Tortola cruise port, British Virgin Islands
Road Town has been the seat of these islands since the British took them from the Dutch in 1672. Sugar, then nothing much, then in the 1960s somebody worked out that the sheltered water between the islands is close to perfect for sailing, and the charter fleets arrived.
Worth knowing. Road Town is not named after a road. A road is an old sailing word for a sheltered place to anchor, and that is what the town is named for.
What to do in Tortola for free
Road Town is flat and the shops and the cafes are five or ten minutes from the pier. That is close to all of the free half here, because every beach worth the name is over the ridge on the other side of the island.
What costs money
The ship's own excursions usually cost more than booking the same trip yourself. Two things come with the price. The ship waits for its own excursions and does not wait for you. And if the port is missed, P&O refunds its own without you asking. A trip you booked yourself is a claim on your travel insurance, so check what your policy covers. The ship sells its own trips to all of these, and the desk is open on board if you would rather do it that way.
The Baths, on Virgin Gorda. The ferry dock is a few minutes from the ship and the crossing takes about half an hour. At the far end, granite boulders the size of houses lean on each other over sea pools and passages you climb through.
Cane Garden Bay. Twenty minutes or so by taxi, and the road up over the ridge is half of what you are paying for. The beach on the far side is the one on all the postcards of this island.
Which ship calls at Tortola, and when
Every call here between 15 August and 28 November 2026, with the hours ashore P&O published. These times are a guide, not a promise: the captain gives the real ones the day before.
| Ship | Sails | Day | Ashore |
|---|---|---|---|
| Arvia | 23 October 2026, 22 nights | Day 20 | 07:00 to 18:00 |
| Arvia | 6 November 2026, 14 nights | Day 6 | 07:00 to 18:00 |
| Arvia | 7 November 2026, 14 nights | Day 5 | 07:00 to 18:00 |
| Arvia | 14 November 2026, 14 nights | Day 12 | 07:00 to 18:00 |
| Arvia | 20 November 2026, 14 nights | Day 6 | 07:00 to 18:00 |
| Arvia | 21 November 2026, 14 nights | Day 5 | 07:00 to 18:00 |
| Arvia | 28 November 2026, 14 nights | Day 14 | 07:00 to 18:00 |
| Arvia | 4 December 2026, 14 nights | Day 8 | 07:00 to 18:00 |
| Arvia | 5 December 2026, 14 nights | Day 7 | 07:00 to 18:00 |
| Arvia | 26 December 2026, 14 nights | Day 12 | 07:00 to 18:00 |
| Arvia | 1 January 2027, 14 nights | Day 6 | 07:00 to 18:00 |
| Arvia | 2 January 2027, 14 nights | Day 5 | 07:00 to 18:00 |
| Arvia | 9 January 2027, 14 nights | Day 12 | 07:00 to 18:00 |
| Arvia | 15 January 2027, 14 nights | Day 6 | 07:00 to 18:00 |
| Arvia | 16 January 2027, 14 nights | Day 5 | 07:00 to 18:00 |
| Arvia | 23 January 2027, 14 nights | Day 12 | 07:00 to 18:00 |
| Arvia | 29 January 2027, 14 nights | Day 6 | 07:00 to 18:00 |
| Arvia | 30 January 2027, 14 nights | Day 5 | 07:00 to 18:00 |
| Arvia | 6 February 2027, 14 nights | Day 12 | 07:00 to 18:00 |
| Arvia | 12 February 2027, 14 nights | Day 6 | 07:00 to 18:00 |
| Arvia | 13 February 2027, 14 nights | Day 5 | 07:00 to 18:00 |
| Arvia | 20 February 2027, 14 nights | Day 12 | 07:00 to 18:00 |
| Arvia | 26 February 2027, 14 nights | Day 6 | 07:00 to 18:00 |
| Arvia | 27 February 2027, 14 nights | Day 5 | 07:00 to 18:00 |
| Arvia | 22 October 2027, 22 nights | Day 19 | 07:00 to 18:00 |
| Iona | 30 October 2027, 21 nights | Day 18 | 07:00 to 18:00 |
| Arvia | 5 November 2027, 14 nights | Day 5 | 07:00 to 18:00 |
| Arvia | 6 November 2027, 14 nights | Day 4 | 07:00 to 18:00 |
| Arvia | 8 November 2027, 14 nights | Day 2 | 07:00 to 18:00 |
| Iona | 12 November 2027, 14 nights | Day 5 | 07:00 to 18:00 |
| Iona | 13 November 2027, 14 nights | Day 4 | 07:00 to 18:00 |
| Arvia | 13 November 2027, 14 nights | Day 12 | 07:00 to 18:00 |
| Iona | 15 November 2027, 14 nights | Day 2 | 07:00 to 18:00 |
| Arvia | 19 November 2027, 14 nights | Day 6 | 07:00 to 18:00 |
| Iona | 20 November 2027, 14 nights | Day 11 | 07:00 to 18:00 |
| Arvia | 20 November 2027, 14 nights | Day 5 | 07:00 to 18:00 |
| Arvia | 22 November 2027, 14 nights | Day 3 | 07:00 to 18:00 |
| Iona | 26 November 2027, 14 nights | Day 5 | 07:00 to 18:00 |
| Iona | 27 November 2027, 14 nights | Day 4 | 07:00 to 18:00 |
| Arvia | 27 November 2027, 14 nights | Day 12 | 07:00 to 18:00 |
| Iona | 29 November 2027, 14 nights | Day 2 | 07:00 to 18:00 |
| Arvia | 3 December 2027, 14 nights | Day 6 | 07:00 to 18:00 |
| Arvia | 4 December 2027, 14 nights | Day 5 | 07:00 to 18:00 |
| Arvia | 6 December 2027, 14 nights | Day 3 | 07:00 to 18:00 |
| Iona | 18 December 2027, 14 nights | Day 11 | 07:00 to 18:00 |
| Iona | 24 December 2027, 14 nights | Day 5 | 07:00 to 18:00 |
| Iona | 25 December 2027, 14 nights | Day 4 | 07:00 to 18:00 |
| Arvia | 25 December 2027, 14 nights | Day 11 | 07:00 to 18:00 |
| Iona | 27 December 2027, 14 nights | Day 2 | 07:00 to 18:00 |
| Arvia | 31 December 2027, 14 nights | Day 5 | 07:00 to 18:00 |
| Iona | 1 January 2028, 14 nights | Day 11 | 07:00 to 18:00 |
| Arvia | 1 January 2028, 14 nights | Day 4 | 07:00 to 18:00 |
| Arvia | 3 January 2028, 14 nights | Day 2 | 07:00 to 18:00 |
| Iona | 7 January 2028, 14 nights | Day 5 | 07:00 to 18:00 |
| Iona | 8 January 2028, 14 nights | Day 4 | 07:00 to 18:00 |
| Arvia | 8 January 2028, 14 nights | Day 11 | 07:00 to 18:00 |
| Iona | 10 January 2028, 14 nights | Day 2 | 07:00 to 18:00 |
| Arvia | 14 January 2028, 14 nights | Day 5 | 07:00 to 18:00 |
| Iona | 15 January 2028, 14 nights | Day 11 | 07:00 to 18:00 |
| Arvia | 15 January 2028, 14 nights | Day 4 | 07:00 to 18:00 |
| Arvia | 17 January 2028, 14 nights | Day 2 | 07:00 to 18:00 |
| Iona | 21 January 2028, 14 nights | Day 5 | 07:00 to 18:00 |
| Iona | 22 January 2028, 14 nights | Day 4 | 07:00 to 18:00 |
| Arvia | 22 January 2028, 14 nights | Day 11 | 07:00 to 18:00 |
| Iona | 24 January 2028, 14 nights | Day 2 | 07:00 to 18:00 |
| Arvia | 28 January 2028, 14 nights | Day 5 | 07:00 to 18:00 |
| Iona | 29 January 2028, 14 nights | Day 11 | 07:00 to 18:00 |
| Arvia | 29 January 2028, 14 nights | Day 4 | 07:00 to 18:00 |
| Arvia | 31 January 2028, 14 nights | Day 2 | 07:00 to 18:00 |
| Iona | 4 February 2028, 14 nights | Day 5 | 07:00 to 18:00 |
| Iona | 5 February 2028, 14 nights | Day 4 | 07:00 to 18:00 |
| Arvia | 5 February 2028, 14 nights | Day 11 | 07:00 to 18:00 |
| Iona | 7 February 2028, 14 nights | Day 2 | 07:00 to 18:00 |
| Arvia | 11 February 2028, 14 nights | Day 5 | 07:00 to 18:00 |
| Iona | 12 February 2028, 14 nights | Day 11 | 07:00 to 18:00 |
| Arvia | 12 February 2028, 14 nights | Day 4 | 07:00 to 18:00 |
| Arvia | 14 February 2028, 14 nights | Day 2 | 07:00 to 18:00 |
| Iona | 18 February 2028, 14 nights | Day 5 | 07:00 to 18:00 |
| Iona | 19 February 2028, 14 nights | Day 4 | 07:00 to 18:00 |
| Iona | 21 February 2028, 14 nights | Day 2 | 07:00 to 18:00 |
How long you get ashore in Tortola
The published times give you about 11 hours alongside, depending on the sailing. Take off the time it takes a few thousand people to get off, and the time you need to be back on board before the ship leaves, and that is your day. P&O give the real hours the day before, and the all-aboard time is earlier than the departure time.
The other stops on these cruises
Every one of these is on at least one of the sailings that calls at Tortola.
- AntiguaNelson's Dockyard at English Harbour is a working Georgian naval yard that never fell down: Horatio Nelson was based here from 1784, hated it, and called it a vile hole.
- BasseterreSt Kitts was England's first colony in the Caribbean, in 1624, and the French took the other end of the island the same decade.
- BridgetownEnglish from 1627 and never changed hands, which is why the island kept its parliament, its cricket and its place names.
- CastriesBritain and France exchanged this island fourteen times, which is why the towns are French and the law is English.
- CuracaoWillemstad is a Dutch town built in the tropics and painted every colour there is, and the whole of it is a World Heritage site.
- DominicaThe Nature Island, and the mountains are the reason: rainforest over most of it, and Morne Trois Pitons inland, a World Heritage site with the second largest hot lake in the world steaming in the middle of it.
- Fort de FranceIn May 1902 Mount Pelee destroyed Saint-Pierre, then the island's main city, killing about thirty thousand people in minutes; a prisoner in a thick-walled cell was among the very few to live.
- GrenadaSt George's sits inside a drowned volcanic crater, which is what makes the harbour that shape.
- St MaartenThe island has been split between the Dutch and the French since the Treaty of Concordia in 1648, which makes it the smallest piece of land in the world shared by two nations, and there is no border to speak of.
- TenerifeMount Teide stands 3,715 metres over the island, the highest point in Spain and, measured from its base on the sea floor, the third largest volcano on earth.
Money and language in British Virgin Islands
US dollar (USD, $). A British territory that uses the US dollar, which catches people out. No conversion to think about if you already have dollars for the rest of the week. Onboard is always charged in sterling, so this only matters ashore.
English.
Free, and it works with no internet. Give it the dates you sail and it works out your own stops and saves the street map for each one. It shows you round the ship too.
All the ports written up so far, the things to do before you sail, or the ship pages for Iona and Arvia.