If time is not an issue, here are five port excursions, slightly off the beaten path, that you can do on your own.

BBC: Cruise ports of call: East Asia for history buffs

"We're kind of the poster child for the infrastructure component of what's at stake in the coastal land loss issue, " Ted Falgout, director of Port Fourchon, told the Louisiana Explorer in 2003.

FORBES: Gustav Rides Louisana's Energy Highway

This is port infrastructure management and a completely different issue.

BBC: Groupe Eurotunnel bid to run French ports