In some cruise ports, the shore excursion is the best choice to see the nearby sights, but in others you can travel better on your own. Here are a few tips.
How can you tell if you need a shore excursion when you land in Ancona or Bari? Which ports are best for independent travel and which are best seen with tours? A little reading before you go can answer that question.
Before you leave, ask the cruise line or agent where the ship docks. If it docks in the city, chances are good that he sights are a short cab ride away, and there is usually a line of taxis waiting when a ship arrives.
A guidebook or internet research can identify the best sights and their locations, so you can tell a taxi driver where you want to go. Ask the fare first, and make sure the meter is running. In most cities, the main sights are close together, so you can savor the city as you walk between them, stopping in a café – pleasures you can’t indulge in if you’re on a guided tour.
But in some ports, the reason for stopping is some distance away. In some, you can take local transportation easily – Livorno is connected to Pisa by a direct train, for example. But Ancona, on Italy’s Adriatic coast, is the closest port to Urbino, and the only good access is on a shore excursion. Likewise, Manfredonia is the closest port to the hard-to-reach pilgrimage town of Monte Sant’Angelo, a shore excursion that's well worthwhile.
In Spain, you need the shore excursion to get from Vigo to Santiago de Compostella, but in Cadiz it’s easy to catch a train to Seville, since the station is opposite the cruise port and trains are frequent.
Doing your homework is the only way to learn these secrets, since few cruise directors will tell you alternative ways to travel ashore.
