Private Shore Trips offers private Mediterranean cruise excursions from 80+ cruise ports across Italy, Greece, France, Spain, Croatia, Turkey, Portugal, Montenegro, Malta, Slovenia, Bulgaria, Cyprus, and the Canary Islands. Every excursion is exclusively for your group - you book directly through our website, choose your port and itinerary, and reserve with a $50 deposit. There is no cruise line involvement and no shared coaches. Your guide and private vehicle meet you at the pier and the day runs entirely on your schedule.

Ship-organized excursions typically put 40 to 50 passengers on a single coach with a fixed itinerary and rigid timing. You move at the pace of the slowest person, stop where the cruise line has arrangements, and have no say in how long you spend at each site. A private Mediterranean cruise excursion from Private Shore Trips means your group only - skip the ship-organized tour and explore at your own pace, with a licensed guide whose full attention is on your group, in a private vehicle that goes where you want on a schedule that suits you. You are back at the ship well before departure with time to spare.

The strongest cultural shore excursion destinations in the Mediterranean are the ones with the most UNESCO World Heritage sites within a short drive of the cruise pier. Naples puts Pompeii and Herculaneum within 30 minutes - two of the best-preserved Roman sites in the world. Civitavecchia puts the Vatican, the Sistine Chapel, and the Colosseum within 90 minutes. Athens from Piraeus gives you the Acropolis, the Parthenon, and the ancient Agora in a half-day. Dubrovnik's UNESCO-listed old city walls are walkable from the pier. Split's Diocletian's Palace is a 4th-century Roman emperor's retirement home that an entire medieval city was built inside. Malta's Valletta is a UNESCO World Heritage capital city with the finest collection of Baroque architecture in the Mediterranean.

Yes - most guests book three to five private Mediterranean cruise excursions across a single itinerary, and some book at every port. Each excursion is coordinated independently with local guides in that destination, but you have one company managing the full picture - one point of contact, one set of confirmations, and one back-to-ship guarantee covering every port on your cruise. We handle the logistics so you simply show up at each pier and your guide is waiting.

Western Mediterranean itineraries covering Barcelona, Marseille or Toulon, Civitavecchia, Naples, and one or two Italian Riviera ports give you the highest density of world-class private cruise excursion destinations in a single sailing. Eastern Mediterranean itineraries covering Athens, Santorini, Dubrovnik, Kotor, and Split are equally strong for guests who prioritize ancient history, island scenery, and Adriatic coastline. If your itinerary includes both regions - or adds Turkey's Ephesus and Kusadasi - the cultural shore excursion opportunities at every port are exceptional. Contact us before you book your cruise and we can advise which ports best suit the kind of private touring you want to do.

Our back-to-ship guarantee means that if an unforeseen delay during your private Mediterranean cruise excursion prevents you from returning to the pier before your ship departs, we will arrange and cover the cost of transportation to your next port of call. This guarantee applies to all private cruise excursions booked through us from any Mediterranean port. Your excursion must be scheduled to return 1.5 hours before the ship departs. In over 20 years of private Mediterranean cruise excursions we have never had a guest miss their ship.