Silver Spirit: 16-Night Europe - Northern

Lisbon cruise port is one of the most atmospheric arrivals in Europe. Ships sail up the Tagus River past the 25 de Abril Bridge (a near-twin of San Francisco's Golden Gate) and the Christ the King statue, with the city rising up on seven hills to the north.

Porto is Portugal's second city, sitting on the steep banks of the Douro River near the Atlantic coast. Cruise ships dock at the port of Leixoes, an industrial harbor in the suburb of Matosinhos about 8 kilometers north of Porto's historic center.

Bordeaux is one of France's great cities, a UNESCO-listed urban center on the Garonne River in southwestern France known worldwide for its wine but increasingly recognized for its architecture, food scene, and cultural institutions. The Bordeaux cruise port is unusual: ocean-going cruise ships dock at the industrial port facility at Le Verdon-sur-Mer at the mouth of the Gironde estuary, about 100 km from Bordeaux city center, or occasionally at Bassens or Pauillac closer to the city.

Bordeaux is one of France's great cities, a UNESCO-listed urban center on the Garonne River in southwestern France known worldwide for its wine but increasingly recognized for its architecture, food scene, and cultural institutions. The Bordeaux cruise port is unusual: ocean-going cruise ships dock at the industrial port facility at Le Verdon-sur-Mer at the mouth of the Gironde estuary, about 100 km from Bordeaux city center, or occasionally at Bassens or Pauillac closer to the city.

Bordeaux is one of France's great cities, a UNESCO-listed urban center on the Garonne River in southwestern France known worldwide for its wine but increasingly recognized for its architecture, food scene, and cultural institutions. The Bordeaux cruise port is unusual: ocean-going cruise ships dock at the industrial port facility at Le Verdon-sur-Mer at the mouth of the Gironde estuary, about 100 km from Bordeaux city center, or occasionally at Bassens or Pauillac closer to the city.

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.

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.

Rotterdam is Europe's largest port city and a major cruise embarkation point in the Netherlands, located in the Rhine-Meuse-Scheldt river delta about 80 km south of Amsterdam. The cruise terminal (Rotterdam Cruise Terminal) is at the Wilhelminakade on the south bank of the Nieuwe Maas river, in the shadow of the Erasmus Bridge.