Researching a port

[babs135]

Who in your family does the research and do you stick to it?   A background to the following story:  I do the research for all ports and if I see something that sounds interesting I will share it with DH and if he is in agreement I will print off The Plan.  I will add that we do not necessarily stick to The Plan as if something catches our eye we will go off piste and may ditch my research.  It usually works very well.

But

Last night when looking at our visit to Rome he suddenly accused me of over-thinking everything! There was a pause so I asked him if he meant that we should merely 'wing it' in every port, or that he could do some research himself. There was another pause followed by a reply from him saying that as I clearly enjoy doing the research he was more than happy for me to continue;  and with that and a big grin he turned and walked out of the room, leaving me sitting at the computer slightly flummoxed by the whole conversation!

Men!!    🤣🤣🤣

[StollyBolly]

You can organize us.  We’re pretty lazy travelers.  😂

[cruisemom42]

I do the planning, since I mostly travel on my own or (previously) with DS, now grown.

 

Part of the goal of the planning process is to educate myself so that I have the "basics" down when I get there and don't have to waste time making plans or figuring out how to get around. My process for cruise ports usually goes something like this:

 

-- Cast a wide net (travel books, internet, ship excursions) to find out what's on offer or is within the vicinity of the port.

 

-- Make some choices for further research; look at how I could get there on my own (first choice), or what options there are for private tours/transport.

 

-- Identify one or two final candidates and do my usual full-on research (read books, articles, excavation reports [yes I do that]; watch documentaries; make notes). 

 

-- Make a final decision and plan for the day, sometimes I will have a backup option, sometimes not. I almost never "wing it".

 

I suspect I'm in the category of overthinking everything, but as I said, I feel my approach helps me maximize the time I have in port to best advantage -- and also, having already gotten a grip on the history and background, I tend to remember details from my visit more than those who just go in "cold".

 

At least, that's my story and I'm sticking to it...

[edinburgher]

Better to do it than not.

 

How many times have you disembarked in a port, knowing where you want to get to and how to get there, only to find bewildered fellow pax standing by the gangway asking "where are we and what is there to do/see here?", giving the impression that not only did they not do any pre-trip homework, they didn't even attend any port talks or look at shorex offerings, but these are often the type of pax who "prefer to do our own thing" rather than  ship excursions.

Edited May 24, 2023 by edinburgher

[ldubs]

Whether we do an organized tour vs an on-our-own is typically a joint decision based on the place.  If an organized tour, Mrs Ldubs handles the details. If an on-our-own, I do the legwork.  

 

As far as sticking to the plan, that isn't really a choice with an organized tour.  For our DIY tours, we will deviate from plans depending on what we encounter.  In fact, a lot of our DIY plans include options to be considered only after we are there.    

Edited May 24, 2023 by ldubs

[Heidi13]

Since most port visits are fairly short, I research extensively and have the day planned to maximise the opportunities available.

 

During the research phase, I create a Word Document for each port, which upon completion are saved in a ports folder. Probably have 150+ ports listed, do date. In addition to online research, I request various travel books from the local library. My port documents include the following sections:

 - Port Info: includes some general info, day and date of arrival, ETA, ETD, docking/tendering and any info on where ship berths/tenders, distance to town, availability of shuttle bus, currency, exchange rate, other cruise ships in port.

 - History: some brief history of the port and surrounding area.

 - Local Attractions: list of local attractions of interest with some notes

 - Local Restaurants/Pubs/Breweries/Wineries: name and address of any that are of interest

 - Private Small Group Tour Providers: list with contact details of tour providers

 - Ship Shorex: list and description of any tours of interest

 - Notes on risk analysis with respect to taking private tours/shore-ex: this includes probability of arriving at port, distance of attractions from port, any local traffic issues, safety, ability/cost of getting to next port in unlikely event of missing ship, etc.

 

On completion of the research, I broadcast each port file from my laptop to the TV, so we can both see the info. We review the attractions, deciding our preferences. Then review the private tours and shore-ex, finally making a decision to book a specific private tour, a shore-ex or independent exploration.

 

Once the decisions and bookings are finalised, I update each port file with our plan

 - Tour name and URL

 - Contact name/details

 - Meeting point and time

 - Description of tour

 - If independent exploration, how we depart ship (walk into town/shuttle/taxi), and a rough plan of what we hope to see.

 

Once complete, I print each page and ask the printer to bind them. Prior to arrival, we can review our plan for each port. Not that important for shorter cruises, but when visiting 50+ port, after a few ports you can't remember what the plans were for the remainder.

 -

[CPT Trips]

4 hours ago, edinburgher said:

they didn't even attend any port talks

Based on our experiences, cruise sponsored port talks are a waste of time.  
If you had good experiences, what line(s) and itineraries?

[Hlitner]

DW and I both research our ports/countries when we are trip planning.  We are very independent travelers (all over the world) and follow a basic rule of "know your options" but not over plan.  In many cases we do not even know our daily plan until we walk off a ship.  This allows us to modify our day based on the weather, our mood, and current circumstances.

 

Count me as another who is not a big fan of cruise sponsored port talks.  Most (not all) are aimed at encouraging folks to book cruise line excursions.  

 

We have had excellent experiences on 6 continents with many different cruise lines and itineraries.  One great advantage to DIY independent travel is that, when things go wrong, you have nobody to blame but yourself :).  From many of the comments we have heard on cruises, it sometimes seems that folks book excursions so they have something to whine about!  

[cruisemom42]

6 hours ago, Heidi13 said:

Since most port visits are fairly short, I research extensively and have the day planned to maximise the opportunities available.

 

During the research phase, I create a Word Document for each port, which upon completion are saved in a ports folder. Probably have 150+ ports listed, do date. In addition to online research, I request various travel books from the local library. My port documents include the following sections:

 - Port Info: includes some general info, day and date of arrival, ETA, ETD, docking/tendering and any info on where ship berths/tenders, distance to town, availability of shuttle bus, currency, exchange rate, other cruise ships in port.

 - History: some brief history of the port and surrounding area.

 - Local Attractions: list of local attractions of interest with some notes

 - Local Restaurants/Pubs/Breweries/Wineries: name and address of any that are of interest

 - Private Small Group Tour Providers: list with contact details of tour providers

 - Ship Shorex: list and description of any tours of interest

 - Notes on risk analysis with respect to taking private tours/shore-ex: this includes probability of arriving at port, distance of attractions from port, any local traffic issues, safety, ability/cost of getting to next port in unlikely event of missing ship, etc.

 

On completion of the research, I broadcast each port file from my laptop to the TV, so we can both see the info. We review the attractions, deciding our preferences. Then review the private tours and shore-ex, finally making a decision to book a specific private tour, a shore-ex or independent exploration.

 

Once the decisions and bookings are finalised, I update each port file with our plan

 - Tour name and URL

 - Contact name/details

 - Meeting point and time

 - Description of tour

 - If independent exploration, how we depart ship (walk into town/shuttle/taxi), and a rough plan of what we hope to see.

 

Once complete, I print each page and ask the printer to bind them. Prior to arrival, we can review our plan for each port. Not that important for shorter cruises, but when visiting 50+ port, after a few ports you can't remember what the plans were for the remainder.

 -

 

Are you my long-lost twin?  😆

[edinburgher]

Based on our experiences, cruise sponsored port talks are a waste of time.  
If you had good experiences, what line(s) and itineraries?

 

They are mostly only a sales pitch for the selling of shorex, but for pax who do not do any port planning at all, they at least showcase some of the possibilities, although those pax who do not book them are left not knowing how to do them independently unless they can ask questions after the presentation, which isn't always the case.

 

We once attended a port talk about Edinburgh (our home city which we know well) just to see what would be said and we did think the presenter did a fairly good job although it was quite amusing for us to hear.

[ontheweb]

14 hours ago, CPT Trips said:

Based on our experiences, cruise sponsored port talks are a waste of time.  
If you had good experiences, what line(s) and itineraries?

John Lawrence, who I am sure has long since retired gave wonderful port talks. We experienced this on a Baltic cruise in 2007. He spoke of what you could do independently as well as the cruise line tours. He even gave a talk about Copenhagen for those of us staying there a day or more after the cruise. 

 

This was on the Star Princess in 2007, a cruise for our 30th anniversary.

[babs135]

17 hours ago, Heidi13 said:

Since most port visits are fairly short, I research extensively and have the day planned to maximise the opportunities available.

 

During the research phase, I create a Word Document for each port, which upon completion are saved in a ports folder. Probably have 150+ ports listed, do date. In addition to online research, I request various travel books from the local library. My port documents include the following sections:

 - Port Info: includes some general info, day and date of arrival, ETA, ETD, docking/tendering and any info on where ship berths/tenders, distance to town, availability of shuttle bus, currency, exchange rate, other cruise ships in port.

 - History: some brief history of the port and surrounding area.

 - Local Attractions: list of local attractions of interest with some notes

 - Local Restaurants/Pubs/Breweries/Wineries: name and address of any that are of interest

 - Private Small Group Tour Providers: list with contact details of tour providers

 - Ship Shorex: list and description of any tours of interest

 - Notes on risk analysis with respect to taking private tours/shore-ex: this includes probability of arriving at port, distance of attractions from port, any local traffic issues, safety, ability/cost of getting to next port in unlikely event of missing ship, etc.

 

On completion of the research, I broadcast each port file from my laptop to the TV, so we can both see the info. We review the attractions, deciding our preferences. Then review the private tours and shore-ex, finally making a decision to book a specific private tour, a shore-ex or independent exploration.

 

Once the decisions and bookings are finalised, I update each port file with our plan

 - Tour name and URL

 - Contact name/details

 - Meeting point and time

 - Description of tour

 - If independent exploration, how we depart ship (walk into town/shuttle/taxi), and a rough plan of what we hope to see.

 

Once complete, I print each page and ask the printer to bind them. Prior to arrival, we can review our plan for each port. Not that important for shorter cruises, but when visiting 50+ port, after a few ports you can't remember what the plans were for the remainder.

 -

Wow, seriously impressed with your efforts.  Ever thought of sharing with us mere mortals? 🤣

[John Bull]

15 hours ago, CPT Trips said:

Based on our experiences, cruise sponsored port talks are a waste of time.  
If you had good experiences, what line(s) and itineraries?

 

I disagree.😏

Port talks are great for the Shore Excursion staff to point out the enormous difficulties of DIY, to stress the point that "if your ship's excursion is late, the ship will wait" and to sell their over-priced ship's tours. 😂

 

But on a more-serious note I do recall genuinely interesting and informative port talks, including tips on DIY.

Usually conducted by a knowledgeable ex-university professor or similar, who has negotiated a free or heavily-discounted cruise in return for his/her port lectures.

Sadly those days seem to be gone, probably confirmed by the date of ontheweb's cruise 😟

 

JB 🙂 

[Hlitner]

56 minutes ago, John Bull said:

 

I disagree.😏

Port talks are great for the Shore Excursion staff to point out the enormous difficulties of DIY, to stress the point that "if your ship's excursion is late, the ship will wait" and to sell their over-priced ship's tours. 😂

 

But on a more-serious note I do recall genuinely interesting and informative port talks, including tips on DIY.

Usually conducted by a knowledgeable ex-university professor or similar, who has negotiated a free or heavily-discounted cruise in return for his/her port lectures.

Sadly those days seem to be gone, probably confirmed by the date of ontheweb's cruise 😟

 

JB 🙂 

Our favorite such lecturer was Frank Buckingham (he would say "an Oxford Man") who had an amazing knowledge of European ports.  Frank worked for HAL, would do port lectures in the main theater that had nothing to do with excursions, and then would hold desk hours (in the library) for individual passengers.   As you say, those days are sadly gone as most cruise lines only seem to be interested in things that generate onboard revenue (hence lectures intended to sell excursions).

 

Hank

 

[CPT Trips]

@John Bull Sadly, those days of meaningful port talks are long gone on the major lines. And certainly in the Caribbean. Don’t even try to get an island map that shows anything other than the jewelry chains. 
 

[CPT Trips]

Unless I am misreading the posts on informative port talks, I need to find Mr. Peabody and see if he and Sherman still have this. 
 

[Heidi13]

4 hours ago, babs135 said:

Wow, seriously impressed with your efforts.  Ever thought of sharing with us mere mortals? 🤣

 

Send me a note with ports of interest and if I have them, I'll forward.

[ontheweb]

7 hours ago, John Bull said:

 

I disagree.😏

Port talks are great for the Shore Excursion staff to point out the enormous difficulties of DIY, to stress the point that "if your ship's excursion is late, the ship will wait" and to sell their over-priced ship's tours. 😂

 

But on a more-serious note I do recall genuinely interesting and informative port talks, including tips on DIY.

Usually conducted by a knowledgeable ex-university professor or similar, who has negotiated a free or heavily-discounted cruise in return for his/her port lectures.

Sadly those days seem to be gone, probably confirmed by the date of ontheweb's cruise 😟

 

JB 🙂 

BTW, John Lawrence who I mentioned gave wonderful port talks on our 2007 Baltic cruise was the Cruise Director, not an outside university professor. But it does seem like he was one of a kind.

[cruisemom42]

7 hours ago, ontheweb said:

BTW, John Lawrence who I mentioned gave wonderful port talks on our 2007 Baltic cruise was the Cruise Director, not an outside university professor. But it does seem like he was one of a kind.

 

He was a legend. Not only did he give excellent port information (including for those who were NOT interested in ship tours but wanted to DIY), he also was an expert on the Romanovs. I believe he only did the Baltics itineraries, at least that was the case by the end of his career. I sailed with him in 2005.

 

Between him and the excellent naturalist we had in 2003 in Alaska on Princess, I just assumed this was a hallmark of Princess, e.g., to provide great port info and enrichment. Then it all suddenly disappeared on our 2006 Med cruise....

[Heidi13]

8 minutes ago, cruisemom42 said:

 

He was a legend. Not only did he give excellent port information (including for those who were NOT interested in ship tours but wanted to DIY), he also was an expert on the Romanovs. I believe he only did the Baltics itineraries, at least that was the case by the end of his career. I sailed with him in 2005.

 

Between him and the excellent naturalist we had in 2003 in Alaska on Princess, I just assumed this was a hallmark of Princess, e.g., to provide great port info and enrichment. Then it all suddenly disappeared on our 2006 Med cruise....

 

Sadly, one of the many losses from the Carnivalisation process after P&O Princess Cruises was purchased by Carnival in 2003.

[SPacificbound]

Years ago I would research, plan things our, book excursions, not so much anymore. We have traveled more non cruise than we have by cruise ship, although some places we have gone back to because we first were there on a ship.

 

We've been to five continents, and passed through Drake Passage, but did not make landfall on Antarctica, we were close enough. DH traveled Asia extensively for work, Korea, China, Japan, India, and Viet Nam in the Army. My only touch of Asia was the Asian side of Istanbul, but I never have had much interest in that part of the world. We were able to spend two weeks in New Zealand and eight weeks in Australia, with a week in Tasmania, that was somewhere I had always wanted to go since I was young. Our next B2B takes us to Iceland and Greenland, we have nothing booked yet and it is coming up soon. 

 

Probably at least 20 years ago we went to a travel seminar with folks trying to sell all kinds of things. There was a lady attending that said as long as she was on a ship she didn't care where it was going.

At the time I thought it was a strange comment. I understand now, I think I'm about there.

[Fishboy1947]

We did a Princess cruise last October Athens to Barcelona. They had a man give port talks for each port and he was very good. Partial tour selling but very open with DIY port info with slides. Only other cruise with good port talks was Princess in Alaska, ten years ago

[ontheweb]

9 hours ago, cruisemom42 said:

 

He was a legend. Not only did he give excellent port information (including for those who were NOT interested in ship tours but wanted to DIY), he also was an expert on the Romanovs. I believe he only did the Baltics itineraries, at least that was the case by the end of his career. I sailed with him in 2005.

 

Between him and the excellent naturalist we had in 2003 in Alaska on Princess, I just assumed this was a hallmark of Princess, e.g., to provide great port info and enrichment. Then it all suddenly disappeared on our 2006 Med cruise....

I agree that John Lawrence was a legend, and was very different from the usual cruise director.

 

And I believe I mentioned the same naturalist on a Princess Alaska cruise. (Ours was in 2010.) Michael Modzewleski, correct?

[9tee2Sea]

I do my research as to what to see while in port.  But I also try to find information on how far the port is from the town.  Lately, I have found cruise ships to be docking in the more industrial ports, which makes walking off the ship to the main road very hard to do.  If I am " winging it", I go to the tourist office, get a walking map and some information from the person at the desk.  I always ask" what is the best non-touristy thing to see/do"?  Of course, getting a Hop on Hop Off bus is my #1 choice when not doing an organized tour.