In Jamaica, Carnival Cruise Lines offers passengers a bobsled ride through a tropical forest. In Stockholm, Norwegian Cruise Line guests can take a rooftop tour of the city. In Key West, those sailing on Royal Caribbean ships can take a walking tour with a hand-held GPS that not only supplies directions but also provides facts, myths and legends.

These are some of the smart new shore excursions offered by mainstream cruise lines as they widen their appeal to a more active, tuned-in audience.

For the past few years, cruise lines have been adding excursions that appeal to younger, active passengers, such as zipline adventures, lessons in regional cuisine and ecologically oriented tours. But now they're upping the ante with even more ''extreme'' excursions and tours that lean on modern technology.

Dozens of such shore trips are on tap for passengers who want something more than a standard bus tour on a port-of-call visit. Some may be expensive, and many limit the number of participants to small groups. But all provide a less common perspective to their visit ashore.

Norwegian Cruise Line, for one, has just launched a new series of shore excursions called Ultimate Touring that is available to groups of two to 18 persons. Besides that rooftop walk in Stockholm, its tours include such beyond-the-ordinary experiences as a speedboat exploration of the Helsinki archipelago and sharing cuisine secrets with an Alaskan chef in Ketchikan.

In June, Holland America announced the addition of nearly 500 specially selected excursions in several categories. Among them are first-class tours to events and sights not readily available, such as becoming a dolphin trainer for a day in Puerto Vallarta, and tours that explore beyond the standard attractions, such as visiting the important sites in the life of Eva Peron in Buenos Aires. Of special interest to ''been-there-done-that'' travelers is its Signature Collection, which allows guests to customize their excursions and reserve private transportation.

Holland America isn't the only line tailoring excursions to independent-minded passengers. Norwegian offers exclusive four- and nine-hour tours in a private vehicle for passengers who want to explore any NCL port of call on their own, and Princess and Royal Caribbean offer iPod-guided walking tours.

Both those lines let passengers choose whether they want to follow a pre-set itinerary on their GPS tours, or design their own. Princess' iPod tours, available in 16 European cities for $29 each, provides passengers with a detailed map of attractions along with recorded tour information about each. Royal Caribbean also offers its iPod tours in three other locales -- the Falkland Islands; Halifax, Nova Scotia and Lisbon. Regent began iPod tours in several European cities last year.

Here are a few of the newest active, less-structured shore explorations. All prices are subject to change.

CARNIVAL

Remember the improbable Jamaican bobsled teams of the winter Olympics? Carnival has just initiated a new excursion that gives passengers a chance to take a bobsled ride through a Jamaican tropical forest. The bobsled, at Mystic Mountain near Ocho Rios, winds 3,280 feet on steel rails, with riders contolling speed with a handbrake. Cost is $59. Also at Mystic Mountain are a chairlift ride above treetops and a zipline canopy adventure. The excursion is available on the 14 Carnival ships that sail the western Caribbean.

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