A Mediterranean cruise is great if you want to visit a number of countries on a single cruise, but once you have been there and bought the T-shirts, what is next?

Why not give the Black Sea a chance? With a single trip you can visit exotic destinations such as Bulgaria, Turkey, Ukraine, Romania, Georgia and Russia.

Swan Hellenic’s cruise liner Minerva departs from Istanbul on the 11th April next year. It brings a visit to the Balaclava battlefield, the scene of the poem “Charge of the Light Brigade” by Tennyson.

A further highlight of this cruise is an overnight visit to Odessa, where you will be able to attend a ballet at the famous opera house. From Nessebar passengers will be able to visit a traditional Bulgarian village.

If you only have a week to spare, why not opt for a cruise on board Silversea’s Silver Spirit? It leaves Istanbul on the 18th June next year and heads north to Yalta, where passengers will visit the Livadia Palace, where Stalin, Churchill and Roosevelt met in 1945 to redraw the map of Europe.

Crystal Serenity sails from Venice to Istanbul on the 19th June 2012. The 13-day cruise will overnight in Istanbul, Venice and Odessa.

In Odessa passengers will have the option of heading to the Cossack town of Nerubayskoye, where they can explore the network of limestone tunnels that the Soviet Army used as a fort during WW2.

The cruise also visits Katakolon and the Greek island of Mykonos.