Why Go on Desire Cruise Rome Trieste 2028?
7 Experiences Worth Getting Off the Ship For

Why go on Desire Rome Trieste 2028?

Obviously, the first answer is everything happening onboard. This is a Desire Cruise, after all.
This isn’t 7 deadly sins – but it’s 7 things I’d love to do…

1. Civitavecchia: Get wet in a Roman thermal bath.
2. Salerno: Get colorful on the Amalfi Coast.
3. Corfu: Get naked on a Greek beach.
4. Kotor: Drink wine from the bottom of the sea.
5. Split: Taste the original Zinfandel.
6. Zadar: Sip Maraschino at sunset while the sea plays music.
7. Trieste: Drink Prosecco in Prosecco.

Seven ports. Seven completely different experiences. And every night, you come home to Desire.

This particular Mediterranean itinerary gives us another reason to get excited. The ports are fabulous.

And I say that as someone who has been known to stay onboard while everyone else goes exploring.

The Desire Rome to Trieste Cruise sails September 9 – 16, 2028, beginning in Civitavecchia, the port for Rome, and ending in Trieste. Along the way, we visit southern Italy, Greece, Montenegro and Croatia.

But rather than give you another list of churches, museums and historic monuments, I went looking for something different.

I wanted to find one experience in every port that made me think, “Oh, I want to do THAT.”

Something sexy. Something delicious. Something beautiful. A fabulous bottle of wine. A place to skinny dip. Or simply an experience that produces one hell of an Instagram photo.

Here is what I found.

Civitavecchia, Italy: Soak Like a Roman Before You Sail

Our adventure begins in Civitavecchia, where you can start your vacation doing something Romans have enjoyed for centuries.

The Terme della Ficoncella are natural thermal baths in the hills above Civitavecchia. Today, there are five open-air thermal pools with water temperatures ranging from approximately 30°C to 56°C.

Don’t expect a polished luxury spa. That’s part of the appeal.

This is much more rustic, local and wonderfully Italian.

There is something deliciously appropriate about beginning a sexy Mediterranean cruise soaking together in naturally hot mineral water.

Miss Lynn’s pick: Start Desire Rome Trieste 2028 by getting wet.

Salerno, Italy: Find the Most Colorful Town on the Amalfi Coast

When the ship arrives in Salerno, everyone immediately starts talking about Positano and Amalfi.

I’d go in another direction.

Just down the coast is Vietri sul Mare, a beautiful little town famous for its colorful handmade ceramics. Ceramics have been produced here for centuries, and you’ll see the tradition everywhere, from shop windows and fountains to entire building facades.

This is a place for wandering.

Find something beautiful to bring home. Stop for lunch. Order a chilled local wine. Then find one of those spectacular blue, yellow and green tiled walls and take the photo.

Miss Lynn’s pick: This could be the Instagram winner of the cruise.

Corfu, Greece: Yes, You Can Get Naked

Now we’re talking.

Corfu has long been known for one of the most famous clothing-optional beaches in Greece, Myrtiotissa Beach.

The tiny beach sits beneath dramatic green cliffs on Corfu’s western coast. It has had a decades-long association with naturism, although the amount of beach available and local conditions can change from season to season.

So, we’ll check again before September 2028.

But seriously.

You’re traveling through the Greek Islands on a Desire Cruise.

Surely we should investigate the possibility of getting naked on a Greek beach.

Miss Lynn’s pick: Pack the swimsuit. You just might not need it.

Kotor, Montenegro: Drink Wine From the Bottom of the Sea

This one stopped me in my tracks.

In the Bay of Kotor, Kraken operates an underwater wine cellar where bottles of Montenegrin wine are submerged approximately 20 meters beneath the Adriatic and aged underwater for about a year. The bottles are protected with wax and stored beneath the sea, eventually emerging covered in the natural evidence of their underwater adventure.

Even better, there is a floating wine bar.

Guests can taste the underwater-aged wine, enjoy seafood, swim in the bay and even arrange to dive to the underwater cellar. Kraken currently transports guests from the coast aboard its own boat.

Naturally, we’ll reconfirm the experience and transportation arrangements before our 2028 sailing.

But this is exactly the sort of travel experience I love.

It’s local. It’s a little decadent. It’s completely unexpected. And that sea-encrusted bottle is coming home with me.

Miss Lynn’s pick: Drink wine from the bottom of the sea.

Split, Croatia: Discover Where Zinfandel Really Came From

Wine lovers, I have a surprise for you.

Zinfandel is Croatian.

Researchers traced California’s famous Zinfandel grape back to an ancient Croatian variety known as Crljenak Kaštelanski. The genetic connection helped solve a mystery that had fascinated the wine world for decades.

Even better, the discovery has a local connection. The grape was identified in the Kaštela area, just outside Split.

That gives us a mission.

Instead of ordering another familiar glass of Chardonnay, go looking for Crljenak Kaštelanski.

Taste it here. Buy a bottle. Then tell your friends you’re drinking Zinfandel in its ancestral homeland.

Miss Lynn’s pick: Go Zinfandel hunting in the place where the story began.

Zadar, Croatia: Listen to the Sea at Sunset

Zadar gives us something completely different.

Along the waterfront is the Sea Organ, an architectural installation that uses the movement of the Adriatic Sea to create music. Waves push air through pipes hidden beneath the marble steps, allowing the sea itself to play the instrument.

Then there’s the sunset.

Alfred Hitchcock famously praised Zadar’s sunset during a visit to the city in 1964. The city’s waterfront remains one of its signature gathering places in the evening.

But we’re not finished.

Zadar is also home to Maraschino, the famous liqueur traditionally produced using the local Marasca cherry.

So here’s my plan.

Find a cocktail. Walk down to the waterfront. Sit beside someone you adore. Listen to the sea make music while the sun disappears into the Adriatic.

Sometimes travel doesn’t need to be more complicated than that.

Miss Lynn’s pick: Maraschino, sea music and sunset.

Trieste, Italy: Drink Prosecco in Prosecco

And finally, Desire Rome Trieste 2028 ends with bubbles.

How appropriate.

The village and historic territory of Prosecco are located just outside Trieste. The official Prosecco DOC consortium traces the wine’s historical origins to this area of northeastern Italy.

So, after a week of adventures, we can finish our journey by drinking Prosecco remarkably close to where the story began.

Of course, Trieste deserves more than a quick glass of bubbles. The city’s food culture reflects its unusual position between Italian, Austrian, Slovenian and broader Central European influences.

But we have priorities.

Miss Lynn’s pick: End a Desire Cruise with Prosecco in Prosecco.

So, Why Go on Desire Rome Trieste 2028?

Because this isn’t simply seven nights onboard a Desire Cruise.

It’s the kind of itinerary where the days can become part of the adventure.

You can soak in an Italian thermal bath, photograph yourselves among the ceramics of Vietri sul Mare, possibly skinny dip in Corfu, drink wine aged beneath the Adriatic, taste the Croatian ancestor of Zinfandel, listen to the sea play music at sunset and finish with Prosecco near the place that gave it its name.

Then you get back onboard Desire.

And the night hasn’t even started yet.

That is my kind of Mediterranean vacation.

Want to join us? TSC-Cruises.com can help you choose the right cabin, plan your pre-cruise stay and make Desire Rome Trieste 2028 as much fun off the ship as it is onboard.