Norwegian Gem: 19-Night Repo

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.

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.

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.

Nice is the capital of the French Riviera, a Mediterranean city of about 340,000 people wedged between the Maritime Alps and the Cote d'Azur coastline. Cruise ships anchor in the bay at Villefranche-sur-Mer, a small harbor town about 6 km east of Nice, or occasionally dock at Nice's own port.

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.

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.

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.