Azamara Quest: 8-Night Mediterranean

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.

Katakolon is a small fishing village on the western coast of the Peloponnese, with a permanent population of only about 700 people. It exists on cruise maps for one reason: ancient Olympia, the birthplace of the Olympic Games, is 45 minutes inland.

Valletta cruise port is one of the most visually dramatic arrivals on any Mediterranean itinerary. Ships sail into the Grand Harbour, a deep natural inlet flanked by honey-colored limestone walls that rise straight out of the water, with Valletta itself perched on the peninsula above.

La Goulette is the cruise port serving Tunis, Tunisia's capital, located on the Mediterranean coast of North Africa about 12 kilometers northeast of the city center. The port sits at the entrance to the Lake of Tunis, a shallow lagoon separating La Goulette from downtown.

Cartagena is a historic port city of about 215,000 people on Spain's southeastern Mediterranean coast, in the Murcia region. Founded by the Carthaginians in 227 BC (as Carthago Nova), the city has been contested by Carthaginians, Romans, Moors, and Spanish kingdoms, and its layered history shows in the archaeological sites scattered through the compact center.