I sailed all around Iceland on a small luxury cruise. My $6,500 trip was a surprisingly incredible value.

• I sailed on Windstar's seven-day cruise around Iceland for $6,500.
• The ship was small and luxurious, and it ended up being a really valuable investment.
• Iceland tends to be expensive, and I got to see it all in one fell swoop.

I've been scheming about the best way to see Iceland for years. This year, I finally figured it out when I took a seven-day cruise circumnavigating the country on Windstar's Star Pride ship.

The continuous views of fjords, waterfalls, and colorful villages from the small, comfortable ship were so worth it.

It ended up being such a great value that I'm confident it's one of the best ways to get around and explore Iceland.

When I arrived in Reykjavík, I immediately got sticker shock

My cruise started in Reykjavík. I flew into the capital city early in the morning and decided to get over my jet lag with a visit to Sky Lagoon Spa before boarding the ship in the afternoon.

I chose Sky Lagoon instead of the more famous Blue Lagoon because it was significantly closer to town. I was immediately grateful when my short taxi ride cost over $100.

This became something of a theme. Popular rideshare programs like Uber and Lyft don't operate in Iceland, and the taxis and rental cars were both startlingly expensive.

The more I explored, the more high price tags I found on everything from groceries and restaurants to clothing. Even those beautiful Icelandic wool sweaters I thought I might buy as a souvenir were at least $300 a pop.

The cruise offers a way to get around the whole country for a fixed price

Since I was celebrating my birthday, I splurged a bit on an upgraded cruise booking and paid $6,500. However, realistically, I could've done the whole trip with fewer perks for closer to $5,000.

That may sound like a lot, but everything was taken care of for us on the cruise.

I ate pretty much every meal on the ship — even on days when we were in port — because it was easily the best cruise food I've ever had. Dining out in Iceland would've really dug into my budget.

We also got access to hard-to-reach destinations like Heimaey Island, which would've been very difficult to pull off on my own.

The sparsely inhabited archipelago is home to a recently active volcano and baby Atlantic puffins. It would've been a real shame to miss it.

As much as I loved visiting places like Seydisfjordur, Akureyri, and Ísafjörður, it wasn't just the beautiful ports that made this trip amazing. The cruise itself was such an experience.

Crossing over the Arctic Circle felt like a real expedition, especially with all of the waves crashing in the darkness outside.

From the deck of the ship, I gazed out over Iceland's wide-open skies, waterfalls, bright-green moss, and deep-blue sea.

I'm so glad I booked a cruise instead of exploring Iceland on my own

Believe it or not, at the end of my cruise, I had a bit of money to spare in my travel budget.

I booked an early morning trail ride atop an Icelandic horse where we rode through misty fields just outside Reykjavík. Everything was quiet apart from the horse's sweet clip-clopping hooves.

During this beautiful end to my trip, I felt at peace — like my bank account wouldn't have me falling onto the nearest fainting couch when I got home.

Then, I took a taxi to the airport that cost $150 for a 20-minute ride. It only cemented how good a value the cruise really was.

This story was originally published on March 3, 2025, and most recently updated on August 21, 2025.