Cruising - Port Days

 Revised on 01/29/26

Port Days - Do I stay on the ship of not?

On almost all cruises, there will be port days.  For these days, one will need to decide whether to go off and take a shore excursion or stay on the ship and enjoy the ship’s amenities.  There are many decisions that must be made to determine how to best enjoy a day in port, the first being whether to stay on the ship or to take a shore excursion.

Determining what to do.

Staying on the ship presents a cruiser with many options on how a day can be spent. The cruise ship will usually provide its cruisers with a list of activities taking place on the ship while in port. However, do not consider this a complete list.  One can go swimming in the ship’s pool, soak in its hot tubs, exercise in its gym, or pay for services provided by the onboard spa.  

Please note that with rare exceptions, the ship’s stores and casino will be closed while in port.  This will not be much of a problem for those taking shore excursions. But it may be a minor hinderance for those remaining on the ship.

Remaining on the ship.

There are times when the off-ship activities (shore excursions) do not hold my interest.  This is when one can stay on the ship and take advantage of those places which have remained open, such as the pool, the hot tubs, and maybe the spa.  In the case of spa usage, its services are usually less expensive on port days than on sea days.

Shore Excursions:

Cruise lines usually open shore excursion sales well before the cruise.  If one does not purchase an excursion early enough, one can find that the specific excursion is not available when one boards the ship.  Advance purchases is not a problem most of the time, as cruise lines often make it possible for one to back out of a shore excursion purchase 48 hours before the excursion is to take place.

On port days, a cruiser may choose to go off the ship and participate in a shore excursion. If this is one's desire, a cruiser has 3 options:

1. Purchasing a shore excursion through the cruise line.  
   
   A benefit to this option is that the cruise line vets the quality of the tour provider before the cruise.  The cruiser knows that the excursion will provide decent value for money spent.  An additional benefit is that the cruise line will guarantee that the ship will wait for the excursion to return before leaving port. I can not overstate the value of this guarantee, as I was on a tour bus that got stuck in a cell phone dead spot and couldn't contact anyone to come to the aid of its passengers. However, this option comes with a drawback: Excursions sold through the cruise line are usually more expensive than purchasing a similar excursion through a private operator.
   
   
2. Purchasing a shore excursion through an independent operator.
   
   A benefit to this option is that the cruiser gets a lower price for the excursion. However, the cruise line will not wait for independent excursions to return before leaving port.  Excursion sellers such as shoreexcursionsgroup.com  may provide a "return to ship" guarantee.  In cases where the excursion doesn't make it back to the ship on time, they take the responsibility of getting the cruiser to the next port at which the ship makes port.
   
   
3. Exploring the port on one's own.
   
   This can be a great option when no shore excursion interests the cruiser.  Sometimes, the town (or city) where the ship makes port is more interesting than the excursions available at the port.  However, one must be careful to synchronize one’s timepiece (watch or cell phone) with ship’s time, and be sure that one’s activities allow for a return to the ship before leaving  port. Additionally, before leaving the ship, one should always copy the contact information for the port agent from the ship’s daily bulletin and always keep it handy.  If one gets back to the dock too late, the port agent can be a great help in getting you back to the ship (albeit at a very expensive price).
   
   

There are many factors to be considered when deciding which shore excursions to go on.  For example, I prefer to take excursions with a low activity level.  So, purchasing an excursion that requires a high level of activity (such as a 5-mile hike) would not interest me.  Often, the cruise line will indicate the level of activity required for excursions they sell.  This makes it easier for one to determine which excursions fit one’s requirements.

Many factors can be at work in deciding to purchase a cruise ship sponsored excursion vs. purchasing an excursion through an independent operator. For example, in Skagway, AK, I might buy tickets for the White Pass & Yukon Railroad directly through the railroad instead of letting the cruise line make a profit on the ticket. Yet, I remembered one shore excursion on the railroad that went bad.  Rockslides on both the railroad tracks and the road leading out of Skagway prevented the passengers from getting back to their ship.  However, the cruise line arranged for buses to drive 5 hours and deliver the stranded passengers to a different port (Haines, AK) where the ship would be waiting for them.  I doubt that independent operators could arrange for that kind of response.

Assuming one has chosen an all-day excursion, do not assume that food will be provided by the excursion supplier, or that the food provided will meet one’s dietary needs.  For example, on the first 3 days of my Hawaii cruise tour, the excursion supplier only supplied food for the day we were at the Kuoloa Valley Ranch. (We had choices of 3 box lunches that day.) For the other 2 days, we were on our own.  I was glad that both the Polynesian Cultural Center and Pearl Harbor had appropriate dining options available to our group.  But what if one has severe food allergies or other dietary restrictions?  This can be a problem if food is to be consumed off the ship.