Villefranche-sur-Mer receives high marks as the Arrival Hall is very welcoming and the harbour is the deepest along the coastline which means cruise ships can come much closer to port which in turn makes a short five minute tender. Cruises into St Tropez also dock outside the harbour and the journey too is fairly short; sadly traffic congestion in high season makes it nigh on impossible to visit other towns on the French Riviera.

Unfortunately, Cannes earns a dismal 2/10 with me for several reasons. Firstly the cruise ship anchors a fair distance away from the harbour making your tendering a good 10 minutes long. In the event of windy weather (morning or evening) the cruise ship moves further off shore to nestle close to the Iles de Lérins for protection thus making any tendering at least a 30 minute journey. Secondly, it's the only harbour along the French Riviera I know where it's impossible to escape a group of cruise photographers, aided (but possibly abetted) by a Can-Can dancer which I find a bit tacky. However, you do get the red carpet treatment (ie. you walk up a red carpet to the coaches parking lot) which I know lots of people find fun.

Lastly, I should mention that the majority of cruises tend to offload passengers who have booked a tour through their own services first. Once the bulk of these have been tendered to shore, they will then allow travellers who have booked a private guided tour with "outside" companies to tender afterwards. Depending upon the size of the cruise ship and the number of passengers wishing to go ashore this can take quite a while. I've known instances when 40 coaches were lined up to take land passengers, causing private clients to wait over two hours before finally meeting their respective hosts.