If you want to catch the northern lights, this is a game-changer

One of nature’s greatest wonders is elusive, but chasing it aboard a cruise ship gives you a fair chance of a spectacular encounter.

In February this year, Tom Kerss, who has the delightful title of “chief aurora chaser” for cruise line Hurtigruten, witnessed extreme pulsating northern lights at Narvik in Norway.

It was one of the longest and most powerful displays of the phenomenon ever recorded. Pulsating auroras typically last a quarter-hour, but this one continued in flashing green and pink over many hours.

Few of us will be lucky enough to see such a rare occurrence, but more regular northern lights typically appear between September and March. That means chilly cruising, but a ship offers cosy comforts, while the long dark nights and lack of light interference maximise your chance of seeing this elusive phenomenon.

The northern lights, or aurora borealis, are created when electric particles from solar winds hit the Earth’s magnetosphere and emit light. The display usually opens with vivid waves and explosions of light, later quietening down to pulses of colour.

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They don’t appear every night, but often enough that you’ll likely see them on a cruise. Hurtigruten, which operates year-round in Norway, is so confident that it offers customers a “northern lights promise” of a free second cruise if the cruise they’re on (of 11 days or longer) doesn’t deliver an official aurora sighting.

Another Norwegian boutique line, Havila Voyages, sails four ships during the winter aurora season. It, too, has a sighting guarantee, offering a second six- or seven-day voyage to anyone who has sailed a 12-day cruise and been robbed of the spectacle.

Ponant is another company that goes chasing the aurora in the Canadian Arctic, Greenland, Scandinavia and other parts of northern Europe. In 2025, which was a particularly good year for the celestial displays, it operated several dedicated Northern Lights Quest itineraries.

Meanwhile, Australian company Aurora Expeditions has an 18-day “Northern Lights Explorer” voyage in August 2027 in Norway, Greenland and Iceland, followed by another “Under the Northern Lights” cruise in Iceland and East Greenland in September 2027.

You don’t have to take an expedition cruise to see the aurora, however. Cunard sails annual Northern Lights itineraries in Norway, such as one in October 2027 return to Southampton on Queen Anne. P&O Cruises has similar journeys in March and November 2027.

Viking Cruises has a new “In Search of the Northern Lights” itinerary with several departures in January-March 2027. The 13-day journey from London (Tilbury) to Tromso – or the reverse – visits destinations above the Arctic Circle, including Narvik, Harstad and Alta.

And Holland America has a 14-day cruise between Rotterdam and Amsterdam this October that overnights in both Tromso and Alta in quest of the fabled spectacle.

While Norway is the focus of most cruises, the lights can also be seen in the Canadian Arctic, Iceland, Greenland and high-latitude Alaska. Holland America, for example, has sailings in Alaska in August and September 2027 that offer an extended three-day land tour to inland Fairbanks, considered one of the world’s best viewing spots.

The Mississippi is one of the world’s longest rivers and drains a sizeable chunk of America into the Gulf of Mexico.

But it also runs through American history and culture, with riverside towns associated with European exploration, the Civil War, the civil rights movement, and the emergence of modern jazz, pop and rock music.

Most cruise itineraries run from jazz city New Orleans to rock ‘n’ roll city Memphis, but there are many variations. From Memphis, you can continue upriver as far as St Paul in Minnesota, or veer off into the Ohio and Cumberland rivers to finish in country-music capital Nashville.

There are only two operators of note. American Cruise Lines offers the most varied itineraries. It operates six ships of 150 or 180 guests, two of which are paddle-wheelers, although modern builds.

Viking River Cruises operates only one ship, which carries 386 passengers, and sails an increasing range of itineraries, including some that take you to Louisville in Kentucky, with a focus on Civil War history and bluegrass music.

Mississippi itineraries generally last a week and focus on lower, middle or upper reaches of the river, but can be combined for more extended journeys. Cruise downstream if you want to minimise shipboard time.

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