Shiptime vs Cruise Planner & Port Guide
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Shiptime
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The Shiptime App keeps track of the ship’s time without the time changing should your phone's time change. Automatic time zone updates or even manually changing the phone’s time will not affect it. The time you set as the Ship Time will not change once you set it. It is completely independent from the time on your phone. The app also allows you to enter the “all aboard time” and allow for a notification to be sent to your phone as a reminder to get back to the ship.
Cruise Planner & Port Guide
This travel companion helps you plan and make the most of your cruise port days. It offers detailed guides for over 2,400 ports worldwide, including sightseeing, dining, transport, and essential services. Enhance your trip with offline access, itinerary building, and personalized notes.
- 2,400+ global cruise port guides
- Detailed port overviews
- Food, drink, and hotel recommendations
- Transport and essential services info
- Excursion ideas and local tours
- Live local weather
- Offline access
- Itinerary builder
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CruisePortIQ is the complete cruise planner and cruise port guide for every cruiser. Plan your cruise itinerary, store your travel documents, book shore excursions, and keep a cruise journal - all in one app, all offline. Getting started takes three steps: STEP 1 - ADD YOUR CRUISE Forward your cruise booking confirmation to mycruise@cruiseportiq.com. CruisePortIQ reads it and builds your complete cruise itinerary automatically - cruise line, ship, every port day and sea day. No manual entry. STEP 2 - ADD YOUR TRAVEL DOCUMENTS Forward, upload, or photograph flights, hotel bookings, excursion tickets, passport scans, and insurance. Cruise Vault files each travel document against the right cruise - and the right day. STEP 3 - PLAN YOUR PORT STOPS Every stop on your itinerary links to a deep, researched cruise port guide. Plan the perfect port day. CRUISE ITINERARY PLANNER & BUILDER One forwarded email creates your full cruise itinerary - or build it day by day yourself. Every port links directly to its cruise port guide. Sea days, port days, and departure days are all tracked. Vault documents are automatically linked to each day in the itinerary - hotel check-out, boarding pass, and excursion tickets exactly where you need them. CRUISE VAULT - CRUISE TRAVEL DOCUMENT STORAGE Stop printing booking confirmations. Cruise Vault stores every travel document for your cruise vacation - flights, hotels, excursion tickets, passport scans, insurance and more - organised by cruise, filed automatically, and available offline. No manual entry. No lost paperwork. Everything is there when you need it, even mid-ocean. 2,400+ CRUISE PORT GUIDES WORLDWIDE Researched guides for over 2,400 cruise ports - transport from the terminal, food and drink, things to do, shore excursions, hotels for pre and post-cruise stays, ATMs, medical facilities, and local weather. Everything a cruiser needs for every port day. CRUISE PORT DAY PLANNER Save personal notes and to-dos for every port. Research at home on your iPad - syncs automatically to your iPhone for use in port. Save favourite restaurants, excursions, and spots. Book shore excursions directly through the app. SEE YOUR VOYAGE ON A MAP Cruise Map plots your whole cruise - day-numbered pins for every port stop and the sea route between them. Tap a pin to open that port's guide. Then share it: Sailing map turns your voyage into a Story or Post image, built on your device in seconds. Both are free. No Pro needed. FIND WHO ELSE IS SAILING Cruises that match our sailing catalogue get their own page online. Share the link to find other cruisers on your sailing - the page shows the itinerary and how many CruisePortIQ users are planning it. No names, no passenger lists. CRUISE JOURNAL & CRUISE MEMORIES Keep a day-by-day cruise journal with photos, weather, star ratings, and colour-coded port and sea days. Start before you board - pre-cruise, embarkation, every port, every sea day. The complete record of every cruise vacation you take. NO SIGNAL? NO PROBLEM. Save port guides, Vault documents, itinerary, notes, and favourites before you leave so they work offline - even mid-ocean. No expensive cruise ship Wi-Fi needed. SUPPORTED CRUISE LINES Plan itineraries on all major cruise lines including Royal Caribbean, Norwegian, Carnival, Princess, Celebrity, P and O Cruises, Cunard, Holland America, MSC, Disney, Virgin Voyages, Viking Ocean, Marella, Fred. Olsen, and many more. FREE VS PRO The free version gives full access to port guides, Cruise Map and sharing, and lets you add one cruise - including automatic itinerary creation by email. Upgrade to Pro for unlimited cruises, Cruise Vault document storage, cruise journal, offline downloads, cross-device sync, and unlimited notes and favourites. Built by cruisers, for cruisers. Every port. Every detail. Every memory. Privacy Policy: https://cruiseportiq.com/privacy/ Terms of Use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Shiptime at none against Cruise Planner & Port Guide's 2. Cruise Planner & Port Guide's advantage is update cadence (every 2 weeks vs every 3 months) and iOS requirement (15.1 vs 18.0). On price, ads and device support there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS
Both are free to download. Cruise Planner & Port Guide sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per year. Shiptime asks for nothing beyond the download.
Shiptime ships an update every 3 months, Cruise Planner & Port Guide every 2 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 14, 2026 and October 30, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Shiptime | Cruise Planner & Port Guide |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | — | 4.8 (71 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | — | 80.0% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | — | 71 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 3 months | Every 2 weeks — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | — | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 18.0 | 15.1 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 3 MB | 126 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Cruisingforone.com LLC | PPS Digital Marketing Ltd |
In-app purchases
Shiptime
No in-app purchases
Cruise Planner & Port Guide
- CruisePortIQ Annual Pass7 Days trial$4.991 Year
- CruisePortIQ - Unlock the Full App$4.99
Questions
Is Shiptime free?
Is Cruise Planner & Port Guide free?
Do Shiptime or Cruise Planner & Port Guide have ads?
Which is updated more often, Shiptime or Cruise Planner & Port Guide?
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