The small but growing Port of Plymouth, England, is looking ahead to its 2025 season and predicting a roughly 12% increase in cruise arrivals compared to 2024.

Situated along the pristine Devon coast in southwest England, Plymouth, also known as Britain’s Ocean City, estimates that 11,700 cruise passengers will visit the destination in 2025.

In 2024, the port welcomed nearly 10,000 cruise guests, which reflected an eye-opening 40% spike compared to 2023. 

“Plymouth has been working tirelessly to cement its reputation as a must-visit port for cruise liners, and countless individuals are working behind the scenes to ensure the success of these visits,” said Amanda Lumley, chief executive of Destination Plymouth.

“The city’s cruise industry has continued to grow, boosting the economy and we are delighted to see the results of this collective effort,” added Lumley.

Cruise tourism is an economic boon to the region. In 2024, guests from the 14 ships that called spent about £1.5 million ($1.9 million USD). Port data showed that each cruise passenger who went ashore in Plymouth spent roughly £90 ($117 USD) on local purchases.

Local businesses that benefit from visiting cruise ships include tour guides, retail shops, and restaurants. Operations at the port itself, such as harbor fees, berthing, security, local harbor pilots, and others, add more revenue.

The cruise season at the Port of Plymouth runs from March through September. In 2025, several ships will make their inaugural calls to the destination, including Norwegian Cruise Line’s 2,400-guest Norwegian Pearl and Oceania Cruises’ 1,200-guest Oceania Vista.

“We are excited to announce that this year we will welcome Norwegian Cruise Line to Plymouth for the very first time. This milestone has been years in the making, and we are really looking forward to hosting the stunning Norwegian Pearl on May 6, as part of its transatlantic cruise between New York City and Southampton,” said Glen Gardner, new business development manager for Destination Plymouth.

Other ships scheduled to call in 2025 include Ambassador Cruise Line’s 1,200-guest Ambition, Phoenix Reisen Cruises’ 740-guest Amera, Crystal’s 740-guest Crystal Serenity, Saga Cruises’ 1,000-guest Spirit of Discovery, Hebridean Island Cruises’ 48-guest Hebridean Princess, Silversea Cruises’ 600-guest Silver Dawn, and Oceania Cruises’ 670-guest Sirena.

The Port of Plymouth, which is a regional hub for cargo and ferry operations, can berth cruise ships up to 984 feet long (Norwegian Pearl squeaks by at 965 feet).

Managed by Associated British Ports, the Plymouth facility and its operations represent a £95 million ($117 million USD) contribution to the UK economy.

Arrivals Increase Mirrors Activity at Other UK Ports

The Port of Plymouth is not alone in celebrating notable increases in cruise tourism during the last few years.

Portland Port, a larger facility about 100 miles east of Plymouth, is looking ahead to a robust 2025, when 60 ships are scheduled to call — an increase from the 52 cruise ships that delivered about 117,000 cruise passengers to the destination.

Cruise guests’ onshore spending in 2025 is expected to reach about £10 million ($12 million USD).

Read Also: What Are Port Fees on a Cruise?

In southeast England, the Port of Dover is gearing up for a strong season, thanks to the homeporting of Holland America Line’s 2,660-guest Nieuw Amsterdam starting on April 19, 2025. The ship will be based at Dover through mid-October 2025, offering a series of British Isles and Canary Islands itineraries.

Even the UK’s most northerly port, Lerwick Harbour, Scotland, set new records in 2024, with 134 cruise ships calling at the destination, which lies in the Shetland archipelago. Total cruise passengers exceeded 138,000, representing a 21% spike compared to 2023.

In 2025, 135 cruise ships are expected to call at the Scottish port.

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

The Icelandic government is replacing last year’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 ship’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 guests’ onboard accounts.

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“During our guest’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,” said MSC Cruises in a letter to passengers.

“To 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,” 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

Iceland’s new fee has been introduced in response to the escalating impact of tourism on the country’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 year’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.

In December 2024, Greece voted to impose an infrastructure fee of €20 for cruise guests who visit the fragile islands of Santorini and Mykonos, as well as a lesser fee of €5 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 €5 fee, implemented for just 29 days in 2024, raised €2.4 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 Association’s request to rework the immigration tax, saying it would have a “devastating impact on cruise tourism, Mexico’s economy, and the livelihoods of its coastal communities.”

One of the French Riviera’s most popular destinations may become harder to reach via cruise ship this summer if the city’s mayor has his way.

On January 21, 2025, Mayor Christian Estrosi announced plans to ban large-capacity cruise ships from Nice, France, beginning in July 2025. This would apply to any ship with more than 900 passengers.

According to Riviera Radio, the decision is based on environmental concerns, with Estrosi wanting to stop ships that “consume nothing and leave their waste behind” in the UNESCO World Heritage site.

Estrosi’s ban would go into effect on July 1, 2025, with the mayor attempting to “cancel all cruises that can still be cancelled ahead of drafting a banning order.”

Currently, Marella Cruises, Cunard, and Celebrity Cruises have sailings scheduled in July, including two arrivals from Marella via the 2,076-passenger Marella Discovery and the 1,886-guest Marella Voyager.

Cunard’s 2,061-guest Queen Victoria is slated to arrive on July 11, while Celebrity Equinox, carrying up to 2,850 passengers, will arrive on France’s Bastille Day, July 14.

The same ships are scheduled to call in August and beyond, along with Oceania Cruises’ Vista, with up to 1,200 passengers, and the largest ship scheduled to visit during the peak of summer, Celebrity Cruises’ 3,260-guest Celebrity Ascent.

Royal Caribbean’s Voyager of the Seas and Explorer of the Seas, with 3,602 and 4,290 passengers, respectively, are scheduled to arrive in September. 

P&O Cruises, Holland America Line, Princess Cruises, and Viking Oceans are also some of the larger cruise lines regularly operating in the port in 2025.

Outside of its cruise tourism, the city receives more than 5 million visitors annually and is the second most-visited city in the country, following Paris.

Its port, situated in a natural harbor, features two terminals with berths that can manage up to 6,318 passengers a day.

Nearby, Cannes, which saw 318,000 passenger arrivals in 2024 to the town of roughly 75,000 people, is considering a similar ban to restrict large cruise ships.

Navigating Sustainability and Cruise Traffic

The French Riviera, situated on France’s southern coast along the Mediterranean Sea, manages a large influx of cruise traffic through several ports.

Its largest port, Marseille, stands as France’s largest cruise port, handling over 33 million passengers annually.

Nice’s port, in contrast, recorded 452,000 passengers at its pre-Covid peak in 2019. 

The move by Nice’s mayor parallels initiatives in other prominent European destinations, which are also wrestling with the environmental impacts of mass tourism.

For example, Venice, another UNESCO World Heritage site, implemented a similar ban on large cruise ships in 2021.

Its restriction stops ships heavier than 25,000 gross tons from entering its Grand Canal, forcing them instead to dock at less central ports like Fusina and Marghera, located 20 to 45 minutes by bus from the historic city center.

With that not stopping the influx – some 540,000 cruise passengers arrived in the city in 2024 – Venice implemented a €5.00 tourist fee during peak 2024 travel. It will double the fee in 2025.

In 2023, Barcelona also began a partial ban by forcing cruise ships away from its northern docks, Muelle Barcelona Norte and the World Trade Center. 

Last summer, its mayor, Jaume Collboni, announced plans to limit the number of cruise ship passengers allowed to disembark to further curb traffic, which had reached 3.6 million in 2023.