Iceland Implements Fees for Cruise Passengers

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Cruise passengers visiting Iceland will now face a new cost as they explore its breathtaking landscapes.

The Icelandic government is replacing last yearโ€™s accommodation tax with a new infrastructure fee that will affect those arriving by cruise ship, and it’s not cheap.

At the end of 2023, the government implemented a tax of 1,000 Icelandic Krona (approximately $5 at the time) on all overnight stays beginning January 1, 2024.

However, that tax has been replaced in 2025 with a fee that applies to cruise visitors, regardless of whether they stay overnight or not.

Beginning in January 2025, anyone arriving in an Icelandic port will be required to pay 2,500 Icelandic Krona (approximately $18) per person. 

The new fee is a daily fee, meaning passengers visiting more than one Icelandic port will pay for each call, and multiple fees during overnight visits. The fee also affects passengers whether they choose to disembark or not.

For instance, the 4,345-passenger MSC Preziosa features 10 roundtrip voyages from Hamburg, Germany, to Iceland, beginning May 18, 2025, through August 7.

It has three scheduled calls in the island nation, including an overnight in Reykjavik forcing passengers to pay almost $72 in additional fees.

This new fee will result in Iceland collecting nearly $782,000 for the shipโ€™s scheduled summer sailings.

Cruise Boards: NEW PORT FEES EVERYWHERE!

Passengers scheduled to visit Iceland on the 6,300-passenger MSC Virtuosa, cruising roundtrip from Southampton, England, on June 6, 2025, received an email notifying them of the new mandate.

During the ship’s 14-night sailing that journeys to Ireland, Norway, and Iceland, the vessel will visit Akureyri and Isafjord, Iceland, before spending two days in Reykjavik.

MSC Cruises notified passengers the new fee will be applied to guestsโ€™ onboard accounts.

โ€œDuring our guestโ€™s cruise, they will spend a total of four days in Iceland, resulting in a total fee of ISK 10,000 (approximately EUR 69-70) per guest,โ€ said MSC Cruises in a letter to passengers.

โ€œTo make this process as easy as possible for our mutual guests, MSC Cruises will take care of this fee on their behalf and conveniently charge the full amount directly to their onboard account,โ€ the letter continued.

Other cruise lines scheduled to call in Iceland in 2025 include Viking Oceans, Holland America Line, Silversea, Norwegian Cruise Line, Carnival Cruise Line, P&O Cruises, and Celebrity Cruises, among others.

New Fees Meant to Address Impact of Tourism

Icelandโ€™s new fee has been introduced in response to the escalating impact of tourism on the countryโ€™s infrastructure and resources and will also be put toward sustainability measures.

Iceland, which has a population of 376,000, saw nearly 320,000 cruise passenger arrivals to its capital city of Reykjavik alone in 2024, besting the previous yearโ€™s record-high of nearly 300,000.

This is not the first new fee targeting cruise passengers in an effort to counteract environmental and infrastructure impacts.

Reykjavik tourists
Reykjavik (Photo Credit: Andriy Blokhin)

In December 2024, Greece voted to impose an infrastructure fee of โ‚ฌ20 for cruise guests who visit the fragile islands of Santorini and Mykonos, as well as a lesser fee of โ‚ฌ5 for visits to Rhodes, Corfu, and Crete, in an effort to combat overtourism.

The islands see as many as 17,000 cruise passenger arrivals per day during peak summer travel. Santorini, the largest island, has a population of just over 15,000.

Venice, Italy, began charging all tourists a daily fee to access the historical city during peak periods of travel. The โ‚ฌ5 fee, implemented for just 29 days in 2024, raised โ‚ฌ2.4 million for the city, which plans to double the fee in 2025.

Also in December 2024, Mexico announced it planned to impose a $42 immigration fee on every guest arriving via a cruise ship beginning January 1, 2025.

That fee, however, has been delayed for six months following the Florida-Caribbean Cruise Associationโ€™s request to rework the immigration tax, saying it would have a โ€œdevastating impact on cruise tourism, Mexicoโ€™s economy, and the livelihoods of its coastal communities.โ€

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Lissa Poirot
Lissa Poirot
Lissa Poirot has been covering travel for more than a decade, including sites such as TripAdvisor, CruiseCritic, The Points Guy, Family Vacation Critic, and Family Traveller. Her love of travel has led Lissa to visit more than 43 countries and has her on a mission to see every state in the U.S. (only 4 states to go!). When she's not traveling, she's exploring new attractions and events on the weekends, be it in New York City or Philadelphia, as Lissa lives between both fabulous cities.

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