13 nights, San Juan to San Juan
Explora's name for it: An Extended Journey of Tropical Harmony & Natural Wonders
Thirteen nights, ten stops, San Juan to San Juan: a slow loop through the eastern Caribbean with one long northwest leg up to Miami and back. The pace is unhurried for the islands, but a couple of calls are about contrast more than depth. The anchor is the start. Explora ties up at the Old San Juan piers on Marina Street, so the cobbled grid of the walled colonial town begins a few steps from the gangway, and El Morro is a morning's walk uphill. From there the route reads as a string of small, water-first islands. At Road Bay you tender straight onto Sandy Ground Beach in Anguilla, no terminal, just sand and bar shacks. Terre-de-Haut in the Saintes anchors you at the village dock in Le Bourg, where Fort Napoléon closes around 12:30 and the tourment d'amour is still baked the old way. Frederiksted lands you alongside a pier that doubles as a shore-diving site, with its 1848 emancipation story a short walk from the gangway.
This rewards a traveler who likes beach-and-village days over packed touring, and who accepts that Miami is a logistics waypoint, not a Caribbean call. If you want every day to be a new culture, the long run up to Florida and back will feel like filler. If you want unhurried sand, small Creole and Danish-colonial towns, and a dock you can walk off, this is the loop.
Explora III is all-suite and all-oceanfront.
The itinerary, port by port
10 calls over 13 nights, round-trip from San Juan. 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 San Juan (SJU) are already bookable for these dates. I watch the fare for booked clients so you book at the right moment. When to book your flights →
- Embark
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
- 7
- 8
- 9
- Disembark
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.
- Founders Fare
- A founding-era fare on a selected set of sailings. Onboard credit where the offer applies.
- Air-Inclusive Fare
- A fare that folds airfare into the voyage price on a smaller set of sailings.
The ship and your suite
This sailing is aboard EXPLORA III, 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 →