I went to Sakura three times on one sailing. The teriyaki was the standout, and it is included in the fare. That tells you most of what you need to know about Explora Journeys restaurants: the food is genuinely a reason to consider this line, and the room people rate highest costs nothing extra.
Explora has nine included dining rooms and no traditional main dining room, so where you eat is a choice you make every night, not a table you’re assigned. Eight of those nine are in the fare, the steakhouse and the Japanese room among them, which most luxury lines charge for. Only Anthology, the chef-hosted tasting menu, carries a price. U.S. News ranked Explora No. 2 for Dining among cruise lines in 2026, and after a week of eating my way around the ship, that tracks. This post is the verdict, not the map. For the full inventory, the per-ship venue differences, and the euro pre-purchase pricing, I keep the full map of every Explora dining venue updated separately. Here I’m telling you where I’d actually eat.
Where would I eat first on Explora?
Sakura, the pan-Asian and sushi room, is the one I’d build a week around. I went three times on one sailing, which is the verdict that matters more than any menu I could quote you. The teriyaki was the standout, good enough that I planned evenings around getting back to it. The sushi bar holds up too, and on port days the room opens for lunch, which is a quiet way to skip the buffet crowd when everyone’s straggling back aboard.
I’d put Sakura ahead of the steakhouse, and I’m not alone. Early reviewers on Cruise Critic consistently rate it the strongest specialty room on the ship. All the menus are overseen by Franck Garanger, Explora’s Head of Culinary, and Sakura is where that kitchen feels most confident. It’s included. There is no surcharge, no cover, no “specialty dining package” to buy first. You just book it.
The catch is that you do have to book it, and the small rooms go first. More on that below.
Is the steakhouse included on Explora?
Yes. Marble & Co. Grill is the steakhouse, and it’s in the fare. That’s the quiet win on this ship.
On most luxury lines the steakhouse is the upcharge room, the one they steer you toward on night two for an extra hundred-odd per person. Explora folds it into the fare alongside Sakura, the Mediterranean Yacht Club, and Fil Rouge, the all-day French-influenced room that functions as the default when you don’t feel like deciding. So the math is unusual: the two rooms a steakhouse-and-sushi person would gravitate to are both included, and the only paid table is a tasting menu most people will do once if at all.
A couple of plates from the week stayed with me. One night it was a crisp-skin sea bass with fennel and potatoes. The skin was actually crisp. Not the steamed-grey you get when a galley is cooking three hundred covers at once. Another night it was grilled octopus and a bowl of mussels, tender, not the rubber-band octopus that sinks most ship kitchens. I won’t reach for the big adjective here. I’ll tell you the kitchen executed, repeatedly, across a week, for a group that included people who are hard to please. That is the harder thing to do, and it’s what the No. 2 Dining ranking is actually measuring.
What nobody tells you about how dining works on Explora?
The structure has friction, and it’s worth knowing before you sail rather than discovering it on night two.
First: the best rooms book once. On a typical sailing, each specialty room is bookable a single time across the week, so if Sakura is the one you want three times like I did, you work the system, you don’t just walk up. (I did, and an advisor can help; more on that at the end.) Reserve before you sail. The small rooms fill first, and the most-wanted ones, Sakura and Marble & Co., go earliest.
Second: dinner runs on European hours. Most rooms open around 6:30 to 7, and the ship dines well into the evening. If you’re an American traveler who likes to be at a table by 6, the first night can catch you out. Book your earliest slot that night and adjust your body clock from there.
Third, and this is the most “I paid for this, where is it” gripe on the ship: some venues close earlier than you’d expect, and not always predictably. The gelateria was reliably shut whenever I wanted it, which on a Mediterranean sailing in the afternoon heat is exactly the wrong time for it to be closed. Pool-adjacent casual hours wound down sooner than I’d have liked too. It’s real, and reviewers have flagged it. None of it changes the verdict, but you should hear it from someone who hit it rather than from a brochure that won’t mention it. Per-venue hours vary by sailing and by ship, so I’d confirm a specific itinerary’s schedule against the full map of every Explora dining venue before you go.
The coffee, at least, is a non-issue. Crema Café pours proper cappuccinos all day, included, no per-cup charge, which is its own small luxury when you’ve sailed lines that meter the espresso machine. That, the nine rooms, the wines, and the ship-wide Wi-Fi are all part of what the fare actually covers, and the coverage is genuinely better than the headline fare suggests.
Is the Anthology upcharge worth it on Explora?
Anthology is the one paid dining room: a chef-hosted Italian tasting menu, led by Franck Garanger, that runs a handful of seats and a long evening. Published pricing has run about $200 for the tasting menu plus about $75 for the optional wine pairing, per TravelAge West and Cruise Critic. Confirm the current figure when you book, because it moves.
Here is the measured read. If a multi-course chef’s tasting with a paired flight is the kind of evening you’d seek out on land and pay for happily, Anthology is a fine version of it, and the wine side is genuinely strong (if wine is the reason you’re going, I wrote a separate guide for wine travelers that covers the pairing, The Cellar on the newer ships, and the tastings). But weigh it carefully against everything that’s already included. You are on a ship where the steakhouse, the Japanese room, and a competent French kitchen cost nothing extra, and where I could happily eat for a week without ever opening my wallet at dinner. Anthology was one of the few places the meter actually ran on my folio. Against that backdrop, a $275-ish evening is a want, not a value play. I’d book it on a longer Journey when I felt like a special night, and skip it on a shorter one. Neither choice is wrong.
How do you book the Explora restaurants that book out?
Reserve the specialty rooms before you sail, in this order of urgency: the small hands-on experiences like the Chef’s Kitchen go first, then Sakura and Marble & Co., then Anthology if you want it. By embarkation day the most-wanted slots are often gone, which is the single most avoidable disappointment on this ship.
This is one of the concrete things I do for clients who book through me. I can hold Sakura, Marble & Co., and Anthology reservations against your sailing, sort the late-dinner-hours problem before you board, and tell you which night to leave open for the tasting menu if you’re doing it. None of that costs you anything extra, because the fare is identical whether you book direct or through me. The difference is that someone who has sat in these rooms is setting your week up.
If you’re weighing Explora at all, my full verdict on whether Explora is worth it is the place to start, and the service that held a hard-to-please table together is the companion piece on why the dining lands the way it does. When you’re ready, send me your dates and the suite tier you’re considering. I’ll have live pricing in your inbox within two hours, no call required.
Questions people ask
What is the best restaurant on Explora Journeys? Among the included venues, Sakura is the strongest, and it’s the one I went to three times on a single sailing. The teriyaki was the standout, it’s included in the fare, and early reviewers consistently rate it the best specialty room on the ship, ahead of the steakhouse.
Do you have to pay extra to eat on Explora Journeys? No, with one exception. Nine dining rooms are included, the steakhouse and the Japanese room among them, and only Anthology, the chef-hosted tasting menu, carries a charge. Most guests can eat extremely well all week without spending a cent beyond their fare.
How much does Anthology cost on Explora? Anthology is the one paid dining room, and Explora’s published charge has run about $200 for the tasting menu plus about $75 for the optional wine pairing. Verify the current figure when you book, because it changes; whether it earns the upcharge depends on how much you value a long tasting-menu evening.
Do you need reservations for Explora restaurants? Yes for the specialty rooms. The most-wanted venues like Sakura, Marble & Co., and Anthology book up, and on a typical sailing each specialty room is bookable once across the week, so reserve before you sail and book the small rooms first.
What time is dinner on Explora Journeys? Dinner runs on European hours, later than many American travelers expect, with most rooms opening around 6:30 to 7 and the ship dining well into the evening. If you like to eat by 6, book your earliest slot on the first night and adjust from there.
Is there a main dining room on Explora Journeys? No, there is no traditional assigned main dining room. Fil Rouge, an all-day French-influenced room, is the default, but every night you choose among nine rooms rather than returning to one assigned table.
— Justin