Depends if the port was in on it, who you’ve paid off, etc.

so if given a choice between bribing a port and not bribing a port, you would bribe the port.

I suppose, if in the position to decision, whatever actions might improve the odds of success are on the table. You’d bribe the port, but only if you were highly confident the bribe was going to work and the port wouldn’t turn on you as soon as the mooring lines were secured.