Every cruise has one unbreakable rule, and it isn't in the daily programme's small print: be back before all-aboard, or the ship leaves without you. It sounds dramatic, and occasionally it is — there's a whole genre of online video devoted to passengers sprinting down a pier as the gangway lifts. The good news is that missing your ship is entirely avoidable once you understand how the timings actually work. All-aboard is not departure If your ship departs at 5:00pm, "all aboa

Ship excursions have their place — for far-flung sights, tight connections, or the peace of mind that the ship will wait for you. But at a surprising number of ports, the best thing you can do is walk down the gangway and off into town on your own two feet, saving both money and the coach-park shuffle. These are ten ports where independent beats organised almost every time. 1. Kotor, Montenegro You dock a two-minute walk from the walls of one of the Adriatic's most perfect ol

The first time a cruise director announces that your ship will be "operating on tenders," it can sound faintly alarming — as though something has gone wrong. Nothing has. A tender port is simply one where the ship anchors offshore instead of tying up to a pier, and small boats ferry you the last few hundred metres to land. Some of the most beautiful ports in the world are tender ports precisely because they were never built for anything as big as a modern cruise ship. Here's