How Much Walking Is Really on a Shore Excursion

Every cruise line grades its shore excursions for physical difficulty, usually on a three-step scale: easy, moderate, strenuous. The grades are applied inconsistently between lines, between ports and sometimes between excursions run by the same operator, and they systematically understate the difficulty of European old towns.

The reason is structural. The grade is set by the tour operator, who is selling the tour, and the dominant variable it measures is distance walked. Distance is the least important thing about whether a walk is hard.

What the grade misses

• Surface. Two kilometres on a promenade and two kilometres on medieval cobbles are not the same activity. Cobbles, worn marble and uneven stone are the single biggest source of difficulty and of falls, and they never appear in the grade.
• Gradient. Half the great Mediterranean towns are built up a hill. Some excursions drop you at the top and walk down; some do the reverse.
• Steps. A number that appears almost nowhere in excursion descriptions and matters enormously. Some ports are essentially staircases.
• Standing. Standing still on stone for forty minutes in a museum is harder on most bodies than walking for forty minutes. Guided tours involve a great deal of standing still.
• Seating. Whether there is anywhere to sit, and how often. Frequently there is nowhere at all.
• Heat and shade. A moderate walk at 34°C in full sun is a strenuous walk.
• Toilets. Rarely mentioned, often decisive in whether a four-hour tour is comfortable.

The five questions to ask

Ask these at the excursion desk, or by email before you sail. Staff will usually answer honestly if asked specifically; they simply will not volunteer it.

1. How many steps, and are there handrails?
2. What is the longest stretch without somewhere to sit?
3. Is the walking surface cobbled, and is it uphill or downhill?
4. How long is the longest period standing in one place?
5. How far is the coach from the sight — and can it wait, or does it drop and collect elsewhere?

That last one catches people out constantly. Many historic centres are closed to coaches, so an "easy" tour can begin with a fifteen-minute walk from the drop-off point that nobody counted.

Ports that are harder than they look

• Santorini — the old port to Fira is a cliff. There is a cable car, and a queue for it, and the alternative is 580 steps shared with donkeys.
• Dubrovnik — the walls walk is magnificent and is a continuous circuit of steps in full sun with no exit for long stretches.
• Lisbon, Porto, Naples, Rhodes — steep, and paved in stone polished smooth by centuries of feet. Genuinely slippery in rain.
• Venice — flat, but every canal crossing is a bridge with steps, and there are a great many bridges.

What to do instead of guessing

• Book the panoramic version. Most ports offer a coach tour with two or three short stops. It is not a compromise — in a hot port it is often the better day.
• Split the party. There is no rule that everyone takes the same excursion.
• Take the ship's tour when the walking is uncertain. If the ship's own excursion runs late, the ship waits. If your independent tour runs late, it does not. That guarantee is worth the premium precisely on the days you are unsure of the pace.
• Consider the port itself. Some of the best days ashore involve walking off the ship, finding a table with a view of the harbour, and staying there. Nobody advertises this and it is frequently the right answer.

The short version

• Excursion grades measure distance, which is the least important variable.
• Surface, gradient, steps and standing time are what actually make a day hard.
• Ask about steps, seating, cobbles, standing and where the coach stops.
• Santorini, Dubrovnik, Lisbon and Rhodes are all harder than their grades suggest.
• The ship's own tour waits for you. An independent one does not.
• Stiff-soled shoes matter more than any other piece of kit.