Search 1,000+ pages, voyages, ports, guides, and comparisons.

EXPLORA II · Mediterranean & Western Europe

18 nights, Fusina (Venice) to Fusina (Venice)

April 14, 2027 – May 3, 2027 · 18 nights · 14 stops · round-trip

Explora's name for it: An Extended Journey of Alluring Mediterranean Beauty & Timeless Intrigue

Eighteen nights, fourteen calls, a round-trip out of Fusina and back. This is a dense itinerary that trades sea days for shore time, looping down the Adriatic to the Ionian, deep into the Cyclades and Dodecanese, across to the Turkish coast and Istanbul, then home up the Italian and Croatian sides. The hooks are real. Kotor is the rare port where the hour-long sail-in through the fjord-like bay past Perast is the best view of the day, so be on deck, not at breakfast. Rhodes drops you a flat walk from the largest inhabited fortified town in Europe. Istanbul lands you at Galataport in the heart of the city, with the T1 tram to Hagia Sophia. Bari hides the relics of the historical Santa Claus and a lane where grandmothers roll orecchiette by hand mid-morning.

This rewards a traveler who wants pace and the layered history of the eastern Mediterranean, and who is happy walking compact old towns on foot. It is built for someone who would rather go to Paros, Syros, and Milos than queue at Santorini. Skip it if you want slow days and downtime. Fourteen ports in eighteen nights is a working pace, and Fusina's lagoon transfer eats time at both ends in Venice. Aegean wind is also the real variable at the Cycladic tender ports, not the heat.

Explora II is all-suite, all-oceanfront. Send me your dates and the suite tier you're considering.

Fusina (Venice) (open port guide)Fusina (Venice)Kotor (open port guide)Corfu (open port guide)Paros (open port guide)Rhodes (open port guide)Bodrum (open port guide)Patmos (open port guide)Syros (open port guide)Piraeus (Athens) (open port guide)Istanbul (open port guide)Mykonos (open port guide)Milos (open port guide)Bari (open port guide)Trogir (open port guide)Trogir

The itinerary, port by port

14 calls over 18 nights, round-trip from Fusina (Venice). 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 Fusina (Venice) (VCE) 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
    Fusina (Venice)

    Fusina is a cruise terminal on the mainland edge of the Venetian Lagoon, about three miles west of Venice across the water, opened in fall 2024 as ships moved out of the historic city. Port guide →

  2. 2
    Kotor

    Kotor is a fortified medieval town wedged at the head of the Bay of Kotor, with stone lanes, Venetian churches, and a mountain wall climbing the cliff behind it. Port guide →

  3. 3
    Corfu

    Corfu is the greenest of the Ionian islands, and its UNESCO-listed Old Town carries four centuries of Venetian, French, and British rule in its arcaded streets and twin sea fortresses. Port guide →

  4. 4
    Paros

    Paros sits in the heart of the Cyclades, and ships call at Parikia, its main town. Port guide →

  5. 5
    Rhodes

    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 →

  6. 6
    Bodrum

    Bodrum is a whitewashed resort town on Turkey's southern Aegean coast, built over the ancient Greek city of Halicarnassus on a double bay split by a castle headland. Port guide →

  7. 7
    Patmos

    Patmos is the small Dodecanese island where, by tradition, Saint John received the visions of the Book of Revelation, and that history sits compactly above the harbor town of Skala. Port guide →

  8. 8
    Syros

    Syros is the administrative capital of the Cyclades, and its main town Ermoupoli is a working neoclassical city rather than a whitewashed resort village. Port guide →

  9. 9
    Piraeus (Athens)

    Piraeus is the port of Athens, and the day belongs to the ancient city about 10 km inland. Port guide →

  10. 10
    Istanbul

    Istanbul straddles the Bosphorus across two continents, a city layered from Byzantine Constantinople through the Ottoman Empire to the modern Turkish metropolis. Port guide →

  11. 11
    Mykonos

    Mykonos is a Cycladic island whose main town, Chora, is a whitewashed labyrinth of cube houses, blue domes, and bougainvillea pressed against the Aegean. Port guide →

  12. 12
    Milos

    Milos is a volcanic Cycladic island whose colored rock and more than 70 beaches come from its mining past, and where the Venus de Milo was unearthed in 1820. Port guide →

  13. 13
    Bari

    Bari is the capital of Puglia, the heel of Italy, and its old town is a tight medieval maze pressed against the Adriatic. Port guide →

  14. Disembark
    Trogir

    Trogir is a small medieval town set on its own island between the mainland and the island of Čiovo, about 17 miles west of Split, and its tightly packed core has been a UNESCO World Heritage site since 1997… 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.
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 →


Keep exploring

Want this voyage priced for you?

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.

Book a 30-min Pre-flight or send your dates