly Greece, Italy and Croatia round-trip cruise with Celestyal from Piraeus (Athens) costs from £639pp, departing April 26, 2025 (0808 280 3553; celestyal.com).
13. Lobsters and lighthouses
From £80 per day
From stories of the American Revolution to the final resting places of many who perished when the Titanic sank, this voyage to Halifax, Sydney and Charlottetown in Canada, and St John, Portland and Boston in the US, is gold for history lovers. If that’s not you, try a jet-boat ride on the Reversing Rapids, take a selfie with America’s most photographed lighthouse, and lunch on lobster – a crustacean so popular in these parts it even ends up in ice cream.
How to do it:
A 10-day Canada & New England round-trip cruise from New York with Princess Cruises costs from £803pp, departing June 14, 2025 (0344 338 8663; princess.com).
14. Cruising the Canaries
From £71 per day
Wine-tasting, afternoon tea at Reid’s Palace and tobogganing down a hill in a wicker basket controlled by two carreiros using their boots as brakes. That’s all for starters on this cruise from the UK to Madeira and the Canary Islands of Tenerife, Gran Canaria and Lanzarote, where winter sun, sand dunes, moon-like landscapes and a mountain that spews out boiling water await. It’s on Queen Anne, a new Cunard ship that offers a modern spin on the company’s traditional style.
How to do it:
A 14-night Canary Islands round-trip cruise from Southampton costs from £999pp, departing November 2, 2025 (0344 338 8641; cunard.com).
15. Down Mexico way
From £67 per day
For a taste of the real Mexico, seek out the old city’s colonial-style buildings, beautiful squares and daredevil divers, who risk life and limb for a tip. Puerto Vallarta has tequila and beaches; Cabo San Lucas has beaches and floating gin palaces (think St Tropez with tacos). This Royal Caribbean cruise offers passengers the chance to explore it all, plus three sea days to enjoy food, shows and activities aboard Navigator of the Seas.
How to do it:
A seven-night Cabo, Vallarta & Mazatlan round-trip cruise, starting from Los Angeles, costs from £468pp, departing October 10, 2025 (0344 493 4005; royalcaribbean.co.uk)
This piece was first published in February 2023 and has been revised and updated.
