UK departure ports

Cruises from Tilbury

London's cruise port in name, Essex in fact — and the home of Britain's short-break fleet. If you want to be at sea for three nights rather than fourteen, this is the port that does it.

Who sailing from Tilbury suits

Anyone in London, Essex, Kent or East Anglia who does not fancy the trek to Southampton. From most of the capital you are at the ship in about an hour and a half, and you have not crossed the country to get there.
Anyone who wants a genuinely short cruise. Tilbury runs two-, three-, four- and five-night sailings all year — to Amsterdam, Bruges, Rotterdam, Hamburg and northern France — and that is the thing it does that Southampton barely bothers with. A long weekend at sea is a real option here and almost nowhere else in Britain.
Anyone testing whether they even like cruising. There is a two-night taster sailing on the board, which is about as low a commitment as the industry offers. Far better to find out over a weekend than a fortnight.
Anyone who wants the ship quiet. The two lines that account for almost everything sailing from here are both built around adults, so the atmosphere is closer to a country hotel than a resort.

When you'd be better off elsewhere

Families with children — and this is the clearest piece of advice on the page. Ambassador and Viking together account for all but a handful of the departures from Tilbury, and both are adult-oriented lines. There is no meaningful family cruise from this port. Southampton is where you want to be, and it is not a close call.
Anyone picturing the Mediterranean in a week. Tilbury does reach the Med, but by sea from the Thames it is a month-long voyage, not a seven-night one. Fly to Barcelona or Civitavecchia and join a ship there.
Anyone who wants to choose between ships. Realistically you are choosing between two Ambassador ships and whichever Viking vessel is on the berth. If the ship itself is the holiday, Southampton has fifteen lines and Tilbury has two that matter.

It is marketed as London, and it is in Essex

The terminal trades on the London name, and it is the closest thing to a London cruise port that can take a full-size ship. But Tilbury sits on the north bank of the Thames in Essex, roughly twenty-five miles east of the centre. If you have pictured boarding somewhere near Tower Bridge, adjust that picture now rather than on the morning.

That matters mostly for how you plan the day, and it is easily solved — see Getting there below. It matters more if someone is dropping you off, or if you have booked a London hotel the night before on the assumption you could walk to the ship.

London proper does have two cruise berths, and it is worth knowing what they actually are. Greenwich handles a decent volume, almost all of it Viking, whose ocean ships use it as their London base. Tower Bridge takes a handful of sailings a year from small expedition and boutique operators — Atlas, Lindblad, Windstar — on ships carrying a couple of hundred guests. Both are real; neither is an alternative to Tilbury for a mainstream cruise, because the ships that sail from Tilbury are far too large to come that far up the river.

So the honest summary is: if you want a big ship from London, you want Tilbury, and you should plan for Essex.

Which lines board at Tilbury

Ambassador Cruise Line
Viking Ocean Cruises

Not from here, despite what you might expect: P&O Cruises, Cunard, Princess Cruises, Royal Caribbean International.

What actually sails from Tilbury

Short breaks to Holland and Belgium — two to five nights to Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Bruges and Antwerp, running all year and the backbone of this port
Christmas market sailings — a very large share of the winter programme, to Belgium, Holland and Germany, and they sell out early
Northern France and the Channel — Honfleur, Cherbourg, the Normandy coast, usually four or five nights
Norwegian fjords and the Northern Lights — a week and up in season, plus longer Arctic sailings in the depths of winter
Iceland, Spain and Portugal — twelve to fifteen nights, on the larger of the Ambassador ships
Grand voyages — the Caribbean, the Mediterranean and South America at four, six and more weeks, which is not what most people expect to find leaving the Thames

Getting there

By rail

c2c from London Fenchurch Street to Tilbury Town, a little over half an hour, then a short taxi to the terminal — it is about a mile, and not a walk you want with cases. Fenchurch Street is a few minutes from Tower Hill on the Underground, so the whole journey from most of central London is comfortably under two hours.

By road

M25 to junction 30 or 31, then the A13 east and follow the signs for the port. From the Dartford Crossing it is a short run. Terminal parking is booked through the cruise line when you book the cruise rather than paid on arrival.

By air

You should not need one, which is rather the point of sailing from here. If someone is flying in to join you, London City and Southend are the nearest airports and both are straightforward; Heathrow and Gatwick work but you are crossing London to get to the ship.

Ready to sail?

Tell us what you're after, from Tilbury

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 Tilbury