January 9, 2028 – January 21, 2028 · 11 nights · 9 stops
Explora's name for it: A Grand Journey through Catalan Shores to Saudi Arabian Mystique
The itinerary, port by port
9 calls over 11 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 February 2027, 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 →
Civitavecchia is Rome's deepwater port, a working harbor about 80 km northwest of the capital, and for most travelers it is the gateway rather than the destination. Port guide →
Naples is a dense, loud, deeply layered Italian city where the cruise terminal sits at the foot of the historic center rather than out in an industrial port. Port guide →
Messina sits at the northeast tip of Sicily, across the narrow strait from the Italian mainland, and for most travelers it functions as the gateway to Taormina and Mount Etna rather than a destination in… Port guide →
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 →
6
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.
Sharm El-Sheikh sits at the southern tip of Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, where desert meets the Red Sea over some of the richest coral reefs on earth. Port guide →
Aqaba is Jordan's only seaport, a Red Sea resort town that exists on the cruise map for one reason: it is the closest harbor to Petra, the Nabataean rock city carved into rose-colored sandstone. Port guide →
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:
Invitation to Discover More
Explora's discovery fare, available across most of the calendar. Onboard credit where the offer applies.
Early Booking Benefit
A fare for booking far enough ahead of departure. Onboard credit where the offer applies.
The ship and your suite
This sailing is aboard EXPLORA V, 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.