How to play Port Hopper World
Everything you need to go from the gangway at your home port to Port Master.
1. Create your explorer account
You must be 18 or older. Enter your email and we send a one-time login code. There is no password to remember. Choose a public display name (your email is never shown to other players), pick the home port you sail from, then choose a cruise line and one of its ships as your flagship.
2. Sail a voyage
Open the World map, tap a port and press Set sail. Your ship follows a sea lane across a real chart. Drag the chart to move it and use the region buttons to jump between areas such as the Caribbean, Alaska, Hawaii and the Mediterranean. The starter voyage takes 30 seconds; longer routes take a few minutes. You can close the game while you sail. When the ship arrives, collect your Travel Coins, Explorer XP and, on a first visit, a passport stamp and souvenir.
The game has three separate seas: the Atlantic side (the Caribbean, Bermuda, the East Coast and Canada), the Pacific side (Alaska, the Mexican Riviera and Hawaii) and the Mediterranean. No sea route joins them. To cross, change your home port from the World tab: your ship is repositioned there and you keep every stamp, souvenir and upgrade.
Voyages are simulated. Picking a ship does not mean the real vessel sails that route.
3. Play port missions
Every port you have visited offers four missions. Score 85 or more to pass a mission and win its souvenir; anything less earns coins and points but no souvenir. Each mission is free once a day, and starting a run uses that attempt, so the first try is the one that counts. If you want another go the same day you can buy up to three retries with Travel Coins, at 500, 1,000 and then 2,000 coins.
- Port Trivia. Five questions about this destination.
- Harbor Pilot. Steer through ten gates. The closer to the centre of each, the more it scores.
- Souvenir Match. Flip cards and pair up local souvenirs.
- Souvenir Hunt. Spot the listed keepsakes hidden on the quay.
In Harbor Pilot every course has ten gates worth up to 10 points each. Passing dead centre scores 10, and the score drops a point at a time to 5 at the buoys; a missed gate scores nothing. Each bump costs 4 points, failing to reach the dock costs 10 and a slow run costs up to 10, so a perfect 100 takes ten bullseyes on a clean, quick run.
4. Master each destination
Each port has five mastery levels:
- Visitor: arrive at the port.
- Explorer: pass two missions.
- Adventurer: pass all four missions.
- Expert: score 95 or more on all four.
- Port Master: reach Expert, collect all five souvenirs and visit five times.
5. Upgrade your ship
Spend Travel Coins on four upgrades, each with 50 levels:
- Engines: Faster virtual voyages per level.
- Cabins: +8% Travel Coins per voyage per level.
- Navigation: +5% Explorer XP per level.
- Tourism Office: +8% Travel Coins from missions per level.
Upgrades make the game faster and more rewarding. They never raise the daily Season Point cap.
6. Compete in the 14-day championship
A new championship starts every 14 days at midnight US Eastern time. Your rank is decided by your Season Points, lifted slightly by any prestige you hold, and you can earn at most 1,250 per day:
| Activity | How it scores | Daily max |
|---|---|---|
| Port missions | Up to 60 per mission; one free attempt each per day | 300 |
| Daily Regatta | Best run of the day, same course for everyone | 250 |
| Exploration | 120 for a new stamp, 50 for a return visit | 200 |
| Port of the Day | One quiz attempt per day | 150 |
| Daily check-in | Claim once a day | 100 |
| Souvenirs | 25 for each souvenir earned this championship | 100 |
| Ducks at sea | 50 for listing a cruise, 50 each time your duck is found on it | 150 |
| Maximum per day | 1,250 | |
A paid retry only adds points if you beat your earlier score that day, so coins can buy a second chance but never extra points. Ties are broken by who reached the score first. There are separate boards for every cruise line and every ship, so you can be the top captain of your favourite vessel even if you are not first overall.
7. Souvenirs and prestige
Souvenirs count toward the championship. Every souvenir can be earned afresh in each 14-day championship and is worth 25 Season Points when you do, up to 100 points a day. Your lifetime shelf keeps everything you have ever collected.
When a championship closes, the top half of the field earn prestige: +0.10% for first place, sliding down to +0.01% at the halfway mark. Prestige is permanent and lifts your ranking score in every later championship, so strong finishes add up, but the edge is small enough that a newcomer on form can still take the title.
8. Hunt the ducks
Every ship carries 50 collectible ducks: common, uncommon, rare and two legendary. While your ship is at sea, tap it on the map to go duck hunting. Each cast you pick one of three games:
- Duck Net is about timing. Ducks drift past in your wake and you drop a net as each one crosses the ring. Dead centre scores 10, the rim only 5, and netting a boot, a bottle or a wooden decoy costs you 10.
- Duck Shuffle is about sharp eyes. A duck hides under a bucket, the buckets swap places faster each round, and you tap the one it is under.
- Quack Back is about memory. Four ducks quack in a sequence, from three quacks up to seven, and you repeat the order.
A duck is never an automatic win. You need 85 or more for a chance, and even then only three casts in four land one. Each voyage gives you 3 casts. Different waters hold different ducks: the Bahamas, the Western Caribbean and Mexico, the Eastern Caribbean, the Southern Caribbean and Hawaii, the Atlantic and Mediterranean, and Alaska each have their own, and so does every ship. Ducks are the one thing that is never reset: your collection, and the duck collectors' leaderboard, last forever.
9. Take your ducks into the real world
Any duck you have netted can have a QR tag. Open the duck in your collection, make its tag, print it and tie it to a real rubber duck, then hide it on your next cruise. Whoever finds it scans the code and lands on that duck's own page, where they can log the find and follow its journey. Your profile also has a personal Scan me code for inviting friends.
When someone new joins through your duck or your invite and reaches Explorer Level 3, you earn +0.01% prestige for good, for up to five new explorers per championship. Finders earn Travel Coins for logging a duck. Read more on the cruise ducks page.
Booked a real cruise? Add it under My duck cruises with the ship, the departure date and the ducks you are bringing. Everyone on the same sailing is counted together on the public duck sailings board, which shows how many ducks are aboard each cruise, how many have been found and how many are still hidden. Your name is not shown there. Listing a cruise earns 50 Season Points once each championship, and every time one of your ducks is found on its cruise you earn 50 more and 100 coins. The bell at the top of the game tells you when it happens.
Each sailing has its own page. Join its roll call to say you are aboard (names are shown to signed-in players only), add the ports it calls at, and say hello on its noticeboard. Finders can leave a short note such as “by the pool on deck 5”, and every cruise with its ports filled in is drawn as a line on the duck's journey map. Now and then Cruise Crawler hides an official golden duck on a sailing: the first explorer to scan it wins the Golden Duck badge and 500 Travel Coins. You can also ask to be marked as a Verified Sailor, which is free and earns a badge and three bonus duck casts.
10. Come back every day
Checking in each day builds a streak. Every day in a row adds coins, the captain's chest adds a surprise, and every seventh day pays a bonus and gives you a streak freeze, which forgives one missed day. You also get three daily quests, different for every explorer; each pays 75 coins and finishing all three opens a chest worth 250 more.
Badges mark the big moments: your first stamp, a legendary duck, a week-long streak, a championship podium. There are 34 to earn, and any badge can be worn as a title under your name.
Daily games
Five quick games reset every midnight, US Eastern time, and are played for Travel Coins only. Long Haul is an endurance run: tap to flap, thread the channel markers and see how far you can fly. It gets 5% faster at every 200 metres. Your best run of the day goes on the board, the top three share a purse, and you are told if someone knocks you down. The Daily Pot is a knockout: 5 Travel Coins gets you in, each round is 30 seconds of tossing on a timing meter to outscore another explorer, and one loss puts you out until tomorrow. At midnight the pot is shared among the top hundred.
Three more are high-score games, played as often as you like, with your best score of the day on the board and a purse for the top three. Deck Shuffleboard: pull back and let go to slide ten pucks at the scoring triangle, worth 10 at the tip, then 8, then 7, with 10 off at the far end, while the deck rolls a little more with every shot. Duck Sorter: ducks ride a belt and you tap the cabin door that matches each one; three mistakes ends the run and the belt never stops speeding up. Buffet Balance: drag the tray to stay under a growing stack of plates while the ship rolls harder and harder. None of the daily games changes your Season Points.
11. Friends and the world
Every explorer has a profile showing their stamps, ducks and badges. Follow anyone to see their news in your feed, cheer them on, and race them on the Following leaderboard. When two explorers follow each other they are friends. The world view shows where every ship is right now. You can make your profile private, and block or report anyone, at any time.
Add a friend by scanning or typing their Scan me code. Once a day you can send one friend a gift of 25 Travel Coins or a bonus duck cast, and you can challenge a friend to the same Harbor Pilot course or Duck Net wave: one run each, the winner takes 40 coins. Crews are groups of up to 30 explorers with their own noticeboard, ranked by the Season Points of their ten best members. Gifts, challenges and crews never add to your own Season Points.
The trip log is for the cruises you have really taken: the ship, the dates, the ports and a line or two. Each trip stays private unless you choose to show it on your profile.
12. Dream Cruise Board and travel offers
Save ships and ports you would love to visit for real, and add optional travel preferences in your profile. If you want a real quote, use Request a quote and a Cruise Crawler travel advisor will follow up. Cruise deals by email are strictly opt-in, and booking a cruise never affects your standing in the game.