Pick your port
Search the cruise port on your itinerary and open the local firms we have checked.
For UK cruisers
Independent shore excursions, port by port.
Port Pal lists local tour firms — not the cruise line’s own excursions. See whether each one publishes a return-to-ship promise, a typical starting price where they print one, and tips from other readers.
17 ports · 40 local operators
Photo: Norbert Nagel, CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons
How it works
Compare local guides
Read what each one publishes about getting you back to the ship, and a starting price where they print one.
Be back before all-aboard
The badge is their wording, not ours. Confirm the current policy with the operator before you book.
Ports with the most local operators
Ordered by how many local firms we list, not by bookings or reviews.
MediterraneanBarcelonaPhoto: Ank Kumar, CC BY-SA 4.0
MediterraneanDubrovnikPhoto: Bernard Gagnon, CC BY-SA 4.0
Northern Europe/NorwayBergenPhoto: Ad Meskens, CC BY-SA 4.0
Northern Europe/NorwayGeirangerPhoto: W. Bulach, CC BY-SA 4.0
IberiaLisbonPhoto: SIryn, CC BY-SA 4.0
Northern Europe/NorwayÅlesundPhoto: Diego Delso, CC BY-SA 4.0
Why look past the cruise line?
Often cheaper
Cruise lines add a margin. A local firm often charges less for a similar day. Compare their published price with the excursion desk before you book.
Smaller groups
Many of these operators run a private car, a small jeep or a walking tour rather than a fifty-seat coach.
A named local firm
You can read the company’s own wording, and their website, before you pay. We link to that wording rather than retelling it.
A missed ship is the risk that matters. On every listing we record what the operator actually publishes, and we link to the page where we found it.
- Guarantee
- They promise to get you back, sometimes with a remedy if they fail.
- Planning buffer only
- They schedule around all-aboard, but they do not promise compensation.
- Not guaranteed
- They say plainly that they cannot promise a return.
- Not published
- We did not find a promise on the pages we checked.
Ships, traffic and port security change. Read the current policy on their site before you book. We do not invent reviews or star ratings.