Oceania Vista: 9-Night Mediterranean

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.

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.

Monaco is a sovereign city-state on the French Riviera, just 2 square kilometers in size with about 39,000 residents, making it the second-smallest country in the world. Monte Carlo, its most famous district, is synonymous with wealth, casinos, and Formula 1 racing.

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.

Valencia cruise port is Spain's third-largest cruise port (after Barcelona and Palma de Mallorca) and a rising star on Western Mediterranean itineraries. Valencia sits on the east coast of Spain about 350 kilometers south of Barcelona and 350 kilometers east of Madrid.

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.

Gibraltar is a British Overseas Territory at the southern tip of the Iberian Peninsula, a 6.7-square-kilometer enclave dominated by the Rock of Gibraltar, a 426-meter limestone monolith that guards the western entrance to the Mediterranean.