Carnival Miracle: 9-Night Northern Europe

Dover is one of England's busiest cruise ports, sitting on the Kent coast at the narrowest point of the English Channel, just 21 miles from Calais, France. The White Cliffs of Dover, the chalky coastal escarpment visible from sea, are England's most recognized natural landmark and the first or last thing passengers see as they arrive or depart.

Paris (Le Havre) cruise port is the gateway from Northern European cruise itineraries to Paris and Normandy. Le Havre itself is a port city on the Normandy coast where the Seine River meets the English Channel, about 200 kilometers northwest of Paris.

Zeebrugge is a North Sea port about 15 km from Bruges, one of Europe's best-preserved medieval cities. Ships dock at Zeebrugge, but the destination is Bruges: a city of 120,000 people whose medieval center survived the centuries virtually intact because the city's commercial importance faded after the Zwin river silted up in the 15th century, and nobody had a reason to tear anything down.

Copenhagen cruise port is the main cruise gateway to Scandinavia and one of the most important embarkation ports for Baltic and Norwegian fjord itineraries. The city has three cruise terminals.

Warnemunde is a seaside resort town at the mouth of the Warnow River on Germany's Baltic coast, serving as the cruise port for the Hanseatic city of Rostock and, more importantly for most passengers, as the gateway to Berlin, about 230 km (2.5 hours) to the south.

Amsterdam cruise port has one of the best locations of any cruise terminal in Europe. The Passenger Terminal Amsterdam (PTA) sits right in the city center, about a 15-minute walk from Central Station and the edge of the canal ring.