About The Excursion Edit

Have you ever wondered what a return-to-ship guarantee is actually worth, or what happens if you need to claim against a tour operator? Those are the questions that are hardest to answer before you book — so we go and check them at the source, and say plainly when we can’t. Our ambition here is bigger than our budget: the small commission we earn when you book through a partner link is what funds the checking.

A cruise gives you only a handful of hours in each port. The things that decide whether a day ashore goes well — is the operator properly insured, will you get back before all-aboard, what does the local government advise, what tends to catch visitors out — are usually the hardest to find, scattered across a dozen places. We bring them together and put them in front of you, in plain words, before you book — and give you tools for the day itself.

What’s on every excursion

• Insurance, said plainly — whether the operator’s public-liability cover is confirmed, or marked “not stated” when we can’t. We never guess.
• Duration, return-to-ship and liability — the duration each operator states, their return-to-ship guarantee where they publish one, and whether their public-liability cover is confirmed.
• The right advisory for you — live UK FCDO and US State Department travel advice, per port, so UK and US travellers each see the authority that applies to them. We relay it; never a risk rating of our own.
• Mobility, as the operator states it — where they publish accessibility requirements, we pass them on word for word, never our own verdict on whether a tour suits you.

More than a tour list

Every port carries a guide that goes beyond the tours: what tends to catch visitors out, the national laws, safety and health points worth knowing, how to get around, where to eat, and how busy it usually gets for the time of year. Drawn from official sources, dated, and relayed as what the source says — read-only, never a paid recommendation.

Your whole cruise, one page

Add the ports on your itinerary and we build one shareable page — each port’s dock-or-tender arrangement, the trust checks, and a link through to the full guide. No account, no cookies, nothing stored: the page lives in its own link, and the link is yours. Plan your cruise ports.

Ashore — tools for the day itself

Ashore is a set of simple tools for your hours off the ship, kept on your device. Enter your all-aboard time and it works back a leave-by moment — with a safety cushion you choose — so you know when to start heading back. Note the terminal you came from, save your insurer’s assistance line and the ship’s port-agent number, and keep the local emergency number and an offline kit a tap away. You open it about the port you’re in, it keeps working with no signal, and nothing you enter ever leaves your device.

Built for every traveller

It has to work on the phone in your pocket, for everyone — so we build to a recognised accessibility standard (WCAG 2.1 AA): readable contrast, full keyboard support, clear focus, descriptive links and reduced-motion support.

How we check

Where these facts come from — and what we deliberately leave blank — has a page of its own: How we check.

Where we cover

We’re live across cruise ports in the Mediterranean, the Caribbean, Alaska, the Baltic, the Atlantic, and Canada and New England, and we’re adding more as we grow.

How we’re funded

The site is free to use. We earn affiliate commission when you book through some of our partner links, at no extra cost to you — see our Affiliate Disclosure. We are not a tour operator or a booking agent: bookings are made on the partner’s own site, and your contract for any excursion is with that operator or platform.

Who we are

The Excursion Edit is operated from the United Kingdom under the brand TourCrest. You can reach us any time at connect@tourcrest.co.uk.