Blackbeards Castle

One of my passengers has just come back from a Caribbean cruise with P&O and gave me a call to let me know how it went. They had a great time but said they were a little disappointed with the Caribbean. This was the first time they'd done a Caribbean cruise and said next time they thought they'd stick to cruising the Mediterranean. They loved the weather but they thought there just wasn't a lot to do in the way of shore excursions. Apparently none of the Islands had enough history for them.
"Once you've seen one palm tree and white beach you've seen them all" was their final comment.
Whilst I'm obviously glad they had a great time I had to disagree with them about the history of the Caribbean Islands.
Going back to the 15th Century or so and then forward they've been attacked, settled, conquered, invaded, and freed by a variety of Western powers and if you know where to look there's some really interesting things to be seen.

Parasailing from a cruise ship.

Can you parasail whilst on a cruise? Not anymore I'm afraid.Sadly there have been several deaths recently relating to shore excursions where parasailing was offered and as such many cruise lines are choosing to remove it as an option whilst you're in their care.

Don't miss out in Monte Carlo

It’s been awhile since I've written any city guides for you to plan out your shore excursions with so to kick it off again I’ll be writing about Monte Carlo, playground of the rich, the famous and James Bond.
As always with these guides if anyone has any better ideas or opinions about Monte Carlo, feel free to add your comments below. The more information we get, the easier it is for people to plan their cruise excursions.

Monte Carlos's a small city so it’s quite easy to take in in one day. However if you’re a disabled or older customer it’s worth noting a lot of the city is quite steep so you may want to make use of the local taxis, buses, trains etc.
The centre of Monte Carlo is always a good place to start your excursion as it’s packed with shops restaurants and bars and it’s actually sloped quite gently down to the port. So it’s quite easy to reach.

Booking a Shore Excursion Through the Cruise Line vs. Doing it Yourself

Should I just book all my shore excursions through the cruise line, or should I organise them all myself?

This is always a difficult one to give advice on as it really does depend on what kind of person you are. It’s true that as cruise prices become more and more competitive, as cruise lines strive to compete with each other, they need to find another revenue stream to increase their profits. Cruise line shore excursions are a very easy way of doing this by adding surcharges to them. Massive savings can be had if you’re prepared to organise them yourself, but a lot of people aren’t comfortable with this for several reasons........