SHORE EXCURSIONS · WORLDWIDE
The day your ship is in port.
Reviews of the cruise shore excursions worth booking, port by port, the world over. Rome from Civitavecchia, the fjords from Geiranger, the Yukon from Skagway, and the reef off Cozumel. The trip that fits the hours you have, and gets you back before the gangway lifts.
The big port days
Three port days people book the cruise for.
Plenty of ports give you a pretty harbour and a few hours ashore. These three drop you within reach of a wonder, and the right excursion gets you there and back aboard on time.
Kusadasi, Turkey
A Morning in Ancient Ephesus
The ship ties up at Kusadasi and forty minutes later you are walking the marble main street of one of the best-preserved Roman cities anywhere, the great facade of the Library of Celsus rising at the end of it. Most excursions get you there before the heat and the crowds, and back to the gangway with time to spare.
- 1 Ephesus Small Group – Semi Private Shore Excursion
- 2 ALL INCLUSIVE VIP Shore Excursion Customizable Ephesus with Lunch
- 3 ALL INCLUSIVE Private Ephesus, Terrace Houses tour with LUNCH
Civitavecchia, Italy
Rome in a Single Port Day
Civitavecchia is the gateway, but Rome is the point, an hour and a quarter up the coast. The good shore excursions know the one-day rhythm cold: the Colosseum, the Vatican, a fountain or two and a plate of pasta, all timed around an all-aboard you cannot miss. This is the day people book the whole cruise for.
- 1 Civitavecchia Shore Excursion: Best of Rome Private Tour
- 2 Shore Excursion to Rome from Civitavecchia Port
- 3 Civitavecchia shore excursion Best of Rome Colosseum and Vatican
Naples, Italy
Pompeii Under the Volcano
Few ports drop you this close to a wonder. From the Naples cruise terminal it is a short run to Pompeii, the Roman town that Vesuvius buried and preserved in a single afternoon in AD 79. Pair it with Sorrento, the Amalfi coast or a climb to the crater rim, and back before the lines are cast off.
- 1 Naples Shore Excursion: Private Tour to Sorrento, Positano, and Amalfi
- 2 Naples Shore Excursion: Pompeii Half Day Trip from Naples
- 3 Naples Shore Excursion Mt Vesuvius and Pompeii Day Trip
Start here
The one excursion more cruisers book than any other.
Across every port and every region we cover, this is the day that fills up first. If you only pre-book one shore excursion, start with this.
The classics
The Most Popular Shore Excursions
Ephesus, Pompeii, the Yukon, the fjords and the islands. The port days travellers come back raving about, wherever the ship is headed.
Start with your region
Find the waters your ship is sailing.
A cruiser knows the region before the port. Pick your stretch of the map, then drill down to the exact harbour your itinerary calls at, and the excursion worth booking there.
Before you book
Will you make it back to the ship?
It is the one question that matters in port, because the ship will not wait for a private taxi stuck in traffic. Three ways to spend the day ashore, and what each one does about getting you back on time.
The Greek Isles
Whitewashed, blue-domed, and an easy tender ride away.
No region rewards a cruise like the Aegean. Santorini tenders you under the caldera cliffs to Oia and the cable car; Mykonos drops you steps from the windmills and the old town lanes; Corfu and Rhodes open onto beaches, fortress towns and the odd Knights’ castle. Short ashore, long on postcards.
See the best Santorini shore excursions →The Norwegian fjords
Where the ship sails into the mountains.
In Geiranger and Flam the vessel noses miles inland between thousand-metre walls and pulls up beneath the waterfalls. The excursions here are the trolls’ roads, the glacier arms and the eagle-bend viewpoints, an easy half day off the ship and one of the great scenic port calls anywhere.
See the fjord shore excursions →By cruise region
Pick your corner of the map.
The Mediterranean for the ancient ports. The Caribbean for the beaches. Northern Europe for the fjords and the capitals. Alaska for the glaciers. Asia for the temple cities. New Zealand for the far south.
By excursion type
Or pick the kind of day you want ashore.
A boat trip if the harbour is the draw. An ancient site if the ship docked for the ruins. A beach and a reef in the islands, a city walk in the capitals, a safari off Africa, a glacier hike up north.
A sample itinerary
Three ports, three perfect days.
New to cruising the Med? Here is how the classic eastern-Mediterranean ports string together, and the one excursion to lock in at each before they sell out.
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