Northern Lights cruises have become one of the reliable winter sellers for British holidaymakers, usually on large ships heading north from UK ports. Hapag-Lloyd Cruises offers a pointed contrast: a small expedition ship, a maximum of 230 guests, and a winter spent picking through Norway’s fjords and the frozen Baltic.
For the 2026/27 season, the German line is again running its HANSEATIC nature on aurora-focused voyages from Hamburg, all beginning and ending at the same port for straightforward logistics.
Where it sails
The programme includes seven Northern Lights voyages along Norway’s fjord coast to the North Cape, taking in the Lofoten Islands, the Geirangerfjord, Alta and Tromsø, the “Gateway to the Arctic”.
There are also Lapland voyages into the Gulf of Bothnia as far as Kemi, plus an Advent cruise through the winter Baltic with stops in Stockholm and Copenhagen.
More than aurora-watching
Because it is an expedition ship, the days are built around activity: dog sledding through the polar night, snowshoe hikes, fjordside saunas, kayaking in dry suits and visits to ice hotels. The line says heightened solar activity should make for particularly strong aurora displays this season.
A changing Arctic
One detail stands out as a marker of a shifting north: Hapag-Lloyd has redesigned two Gulf of Bothnia voyages around changing ice. After several very cold winters, ice has thickened to the point that, outside January and February, the region can no longer be reliably navigated even by a polar-class ship.
Why it matters for UK cruisers
This is a euro-priced, largely German-market programme — from around €9,390 per person — so it is not a direct rival to the Southampton aurora cruises most UK readers will consider.
But it is a useful reference point: where mainstream Northern Lights sailings sell comfort and scale, the expedition approach sells access and activity, getting smaller groups into narrow fjords and onto the ice. After 2026/27, Hapag-Lloyd is pausing its Scandinavian winter and sending HANSEATIC nature to the Indian Ocean instead — so this season is something of a window.
Image: Marina Kugelmann/Hapag-Lloyd Cruises
