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EXPLORA III · Caribbean & Central America

15 nights, San Juan to San Juan

January 13, 2027 – January 29, 2027 · 15 nights · 11 stops · round-trip

Explora's name for it: An Extended Journey of Island Energy & Ocean Tranquillity

Fifteen nights, eleven calls, round-trip from San Juan, where EXPLORA III ties up at the Old San Juan piers themselves. The cobbled grid of pastel houses and the two harbor forts start a few steps from the gangway, so day one is on foot before the heat builds. From there the route works a long, varied loop through the eastern Caribbean and the Dominican north coast. Highlights I'd plan around: Terre-de-Haut in the Saintes, a tender call that lands you in the village center, with Fort Napoléon to walk first thing before it closes for the afternoon; St. George's in Grenada, a real working spice town where a nutmeg or cocoa estate beats the generic distillery run; and Saint-Pierre on Martinique, the town Mont Pelée buried in 1902, now a black-sand harbor of stone ruins and a sobering volcano museum.

This sailing rewards a traveler who wants range over repetition: Spanish colonial forts, French Creole villages, beach-bar days at Anguilla's Road Bay, and a port-day stop in Miami all inside one loop. Pace is unhurried but full, with no true sea days, so if you want long stretches of nothing but the ship, a shorter itinerary suits you better. A few calls, Castries and Puerto Plata especially, put you in busy working ports where the reward is the excursion, not the dock; if you only want to walk off and wander, weigh that.

EXPLORA III is all-suite and all-oceanfront. Send me your dates and the suite tier you're considering.

San Juan (open port guide)San JuanPhilipsburg (open port guide)Terre-de-Haut (Îles des Saintes) (open port guide)St. George's (Grenada) (open port guide)Castries (open port guide)Puerto Plata (open port guide)Miami (open port guide)Charlotte Amalie (Saint Thomas) (open port guide)Road Bay (open port guide)Saint-Pierre (open port guide)Basseterre (open port guide)Basseterre

The itinerary, port by port

11 calls over 15 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 →

  1. Embark
    San Juan

    San Juan's old quarter is a walled Spanish colonial town on a headland, founded in the early 1500s, with two stone forts run by the U.S. Port guide →

  2. 2
    Philipsburg

    Philipsburg is the Dutch-side capital of Sint Maarten, a narrow strip of town wedged between Great Bay and a salt pond. Port guide →

  3. 3
    Terre-de-Haut (Îles des Saintes)

    Terre-de-Haut is the main inhabited island of the Saintes, a small archipelago off Guadeloupe's south coast, settled by Breton and Norman fishing families whose descendants still run the place. Port guide →

  4. 4
  5. 5
    Castries

    Castries is St. Port guide →

  6. 6
    Puerto Plata

    Puerto Plata is the Dominican Republic's north-coast amber capital, a town of faded Victorian gingerbread houses sitting under the green wall of Mount Isabel de Torres. Port guide →

  7. 7
    Miami

    Miami is the busiest cruise port in the United States, set on Dodge Island in Biscayne Bay a mile or two off downtown. Port guide →

  8. 8
    Charlotte Amalie (Saint Thomas)

    Charlotte Amalie is the capital of the U.S. Port guide →

  9. 9
    Road Bay

    Road Bay is Anguilla's main harbor, sheltering the small fishing village of Sandy Ground on a wide curve of pale sand. Port guide →

  10. 10
    Saint-Pierre

    Saint-Pierre was Martinique's cultural capital, the Paris of the Caribbean, until Mont Pelee erupted on May 8, 1902 and a pyroclastic flow killed roughly 30,000 people in minutes. Port guide →

  11. Disembark
    Basseterre

    Basseterre is the Georgian-era capital of St Kitts, a small twin-island Caribbean nation where the cruise pier puts you a five-minute walk from a colonial town center built around a circular junction… Port guide →

Fares on this departure, decoded

Reading the fare fine print is the job. Here's what this sailing currently carries:

Founders Fare
A founding-era fare on a selected set of sailings. 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.
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 →


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