Things to Do Near Alabama Cruise Terminal

Hands-on science galleries and a dome theater on Government Street, six minutes from the gangway.

Best for: Small children who need to touch things, and a rainy morning before an afternoon boarding

Pro tip: The price genuinely is not on the site — the only figures it publishes are military discounts — so call the box office before you set out rather than turning up with a budget in mind. It opens Tuesday to Saturday, 10am to 4pm, and is closed Sunday and Monday. Children under 16 must be with an adult, which is their stated rule. Anyone under 16 has to be with an adult, which the center states as a rule rather than a suggestion.

Eight decks of exhibits about ships and the Gulf, in the building shaped like a hull that you can see from the terminal.

Best for: The shortest walk of anything here, and the cheapest way to fill an hour with a small child

Pro tip: Children under five go free and everyone else pays a flat $5, so a family with young kids gets in for less than the price of two coffees. It is open Wednesday to Saturday only, 10am to 4pm with last entry at 3pm, and it closes on every holiday the City of Mobile observes. It was called GulfQuest until recently, which is why the old name still comes up first in searches. Everyone pays $5 here — adults, youth, seniors, students, all the same — which for a family of four is a whole museum for twenty dollars. It used to be called GulfQuest, and the old name is still what most search results show. The name has changed and the old one still circulates: this is the museum that opened as GulfQuest, and it now calls itself the National Maritime Museum of the Gulf at nmmog.org. Search on the old name and you will not land on its site.

A small city park on the water at the foot of Government Street, with an amphitheater and public restrooms.

Best for: Somewhere to let small children move before a long check-in line, and a view of your own ship

Pro tip: The City of Mobile lists three things here — an amphitheater, restrooms and the waterfront — and on a boarding morning the restrooms are the one that matters, because the terminal's gates do not open for embarkation until 10 a.m. and there is nowhere to wait once you have been dropped off.

A rebuilt French colonial fort five minutes up Royal Street, with muskets fired in the courtyard on Saturdays.

Best for: A Saturday morning, when the musketry demonstrations are on at 11am and 2pm

Pro tip: The fort is included with a History Museum ticket bought across the street, so it costs nothing extra. Muskets are loud — the demonstrations are the draw for most children and the reason to stand at the back with the smallest ones. It closes half an hour before the museum does — 4:30pm Monday to Saturday, and 1pm to 4:30pm on Sunday — so do the fort first and the museum second, not the other way round. Musketry demonstrations are held every Saturday at 11am and 2pm in the courtyard, which the fort qualifies as weather- and staff-permitting. The excavated remnants of the original fort are a separate thing, visible in Mardi Gras Park facing Church Street.

A battleship and a submarine moored across the bay, both open to walk through.

Best for: The one attraction open every day but Christmas, when the downtown museums are shut

Pro tip: Under-sixes go free and six to eleven is $6, which makes this cheaper for a young family than it looks. It is a drive rather than a walk — the straight line crosses Mobile Bay. Steep ladders and narrow passages inside the submarine are the limiting factor with toddlers; the battleship's main decks are the easier half. Open 8am to 5pm with the last ticket sold at 4pm, every day except Christmas Day, which makes it the safe choice when your sailing falls on a day the downtown museums are shut. It is across the bay rather than across the street, so this is a drive and not a walk. Three or four hours is realistic if the submarine is part of the plan, which for most teenagers it is. This is the exception to the walking rule — it is a mile and a third away in a straight line but that line crosses the bay, so it is a drive. Budget the $5 parking on top of admission.

The city's own museum in the old Southern Market and City Hall building, two blocks up Royal Street from the water.

Best for: The closest real museum to the ship, and the only one downtown open seven days a week

Pro tip: It is open every day — Monday to Saturday 9am to 5pm and Sunday 1pm to 5pm — which downtown Mobile cannot otherwise claim. Tickets are not sold in advance, so there is nothing to book. Admission is free on the first Sunday of each month. Your ticket also covers Colonial Fort Condé across the street, so treat the two as one visit rather than two decisions.

Crowns, scepters and monarchs' robes in the Bernstein-Bush mansion on Government Street, telling the story of Mobile's own Mardi Gras.

Best for: The local story you cannot get anywhere else, and an easy hour if you are here on one of the four days it opens

Pro tip: Open Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday, 9am to 4pm, and closed Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday — read that list twice before you build a morning around it. Guided tours run at 9:30am, 11am and 1:30pm when a docent is available, which the museum states rather than promises. Parking on site is free, so this is one to drive to if you are already in the car.