The average ship excursion to Rome from Civitavecchia costs €120–€180 per person. The same day, independently, costs €35–€50. We've done both. The train wins most of the time.
PortTrip exists to give every cruiser what the ship doesn't: exact bus numbers, real walking times, actual prices, and the confidence that they'll be back before the gangway lifts.
Research every port independently
We don't publish transport routes we haven't verified. For each port, we check bus frequencies, taxi prices, walking distances from the terminal, and whether the route is actually feasible in 6–8 hours. Prices are updated seasonally.
Build around your all-aboard time, not theirs
Every itinerary we build works backwards from your ship's all-aboard time with a 90-minute safety buffer built in. We don't optimize for "seeing more" — we optimize for "getting back." Missed ships ruin cruises.
Tell you when DIY is NOT the right call
Some ports are not worth going alone. Tender ports in bad weather, ports with no reliable transport, ports where the ship excursion is genuinely cheaper — we flag all of these. We'd rather you trust us than take a risk.
Track what excursions actually cost
We monitor what cruise lines charge for their own excursions and compare it to realistic DIY costs. When the gap narrows, we say so. When the DIY route is risky, we say so too.
Ship excursions aren't always a scam. Some are genuinely excellent — particularly for remote ports, tender-heavy landings, and anywhere security queues are unpredictable. If you're on a tight itinerary with elderly travellers or young kids, the convenience is worth paying for.
But for major Mediterranean cities — Barcelona, Rome (via Civitavecchia), Dubrovnik, Athens (via Piraeus), Kotor, Lisbon — the DIY route is usually cheaper, often faster, and frequently better. You eat where locals eat. You skip group dynamics. You move at your own pace.
The problem isn't that ship excursions are always wrong. The problem is that cruisers are rarely given honest information to make the comparison. PortTrip changes that.
PortTrip is built by Elke, in Maastricht. I started it after watching cruise passengers pay for a coach tour to a city they could have reached on a €3 bus — and after seeing how stressful the return to the ship is when you're doing it alone. PortTrip plans the day around your all-aboard time so you can go on your own with a clear plan. If something in a guide is wrong, email hello@porttrip.com and I'll fix it.
PortTrip builds independent port day plans for independent travellers. We validate every transport route against local sources and publish the prices we find. Our pricing data is updated from local sources quarterly.
Our port guides cover 26 Mediterranean cruise ports including Rome (Civitavecchia), Naples, Santorini, Dubrovnik, Barcelona, Athens (Piraeus), Lisbon, Venice, Split, Kotor, Mykonos, Valletta, Corfu, Rhodes, and more.
Contact: info@porttrip.com
See exactly how we score ports
Read our full methodology — the DIY Savings Index, the all-aboard timing buffer, and the DIY Difficulty Score explained.
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