Methodology
Ship prices
We read the "starting at" adult price of every shore excursion a cruise line lists publicly for a port, then sort each excursion into one of 18 tour types by its title. The ship price for a type is the median of those excursions, and we show the range and the number of options. Transfers, private cars, cabanas and other per-group items are left out.
Carnival prices were recorded on 2026-11-02 for the winter 2026-27 season. NCL prices were recorded the same way from NCL's European website, which only shows euros outside the US; we convert them at the ECB reference rate of 1 EUR = 1.1172 USD (2026-10-30) and show the euro figure next to each converted price. Royal Caribbean and MSC only show excursion prices inside a booked guest's cruise planner, so those lines are marked "not recorded" and their pages are kept out of search results. Cruise lines change prices by sailing, so your cruise planner may differ.
Independent prices
For each port and tour type we search GetYourGuide (for example "Cozumel catamaran snorkel"), keep per-person priced results that take place in that port and match the same tour type, and take the first five in GetYourGuide's own relevance order. The independent price is the median of those five. Results that start in another city, private tours and transfers are excluded.
Why tour types, not operators
Cruise lines often contract their operators not to sell the identical tour to the public on port days. Comparing the same type of tour is fairer and more useful than hunting for an exact duplicate.
Safety score (1 to 5)
- Every tour type starts at 5.
- Tender port: minus 1, because the last tender leaves before the ship and queues build up.
- Long transfer for that tour type in that port (ferries, 1h+ drives, border crossings): minus 2.
- Flightseeing and dog sledding: minus 1 for weather delays. Fishing and diving: minus 0.5 for sea-state dependent schedules.
- Remote pier, where even the nearest listed sight is more than 30 km by road: minus 0.5.
The score is rounded and kept between 1 and 5. A ship's own excursion comes with a promise that the ship waits (or gets you to the next port) if the tour runs late; an independent tour does not, whatever the operator promises.
Distances
Distances are straight-line from the cruise pier. Travel times assume about 38 km/h average road speed plus five minutes, or walking speed under 1.2 km. They do not include ferries, border controls or tender queues.
Corrections
Spotted a wrong price or pier detail? Email hello@shoregap.com.