How to Book a Scandinavian Cruise

As of late, we’ve been writing about Scandinavian cruises. First, we wrote about exactly what a Scandinavian cruise is, and then we provided some more specific details about the various Scandinavian cruises you can take. In doing so, we may have inspired some readers to consider a Scandinavian cruise, and if we did inspire a few people, we felt it would cruel not to explain how to go about booking a Scandinavian cruise. And that is, of course, the purpose of this article. We can tell you everything in the world about them, but if we don’t explain how you can actually book a Scandinavian cruise, something is clearly missing.

In the last two articles on this topic, we pointed out that “Scandinavia” is a slippery term, as people use it to refer to different sets of countries. We don’t think it profitable to rehash what we have said before, but we should say that in the broadest sense of the term, “Scandinavia” refers Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland, and Iceland. You’ll notice, we trust, that all of these countries are in Northern Europe, which is relevant to point out because if you are searching for Scandinavian cruises, you will likely find them grouped with Northern European cruises in general. For instance, if you are inclined to check any of the major cruise deal sites (Travelocity, CruiseDeals, etc.), which you definitely should do, you will be prompted to pick a destination. “Scandinavia” may not be an available choice, but “Northern Europe” (or perhaps just “Europe”) will be. This is the category you should sift through to try to find good deals on Scandinavian cruises.

We think that starting with the cruise deal sites is always a good decision, not only because you can find good prices, but also because you can get a general sense of the great variety of options that are out there. The cruise deal sites are of course aggregators, which means they list offerings from different cruise lines, giving you the maximal range of choices. However, perhaps you are loyal to a particular cruise line – they take care of you, so you return to them again and again when it comes time for another cruise vacation – and in which case you should book directly through the cruise line, especially if you are part of some sort of loyalty program (because you might get a deal on your cruise by booking through them). The most natural place to start is the cruise lines’ website, which will fairly quickly reveal if they offer Scandinavian cruises, which many of the major cruise lines (Carnival, Royal Caribbean) will. Alternatively, you could directly call the cruise line through their toll-free number.

All that has been said so far is in line with standard cruise booking advice, which makes sense: Scandinavian cruises are not outside the realm of standard cruise vacations (although they are less popular than, say, Caribbean cruises). However, since Scandinavian cruises are of course European cruises, you can search websites that are exclusively focused on this market, like EuropeCruises.com, which you might otherwise overlook. There are similar sites that are country specific, like CruiseIceland.com, which is obviously focused on Icelandic cruises. These sites can be great sources of information when you are looking for a Scandinavian cruise, and they are generally easy to find. Just search online for your target destination and the word “cruise” (or “cruises”), and if there is an entire site dedicated to your search topic, it should be ranked fairly high in the search results, although sometimes it will be below the major cruise line sites.

Booking a Scandinavian cruise is no different than booking any other cruise, but there are a couple things to keep in mind. First, it is often wise not to search for “Scandinavian cruises,” as they are more generally lumped with European cruises. Second, there are sites – sites that you wouldn’t necessarily know about even if you’ve been taking cruise vacations for a long time – that can help you research and book your cruise. With these two things in mind, you shouldn’t have any trouble finding a Scandinavian cruise perfect for you.