Last Updated on May 14, 2025
By John and Sandra Nowlan
We’ve enjoyed cruising for more than 25 years, so we were delighted to join Explora 1, the new ultra-luxury brand from Switzerland-based parent company, MSC Group. Explora Journeys (as the company is known) designed this opulent 922-passenger vessel as the first in a series of almost identical all-inclusive ships to compete in a high-end market dominated by Regent, Crystal, Seabourn, and Silversea.
Boarding Explora 1 in Miami for a nine-day cruise to Mexico and Central America, we were immediately struck by the elegant lobby—large, modern, and also sparkling with crystal and rich marble.
A unique feature of the yacht-like ship is the first-ever Rolex store at sea. The manager also told us he sells several watches a week. The atrium includes a large, all-inclusive bar (one of 12 bars and lounges) and a guest services area with individual cubicles for more privacy.
All the public rooms are spacious and bright, often with floor-to-ceiling windows for unlimited ocean views. The 250-metre (82-foot) ship, with a gross tonnage of 63,900, has five pools, including one with a retractable glass roof. Explora 1 has a small but little-used casino. We were disappointed that a ship of this quality has no library, not even a “Leave a book; Take a book” corner.
The Journeys Lounge on Explora 1
The main entertainment area, the Journeys Lounge on Deck 4, holds 250 guests for shows and enrichment lectures. On our cruise, six talented singers presented four separate, high-energy shows with an outstanding six-piece band. The Journeys Lounge also has daily trivia and enrichment lectures.
As Explora 1 sailed by the Yucatan Peninsula, we appreciated an excellent illustrated lecture about the giant asteroid that hit this area of Mexico 66 million years ago, causing the mass extinction of dinosaurs.
Several other lounges and bars featured piano stylings and individual vocal artists. But we enjoy classical music and missed hearing a string duo or trio, common on other ultra-luxury lines.
Exploring Explora 1
Explora 1 has an award-winning spa with numerous extra-cost treatments available. But, like every guest, there was no cost to use the hydrotherapy pool and adjacent Finnish sauna and steam room. A well-equipped gym, a pickleball court, and a wrap-around jogging track are also on the top deck for exercise.
Many guests were older, veteran cruisers, but all told us how much they enjoyed their accommodations. The basic Ocean Terrace suites are a generous 377 sq. feet and feature a king-size bed, superb lighting, and temperature controls with a walk-in closet. Wi-fi is excellent and complimentary.
The bathrooms on Explora 1 have a heated floor and showers with both an overhead rain and traditional nozzles. The luxurious Frette towels are extra thick and cozy, probably the best we’ve ever experienced at sea. As well as Frette bathrobes, a bottle of fine champagne on ice awaited us, as well as a fridge stocked with any beer, wine, or soft drink we wished.
Every Explora 1 suite has a generous-sized balcony with a table, two chairs, and a comfortable lounger. One morning, we woke up wishing for a room service breakfast, called in our order, and were served a complete meal on our balcony within twenty minutes. Great service!
Excellent Cuisine, 6 Dining Areas, 18 Food Stations
With Explora’s European heritage, we anticipated excellent cuisine. What we didn’t expect were the innovations not found on even top-tier cruise ships.
Most startling was the lack of a large, main dining room. Instead, Explora 1 has six separate dining areas with unique décor and menus. Five are complimentary and all-inclusive: the Mediterranean-themed Med Yacht Club, the pan-Asian Sakura Restaurant, Fil Rouge for French specialties, the Marble steak house, and all-day dining at the expansive Emporium Marketplace.
We counted 18 Emporium Marketplace food stations, including Sushi, Pizza, Charcuterie, Fruits of the Ocean, and Carvery. There’s no self-serve here, but plenty of smiling hosts (all staff are called hosts) to serve you creative dishes that go beyond the ordinary.
On Explora 1 the salads (Curried Mango Crab and Seared Taku Tuna one day) are works of art. The pizza dough is made from three special types of flour. Guests can also get made-to-order noodles, choosing several kinds of pasta with various sauces.
Favorites…
All the other restaurants had a standard of food and service equal to or better than extra-cost specialty venues on other lines (a staff/guest ratio of close to one is a key factor). Among our favorite dishes were the Grilled Octopus, Osso Buco, and Dover Sole (prepared tableside) at the Med Yacht Club, as well as Lobster Pad Thai, Slow Cooked Beef Penang, and succulent Applewood Smoked New Zealand Lamb Rack in Sakura.
Fil Rouge became our favorite breakfast stop on Explora 1, but its dinner menu was also outstanding, with Cajun Spiced Jumbo Lump Crab Cakes and Seared Mediterranean Sea Bass. Marble, the steakhouse, had mixed results. Its signature appetizer, Crushed Fingerling Potatoes with Chives and Caviar, was remarkable for its taste and creativity. Still, the Grilled Prime Rib, ordered medium, was too tough to chew, and we had to return it. The replacement, Beef Filet, was excellent. Foodies will enjoy the Chef’s Kitchen’s daily, extra-cost cooking classes.
Unexpected touches stood out in all Explora 1 restaurants. The foil-covered cups of butter were from the most renowned creamery in France. The salt and pepper grinders were high-end Peugeot. Two French pastry chefs make a variety of croissants daily, and the sourdough bread was made with 25-year-old starter dough.
Creativity and Attentive Service
Anthology is the sixth and only extra-cost restaurant on board Explora 1 ($US140). We loved the creativity and attentive service during our three-hour, seven-course feast. Our favorite courses showed careful attention to detail – Ricordo Del Mare (lobster with green apple, caviar, and edible gold leaf), Cannelloni Di Capasanta (scallops with black truffle and foam), and La Montagna (tender Wagyu beef with Amarone sauce and porcini-stuffed Swiss chard).
This is truly Michelin-level cuisine. A single glass of good wine would have been ideal, but Anthology insisted that we buy complete wine pairings (an extra $60) or purchase a full bottle from the premium wine list. We wanted neither. In the future, we hope they offer wine by the glass.
Wide Variety of Tours
Explora 1 offers a wide variety of tours in each port. All are extra cost (odd for an all-inclusive vessel), but the ones we chose were high-quality with excellent guides.
In Guatemala, we visited a fascinating relic of Mayan civilization: the ruins at Quirigua, now a UNESCO World Heritage site. The site includes remains of Mayan temples but is unique for its collection of towering, carved stone monuments, including the tallest (32.8 feet) yet found.
In Honduras, we left the zipline and hanging bridges tour to younger cruisers while we enjoyed a bus ride through the emerald-green terrain of Roatan. Following was a music and dancing demonstration by descendants of enslaved Africans. The highlight was a ‘cayuco’-style boat ride through tunnels of thick, twisty mangrove, close enough to both sides that we had to keep our hands in.
Cooking and cultural immersion were our themes at our last stop in Costa Maya, Mexico. First, we attended a Nahual ceremony designed to welcome us and ‘free our soul’. Then, we joined a hands-on cooking class, collecting fresh ingredients and making Mexican street corn salads and tortillas. It almost left us too full to enjoy the outstanding cuisine back on the ship.
For Captain Diego Michelozzi and General Manager Maarten Smeets, Explora 1, Explora 2 (launched in 2024), and Explora 3 (ready in 2026) are “the new kids in town.” With everything still pristine and focused on improving the product, they told us, “We are competing with ourselves at the moment.” However, as the Explora brand has now become better known in the ultra-luxury cruise category, “They are competing with us.” Explora Journeys plans to have six ships in its fleet by 2028.
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