Victory I Cruise: Boarding Ship for Three-night Great Lakes adventure, Cruise Etiquette: People You Tip (and People You Don’t), 10 Things I Love About German Christmas Markets, 10 Things You’ve Always Wanted to Do on a Cruise. We were ready to explore on our own. Do you book a ship excursion, explore on your own, or stay on the ship? Sometimes a port's real attractions may be miles (sometimes a lot of miles) from where your ship is docked -- a common enough occurrence in Hawaii, Alaska, and Mexico's Yucatán Peninsula, among other places. For those who like a little sweat in their port visits, there are physically challenging options such as kayaking, horseback riding, mountain biking, ziplining, dog sledding, and river rafting. Some ports are as easy as just … Volcano crater in Santorini. For example, Pisa is only 20 minutes from Livorno by train. How to Explore a Port Destination on Your Own. Over dinner, they remark: “All these islands are the same.” How can you make your experience better? Plan your own shore excursions Designing your own day can save a ton of money. Located in the Northeastern area of the Caribbean Sea, St. Thomas is part of the Leeward Islands enjoying both a wonderful and reliable weather in the winter months. Port Promotions currently has tours in the Caribbean, Alaska, Hawaii, and Europe. If your cruise line is set up for prebooking before your trip, that's a good option. Both ocean and river cruises have land tour packages. If you hop on your cruise line shuttle and buy your own tickets at the train station, €5 euros roundtrip, you can save about $85 per person. We have already booked excursions in Athens, Naples and Florence. ), Helsinki, Tallin, St. Petersburg, and Norwegian ports. The ports we cover on this website and in our books vary greatly, from quiet un--touristed ports such as Jost Van Dyke, where your ship will likely be the only one in sight, to superbustling tourist towns such as Ketchikan, Alaska, which is almost always jampacked with other ships. The well-organized traveler can do a lot during an eight-hour stop. Join our newsletter! The popular Atlantis submarine tour, for example -- offered at Grand Cayman, Nassau, and St. Thomas, among other places -- usually has an office/agent in the cruise terminals or nearby. 6 Best Nassau Beaches From Your Cruise Port! (Don't ask). Kiel, Copenhagen, Wuremunde(? For this charge, we received transportation from the cruise port to Old San Juan, a few hours on our own to explore and then transportation on to the airport. (Rob O'Neal / Florida Keys News Bureau / Associated Press) We feature: The web's most complete profiles on 42 of the most popular cruise ports. Mediterranean cruise ports and best European cruise destinations. Receive insider offers directly from the cruise lines. Frommer's, and carefully selected third parties, use cookies on this site to improve performance, for analytics and for advertising. But as all cruise travelers are aware, St Thomas can also be hit by devastating hurricanes. Designed specifically for cruise ship passengers, CruisePortInsider provides all the info you need to know on each port, plus maps, port schedules, detailed shore excursion descriptions, "On Your Own" tips, videos and more. You show up. All Things Cruise is dedicated to the joy of travel. In each port review, we run through a sampling of both the best excursions and the best sights and activities you can see and do on your own. Excursions can often fill up fast, especially on the megaships, so don't dawdle in signing up. Commentdocument.getElementById("comment").setAttribute( "id", "a14fd19e842915b031034855b1a19bd3" );document.getElementById("c47cc4a99f").setAttribute( "id", "comment" ); Bryce and his wife Jane have traveled extensively throughout the world, and have earned Diamond status with Cunard. The most comprehensive descriptions, reviews and videos on over 1,400 cruise ship shore excursions. If a tour offered by your ship is booked up, you can try to book it independently once you get to port. Galveston Island, TXGalveston is a tropical island in the Gulf of Mexico that you’ll cruise away from, … You pay. Roberts Tramway is located just a few meters from the cruise dock, so it's easy enough to just walk over and buy a ticket yourself. All of the content (with the exception of the cruise news) is lovingly hand written by our travel writers.If you wish to use this content, please contact us. In a conference call this week with The Points Guy and several other travel media outlets, MSC Cruises CEO Gianni Onorato suggested the measure was critical to ensuring that passengers and crew don’t bring COVID-19 on board the ships after visiting a port. In such cases, touring on your own could be an inefficient use of your time, entailing lots of hassles and planning, and possibly costing more. In these places, the shore excursions offered by the cruise lines are a good way to go. Hands Down! Explore Athens On Your Own is a Disney Cruise Line Port Adventure in Piraeus, Greece, featuring a self-guided daytrip in Athens. Whether you prefer a 360 degree view from the fly bridge or choose the lower deck … Maybe that’s not you. Fat Salmon Charters Experience a spectacular Wildlife Cruise aboard Fat Salmon's fully equipped, twin engine vessel, Badly Bent. Due to factors such as accessibility of local transportation, condition of roads, terrain, and the amount of time your ship is in port (which can range from 4 or 5 hours to 10 or more), some ports are easy to explore independently, others less so. When you stop in posts, visit the local library for free internet access. With that in mind, here’s our guide to doing your own shore excursions on your next cruise. Hello and welcome aboard the Mediterranean Cruise Ports Easy travel and vacation guide! When it comes to exploring on your own, one downside is that you forgo the kind of narrative you get from a guide, and you may miss out on some of the historical and cultural nuances of a particular attraction. No other port provides such a spectacular setting as cruise ships anchor in an immense bay formed by a collapsed volcano, between the still-active crater and multi-hued cliffs. How you spend your time in port can make the difference between a great cruise experience and a big fat disappointment. If not, sign up on the first day of your cruise. You don’t need to reinvent the wheel. That's why most lines seem to offer the same tours, though prices often vary slightly. ... that doesn’t mean you can’t conduct a family tour of your own to get a feel for the various ports on your cruise route. However, they will ask: “What did you see?” and “Did you have a good time?” When you tell them about how you explored and immersed yourself in the local culture, they will want to come along on your next trip! Alaska Cruise Ports On Your Own and On A Budget: Ketchikan. Check Email. While the cruise lines themselves offer lots to choose from, you may opt to plan a tour independently, due to flexibility or price concerns. A Bar Harbor Cruise Port Itinerary on Your Own Rent a Car See the Town (s) Devour Fresh Seafood Visit a National Park Shop for Souvenirs Take Pretty Pictures Bar Harbor: A Visit to Remember Work on a Cruise Ship - Cruise Podcast -
Two Perfect Days. Specializing in ocean, river, ultra-luxury, small ship and expedition cruises. St Thomas is one of the most visited islands in the Caribbean and the most popular of the U.S. Virgin Islands Cruise Ports. Few cruise ports in the World are genuinely unique, but Santorini is undoubtedly one of a kind. Receive insider offers directly from the cruise lines. How you spend your time in port can make the difference between a great cruise experience and a big fat disappointment. If a tour offered by your ship is booked up, you can try to book it independently once you get to port. He has numerous articles published in the financial industry and is now also focusing on writing about cruise experiences. Other options include contacting an outside company, such as Port Promotions (www.portpromotions.com), at least a few weeks before your cruise. I stick with the ship excursions for Mexico and Alaska, but explore on my own (via golf cart, jeep or rental car) when in the Caribbean. Arriving in a port with time to kill and no clue what to do can speedily turn an otherwise enjoyable cruise into a miserable trip.