Yes, and it is the best time to do it. Open the port guide, pick a tour and book it on Shore Excursions Group’s site. They ask for bookings at least three days before the ship departs, and the popular tours in Alaska and the Mediterranean sell out weeks ahead, so book once your cruise is confirmed. Your e-ticket arrives by email within three days with the meeting point, the guide’s details and a 24-hour emergency line.

Shore Excursions Group backs its tours with a Return to Ship Guarantee: if a delay on one of its tours causes you to miss the ship, it arranges and pays for transportation to the next port of call, hotel accommodation and meals, plus a cash payment for the inconvenience as set out on its guarantee page. The guarantee is Shore Excursions Group’s own, not the cruise line’s or SmartCruiser’s. Its tours are planned to return before all-aboard, and it says no guest has missed a ship on one of its tours.

The prices on our port guides are Shore Excursions Group’s published prices in US dollars for each guest; its site can also show other currencies at checkout. The price at the time of your confirmed booking is honoured even if it changes later. Many tours offer a child price for children under 12, and toddlers of two and under on a parent’s lap are usually free. Gratuities for guides and drivers are not included.

Under Shore Excursions Group’s terms, a purchase is fully refundable when you cancel more than 14 days before the tour date and non-refundable from the 14th day, unless the tour description says otherwise. You also receive a full refund if the ship misses the port or arrives too late, or if the operator cancels the tour. Cancel through My Booking on its site or by calling its reservations team.

Both work, and the right answer depends on the day. A cruise-line tour is bought through the line, charged to your onboard account, and the line holds the ship or gets you to the next port if its own tour is late. An independent tour from Shore Excursions Group is usually a smaller group (its average is 12 guests, against 50 or more on many cruise-line coaches), often includes options the line does not sell, and carries its own return-to-ship guarantee and 14-day cancellation terms. Compare the itinerary, the group size, the time at the sights and the price. In tender ports and on short calls, leave a buffer whichever you choose.

No. Shore excursions are sold and operated by Shore Excursions Group, an independent tour company, under its own terms. You book and pay on its site, and its team supports you before and during the tour. SmartCruiser earns a commission on bookings made through these links at no extra cost to you. Questions about your cruise fare, stateroom or itinerary still come to us: call 1-800-444-1560.

105 of our 119 port guides list tours today, and the number grows as Shore Excursions Group adds ports. The cruise lines’ private islands (Perfect Day at CocoCay, Half Moon Cay, Ocean Cay, Great Stirrup Cay, Castaway Cay and Labadee) sell their activities only through the line, and scenic days such as Glacier Bay and Hubbard Glacier have no port stop, so those guides have no excursion section.