Oceania Sonata: 32-Night World

Trieste sits at the northeastern corner of Italy, pressed against the Slovenian border at the head of the Adriatic Sea. The city has about 200,000 residents and a distinctly Central European character that sets it apart from other Italian cruise ports.

Ravenna is a mid-sized city of about 160,000 people in Italy's Emilia-Romagna region, sitting on the Adriatic coast south of Venice. The city served as the capital of the Western Roman Empire, the Ostrogothic Kingdom, and the Byzantine Exarchate, leaving it with the finest collection of early Christian and Byzantine mosaics anywhere outside Istanbul.

Split cruise port is the main gateway to central Dalmatia and one of the most remarkable cities in Croatia. The city is built around and inside Diocletian's Palace, a 1,700-year-old Roman fortress that the emperor built as his retirement residence around 300 AD.

Kotor cruise port is one of the most visually spectacular arrivals in the Adriatic. Ships sail through a deep fjord-like bay (Boka Kotorska) surrounded by limestone mountains that rise steeply from the water, with the walled medieval town of Kotor tucked at the base.

Messina cruise port sits at the northeastern tip of Sicily, directly across the narrow Strait of Messina from mainland Italy. Ships dock right at the city waterfront, making it one of the easiest Mediterranean ports to step off and explore.

Salerno is the eastern gateway to the Amalfi Coast, one of Italy's most celebrated stretches of coastline. Cruise ships dock at the Stazione Marittima in Salerno's port, a short walk from the city center and the starting point for trips along the legendary coastal road to Amalfi, Positano, and Ravello.

Rome's cruise port is in Civitavecchia, a working port town about 80 kilometers northwest of the city. That distance is the single most important thing to understand about this stop.

Salerno is the eastern gateway to the Amalfi Coast, one of Italy's most celebrated stretches of coastline. Cruise ships dock at the Stazione Marittima in Salerno's port, a short walk from the city center and the starting point for trips along the legendary coastal road to Amalfi, Positano, and Ravello.

Florence (Livorno) cruise port is the main Tuscan stop on Mediterranean itineraries, but it's worth being clear about what you're actually docking at. The port is Livorno, a working industrial city on the Ligurian coast, about 85 kilometers west of Florence.

Cannes is a Mediterranean resort city of about 75,000 people on the French Riviera, known worldwide for its annual film festival but offering far more than red carpets and paparazzi. The city sits on the Golfe de la Napoule with the Esterel massif's red porphyry cliffs rising to the west and the rolling hills of Provence behind.

Marseille cruise port is France's busiest and one of the major stops on western Mediterranean itineraries. The city is France's second largest and its oldest, founded by Greek sailors over 2,600 years ago, and it has a rougher, more authentic edge than the polished Riviera towns further east.

Ibiza is one of Spain's Balearic Islands in the western Mediterranean, about 150 km off the coast of Valencia. The cruise port is in Ibiza Town (Eivissa), on the southeast coast of the island.

Palma de Mallorca cruise port is one of the busiest in the Mediterranean and the main cruise gateway to the Balearic Islands. Palma sits on the south coast of Mallorca, the largest of the Balearics, about 250 kilometers south of Barcelona.

Barcelona cruise port is the busiest in the Mediterranean, handling millions of passengers a year across multiple terminals. The city behind it earns that traffic.

Alicante is a mid-sized Spanish city of about 330,000 people on the Costa Blanca in southeastern Spain. It's a working Mediterranean city that happens to have a beautiful waterfront, a hilltop castle, and some of the best weather in Europe.

Cadiz is the actual cruise port marketed as "Seville (Cadiz)" by cruise lines because Seville, Spain's fourth-largest city, is the primary day-trip draw from this port. Cadiz itself is one of Europe's oldest continuously inhabited cities, perched on a narrow peninsula jutting into the Atlantic on Spain's southwestern coast.

Funchal is the capital of Madeira, a Portuguese island in the Atlantic Ocean about 600 miles southwest of Lisbon and 400 miles north of the Canary Islands. The island is volcanic, mountainous, and green, with a subtropical climate that keeps temperatures mild year-round.

The Royal Naval Dockyard at Kings Wharf is Bermuda's primary cruise port, set within a restored 19th-century British naval base with shops, restaurants, and the National Museum. Bermuda's famous pink sand beaches and pastel-colored houses are accessible by ferry or bus.