Dubrovnik port guide
nclrollcall Researched by NCL Roll Call · verified by Paolo Melendez, CLIA Master Cruise Counselor · Oct 2, 2026 · how we check things
Dubrovnik's Old Town is three kilometers from the berth and not one of the 142 independent tours sold here is marked wheelchair accessible. The walls that make the city are also what make it hard.
Who this guide fits
- Your first NCL sailing. Freestyle Cruising is how NCL runs the ship — no fixed dinner seating, no formal night, eat and dress when you like. It is not how the gangway runs. All-aboard is a hard time, the ship sails without stragglers, and every timing figure below is written for that.
- Sailed NCL before. Skip to the excursions and the timing: what is bookable here, which operators commit to getting you back, and how long the day really leaves you.
- Norwegian has not committed to a gangway here. Its own page says the ship will dock or anchor offshore, so you will not know until the morning whether you walk off or queue for a tender. Every timing figure below assumes the slower one.
- Booking independently. 60 of the 142 tours here show a return-to-ship guarantee — each one read on its own page, not taken from a filter.
- Planning around access. Every guide here carries an accessibility section, and says plainly where something could not be verified rather than guessing.
Sixty of 142 will wait
On 1 October 2026 we opened each of this port's 142 independent listings and read it on its own page. Sixty carry a Back to Ship Guarantee.
At 42.3% that is rank 18 of the 61 catalogues we read end to end, which is respectable cover on a large catalogue.
Thirty-nine of the 142 have a review inside the last 12 months, so 103 carry no recent feedback at all.
And not a single one of the 142 is marked fully wheelchair accessible. On a catalogue this size that is not a sampling artifact.
Three kilometers, time unpublished
The Port Authority publishes an approximate 3 km distance between Gruz and the Old Town, with buses and taxis available. It does not publish a walking time, so treat that as a gap rather than a stroll.
Three kilometers is mechanically simple to cover and it is still a decision. A bus or a taxi each way is the normal answer, and it is the leg that no tour price includes if the tour starts at the Old Town gate.
The sailing-specific berth assignment at Gruz is not published in the sources we checked, and neither is the anchorage and tender assignment. Your ship may dock or it may anchor, and nothing we read says which.
Confirm pickup and return arrangements with the operator before you book anything independent.
Sixty-four dollars to King's Landing
From-prices read on 1 October 2026:
King's Landing Game Of Thrones Walking Tour — 2 hours, from $64.57, 5.0 stars from 13 reviews, 4 inside 12 months
Dubrovnik Food Tour: Eat, Learn and Have Fun with a Local — 2 hours, from $123.28
Dubrovnik Private Shore Excursion: Sightseeing & Cable Car Ride — 6 hours, from $149.10, 5.0 stars from 4 reviews, all 4 inside 12 months
Discover Dubrovnik's Charm: Guided Tour, City Highlights & Majestic Walls — 2 hours, from $211.33
Dubrovnik Private Walking Tour, Old Town & Local History — 1 hour, from $234.81
The six-hour private excursion at $149.10 is the one that reads as built for a ship: it includes the cable car, it runs long enough to absorb the transfer, and every one of its four reviews is from the last year.
The $64.57 Game of Thrones walk is the cheapest guided option and carries the most reviews. It is also two hours that begin in the Old Town, which is three kilometers from where you will be standing.
A one-hour private walking tour at $234.81 is a guide to yourself for an hour. Check whether that price is per person.
Where the walls get difficult
Norwegian's own Old Town walking listing states that the Rector's Palace interior is not wheelchair accessible, and the city walls involve steps.
That is unusually specific for an excursion listing and it is the most useful accessibility sentence available for this port, precisely because it names a building rather than a category.
The Old Town is medieval, walled and built on a slope. Placa, also called Stradun, is the flat part, and the viewpoints above it are not.
Screen for surfaces, steps and shade before you screen for price, and do it for everyone in your party rather than for the fittest.
July is dry, November is not
Croatia's meteorological service records mean monthly temperatures for Dubrovnik of 9.2C in January, 18.7C in May, 25.3C in July, 25.4C in August and 18.0C in October.
For the 1961 to 2024 period it gives mean July precipitation of 32.0 mm against mean November precipitation of 142.8 mm. The warmer months here are the drier ones, which is the opposite of several ports in this collection.
Four and a half times the rain in November as in July, and a three-degree difference between the two hottest months.
Conditions on your specific day can differ from any of that. A walled city in late August is stone holding heat, and shade is the scarce commodity rather than water.
Accessibility, honestly
Not one of the 142 independent listings is marked fully wheelchair accessible. At this catalogue size, that is the finding rather than an absence of data.
The geography explains most of it. Three kilometers from the berth, a walled medieval town on a slope, stepped walls, and a cable car whose arrangements nobody publishes.
Norwegian's listing naming the Rector's Palace interior is the clearest statement available, and a guide that told you otherwise would be inventing comfort.
If access decides your day, go through Norwegian, ask about the transfer from Gruz and the route inside the gates separately, and treat the walls as out rather than as a question.
Devil's advocate: is zero accessible fair?
A marketplace badge is a thing operators opt into, and a small Croatian walking-tour company may simply never have filled in that field. Zero marked accessible is not the same as zero accessible, and it would be unfair to read it as a statement about the operators.
Dubrovnik also has a cable car, a flat main street and plenty of people who visit it successfully with mobility needs.
The reason this page leads with the zero anyway is that it matches the geography rather than contradicting it. A hundred and forty-two listings, none marked, in a walled hill town three kilometers from the berth, where Norwegian's own tour text names a building you cannot enter. The signal and the terrain agree.
Absence of a badge is weak evidence. Absence of a badge across 142 listings in a town like this is not.
The bottom line
Built for a ship. Dubrovnik Private Shore Excursion with the cable car, 6 hours from $149.10, with all four reviews inside the last year.
Cheapest guided, most reviewed. King's Landing Game Of Thrones Walking Tour, 2 hours from $64.57.
Getting there. The Old Town is about 3 km from Gruz, with buses and taxis. No published walking time, so budget the leg at both ends.
Planning around access. Zero of 142 listings is marked accessible, and the walls involve steps. Go through Norwegian.
Dubrovnik rewards getting inside the walls early. It charges you for everything after that.
The full research record for this port — itinerary counts, port codes, and the original long-form notes this guide was written from
Quick Info
Dubrovnik is an NCL port of call in Croatia. The CSV record for DBV lists 33 itineraries, six ships, and no embarkation or disembarkation calls. The record covers the Greek Isles and Mediterranean regions.
The port-identity check is DBV. Dubrovnik, Croatia. This guide does not merge DBV with Split, Zadar, Koper, or Kotor.
The Dubrovnik Port Authority identifies Gruž as Dubrovnik’s passenger and cruise port. It publishes an approximate distance of 3 km between Gruž and the Old Town. It does not publish a sailing-specific assignment showing whether an NCL call will use a Gruž berth or anchor for tendering into the Old
Town.
The Dubrovnik Port Authority technical page states GMT+1. Croatia observes CET, UTC+1, in standard time and CEST, UTC+2, during daylight saving time. This guide records the discrepancy rather than resolving it. Use ship time for all excursion, pickup, tender, and return decisions.
The Dubrovnik Port Authority describes a 2+1 booking system: two large ships at the port and one in front of the Old City. This is a port-management description, not an assignment for a specific NCL call.
CSV scope
33 itineraries, 6 ships, 33 port-of-call calls
Sources and dates
All listed sources were checked on 30 September 2026. The CSV record controls the call counts.
Common questions about Dubrovnik, Croatia
- How many Norwegian Cruise Line ships call at Dubrovnik, Croatia?
- 6 Norwegian Cruise Line ships call at Dubrovnik, Croatia across 60 sailings we track: Norwegian Dawn, Norwegian Gem, Norwegian Pearl, Norwegian Prima, Norwegian Sun, Norwegian Viva.
- Do shore excursions at Dubrovnik, Croatia include a return-to-ship guarantee?
- Yes — 60 of the 142 independent tours at Dubrovnik, Croatia showed a Back to Ship Guarantee when each listing was opened individually on 2026-10-01. A guarantee belongs to one listing on one date, so confirm it on the tour you book.
- What is the Norwegian Cruise Line port code for Dubrovnik, Croatia?
- Norwegian Cruise Line uses port code DBV for Dubrovnik, Croatia, in its Greek Isles and Mediterranean itineraries.
- What does one guest pay to sail to Dubrovnik, Croatia?
- The lowest fare we track for a single guest on a sailing that reaches Dubrovnik, Croatia is $2,029 — 7-Night Norwegian Sun from Venice (Ravenna), Italy. Fares move daily; always confirm on ncl.com.
- When is the next Norwegian Cruise Line sailing to Dubrovnik, Croatia?
- The next sailing we track departs Oct 11, 2026. We list every one of the 60 sailings on this page.
Verify before you pay
- Whether your sailing docks at Gruz or anchors. Neither assignment is published in the sources we checked.
- How you cover the 3 km to the Old Town, and whether your tour price includes it.
- The Back to Ship Guarantee on your listing. Sixty of 142 carry one.
- The date of the most recent review. A hundred and three of the 142 listings have none inside 12 months.
- For any access requirement, the transfer and the Old Town separately. Zero of 142 listings is marked fully wheelchair accessible and the walls involve steps.
- Whether a private price is per person or per party, particularly on the one-hour tours.
What the judgments on this page rest on
- 60 of 142, rank 18 of 61, zero wheelchair-accessible and 39 recently reviewed: computed in guide-verdict-facts.json from every listing opened individually on 2026-10-01. The published correction for this guide records the same full-catalogue read.
- Tour names, durations, from-prices and review recency: read off each tour's own page on the same date.
- The approximate 3 km between Gruz and the Old Town, with buses and taxis: the Port Authority. It publishes no walking time, so none is given.
- The Rector's Palace interior not being wheelchair accessible, and the steps on the walls: Norwegian's own Old Town walking listing.
- Mean monthly temperatures and the July and November precipitation means for 1961-2024: DHMZ, the Croatian meteorological service.
Sources — 14 checked for this guide
- nclrollcall.com — DBV identity, six ships, sailing links, port-ofcall scope
- nclrollcall.com — Port index comparison; live count not used over CSV authority
- ncl.com — 30 displayed listings and the DBV search code
- ncl.com — Town
- ncl.com — along the route, ramp or lift vehicle, companion requirement, dimension submission at reservation, Rector's Palace interior not wheelchair accessible
- projectexpedition.com — 160 displayed experiences and mixed starting locations
- portdubrovnik.hr — 2+1 booking system, 8,000-passenger daily limit, two large ships at the port and one in front of the Old City
- portdubrovnik.hr — GMT+1 statement, 9 berths, passenger terminal, organised bus trans
- portdubrovnik.hr — Published 2026 arrivals schedule link and the statement that all listed data is subject to change
- portdubrovnik.hr — °C and August average 25 °C, euro currency
- meteo.hr — Monthly temperature, insolation and precip
- gov.uk — Croatian town centres including Dubrovnik, pickpocketing cautions, taxi precautions, wildfire season, LGBT+ and solo travel guidance pointers
- gov.uk — k, pickpocketing cautions, taxi precautions, wildfire season, LGBT+ and solo travel guidance pointers https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/croatia
- offthegridgetaways.com — cruisers and is not affiliated with or endorsed by Norwegian Cruise Line; booking-agent services are conducted by Off The Grid Getaways LLC, linked to
Commission disclosure: NCL Roll Call may earn a commission when a reader books through certain links on this page. Prices below are for reference only - click on the individual link and double check live prices on Viator, Get Your Guide or Project Expedition on the links provided below.
Corrected 2026-10-01. One statement in this guide was changed after checking against the source. The draft recorded no independent terms at all, which is no longer true of the page: the full catalogue has been read and 60 of 142 carry the guarantee.
Guide last verified 2026-10-01. Facts that move — shuttle fares, opening hours, tender arrangements — are checked on the morning of publication and re-checked when the guide is updated.
