Cruises offer a great opportunity to see the world and explore a wide range of ports. You can step off into fascinating cities, or enjoy beautiful beach resorts at your leisure.
But what if you don’t want to?
Cruise ships tend to spend around 8-9 hours in most ports, and that’s time you could put to excellent use on the ship instead if you’d prefer it.
You can ALWAYS stay on a cruise ship while in port
You are never obligated to get off a cruise ship in port and go explore. You can always stay on the ship if you’d rather do that – it can be a great way to relax, save money and take advantage of the ship’s facilities.
Let’s look at the best reasons to stay on a cruise ship.
1. Peace and quiet!
One of the best reasons for staying on the ship is also one of the simplest – the feeling of peace and quiet when most of the guests have gone ashore.
Don’t get me wrong – cruise ships are generally relaxing places to be and there are usually spots you can find if you want to escape the crowds.
But they are busy places too, and during the evenings or on sea days the atmosphere can get quite lively. So it’s nice to experience a ship at a quieter time, and just soak up a more soothing atmosphere when you have the chance.
2. No queues for the best attractions or other features
Another reason to stay on the ship is the chance to try some of the facilities without having to wait in long lines.
Modern cruise ships have all kind of fun features – ziplines, go-karting tracks, rock climbing walls, surfing simulators… And when the ship is full, these popular attractions can often have long wait times.
Port days are quieter, although make sure you check the daily planner for opening times for attractions as some may close on port days, or have exclusive sessions designed for suite guests or people on special packages.
It’s not just the attractions either – if you need to speak to the guest services team about an issue, do it on a port day and you’ll find no queue to wait in, meaning you can get the boring admin stuff out of the way faster.
3. Port day offers
Often you’ll find that cruise ships have special offers when the ship’s in port, meaning you can get a great deal on something that would normally cost more.
This is most common in the spa. Beauty treatments and massages are extremely popular when guests are onboard during sea days or in the build-up to formal nights, but they’re often quiet on port days when most guests are ashore.
So there could be discounted offers on treatments that you can take advantage of. These will be advertised in advance because they know they need to convince people to stay onboard to try them, so keep an eye out and see if you can grab a deal.
4. Empty (ish) swimming pool and hot tubs
Cruise ship swimming pools are hardly massive, and so when everyone’s onboard, you aren’t so much swimming as standing in water. Which is still relaxing, but it’s really nice to take a dip on a port day when you can at least float around a bit, even if the pool still isn’t big enough for a few laps.
Hot tubs can be even worse – there are never enough on a sea day, and some people love to stay in them for hours.
If you want to relax in a hot tub but hate sharing with loads of other people, or having to jump in quickly when there’s space, try using them on a port day and you should find it a lot easier.
5. Save money on excursions
Cruise excursions can be expensive, even if you try to save money by booking them through a third party. With that in mind, you might prefer to save some money by staying on the ship and enjoying the facilities.
Some ports are walkable and can be enjoyed without excursions but if the main attractions are paid-for then think about whether you really need to book onto something, or if you’d be just as happy on the ship.
You’ll also save money on lunch, and on drinks if you have a drinks package onboard, since you can get everything from the ship instead of paying for something shoreside.
6. You’ve done the port already
One of the main reasons people like to skip a port is if they’ve done it already.
Some ports are absolutely worth a repeat visit – either to see things you didn’t manage to catch on your last trip, or just to enjoy the same sights and atmosphere that you loved the first time round.
But others can feel a bit samey once you’ve done them once before, and so those are the ones you might decide can be skipped.
7. You don’t want a long journey
Not all cruise ports are slap-bang in the centre of a city. Some of them, like Le Havre for Paris or Civitavecchia for Rome, are a considerable distance from the main sights that you’re looking to visit.
You just might not fancy stepping off the ship to then go and sit on a coach or train for a couple of hours, to have a few hours exploring before getting back on your transport for the return journey.
That’s especially true when the weather’s nice – you can either sunbathe by the pool, or sit in a small seat on a sweaty, stuffy coach for a little while that might have air-con but it won’t be amazing.
The journey may be worth it if you really want to see the city – but it might not.
8. Port-intensive cruises
A lot of cruises can be pretty intensive on port visits. There are several cruise itineraries that don’t have sea days, especially if you fly into the Mediterranean to start your cruise, or you’re in the Caribbean bouncing between islands.
That’s fun, but it can be pretty tiring, especially if you’re doing a lot of walking tours. You might get to your third or fourth port day and just decide that you want a break, to rest your feet and take a load off.
For these types of itineraries, it’s best to plan in advance. You don’t want to exhaust yourself on your first three days if day four is the destination you’re looking forward to the most.
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Final word
Your cruise is yours to enjoy as you like, so don’t feel like you’re making a mistake if you decide to stay onboard for a day. You might feel like you’re missing out on a port, but you can always cruise again if you want to!
A good compromise, if you’re torn, is to head ashore for an hour or two just to see what the area’s like, and then return to the ship for the rest of the day when it’s still quiet.
My best advice is to research each port in advance, because then you’ll know which are the ones worth exploring and which ones you might prefer to skip.
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Jenni Fielding is the founder of Cruise Mummy. She has worked in the cruise industry since 2015 and has taken over 30 cruises. Now, she helps over 1 million people per month to plan their perfect cruise holidays.
