INDEPENDENT EXCURSIONS
Excursion prices can be cheaper when passengers buy tours ahead of time, on their own. The cheaper tour, however, is not always a good investment. Most shore excursions from cruise ships pose little danger. But be careful if you decide to roam on your own, off the beaten track into a potentially dangerous adventure. Make sure that the local outfitter has a good reputation and insurance.A cruise excursion booked through the ship is no guarantee of safety or quality, and cruise lines usually state a lack of liability for the excursions. Still, you can expect at least some level of investigation into safety and quality. And no matter what the cruise line says, there is a level of responsibility for excursions sold by the ship.Another advantage of the ship's excursions: Most ships will wait in port for tardy excursions offered through the line. Ships may not wait for independent travelers who are late returning to the ship.-- DAVID MOLYNEAUX
On a sunny July day, my wife and I followed a guide along well-worn dirt paths into hilly grasslands toward the dramatic windswept western coast of the small Isle of Muckle Roe in Scotland's Shetland Islands.
'Shants' is pony from now on,'' said the guide, Niall Cruickshank. He meant that our legs would be our carriers, like the famous Shetland pony, as we traversed the challenging five-mile circular route to the craggy cliffs at the edge of the islands where the North Sea ends and the Atlantic Ocean begins.
This blissful trek was the highlight of our port day in the Shetland Islands. Our luxury cruise ship, the Crystal Serenity, had slipped into the harbor at the town of Lerwick at 6 a.m. The ship would sail toward Scotland's mainland by supper. With all the four-course meals aboard ship, we wanted our port days to be athletic, nature-focused and independent, so we had prepared at home, using the Internet to locate Scotland tourism experts. The folks at VisitBritain had helped us find and book a local guide.
ON OUR OWN
While other, more sedentary passengers moved in herds, traversing Shetland Island in little tour buses and milling about Lerwick's woolen goods shops, we were walking paths worn through the centuries by sheep, the grazers of the grasslands.
We did not see another hiker. By mid-morning, the Atlantic Coast lay before the three of us -- as did a fair number of sheep. At lunch time, we plopped onto a tablet of granite facing the sea and munched on sandwiches and fruit. Hundreds of feet below, the ocean splashed against granite cliffs.
''Didn't know you could do that,'' said a man in the Crystal Serenity lounge when we shared tales of our island hike that evening.
The answer is: Yes, you could do that, and more, on many cruise ship itineraries throughout Europe. If you are so inclined, you can double your pleasure. Take advantage of all the relaxing and eating that a cruise offers, then use shore excursions as opportunities for moderate or challenging activities, with rewarding experiences and great views.
On three Europe voyages -- the Grand Princess of Princess Cruises, the Wind Surf of Windstar Cruises and the Crystal Serenity of Crystal Cruises -- we planned active shore excursions. Among the best:
• In Flam, Norway, we boarded a tourist train to ride up a mountain and hike down -- well, at least part of the way down. Flam is at the end of the world's longest (127 miles) and deepest (4,290 feet) fjord, a finger of seawater with steep rocky walls on both sides and snow visible from some mountaintops even in summer.
Hundreds of passengers from our cruise ship paid for a shore excursion that included a 55-minute ride from the Flam port on the world's steepest standard-gauge railway, which runs 12 miles from sea level to a mountain vista at Myrdal, at 2,840 feet. My wife and I bought our own train ticket (about $30 round trip). We had pre-arranged a guide through the Norwegian Tourist Board.
While the other cruise passengers stayed on the train for the return trip to Flam, we got out at a little station partway down the mountain and walked. The woodsy trail that followed the Flam River was not difficult. We met local hikers and bicyclers -- you can rent a bike to ride down the mountain. Two hours later, we stopped at a tiny rail station and flagged a Flam Railway train, riding for the final descent to the dock where our ship awaited.
• One of our best days on a Mediterranean cruise was a hike to the delightful medieval town of Eze, France, which perches on a hilltop between Nice and Monte Carlo. At 1,407 feet above the Mediterranean, Eze offers commanding views of cliffs, sea, sprawling estates and off-shore islands. The village's narrow streets lead to the Jardin Exotique, a maze of paths flanked by mammoth flowering plants and spiky cactuses.
For about $3, you can walk up to the best view on the French Riviera. On a clear day, you can see Corsica. We met some other cruise passengers in town, but they had taken a bus or taxi up the hill and had missed a great if strenuous walk to Eze from the little train station at Eze Bord de Mer.
The hike winding up to Eze is on a trail called the Chemin de Nietzsche, named for the German philosopher who once walked these woods. It takes about an hour and a half at a leisurely pace to climb to Eze. Bring a full bottle of water and refill at the top, after lunch at one of the hilltop restaurants.
• In Copenhagen, Denmark, our athletic tour was free as we pedaled around town on bicycles. A program called City Bikes requires you to feed a meter the equivalent of about $3 to unlock a bicycle. When you place it back in the rack after your ride, you get your $3 back.
Wheeling about town made us feel closer to the community. Because our ship stayed in Copenhagen overnight -- on a Friday -- we also had researched the possibility of attending Jewish Sabbath services on Saturday at Copenhagen's magnificent old synagogue in the heart of town. Yes, we learned, visitors are welcome, but only during services, which, in the Orthodox tradition, separate men and women.
So I sat downstairs, my wife upstairs, among the Jews of Denmark, then joined the congregation outside after the service for the traditional Sabbath wine blessing and light snacks. We were received warmly by the local folks, who told us that their Jewish life in Copenhagen dates to the 1600s. Many local Jews were saved during the German occupation in World War II by Danes who hid them from the Nazis.
PLAN FOR THE BEST
The key to planning such inventive, tailor-made excursions is to do pre-trip research about your itinerary well before your cruise: Consult guidebooks and tourist offices, surf the Internet, Google your destinations and ask friends who have followed similar routes.
Most tourist boards in Europe, even in small towns, now have websites. Improved access to local guides and recommendations for touring ashore could not come at a better time, as summer cruising around Europe continues to grow in popularity with Americans.
Cruising has its vacation advantages over touring by motor coach or private car: You sleep in the same bed every night, know exactly where the next meal will be (with no difficulty understanding the menu), have no worries about transportation, and have a good estimate of the total cost of your vacation before leaving home -- less than you would pay for a similar quality of accommodations and meals at hotels and restaurants on land.
But there are disadvantages to touring Europe by ship, primarily the short stays in ports and the kind of herd mentality on the ship's shore excursions, during which you travel with the same people you see daily aboard ship. Moreover, cruise lines tend to design shore excursions for the sedentary traveler, so tours are easy on the feet but often low on imagination.
During our Crystal cruise to Northern Europe, my wife and I planned moderately athletic, independent tours ashore, mostly walking and bicycling. We were careful to let the ship know where we were going and when we would be back. We would leave the ship as soon as it was cleared by immigration and return about an hour before it sailed, building in plenty of transportation time so we didn't get left behind.
AN EARLY START
An early morning start in the Shetland Islands gave us the whole day to experience Muckle Roe, a small, circular, red granite island just to the west of the mainland of Shetland, across a small bridge.
We explored the hills and coastline, up and down and around masses of granite on ancient paths used mostly by the sheep and occasionally by a man who tends the lighthouse, warning ships away from the hulking chunks of granite that stand guard offshore.
To the west of our picnic lunch spot lay the water's path familiar to Vikings a thousand years ago as they sailed their way from Scandinavia toward what would become known as the Americas, stopping for supplies at the North Atlantic stepping stones -- the Shetlands, the Faroes, Iceland, Greenland, Baffin and Labrador.
The only sounds at lunch were the crashing surf below and the wind wafting through the grasses. We sat and stared at the ocean for nearly an hour. The sheep didn't seem to notice.
