Originally Posted by
admmr
DO also be aware if you do not book with the ship and you are late to return to the ship when it's time to leave port, they will NOT wait for you and you are responsible to get yourself back on board. IF you book with the ship, they will wait.
And this is one of the biggest myths that the cruiselines perpetuate. If you're booked on a cruise excursion, the ship *may* wait for you. However, there are a number of factors that can result in the ship leaving without the group from the cruiseline. (As an example, Buenos Aries is down a long narrow shipping channel, that requires that the transit be scheduled. If the ship misses it's slot, it can result in a much longer transit time.) The only real responsibility the cruiseline has is if they ship leaves and you're on a cruise booked tour, they're responsible for getting you caught up to the ship.
One of our favorite things to do as the ship is pulling away from port is watching the pier runners frantically trying to make it back on board. Priceless!!!
I'm firmly convinced most of those people are the ones that have been drinking too much while in port that they forget when they need to get back to the ship
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For the ports mentioned by the OP, I wouldn't even consider going with cruiseline excursions myself. There's far better options available independently. And all these independent companies know far too well that their livelihood depends on them getting people back to the ship on time, because if they don't, the bad publicity will kill their business. Cruisecritic's port boards is probably the best place to look into options for what you can do.