How To Organize Your Time When Visiting A Cruise Port (2024)

Last Updated on March 11, 2024 by Nicole

You have booked your cruise, and now the cruise liner is sending you email reminders about booking your shore excursions with them. You look at the prices, count the number of people at your party, and almost faint. The fantastic cruise deal you couldn’t walk away from is starting to look less amazing. You don’t want to stay on board at these incredible ports. You are dying to explore and learn about the places where you are going. That’s one of the reasons why you decided to take this cruise.

What do you do? Bite the bullet and book your shore excursions through the cruise liner? Or find some other way to explore or fill your time at the port?

This post may contain affiliate links. That means that I may earn a small commission, at no extra cost to you, if you buy something through my site. This helps me run my website and produce the articles that I hope you find helpful.

Other Options

Although there are many reasons to take your first cruise, there are also many reasons never to take your first cruise ship holiday. For a discussion of those reasons, please see Cruise Holidays: Why You Should Avoid Them.

If you are still deciding whether to take a voyage on an ocean liner, please read 9 Best Reasons To Take Your First Cruise Ship.

For those planning their shore excursions in Cozumel and Costa May, Mexico, please see my review of two amazing shore excursions: 

• Cozumel Electric Bike Tour: An Amazing Shore Excursion With Kids; and 
•  Mahahual Beach: A Guide To The Best Costa Maya Excursion. 

Finally, if you haven’t already booked your cruise and are open to different destinations, please see:

• Alaskan Cruises: Why You Should Cruise from the Beautiful Port of Vancouver; and
•  Cruising The Galapagos Islands: Would We Do It Again?

What Is the True Purpose of a Shore Excursion?

Going on a cruise allows you to visit different countries and places you have never been to for days and weeks. However, staying on board for a long time may make your vacation uneventful.

Shore excursions will depend on the route of your cruise ship. Some stopovers include beautiful beaches, festive ports, and culture rich towns that will make your ocean liner experience memorable.

Best Shore Excursions

Before reaching the sail date, consider these five shore excursions to do by yourself and with your family. The options offer fun and budget friendly ideas for all shore excursioneer to enjoy.

Stay On Board

Some people love to remain on board when they reach a port. They do so for two main reasons.

First, they like the relative peace and quiet of the cruise ship once most passengers leave. They also like to use all of the on-board amenities without the craziness of a fully packed cruise.

Second, they don’t feel like the hassle of getting on and off the cruise ship. Cruise ships are enormous with a lot of people on them. Depending on the port and the passport or visa requirements of the country that you are visiting, there might be a lot of lining up and waiting to get on or off the boat.

The cruise ships are pretty good at minimizing this, but if you are on a lengthy cruise, there just might be days that you decide you can’t bear to go through that.

Most of the time, I can’t wait to get off the cruise ship. However, I do understand both of these sentiments. I have returned early from shore excursions and enjoyed spending time on the ship with plenty of space to myself. I have also wanted to avoid the process of getting on and off the boat.

Take a Stroll At The Port

This option is really only relevant for Caribbean cruise lines. In many ports, the port is nice and inviting with lots of amenities. You don’t have to leave it to go shopping or find restaurants and bars.  In other ports, there is a good selection of shops and restaurants just outside the port.

Without too much effort, you can go for a casual walk, have a drink or a meal and entertain yourself for a bit. Of course, what you are going to get is a very touristy experience. The merchandise for sale will be overpriced and lack originality.

The restaurants in and around the port will also be expensive and cater to tourists. It will not likely offer authentic food from the area. However,  this is an option.

In Europe, most ports are working ports. When you disembark, there is nothing pretty or inviting about them. Ships are being loaded or unloaded with cargo. It is much more difficult, if not impossible, to hang out at an European port and enjoy it.

Plan Your Own Excursion

Another option is to arrive at a port and go off on your own. This seemed to happen more often on our European cruises, but of course, this can be done anywhere. In Europe, cruise ships normally (but not always) dock near the city that you want to explore. Public transportation is usually very easy to access from the port.

Some people make a plan on where they want to go, how they will do it, and how best to manage their time. Others might only wish to see one particular site and feel comfortable taking the day to find it and explore it.

While others want nothing more than to shop, walk or find a terrific restaurant in the centre of the city without anything truly organized or nailed down. Normally, these people have been to the area before and feel quite comfortable finding their way, or are seasoned travellers confident in their abilities.

This option is not for everyone, but is quite achievable for those who are good with maps and have an adventurous spirit. To return to your cruise ship on time, you can go on a specific available shore excursion.

Water Excursions

Cozumel, Bermuda, and the Great Barrier Reef trips offer water activities that you can try for a short time. Cruise passengers can go for a surf, a kayak ride, or a water ski.

The Cozumel stopover in the Mexican Riviera Cruise is always ready to offer guests the most memorable water excursions. Some include reef snorkelling and even a submarine excursion for groups and families.

Culture Tours

Belize is a paradise for cultural excursions. When you go aboard the Carnival Cruise to Central America, you can participate in a spiritual ceremony or visit stunning plantations.

Another less crowded place to go on a cultural tour is by visiting museums by yourself or your family. There is always a few small and renowned museum to see in most places.

When you go on a New England cruise with the Royal Caribbean cruise line, you can take your kids to the New Bedford Whaling Museum.

Book Sponsored Shore Cruise Excursions

These are the ones organized by and offered through the cruise ship. The diverse range of activities appeals to many interests, from spending the day at an all-inclusive beach or water park to touring ancient or historical sites.

There are many advantages to choosing to do the shore excursions your cruise ship offers.

• Like a cruise ship experience, they take care of everything. They tell you the meeting time and place, with everything organized for you – transportation, guides, and timing. It is effortless.
• The cruise ship normally schedules its shore excursions to have an early departure time or a more streamlined exit procedure to avoid disembarking with everyone else.
• You do not have to be stressed about being late and the cruise ship leaving without you. If you book an excursion offered by the cruise and the excursion becomes delayed, the cruise ship will wait for you. However, cruise ships have strict schedules and will leave if you return late.

• The cruise line assesses the shore excursion with a similar standard as your cruise ship experience. The guides are likely professional and good at what they do. Further, the transportation to and from the activity would have similar safety guidelines in North America.
• The cruise ship knows the ports of call and the order in which it visits them. It also knows the age and demographics of its passengers. Consequently, a cruise liner typically provides a package of shore excursions that satisfies most passengers’ interests.

• Ship sponsored shore excursions are adaptable in the event of a late arrival to the port or bad weather. It is far more difficult to accomplish if you have booked independent shore excursions.

Why I Book Our Own Shore Excursions

I prefer to book our own shore excursions with outside tour operators. Why?

• Typically, the cost of shore excursions the cruise ship offers is exponentially more than the amount charged by local independent tour operators. When you are a family of six, the price difference becomes significant.
•  The cruise ship usually organizes shore excursions that maximize participation. Accordingly, dozens and dozens of people from the cruise can and normally do register for them. This does not make much difference if you head to a large beach for a few hours. You can all spread out and enjoy the peace and quiet. However, a large crowd could impact a smaller beach or other types of excursions, such as visiting historical or cultural sites.

• A small group or private tour allows participants the ability to ask questions. You can also adapt the itinerary to meet your and your family’s needs.

• Cruises usually are jammed packed with people. I enjoy time away from the other passengers and the cruise ship experience.

• I like to take excursions that allow me to see a new destination as genuinely as possible. I’d rather get away from the crowds and visit a remote beach or park or try to understand a local culture by visiting something off the beaten path than flock to standard tourist destinations. Generally, cruise ships offer excursions that appeal to as many passengers as possible. It is in their interests to ensure their excursions are sold out, not only for financial reasons but also to keep most passengers happy. Accordingly, I am not interested in most excursions offered by cruise ships. 

Most local tour operators catering to shore excursions organize them so that it is easy to meet your driver or guide at the port. It might seem overwhelming to receive instructions to walk through the port and exit at a certain place to find your car, driver or guide. However, the reality is most local tour operators have made it as simple as possible for their clients.

This is one of the ways they stay in business. Most local tour operators catering to shore excursions also understand the importance of returning their clients to the ship on time. I have never been on one that did not have a schedule and was not strictly followed.

Most local tour operators catering to shore excursions also understand the importance of returning their clients to the ship on time. I have never been on one that did not have a schedule and was not strictly followed.

Conclusion

When a cruise ship reaches a port, passengers have many options about how they want to use their time. What you choose to do is a very personal decision. There isn’t a right or wrong answer.

For me and my family, we prefer shore excursions that are with local tour operators that offer private or small group tours. We like shore excursions that are off the beaten track, and are less expensive than the cruise sponsored ones. That is what works best for our family.

However, this is not always possible or desirable. I have booked cruise sponsored shore excursions when I wanted to see or do something hours away from the port. I did not want to worry about traffic problems that could impact a timely return to the boat.

Once, we explored a European city on our own that was close to the port because there wasn’t a lot of time. We also didn’t want to see or experience any one thing on a tour. And as mentioned above, a couple of times we arrived back early to our cruise ship and enjoyed our time there without the crowds and noise. Each experience was enjoyable, rewarding and had its purpose.

If you would like to save it for future use, please click on the “Save” button on the photo below. If you think someone else might like it, please share it on your social media channels. Thanks!