Here is a great article from the New York Times about getting away from the masses of fellow travelers and finding alternatives to the shore excursions provided by the cruise lines...
Practical Traveler Cruise Shore Excursions
Seeing the Sights, Ditching the Shipmates
By MICHELLE HIGGINS
Published: February 17, 2008
AFTER standing in line for the buffet, staking out a lounge chair on the sun deck and squeezing into the hot tub with total strangers, you might be forgiven for dreading the cruise excursion, which typically involves hundreds of passengers piling into little boats to go ashore, queuing up for a bus to take you to the standard tourist sites and straining to hear the guide rattle off some rote facts. Click here to read the rest of the article....
