Explora I: A luxury cruise between Italy and the French Riviera - review

At the beginning of September, just before Rosh Hashanah, I was lucky enough to join a press cruise aboard Explora I, the first ship launched by Explora Journeys, the luxury cruise brand of the MSC Group.

This was the first cruise of my life. In a few words, my conclusion is simple: This is an experience everyone should try at least once in their life.

I spent three days and two nights aboard Explora I, beginning in Civitavecchia, near Rome, and sailing to Porto Santo Stefano before continuing to Monaco. On our final day, the journey took us through Monte Carlo and the French Riviera, including Èze and Saint-Paul-de-Vence, before ending in Nice for the flight back to Israel.

Explora Journeys describes its ships as mega-yachts, and it did not take long to understand why.

A small city on the water

Explora I entered service in 2023 and accommodates a maximum of 900 guests in 461 ocean-facing suites, all with private terraces. This time, the cruise was almost full, with around 850 guests on board.

The ship has four pools - three outdoor and one indoor with a retractable glass roof - along with whirlpools, more than 700 sq.m. of wellness facilities, a gym and fitness spaces, six main restaurants, 12 bars and lounges, a casino, culinary school, art gallery, and luxury boutiques including Rolex and Cartier.

In the evening, there is live entertainment and music around the ship, while a DJ plays as the sun goes down and the ship pulls away from shore. 

The best thing is that you could spend several days aboard without really running out of places to discover.

But what stood out almost immediately was not the size of the ship or even the facilities. It was the service.

With up to 900 guests and 640 crew members, Explora I has a guest-to-crew ratio of around 1.41:1. And you feel it. Almost everywhere you go, someone is there to help, answer a question, offer a drink, or simply greet you. It’s pretty unusual, so it takes some time to get used to.

Sunrise might be the best part

Life aboard the ship continues for most of the day and well into the night. The pools and spa are open throughout the day, while restaurants, bars, shops, the casino, and entertainment venues keep the ship alive in the evenings.

But surprisingly, my favorite time aboard Explora I was early morning.

During our trip, the ship generally spent the daytime anchored near its destination, allowing passengers to go ashore, while much of the sailing took place in the evening and overnight.

That meant waking up somewhere new.

I started getting up at around 6 a.m. just to watch the sunrise from my terrace. With nothing but the sea outside, it was worth losing a little sleep.

At 7:15 a.m., I went to a hatha yoga class in a studio overlooking the water. The class had already been fully booked, but the instructor managed to fit one more mat along the side of the room just for me, which I really appreciated.

After yoga, while most passengers were still sleeping or having breakfast, I headed straight to one of the pools.

For about half an hour, I had it completely to myself.

Floating alone in a silent pool while looking out at an apparently endless Mediterranean became one of the simplest but most memorable parts of the trip. There is something almost meditative about being surrounded by water while watching even more water beyond the edge of the ship.

Eating your way through the Mediterranean

Food, unsurprisingly, is a significant part of the experience.

My favorite everyday option was Emporium Marketplace, the ship’s all-day dining venue. It has the freedom of a buffet but with many dishes prepared to order.

At breakfast, the selection included omelets, pancakes, smoked fish, pastries, fruit, vegetables, and smoothies. Later in the day, there was everything from sushi to pizza, burgers, and pasta, with several dishes prepared individually on request. 

It was also probably the easiest restaurant for a group: Everyone could choose something completely different and still meet at the same table.

For something sweet, there was Crema Café, where ice cream, crêpes, pancakes, and waffles provided plenty of reasons to stop by throughout the day.

Dinner was a different experience.

Explora I has six main restaurants and nine dining experiences overall, ranging from the pan-Asian Sakura to the Mediterranean-inspired Med Yacht Club and European steakhouse Marble & Co. Grill.

On the first evening, I tried Sakura; on the second, Marble & Co. Grill. Both were considerably more elaborate, with multi-course menus and extensive wine selections. Marble & Co. also gave me what may have been my favorite combination of the trip: excellent red wine and warm, cheesy bread.

Spa, swim, repeat

As someone who loves spas, I made very enthusiastic use of the wellness area.

Any free hour I could find usually ended with me either in a pool or back at the spa. And with more than 700 sq.m. of indoor and outdoor wellness facilities, there was plenty to explore.

There is a Finnish sauna, steam room, salt cave, hydrotherapy pool, heated marble loungers, and treatment rooms. I also had what became one of the highlights of the trip - an excellent massage on our second day.

For those whose idea of wellness involves slightly more movement than mine, the fitness facilities cover more than 270 sq.m., with Technogym equipment, fitness and Pilates studios, an outdoor fitness area overlooking the sea, and different classes throughout the day.

There is also a 360-degree outdoor running track circling the ship - an interesting fact: four laps around the track equal a 1-km run.

A penthouse I barely used

My home for the trip was an Ocean Penthouse on Deck 9, designed for two people but occupied, rather happily, only by me.

Explora I is an all-suite ship, and even its smallest suites start at 35 sq.m. Ocean Penthouses range from 43 to 68 sq.m., with separate living and working areas.

Mine had separate sleeping and living areas, a walk-in wardrobe, bathroom, and, most importantly, a private terrace overlooking the sea.

It may also have been one of the most comprehensively equipped hotel rooms I have ever stayed in.

There was a Dyson hairdryer, binoculars, fitness equipment, a coffee machine, room-service menus, and a daily schedule of activities. Fruit and chocolates were waiting on the table alongside a bottle of Moët & Chandon, while the minibar was stocked with wine, beer, champagne, and non-alcoholic drinks.

The minibar is included in the fare, as is 24-hour room service - meaning that, in theory, you could stay in the suite for most of the cruise and be perfectly content.

Perfect for introverts. But I did exactly the opposite.

Knowing I had only a few days aboard, I spent as little time in the room as possible, determined to see practically every corner of the ship.

Life beyond the ship

On our second morning, we arrived in Porto Santo Stefano, a small Italian port town on the Tuscan coast. After breakfast, we went ashore and walked through the town and along the waterfront. It was a nice walk, and it was really convenient to be able to take a tender between the yacht and the town throughout the day.

Later that day, we met the ship’s captain, Francesco Russo, a 39-year-old Italian from Sorrento with around 20 years of experience at sea.

Russo spends roughly half the year at sea and half on land with his family. He told us that commanding a ship is ultimately less about the machinery than the people: A captain has to earn the crew’s trust, motivate them, and make them want to follow him.

Life at sea, he said, requires commitment because it is more of a lifestyle than simply a job. His description of Explora I was considerably more poetic.

The ship, he said, is a “nice lady,” and steering her is a little like dancing with a woman.

From Monaco to the French Riviera

By the following morning, we had arrived in Monaco.

After one final early swim overlooking the principality, it was time to leave Explora I.

Our last day began with a walk through Monaco and Monte Carlo before we continued on to France and the medieval hilltop village of Èze.

There, at a perfume factory, we took part in a fragrance-making workshop, mixing different notes to create our own personal perfumes to take home.

From Èze, we continued to Saint-Paul-de-Vence for lunch. During lunch, I tried a fantastic lavender crème brûlée made by a French chef - which deserves a mention of its own.

Rain began falling as we wandered through the narrow streets of the village afterward, eventually leading us, somewhat unexpectedly, to the grave of Marc Chagall.

Finally, we drove to Nice airport for our journey back home.

Celebrating life at sea

One thing stayed with me after leaving the ship.

On our final evening aboard, I looked around and realized I could not remember the last time I had seen so many people dressed up simply to enjoy an evening.

Women wore dresses and heels; men wore shirts and jackets. People drank cocktails, listened to live music, danced beneath the evening sky, and moved between restaurants and bars.

And that was essentially what everyone aboard had been doing for days.

They ate. They drank. They went to the spa. They swam. They dressed for dinner. They listened to concerts, shopped, danced, sat in whirlpools, and watched the Mediterranean pass by.

They were celebrating life.

That, perhaps, is the appeal of this kind of cruise.

For a few days, you do not have to think about where to eat, how to get from one destination to another, what to do in the evening, or even where you will wake up tomorrow. You unpack once, and the world moves around you.

If your idea of a vacation is being able to travel across Europe while swimming, drinking cocktails, eating excellent food, and having practically everything taken care of, Explora I makes a compelling case for seeing it all from the sea. 

How much does it cost?

Explora Journeys cruises start at around $3,500-$5,500 per person for the itineraries provided, depending on the destination and sailing. For example, a seven-night Mediterranean cruise aboard Explora I in June 2027 starts at $4,200 per person for an Ocean Suite and $5,790 for an Ocean Penthouse.

The fare includes most dining, premium alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks, the suite minibar, 24-hour room service, Wi-Fi, gratuities, thermal spa access, and onboard fitness and wellness programs.

The biggest problem comes afterward.

You eventually have to go home and remember how ordinary life works again after this once-in-a-lifetime experience. I have no solution for that yet, other than planning my next cruise.