November 8, 2027 – November 19, 2027 · 10 nights · 8 stops
Explora's name for it: A Grand Journey of Maritime Majesty & Middle Eastern Soul
The itinerary, port by port
8 calls over 10 nights, Barcelona to Jeddah. Open any port for my full day-ashore guide, what to see, when to go, and how the day actually runs.
Getting there: Flights to Barcelona (BCN) open around December 2026, about 11 months before you sail. I track that window for booked clients and flag it the moment it is worth booking. When to book your flights →
Barcelona packs Gaudí's modernisme, a 2,000-year-old Roman and medieval core, and a working Mediterranean waterfront into a single dense, walkable city. Port guide →
Valletta is the fortified 16th-century capital the Knights of St John built on a peninsula above Grand Harbour, one of the deepest natural harbors in the Mediterranean. Port guide →
Heraklion is Crete's working capital, a Venetian-walled port city that holds the keys to the Minoan world: the restored palace of Knossos 5 km inland and the artifacts pulled from it. Port guide →
Rhodes is the largest of the Dodecanese islands, and its medieval Old Town is the largest inhabited fortified town in Europe, built by the Knights of St John in the 14th and 15th centuries and protected as… Port guide →
5
Limassol
Limassol is Cyprus's busy second city on the island's south coast, a working port fronted by a long seafront promenade and a compact medieval old town.
Port Said sits at the Mediterranean mouth of the Suez Canal, a planned 19th-century canal town laid out by French and Italian engineers and still lined with timber-balconied apartment blocks and arcaded… Port guide →
7
Crossing the Suez Canal
A sea-level cut between the Mediterranean and the Red Sea, opened in 1869, that lets your ship skip the long haul around Africa.
Jeddah is the Red Sea's historic gateway to Mecca, and its draw is Al-Balad, the UNESCO-listed old town of coral-stone merchant houses with carved wooden lattice balconies. Port guide →
Fares on this departure, decoded
Reading the fare fine print is the job. Here's what this sailing currently carries:
Early Booking Benefit
A fare for booking far enough ahead of departure. Onboard credit where the offer applies.
Invitation to Discover More
Explora's discovery fare, available across most of the calendar. Onboard credit where the offer applies.
Grand Journey Benefit
A fare attached to the longer, multi-region Grand Journeys. Onboard credit where the offer applies.
The ship and your suite
This sailing is aboard EXPLORA I, all-suite,
every suite with a private ocean-front terrace. Suites run from the entry Ocean Terrace to the Owner's
Residence; the right tier depends on how you travel.
Compare suites → · What's included →
Send me the dates and the suite tier you have in mind and I'll come back with a confirmed live number and my read on the sailing within two hours. Best available price, and I make it worth more.