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Cruises from Edinburgh
Every single line sailing from Leith is Luxury tier or above, nothing mass-market, nothing family. And the Silversea ships that call here aren't the classic fleet, they're the expedition ones.
Who sailing from Edinburgh suits
Anyone wanting genuine expedition or ultra-luxury cruising from Scotland rather than the south coast. Every line here, Windstar, Seabourn, Silversea Expeditions, Regent Seven Seas, Azamara and Scenic Eclipse, sits at Luxury, Ultra-Luxury or Expedition on our ladder. There is no mass-market or family option at all.
Anyone drawn specifically to Silversea Expeditions. Both of Leith's Silversea sailings run on expedition-configured ships, Silver Wind and Silver Endeavour, real polar hardware doing one-way voyages to Dublin, Reykjavik and Copenhagen, not the classic all-inclusive fleet.
Anyone wanting proper small-ship yachting or destination-immersion cruising without flying to join it. Windstar's Gaelic Explorers routes and Azamara's Norway Intensive itineraries both depart straight from the city.
Anyone chasing a genuinely long, remote voyage. Seabourn's Wild Scottish Isles programme runs out to 44 nights, reaching Iceland, Greenland and Baffin Island, among the longest itineraries departing any UK port on this site.
When you'd be better off elsewhere
Anyone wanting mass-market pricing or a family cruise. Nothing here fits either brief; Southampton, Portsmouth or Liverpool-and-Newcastle is where that lives.
Anyone wanting a short taster or budget break. The shortest sailing from Leith is 8 nights, on Windstar; there is no Tilbury- or Portsmouth-style weekend option.
Anyone specifically wanting Silversea's classic, resort-style product. The Silversea ships here are the expedition ones, not the classic fleet, see below.
The Silversea ships here are the polar ones, not the classic fleet
Leith is the most upmarket port on this site by a real margin, not a marketing claim but a fact of its own inventory: every line that sails from here, without exception, sits at Luxury tier or above. No other UK departure port on the site can say that.
The Silversea point is worth being precise about, because the name alone can mislead. Both of the Silversea sailings from Leith run on Silver Wind and Silver Endeavour, ships that carry ice-class hulls, Zodiac fleets and dedicated expedition teams, the same fleet covered on our Silversea Expeditions page, not the elegant resort-style ships covered on the classic Silversea page. A guest picturing Silversea's usual formal evenings and destination-hopping in iconic ports would get something different here: one-way polar-adjacent voyages to Dublin, Reykjavik and Copenhagen. Neither is better, they are simply different holidays, and Leith happens to be where the expedition side of the brand actually boards from Britain.
The rest of the line-up tells a similar story at smaller scale: Regent Seven Seas' inclusive luxury, Azamara's destination immersion, Scenic Eclipse's helicopter-and-submarine expedition hardware, and Seabourn's genuinely remote Wild Isles voyages reaching as far as Baffin Island. None of it is aimed at a first-time cruiser or a family, and none of it pretends to be.
Which lines board at Edinburgh
Not from here, despite what you might expect: P&O Cruises, Cunard, Princess Cruises, Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines, MSC Cruises.
What actually sails from Edinburgh
Windstar: Gaelic Explorers, Norway and Scandinavian and Baltic yacht sailings, 8 to 18 nights
Seabourn: Wild Scottish Isles, extending to Iceland, Greenland and Baffin Island on the longest voyages, 14 to 44 nights
Silversea Expeditions: one-way polar-adjacent voyages to Dublin, Reykjavik or Copenhagen, 11 to 12 nights
Regent Seven Seas: inclusive luxury around Britain and Ireland's coast, 12 to 14 nights
Azamara: Norway Intensive, calling at Olden, North Cape and Trondheim, 17 nights
Scenic Eclipse: Scotland and the Norwegian fjords, 10 nights
Departures from Edinburgh at a glance
17 sailings leave Edinburgh across the current programme, from 8 to 59 nights, starting around £4,269 per person. The season we can see runs May to August.
- 4 sailingsWindstar: Star Explorer
- 4 sailingsSeabourn: Seabourn Venture
- 4 sailingsWindstar Cruises: Star Explorer
- 3 sailingsRegent Seven Seas Cruises: Seven Seas Voyager
- 3 sailingsSilversea: Silver Endeavour, Silver Wind
- 2 sailingsAzamara: Azamara Journey, Azamara Quest
- 1 sailingScenic Eclipse: Scenic Eclipse
- 1 sailingScenic Ocean Cruises: Scenic Eclipse
Checked 2026-08-23 against live cruise-line inventory. Departure totals are exact; the ships listed are those we saw in a sample of each operator's programme, so a line may run others. Prices are the lowest we could see and move daily.
Getting there
By tram and rail
Edinburgh Waverley is the main station, with direct services from London King's Cross taking a little over four hours. The Edinburgh Tram line runs from the city centre out to Newhaven, close to Leith and the cruise berths, since its 2023 extension.
By road
The A1 from the south and the A90/M90 from the north both run into Edinburgh, with Leith docks signposted from the city's ring road.
By air
Edinburgh Airport is close to the city and well served from across the UK and internationally, a short transfer from the docks.
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Tell us what you're after, from Edinburgh
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