The country sees great benefits from all the passengers that come. I read just a short time ago that, on average, each one spends about US$100 while ashore, per stop. There are docking fees that the ship pays, as well as local people employed at the terminal.
Typically the ship doesn't take on provisions, they are stocked at their home port.
We've been on 6 cruises, got to see a little bit of a lot of places, we went back to some on our own to stay a few weeks, others were no attraction to us.
We always book a room with a balcony which is a great place for peace & quiet, we never go to the pool area as it's typically crowded and noisy.
We tend to go to the main dining room for meals, generally less busy than the buffet and a bit easier to resist over eating as there're set portions. The trouble with eating in the dining room is that when we get home we miss having the chair pulled out and our drinks poured for us.lol
We prearrange for a private tour operator at each port, before we leave home. Lots of research is done and we know what we want to see.
Trip Advisor is a great source of info on 'must sees' and reputable tour operators. We're OK with a small group of 10 or less, w are not into being just 2 bodies among 50-60 others on a motor coach.
The ship will promote their tours, because they get a big markup on the fee, up to 100%.
They'll try to discourage private tours, "if you're on our tour and are late getting back, we'll wait for you, if it's a private tour, we leave without you".
Any private tour operator knows if their guests miss that boarding time, the reviews on TripAdvisor will ensure that they won't get any future bookings.
We're doing a repositioning cruise in the fall, Italy to Florida, only 2 port visits.
Cruising Pluses
- a taste of many different places
- there's no packing, navigating and unpacking at the new place every day.
- great food
- wide variety of entertainment.
Negatives
- limited port time.
- multiple port days in a row are tiring, I prefer a sea day after no more than 2 port visits in a row in order to relax and recover from the adventures.