hey hey fmcbenson
welcome to the forum
Kathy is right on about prices going way up on lots of things. the cruises i've been on we registered on cruisecritic.com (it's free), went to forums to find your ship's roll call with date & ship. cruisers will post about sharing cruise excursions at different ports, ask if anyone interested and join the group. let others investigate tour companies, i was nominated for that job LOL. looked up local tour companies, sent email for info/cost/where it goes, ask cash or credit card excepted, pay at end of tour. be very adament about getting back to ship before it sails away. wanted smaller tour 6-8 people.
what's the earliest you can get off the ship, meet up with others on tour, tour waiting outside of disembarking, how many other ships in port can add thousands, is it a docked or tender boat port?
cruisemapper.com
website that shows the ships in ports that day. look up your ship, month, days gives you an idea how many people will be trying to do the same thing you are, can get crazy. may 13 from civitavecchia (rome) there are 6 ships arriving or departing. the port is over an hour from rome city center, know exactly how you will get to port, how close to ship you can get. trains and shuttles will be crowded, years ago we found a cab near piazza navona with a cost of 140E. had a large protest, roads blocked, hard to get around and found this lone cab to get us there with whatever it took, expect the unexpected. plus it's jubilee 2025 in rome with millions of people expected. hope you're spending couple days in rome before cruise.
wishing you great and happy thoughts about your cruise, once all comes to order no stressing. have a fabulous time.
aloha