Lena Hartley
Ports and Destinations Writer
48 sailings logged across 8 cruise lines · Writer
About Lena
Lena Hartley covers the parts of a cruise that happen off the ship: departure port logistics, shore excursions, weather windows and whether a port call is worth leaving the ship for at all.
She has walked every departure terminal covered on this site and times the things people actually get wrong, from the real gap between a cruise terminal and its parking garage to how long the taxi queue runs at 9am on a turnaround Saturday. Destination pages carry her month-by-month weather tables because generic climate averages are useless for a cruise that visits four countries in seven days.
She previously wrote destination guides for two regional tourism boards, which taught her how much marketing language hides about shoulder-season weather.
Pages written (35)
- Princess Cruises Review: The Alaska and Sea Day Specialist
- Holland America Review: Classic Cruising, Serious Itineraries
- Costa Cruises Review: Italian Style, European Value
- Seabourn Review: All-Suite Ultra-Luxury at Sea
- Silversea Review: Butler Service and Expedition Reach
- Caribbean Cruise Guide: When to Sail, Where to Go, What It Costs
- Bahamas Cruise Guide: Short Sailings, Private Islands, Real Costs
- Alaska Cruise Guide: Season, Glaciers and What It Really Costs
- Mediterranean Cruise Guide: Western, Eastern and When to Sail
- Mexico Cruise Guide: Riviera, Baja and Caribbean Coast
- Hawaii Cruise Guide: Four Islands, No Passport Needed
- Northern Europe Cruise Guide: Fjords, Iceland and Midnight Sun
- Australia Cruise Guide: Reef, Coast and Southern Summer
- Japan Cruise Guide: Cherry Blossom, Autumn Colour and Ports
- South Pacific Cruise Guide: Tahiti, Fiji and Remote Atolls
- New Zealand Cruise Guide: Fiordland, Ports and Southern Summer
- Panama Canal Cruise Guide: Full and Partial Transits Explained
- South America Cruise Guide: Cape Horn, Amazon and the Coasts
- Antarctica Cruise Guide: Expedition Ships and the Drake Passage
- Baltic Sea Cruise Guide: Capital Cities in a Single Week
- Miami Cruise Port Guide: Parking, Hotels and Embarkation Day
- Port Canaveral Cruise Guide: Orlando, Parking and Terminals
- Fort Lauderdale Cruise Port Guide: Port Everglades Explained
- Galveston Cruise Port Guide: Houston, Parking and Terminals
- Seattle Cruise Port Guide: Alaska Departures and Two Terminals
- Vancouver Cruise Port Guide: Canada Place and Alaska Departures
- Los Angeles Cruise Port Guide: San Pedro and Long Beach
- New York Cruise Port Guide: Manhattan, Brooklyn and Bayonne
- San Diego Cruise Port Guide: The Easiest West Coast Departure
- New Orleans Cruise Port Guide: Julia Street and the French Quarter
- River Cruises Explained: Europe, the Nile and the Mekong
- Expedition Cruises: Ice Class, Zodiacs and What You Get
- Cruise Packing List: What to Bring and What Is Banned
- Cruise Passport Guide: Closed-Loop Rules and Real Requirements
- Shore Excursions: Ship Tours Versus Independent, Port by Port