REDISCOVER THE BRITISH ISLES

Join the excitement of Saga’s Spirit of Discovery inaugural cruise. The round-the-British-Isles voyage from Dover is a celebration of British nature, culture and spirit, and will stop at Newcastle, South Queensferry (for Edinburgh), Kirkwall (the Orkneys), Belfast, Liverpool, Dublin, Cobh (for Cork), Portland in Dorset, Guernsey’s St Peter Port and

balcony with every cabin and The Club by Jools Holland, a Fifties-styled supper club – and there’s an on-board comedian, too.

Departing July 10 2019, the 13-night A British First cruise costs from £5,034 per person

(0808 278 3157; travel.saga.co.uk).

CROSSING THE CHANNEL

Cruise & Maritime Voyages offers a wide choice of affordable British Isles cruises, with departures from eight UK ports. Some itineraries also visit mainland Europe. For example, a British Isles cruise from London Tilbury stops at Amsterdam and the pretty Normandy port of Honfleur, as well as the Orkneys, the Isle of Mull, Belfast, Dublin, the Isles of Scilly and Plymouth.

Departing Oct 6 2019, the 10-night British Isles & Cities Discovery costs from £819 per person (0844 998 9564; cruiseandmaritime.com).

NORTHERN EUROPE IN DECO STYLE

Cunard runs a number of no-fly voyages from Southampton covering the must-see Baltic cities. A September departure on the elegant, art deco-styled Queen Elizabeth includes, like most Baltic cruises, an overnight stay in St Petersburg – an out-of-hours evening tour of the Hermitage is a possible excursion.

The cruise also has a late-evening departure from Copenhagen, and visits Warnemünde (Germany), as well as Helsinki, Tallinn (Estonia) and Riga (Latvia).

Departing September 20 2019, the 14-night Baltic Highlights cruise costs from £1,699 per person

(0344 338 8650; cunard.co.uk).

WALKING THE BALTIC ISLANDS

Guided, leisurely group walks explore quaint, historic ports on idyllic islands which are little-known to non-Scandinavians, such as

Danish Bornholm, Swedish Gotland and the Finnish Aland archipelago, on a new Baltic cruise with Ramblers’ Cruise & Walk programme. Stockholm and Copenhagen are also included as part of the journey on Fred Olsen’s Boudicca, a traditionally British ship.

Departing September 15 2019, the 11-night Scandinavian Islands round trip from Dover, costs from £1,875, including walking excursions (01707 818987; ramblersholidays.co.uk).

SCANDI CRUSH

Fit in more ports by cutting out

North Sea crossings, flying straight to a Scandinavian city and starting your cruise from there. Oceania Cruises offers various fly-cruise Baltic itineraries in 2019 on the Marina (good for foodies, with six gourmet restaurants on board) and many of the cheaper cabins are already sold out for 2019. Its Scandinavian Ballads cruise, from Stockholm to Copenhagen, packs in Tallinn, St Petersburg (overnight), Helsinki, Riga, Klaipeda (Lithuania), Gdansk (Poland) and Rostock (Germany) in 10 days.

Departing August 24 2019, the Scandinavian Ballads cruise costs from £4,049 in a Veranda Stateroom (0345 505 1920; oceaniacruises.com).

NORTHERN EXPOSURE

Most cruises to Greenland visit only a handful of ports, usually on a relatively well-travelled route along the central western coast. Hurtigruten offers a selection of such cruises, but it also has a Midnight Sun Exploration aboard the 318-passenger MS Fram that ventures much farther north than most others, including rare visits to Thule and d Siorapaluk, which is the world’s ’s most northerly “natural” inhabited bited community, just 846 miles from m the North Pole. The 16-day Thule and Disko o Bay – Midnight Sun Exploration ion cruise departs Copenhagen on n August 5 2019, and costs from m £9,167 per person including round-trip flights from Copenhagen (020 3733 0892; hurtigruten.co.uk).