A port day gives you somewhere between six and ten hours in a city you do not know, ending at an all-aboard time that is typically 30 to 60 minutes before the ship sails and is not negotiable. Plan it forwards and you will run out of time; plan it backwards from the deadline and it works.
The method
- Write down the all-aboard time, not the sailing time. It is in the daily programme.
- Subtract a two-hour buffer. That is your real turn-round time. It feels excessive and it is the difference between a relaxed day and a stressful one.
- Subtract the return journey from wherever you are going. If it is 40 minutes each way, your usable time has just dropped by 80 minutes.
- Pick one main thing. One. A site, a neighbourhood, a walk, a meal.
- Pick one optional second thing near the first, to do only if the first goes quickly.
- Leave the rest. You are not going to see the city. You are going to see one part of it properly, which is a better memory than four rushed ones.
Where the time actually goes. Disembarkation on a large ship can take 45 minutes. Tender ports can take longer and involve a ticketed queue. The port may be a shuttle ride from the gate. None of this appears in the itinerary's stated hours, and together it can consume two hours of a nine-hour call.
The three questions that shape the day
Is the town at the quay? In Dubrovnik, Kotor, Rhodes, Bergen, Québec, Tallinn and most river stops, you walk off into the place. In Rome, Florence, Ephesus and many Caribbean ports, the sight is an hour away and the day is mostly transport.
Is it a tender port? Printed on the itinerary, rarely read. Add an hour each way and expect it to be the first thing cancelled in swell.
How long is the call? A six-hour call and an eleven-hour call are different days. Some ports include an overnight, which changes everything — an evening ashore in a Mediterranean town, after the day-trippers have gone, is frequently the best few hours of a cruise.
Ordering the day
- Go furthest first. Do the thing with travel attached at the start of the day, when a delay still has recovery time behind it. Save the walkable things for the afternoon.
- Big sights at opening. Everywhere is better before the coaches. The Mezquita, the Alhambra, Dubrovnik's walls, Tallinn's old town — all transformed by an early hour.
- Eat when the locals do, not when the ship does. Southern European lunch runs late; arriving at noon means empty restaurants and worse food.
- Keep the last two hours near the ship. Whatever you do, do it within sight of the funnel.
What to carry
- Ship card, passport or the ID the port requires, and a photograph of your passport on your phone.
- The ship's port agent details, printed in the daily programme. If you are late, this is who you call.
- Enough local cash to get back independently.
- Water, and more than you think in a hot port.
- A bag that closes. Crowded old towns are where pockets are picked.
The best port day is often the simplest
In a great many ports — Kotor, Korčula, Rhodes, Bergen, most Greek islands, every river stop — the correct plan is to walk off the ship, walk around the old town for an hour, find somewhere with a view and a table, and stay there until it is time to go back.
Nobody sells this and nobody recommends it, because there is no margin in it. It is frequently the day you remember.
The short version
- Plan backwards from all-aboard time, minus a two-hour buffer.
- Disembarkation, shuttles and tenders eat up to two hours that the itinerary does not mention.
- One main thing, one optional second thing. Not four.
- Furthest first; big sights at opening; last two hours near the ship.
- Check whether it is a tender port before you plan anything.
- Sitting still somewhere good is a legitimate plan and often the best one.