Caribbean Cruise 2024 Trip Summary
TRIP DETAILS
Trip length (including travel days) - 13 days
Time of year - March
Countries visited - United States, British Virgin Islands, Saint Barthelemy, Antigua and Barbuda, Guadeloupe, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and The Grenadines, Barbados.
Cities/Locations visited and time in each:
Miami, FL - 1 day
Key West, FL - 1 day
At Sea - 2 days
Spanish Town, Virgin Gorda, BVI - 1 day
Gustavia, Saint Barthelemy - 1 day
St. John’s, Antigua - 1 day
Deshaies, Guadeloupe - 1 day
Soufriere, Saint Lucia - 1 day
Bequia, Saint Vincent and The Grenadines - 1 day
Bridgetown, Barbados - 2 days
PATH WE TOOK
Fly from Denver to Miami, stay overnight
Board Explora 1 and have 10 nights onboard
Disembark in Barbados and stay overnight
Fly from Barbados thru Miami to Denver
HIGHLIGHTS
The ship was beautiful and modern (See photos below)
Our suite (an “Ocean Terrace 2”, level 7, mid-ship) was very spacious at 377sq ft. and a King bed + veranda
Food & drinks were exceptional and nicely varied across 9 restaurants
Service was top-notch
The gym fit all our needs
4 pools all had a little something unique to fit our lounging desires for that particular day
We ended up enjoying our “At Sea” days even more than we had anticipated!
Pricing - since Explora is trying to attract new customers, pricing was nearly half that of other luxury lines
In 2 of the ports (St. Lucia & St. Vincent and the Grenadines), we arranged our own tours (with Scuba companies), and in 2 other ports (St. Bart’s and Guadeloupe), we rented cars independently and drove around the islands exploring! So doing excursions through the ship was absolutely not a necessity.
Here is a sampling of one day’s onboard guide (delivered to our room daily):
OUR NOT-SO-FAVORITE THINGS
Onboard evening entertainment - it was certainly geared toward an older crowd (think Carole King hits, Ballroom Dancing, Movie Tunes (all from old movies), etc.) This was okay for us - after dinner we didn’t mind walking around on our own or just heading back to our suite!
Destination “Excursions” - we felt from our 2 excursions we participated in, and heard from other passengers, that the “Excursions” planned by the ship were, for the most part, severely overpriced for the quality of the experience. Perhaps as they nail down their providers in these ports, the value will improve.
Destinations - we didn’t love most of the port towns we stopped in - and some felt downright seedy. We don’t blame Explora for this - we think it’s just how many of the Caribbean Islands are. For example, St. John’s, Antigua felt run down and dirty, and we were glad to be back on the ship after our excursion there. In Soufriere, St. Lucia, water taxi and car taxi drivers were jostling each-other to talk to tourists, and were charging guests $80USD roundtrip for a 3 minute (each way) ride, which just felt like extortion.
WHY WE PICKED THIS LOCATION (CRUISE)
We heard about this new cruise line called Explora via an Instagram ad, of all places! Explora’s first boat, Explora 1, had just set sail in 2023, under parent company MSC which has operated cruises under its own brand name for years. Explora 2 just had its maiden voyage in late 2024. The marketing worked…we looked into it and decided to give it a try even though neither of us had ever cruised as adults (a new adventure for us!).
We had never been to 7 of the countries on the itinerary, as well as Key West, FL.
We love being on the water, but with Kristina having had some motion sickness in the past, we had been hesitant about sleeping on a boat (fortunately, seasickness wasn’t an issue at all, and no patches, meds or wrist-bands were even needed!). We decided it was time to try - on a new boat with the most modern stabilization technology, where we could guarantee a suite on a lower floor in the middle of the ship for the least amount of rocking.
We thought this was a good opportunity to travel with Spencer’s mom. It worked wonderfully with all of us having the freedom and flexibility to spend time together or separately throughout each day, and to enjoy dinner together every night!
