Cruise ship life is a lot of fun: very sociable, with lots of food and the chance to explore new destinations.

One of the only downsides is the price and early start times of the excursions, which sometimes leaves you waking up at 6 or 7am in on your holiday.

However, it doesn’t have to be this way – many people are missing out on a simple cruise trick, wrote Matt Meltzer, a travel journalist, in a post on Business Insider.

Arrange your own excursions at your cruise stop off destinations, he recommended.

It could be the difference between having your holiday on your own terms, and following the cruise ship’s schedule. 

“Though the shore excursions the ship offers might look enticing (oooh! A make-your-own straw hat class!) they are also the most marked up and often leave at times that are, well, earlier than you want to get up on a cruise,” he wrote. 

“There's this crazy thing called the internet now where you can research things to do in your ports of call and compare the operators who run them.” 

“Booking this way not only gets you a better price, it also might expose you to some cool stuff you won't find at the excursion desk.”

In other words, through doing a bit of your own research, you can choose what you want to do at your chosen destinations, and save money in the process. 

He also advised travellers against booking a flight that lands at your port destination on the same day your ship sets sail. 

This is a mistake, he explains, because you can’t always rely on airlines to get you to your destination at the planned time, due to the possibility of delays and cancellations

“Leave yourself a day's buffer to get to your ship. At worst, you'll get to explore all the wonders of an airport Hilton.”

“At best, you can spend the rest of your life telling everyone you ever meet from Miami how much you enjoyed Bayside.”

An expert recently revealed what happens if you get left behind on land when you miss the ship during a cruise holiday.

John Spollen, an Irish specialist in cruise holidays told Lonely Planet the process if someone is late back from an excursion in one of the destinations. 

“Cruise ship staff are always very helpful and nobody wants to go off leaving someone behind, but there can be scheduling issues to consider, or, in the case of smaller ships, tidal ones.”

He explained wherever possible, a captain will try and wait for the missing passenger – but if it has to go because of other considerations, the passenger will have to pay to catch up with the ship themselves.

“The travel agency can help to book a transfer to get you out of there, but it’s usually at your own cost.”