17 nights, Barcelona to Barcelona
Explora's name for it: An Extended Journey Across the Mediterranean’s Western Shores
Seventeen nights, sixteen calls, a round trip out of Barcelona that loops the western Mediterranean and then crosses to the North African coast before working back up Spain's east side. With a stop nearly every day, this is a dense sailing, not a slow one. The hooks are real and varied: Villefranche-sur-Mer is the rare Riviera call where the tender lands you in the old town and the train hugs the coast, so you can be in Monaco or Nice in minutes and pivot if one is crowded. Palamós drops you 500 meters from town, where the commercial fleet still lands and sells its catch at the afternoon fish auction on the quay. Genoa puts Paganini's violin inside Palazzo Doria-Tursi, played only a few times a year. And Algiers, where few Western travelers go, stacks the UNESCO Casbah's stepped lanes almost directly above where the ship ties up.
Know what you are buying. Several marquee days are gateway calls: Livorno is Florence at roughly 90 minutes inland, and Civitavecchia is Rome at about an hour by train, so each eats most of a day in transit for one inland city. Algiers needs a visa for most nationalities and licensed-guide access arranged ahead. This itinerary rewards a traveler who wants range and Roman layers, from Tarragona to Palermo, and who is comfortable committing to one thing per port. If you want unhurried beach days, look elsewhere.
EXPLORA II is all-suite and all-oceanfront.
The itinerary, port by port
16 calls over 17 nights, round-trip from Barcelona. 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) 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
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- 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 II, 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 →