8 nights, Civitavecchia (Rome) to Barcelona
Explora's name for it: A Journey to Spain's Icons & North Africa's Sunlit Shores
Eight nights, nine stops, no sea days: this is a dense, port-heavy run from Rome down through Italy, across to North Africa, and up the Spanish coast to Barcelona. The pace is relentless in the best sense, with almost a port a day and very little downtime, so you trade rest for range. The hooks are real and varied. Palermo ties up at Molo Vittorio Veneto, a 20 to 25 minute walk from a historic core where Norman, Arab, and Baroque builders all worked the same streets, and where the smart move is eating arancine and panelle standing up at the markets, not sitting down to be overcharged. La Goulette opens up Carthage, the Tunis medina, and the blue-and-white village of Sidi Bou Said. Tarragona, once the Roman capital of Hispania, hides an amphitheatre on a sea cliff and a chariot circus up the hill from a working harbor.
Who it rewards: travelers who want to cover a lot of ground and don't mind early starts. Rome and Barcelona are both gateway ports that eat real time getting in and out, and Algiers requires a visa and a licensed-guide arrangement for most nationalities, so this is not a passive itinerary. If you want slow mornings and beach days, pick a different sailing. If you want history stacked port after port, this delivers.
Explora II is all-suite and all-oceanfront.
The itinerary, port by port
9 calls over 8 nights, Civitavecchia (Rome) to 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 Civitavecchia (Rome) (FCO) 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:
- Spontaneous Summer Invitation
- A near-term fare on a small set of summer-season 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 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 →