Cruises may be a steal nowadays, but your total trip cost can skyrocket once you factor in shoreside sightseeing and activities, especially if you opt for the ship's group tours. So how do you get the most for your time and money in port?
[1] If your lifelong dream is to see a particular sight—say, the Acropolis—book a cruise that starts, ends, or overnights in that port. Ships can cancel port calls because of unforeseen circumstances such as bad weather or a labor strike. On a Mediterranean cruise, for instance, rough seas prevented our ship from sailing into Piraeus Harbor—which meant we missed our one and only day in Athens.
[2] Decide well in advance how to spend your hours in port. Web access can run a dollar a minute at sea, so waiting till you're on board to check out port options is expensive. And don't rely on the concierge desk, since most any cruise line's goal is to sell you its tours. Start your excursion research right after booking a cruise.
[3] Perusing the list of shore tours sold by the cruise line is a good way to begin your research, but don't stop there. Check out the Web sites of local tourist boards, as well as sites specializing in day-trips—
ShoreTrips.com,
Viator.com—and local tour agencies with a focus on your interests (say, fly-fishing or wineries).
[4] Find local events scheduled for the day you're in port. Is there a cultural festival or sports tournament happening? Read local English-language newspapers online for event listings, and check museum Web sites for exhibitions and hours.
[5] Calculate travel time from the ship to the sights you want to see. The trip from Barcelona's pier to its Gothic Quarter is a ten-minute taxi ride, whereas going from Civitavecchia into Rome can take two hours. To compute your travel time, ask which pier your ship will use and whether it will anchor or dock. If it anchors—which means you must line up to board tenders to go ashore—passengers who have signed up for a ship tour will likely get to disembark before those with independent port plans. The cruise line should be able to tell you travel time from the pier to destinations included in its shore tours.
[6] Research public transit options. They can be faster, not to mention a lot cheaper and more authentic, than the ship's bus tour. Lonely Planet guidebooks often have good logistical information, and you can usually find train, bus, and ferry schedules online.
[7] For the greatest flexibility, rent a car or hire a taxi by the day or half-day. On islands or in ports where there's a rental car agency at the pier (and where the cost isn't prohibitive), I've found that renting a car is the best way to see the sights. If driving seems too risky, opt for a taxi. On European and Caribbean islands, cabs usually cost about $120 for four hours, and many drivers speak some English.
[8] In ports where everybody will be headed to the same famous landmark, book a private car and driver in advance. The car can meet you the minute you disembark, allowing you to bypass the taxi line and the groups boarding the buses. By booking a car and driver in Izmir, Turkey, we beat the crowds to the Greco-Roman city of Ephesus, then headed to the ancient wine- and olive-oil-making village of Sirince for a Turkish feast, not a tourist in sight. The cost of the transportation, Ephesus tickets, and lunch for four? $272. The ship's bus tour to Ephesus for four? $508. Hire a car and driver either through an excellent cruise travel agent who knows guides and drivers worldwide (see "Perrin's People," August 2009) or through a local concierge: If you plan to have lunch at a resort, for example, you could ask its concierge to arrange for the car.
[9] Where private arrangements are too expensive and logistics too challenging, opt for a ship tour. When I looked into booking a private day-trip to the Pyramids from the port in Alexandria, the cost for four was more than $2,000. Instead, we chose the cruise line's excursion to Giza for $199 per person and enjoyed desert jeep and camel rides that would have been impossible to organize on our own.
[10] When the only way to gain access to a monument or activity is via a ship-arranged group tour, book early—before it sells out. Our one day for seeing Alexandria itself was a public holiday, so to visit its famous library, the Bibliotecha Alexandrina, we had to take a tour organized by the ship. Indeed, the sole way to participate in many adventure activities—four-wheel drives, dogsledding, helicopter rides—is often via a ship tour.
