Start Your SearchUK departure ports
Cruises from Belfast
Forty departures, and they skip the middle of the market entirely. Belfast is budget round-Britain or genuine luxury, with almost nothing in between.
Who sailing from Belfast suits
Anyone in Northern Ireland itself, for whom this is the local option rather than a ferry or a flight to England or Scotland before the holiday starts.
Anyone drawn to Viking's British Isles product. Viking is the biggest line here, and every Belfast sailing it runs is the same shape: fourteen nights around Britain and Ireland's coastline.
Anyone who wants ultra-luxury with some adventure in it. Seabourn's Belfast sailings run on its two expedition ships, Seabourn Venture and Seabourn Pursuit, heading for the Faroes, Iceland and the wilder Scottish islands, with Zodiacs and an expedition team aboard. That is a very different week from a Seabourn Mediterranean cruise, under the same name.
Anyone wanting good-value round-Britain-and-Ireland cruising. Ambassador covers the Hebrides, the Scottish Highlands, the Scilly Isles and the French coast from Belfast, from four nights to three weeks and more.
When you'd be better off elsewhere
Anyone who wants the middle of the market. There is no P&O, Princess, Celebrity or Fred. Olsen here, the premium lines most British cruisers start with. From Belfast you are either on Ambassador at the value end or paying luxury fares for Viking, Oceania, Seabourn or Silversea.
Families with children. None of Belfast's five lines is built around them: Viking, Oceania and Ambassador are adults-only, and Seabourn and Silversea carry very few children in practice.
Anyone wanting a short taster sailing. Belfast's shortest departure is four nights, on Ambassador. The two- and three-night breaks are at Tilbury.
There is no middle of the market here
Most British ports offer a ladder: a mainstream line, a couple of premium ones, and something more expensive at the top. Belfast does not. Its forty departures come from three tiers with a gap in the middle.
At the value end is Ambassador, adults-only, older ships, traditional round-Britain itineraries. Then the price jumps straight to luxury: Viking and Oceania, both adults-only, both with a fare that includes a good deal more. And at the top, Seabourn and Silversea, where the fare starts in the thousands per person.
What is missing is the tier most British cruisers actually book: the premium lines that sit between those two worlds on price. If that is where you are comfortable, Belfast will feel as though it offers either less than you want or more than you meant to spend, and a flight or a ferry to a mainland port may give you far more choice.
If you are happy at either end, it is a surprisingly strong line-up for a regional port. One more thing worth knowing: Silversea's Belfast sailings are one-way, to Edinburgh or Copenhagen, which suits a longer journey better than a round trip home.
Which lines board at Belfast
Not from here, despite what you might expect: P&O Cruises, Cunard, Princess Cruises, Royal Caribbean International, Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines.
What actually sails from Belfast
Viking: British Isles & Ireland, a uniform 14 nights
Ambassador: round-Britain-and-Ireland sailings taking in the Hebrides, the Scottish Highlands and the Scilly Isles, 4 to 23 nights
Seabourn: Wild Isles, the Faroe Islands and Iceland on its expedition ships, remote North Atlantic itineraries from eleven nights upward
Silversea: one-way repositioning voyages, Belfast to Edinburgh or Belfast to Copenhagen
Departures from Belfast at a glance
40 sailings leave Belfast across the current programme, typically from 4 to 40 nights, starting around £549 per person. The season we can see runs April to October.
- 16 sailingsViking Ocean Cruises: Viking Astrea, Viking Libra, Viking Lyra, Viking Mars, Viking Mira, Viking Saturn, Viking Sky, Viking Vela, Viking Vesta
- 11 sailingsAmbassador Cruise Line: Ambition
- 10 sailingsSeabourn: Seabourn Pursuit, Seabourn Venture
- 2 sailingsSilversea: Silver Dawn, Silver Wind
- 1 sailingOceania Cruises: Oceania Marina
Checked 2026-08-23 against live cruise-line inventory. Departure totals are exact. Ships, trip lengths and the season are what we saw in a sample of the programme, so a line may run others. Prices are the lowest we could see and move daily.
Getting there
By ferry
Stena Line runs from Cairnryan in Scotland, sailing out of Loch Ryan Port, and from Liverpool. That is the direct route for anyone bringing a car from the mainland, and Cairnryan is the shorter crossing of the two. However you arrive, whether by ferry, by air or by train, the last leg is a short taxi to the berth: the cruise ships work Pollock Dock rather than the passenger ferry terminal, so do not assume you can walk between the two.
By air
Belfast International and George Best Belfast City airports both serve the city, and both are a short run from the cruise terminal, the more practical route for most guests joining from elsewhere in the UK.
By road, within Northern Ireland
The M1 and M2 motorways and the coastal A2 connect Belfast to the rest of Northern Ireland; from the Republic of Ireland the M1 runs directly from Dublin.
Ready to sail?
Tell us what you're after, from Belfast
Answer in plain English and we'll match you to the ship that fits, judged on fit, never on who pays us more.
Find my cruise from Belfast