This cross-case analysis is based on five case reports from the project “Sustainable Arctic cruise communities: From practice to governance” founded by the Norwegian Research Council for the period of 2020–2024 (Grant 301540). Throughout the project, we have examined cruise practices in coastal Arctic communities that receive overseas and expedition cruise tourists. Extensive fieldwork has been conducted in five case locations: Ísafjörður in Iceland; Nuuk in Kalaallit Nunaat (Greenland); and Alta, Honningsvåg, and the Lofoten Islands in Norway and Sápmi. The study looks at the effects of cruise tourism development and how they vary among Arctic communities depending on the different social, political and institutional settings, as well as the possibilities to adopt and respond to challenges and changes that often have global origin