SHORE EXCURSIONS · WORLDWIDE
Every port is a day. Spend it well.
Cruise shore excursions reviewed region by region, from the Mediterranean and the Greek isles to the Caribbean, Alaska and the Norwegian fjords. The trips worth your hours ashore, the ones that get you back before all-aboard, and what each one actually costs.
The shore day
Three port days a cruise is built around.
Most itineraries are really a string of these. Ancient cities in the Mediterranean, warm water in the Caribbean, raw wilderness in Alaska. Each is a different kind of day off the ship.
The Mediterranean
Step Off Into Antiquity
No other coastline puts this much history within a tender ride of the ship. Pompeii frozen mid-step under Vesuvius, the Colosseum an hour up the road from Civitavecchia, the marble of Ephesus a short drive from the Kusadasi pier. A Mediterranean port day is a walk through two thousand years before lunch.
- 1 Livorno Shore Excursion: Florence & Pisa, Accademia & Tower
- 2 From La Spezia: Round-Trip to Pisa Cruise Shore Excursion
- 3 Full day shore excursion to Florence and Pisa from Livorno with tasting
The Caribbean
Off The Ship And Into Warm Water
The Caribbean port day is the one you feel the moment the gangway drops: thirty-degree water a short tender from the pier, reefs you can reach on a half-day catamaran, and a beach for the afternoon. Dunn’s River Falls in Jamaica, the reef wall off Roatan, the swim stops off St Maarten and Cozumel.
- 1 St Maarten Shore Excursion: Orient and Maho Beach Half-Day Tour
- 2 St Thomas Shore Excursion: Shopping, Sightseeing and Beach Tour
- 3 Nassau Shore Excursion: Bahamas Snorkel Adventure
Alaska
Wilderness From The Waterline
In Alaska the scenery is the excursion. A float plane onto a glacier, a catamaran into a fjord thick with whales and sea otters, or the narrow-gauge railway over the White Pass on the Klondike stampeders’ route out of Skagway. Wild country that begins where the ship ties up.
- 1 Skagway Shore Excursion: Full-Day Tour of the Yukon
- 2 Skagway Shore Excursion: Half-Day Tour to the Yukon Border and Suspension Bridge
- 3 Skagway Shore Excursion Chilkoot Trail Hike and Float Tour
Start with the standout
The most-booked shore excursion of them all.
Across every port we cover, more cruisers reserve this one than anything else. A safe first pick if you only do one.
The classics
The Most Popular Shore Excursions
Florence and Pisa from Livorno, Ephesus from Kusadasi, the Yukon out of Skagway, Pompeii from Naples. The port days cruisers reserve again and again.
Where are you sailing
Find your itinerary, port by port.
The Mediterranean and the Greek isles, the Caribbean, Alaska, the Norwegian fjords and the far side of the world. Pick the region your ship is calling at and see the best shore excursions in each port.
Before you book
How to spend a day in port.
You have a fixed number of hours between the gangway and all-aboard, so the how matters as much as the what. Three honest ways to play a port day, depending on how much you want to see and how tight you like to cut it.
The Mediterranean
Pompeii before lunch, the Amalfi Coast by three.
The classic cruise sea, and the busiest pier days you will have. Naples opens onto Pompeii, Vesuvius and the Amalfi Coast; Livorno is the gateway to Florence and Pisa; Civitavecchia is Rome’s port; and the French Riviera waits at Marseille and Villefranche. The trick is choosing one inland run and doing it well.
See the best Mediterranean shore excursions →The Greek Isles & Aegean
Blue domes one day, ancient marble the next.
Two ports a day is common here, and the islands earn it. Santorini for the caldera and the cable car up to Fira, Mykonos for the windmills and the little Venice waterfront, Rhodes for the walled medieval town. Across the strait, the Turkish ports open onto Ephesus, one of the best-preserved ancient cities anywhere.
See the best Greek isles shore excursions →The Norwegian fjords
Where the ship sails into the mountains.
On a fjords sailing the scenery comes to you. The ship threads narrow sea-arms walled by cliffs, past waterfalls that drop straight to the waterline, and ties up at villages like Flam, Geiranger and Olden. Ashore it is a railway to a high plateau, a glacier-arm walk, or a RIB deep into water too narrow for the ship.
Norwegian fjords shore excursions →Alaska
The last frontier, off the back of the boat.
An Inside Passage run is one long wilderness corridor. Skagway is the gold-rush town where the White Pass railway climbs to the Yukon; Juneau puts a glacier and a whale-watch boat within reach of the dock; Ketchikan and Icy Strait add rainforest, totems and bears. The big scenery is the excursion.
- 1 Skagway Shore Excursion: Full-Day Tour of the Yukon
- 2 Skagway Shore Excursion: Half-Day Tour to the Yukon Border and Suspension Bridge
- 3 Skagway Shore Excursion Chilkoot Trail Hike and Float Tour
By kind of day
How far do you want to go ashore?
Some ports are for the beach and an easy afternoon. Some are for the one sight you crossed an ocean to see. Pick the day that fits the port, and the energy you have left.
Stay near the water
Beach, reef and an easy afternoon.A short tender to the sand, a snorkel over the reef, and back aboard with hours to spare. The low-stress port day.
See the headline sights
The port and its famous neighbour.A guided run to the one landmark the port is known for. Pompeii from Naples, Ephesus from Kusadasi, Florence from Livorno, back before all-aboard.
Go all in
The full day ashore.Two sights and lunch on a private driver day, or a deep excursion inland. Most ground covered, least time at the rail.
The Caribbean
Warm water, a short tender, the whole afternoon.
The easiest port days of any itinerary. The water is warm and clear from the moment you step off, the reefs are a half-day catamaran away, and the beach is the plan. Dunn’s River Falls in Jamaica, the reef wall off Roatan, the swim-and-snorkel runs off St Maarten, Cozumel and the Bahamas.
See all 22 Caribbean shore excursions →By region
The world’s cruise coasts, six ways.
The Mediterranean for the ancient cities. The Caribbean for the warm water. The Greek isles for the whitewashed towns. Alaska for the glaciers. The Baltic for the capital cities. Southeast Asia for the temples and the tropics.
By activity
Pick how to spend the time ashore.
A guided city run if you want the headline sights. Ruins if you came for the history. A reef snorkel or a whale-watch boat if you want the water. Wine and food, a gentle walk, or a private driver for the lot.
Plan it
A first Mediterranean cruise, three ports.
New to shore excursions? Here is how a classic Med itinerary plays, with the right trip for each port and no wasted day.
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