You may not have heard of Explora Journeys. There’s a decent chance you’ve heard of MSC, though.
This is their premium offering. What Celebrity is to Royal Caribbean. What Princess is to Carnival.
The line launched in June 2021, with its first ship — the 63,621 gross tonne Explora I — sailing from Copenhagen in August 2023. Explora II followed a year later.
Now the third and biggest has been handed over at Fincantieri’s shipyard in Genoa. We flagged her arrival earlier this month; now she’s real.
Imaginatively named Explora III, the 72,810 gross tonne ship carries pretty much the same number of passengers as its smaller siblings. There’s just a good deal more room to lux about in.
What you get for the money
461 suites, every one of them oceanfront with a terrace. Five heated pools. Seven restaurants and twelve bars and lounges. Roughly four crew for every five guests.
Three dining rooms are new to this ship: The Cellar, The Chef’s Table and Shore Club on 11. The spa and gym have been folded into a single wellness space, and there’s a second Owner’s Residence designed by Patricia Urquiola.
The shopping is Rolex, Cartier, Panerai, Piaget and — new here — Chopard. Which tells you plenty about who Explora thinks is coming aboard.
That space-per-passenger figure runs against the grain, too. The industry has spent years squeezing more cabins into the same hull. Explora has gone the other way.
The green bit
This is also Explora’s first LNG-capable ship, and cruising has taken a fair bit of stick lately for what it pumps out in port and in places like the Norwegian fjords.
Fincantieri’s figures for the fuel are striking: sulphur oxides down 99%, nitrogen oxides down 85%, particulates down 98%, greenhouse gases down by up to 20%.
The first three are solid. The greenhouse gas number is the disputed one — methane escaping unburnt through the fuel system eats into the saving, sometimes badly. Cleaner air in port, then. Cleaner climate is a longer argument.
She can also plug into shore power where ports offer it, and Southampton does.
The maiden voyage
Barcelona to Lisbon on 3 August, listed at £8,595 down from £10,050 — and a maiden voyage still discounted a fortnight out tells you how keen Explora Journeys are to fill the ship.
She then works the Med until mid-August. Which is when she arrives in sunny Southampton.
Sailing from Southampton, 17 August
Eight nights to Copenhagen, calling at Mandal, Stavanger, Olden, Bergen and Flåm in Norway. From £5,735, down from £6,750 under the line’s “last minute invitation” deals — around £717 a night.
Stay aboard longer and it becomes a 16-night run at the Baltic favourites: Tallinn, Stockholm, Riga, Visby, Rønne and back to Copenhagen. From £12,495, down from £15,500. Around £781 a night.
Or make it a proper no-fly round trip. Twenty-three nights back to Southampton via Aarhus, Lysekil, Oslo and Hamburg. From £17,720, down from £22,000 — around £770 a night.
Driving down? Our Southampton cruise parking guide compares every option with 2026 prices.
Then she heads for New York
Eventually. It’s a meander, and you can join for eight, 19 or 28 nights.
The eight-night run goes Donegal, Stornoway, then Seyðisfjörður, Akureyri and Reykjavik, with an overnight in the Icelandic capital. From £3,560, down from £5,650 — £445 a night, and the sharpest number in the whole programme.
The second leg threads Prins Christian Sund in Greenland, calling at Paamiut and Nanortalik before Newfoundland, Havre-Saint-Pierre and Quebec City, where there’s another overnight. From £10,275, down from £14,450. Around £541 a night.
The third takes in the River Saguenay, Sept-Îles, Prince Edward Island, Sydney and Halifax, then Newport, Rhode Island, before sailing past the Statue of Liberty and up the Hudson into Manhattan. From £14,550, down from £20,500 — around £520 a night, and a saving of six grand.
And if that appeals, Explora III isn’t the end of it. Explora IV does the same sort of thing from Southampton in 2027, and Explora V follows in 2028. There are sale prices on those too, wouldn’t you know.
So what does “from” actually get you
The cheapest suite grade, per person, two sharing. As ever.
But the inclusions are genuinely broad, and that matters when you’re weighing this against the rest of the luxury field. Drinks are in — wine, champagne, spirits, coffee. So are gratuities, wi-fi and port shuttles. There’s a bottle of champagne, a bottle of wine and a bottle of spirits waiting in your suite.
What isn’t in: shore excursions. Explora’s own Palma tours run from £115 to £275 a head, and a private guided vehicle for the day can top £1,500. Budget for it, or do your own thing ashore.
The bottom line
There’s a saving on almost every sailing if you take Explora’s website at face value. Treat the struck-through figure as a reference point rather than a price anyone was ever going to pay.
Judge the £3,560 on its own merits instead. Eight nights on a three-week-old luxury ship, Iceland and the Hebrides, drinks and tips included, sailing from Southampton.
Not too shabby.
Prices correct at the time of publishing — Explora’s fares move about.
