Costa Pacifica: 7-Night Eastern Mediterranean

Istanbul cruise port is one of the most extraordinary arrivals in the world. Ships sail up the Bosphorus Strait between Europe and Asia, past Ottoman palaces and Byzantine ruins, and dock at Galataport, the underground cruise terminal in the Karaköy neighborhood right in the center of the city.

Mykonos cruise port is one of the most instantly recognizable stops in the Greek islands. Whitewashed cube buildings cascade down hills to the Aegean Sea, blue-domed churches punctuate the skyline, and windmills stand sentinel on the ridge above Mykonos Town (Chora).

Rhodes is the largest of Greece's Dodecanese islands, sitting in the far southeastern Aegean Sea just 18 kilometers from the Turkish coast. The Rhodes cruise port is in the city of Rhodes on the island's northern tip, where ships dock right next to one of the best-preserved medieval old towns in Europe.

Santorini cruise port is one of the most visually striking arrivals in cruising. Ships anchor in the flooded caldera of a volcanic crater, with the whitewashed villages of Fira and Oia perched dramatically 1,000 feet above on the cliff edge.

Athens cruise port is in Piraeus, a busy port city about 10 kilometers southwest of central Athens. Piraeus is its own city, not just a terminal, and it handles cruise ships, island ferries, and commercial traffic all at once.