Crystal gets creative with Game of Thrones excursion, new bike tours

We love when the creative minds at cruise lines get going. The latest example: Crystal Cruises’ new shore excursions. Passengers can find adventure on Europe cruises on a tour based on the hit HBO show Game of Thrones and on a bunch of new, get-active bike excursions.

First to the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros. Obviously you can’t visit this fictional destination – and who would want to anyway, given the violence in the Game of Thrones’ current plotlines? But you can visit a production location outside of Belfast, with opportunity to try your hand at shooting arrows and to pose for photos in Westeros costumes.

Game of Thrones Bike Tours

The half-day excursion ($289) takes participants to Strangford Lough, in County Down, where medieval buildings and land at the Castle Ward estate – with the aid of special effects – appeared on the show as Winterfell, as the Lannister encampment, and as Robb Stark’s campgrounds (where he fell in love with Talisa).

The half-day excursion, priced at $289, is available on the August 24 British Isles cruise on Crystal Symphony and the September 5 trans-Atlantic cruise on Crystal Serenity.

While the show tie-in is sexy, active types may be just as titillated by the line’s launch of 16 new bicycle adventures in Northern and Western Europe and the Mediterranean. Offered May to September, the excursions give you a way to work off cruise calories while you pedal past sea views, through quaint villages, and to historic sites.

The half- and full-day tours are priced from $89 to $249. Examples: Ride to the summer home of Peter the Great and through Old Town in Tallinn, Estonia. Or explore the countryside of Malta on a route that takes you to the top of the sheer Dingli Cliffs for views.