With ShoreTrips (Milwaukee, WI; 888/355-0220, www.shoretrips.com), ships’ passengers or any travelers can book independent day tours and ground transfers at 420 river and ocean cruise ports in Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia/Oceania and South and North America.
All with English-speaking guides, tours offered are of all types, including driving, walking, cycling, historic, cultural, cooking, kayaking, fishing, whale-watching, etc.
My wife and I took two day tours worth recommending.
• While in Melbourne, Australia, on Nov. 10, 2015, prior to a cruise on the Golden Princess, we (along with four friends) took a 7-hour trip to the Healesville Sanctuary (www.zoo.org.au/healesville) in the Yarra Valley.
At the sanctuary, we saw animals and birds native to Australia. Included in the tour was a ride on the Puffing Billy steam train. Two 1912 locomotives pulled a 20-car train on the 25-minute ride. The valley was gorgeous.
For two days of sightseeing in St. Petersburg, Russia, in September 2015 before I started a cruise to Moscow, I used Dancing Bear Tours (Prospekt Kosmonavtov 15A-6H, St. Petersburg, Russia 196211; phone +7 812 379 26 33, https://dancing-bear-tours.com), which advertises in ITN’s Mart. I had contacted the owner of the company, Julia Ivanushkina, when I received my Russian visa, three months before my trip.
While my husband and I were on a “Black Sea Treasures” cruise with Oceania Cruises in May 2014, a fellow passenger we met through Cruisecritic.com organized a day trip to Constant¸a, Romania.
The cost was $85 per person for our group of 10, which did not include tips for the driver and our guide, Ecaterina (Caterina) Patrichi (phone 407 248 72518, ecaterina.patrichi@gmail.com).
Planning for a Black Sea cruise, Sept. 22-Oct. 2, 2014, my wife, Barbara, and I weren’t interested in tours arranged by the ship, as the number of people in each group would preclude any individual attention. After speaking to a number of people, we learned about ToursByLocals.com (1112 W. Pender St., Ste. 500, Vancouver, BC, V6E 2S1, Canada; 866/844-6783, www.toursbylocals.com).
For a 12-day cruise around the British Isles, in Southampton, England, we boarded the Ruby Princess of Princess Cruises (Santa Clarita, CA; 800/774-6237, www.princess.com) on Aug. 24, 2014. The cruise and ports of call all were very good.
In Belfast, Northern Ireland, we took an excellent bus tour up to the Giant’s Causeway via the Antrim Coast and ended with a tour of the city on our return. The price of the 7½-hour tour was £25 (near $39) for each of us.