ITTN’s Shane Cullen attended an exclusive overnight event at the luxurious Wineport Lodge, Ireland. Anna Nash (President of Explora Journeys), Priti Mehta (Head of Sales for UK & Ireland) and Jenny Wade (Business Relationship Lead, UK & Ireland), along with the Head of Sales in Ireland, Suzanne Rowe, attended on behalf of Explora Journeys.
Guests were invited to a business update with Anna Nash, followed by pre-dinner drinks, a private dining experience and an overnight stay at Wineport Lodge on the water’s edge.
The afternoon session provided the latest updates on the Explora Journeys brand. Equally, it enabled the team from Explora Journeys to both share their vision for a new era in ultra-elegant ocean travel and gather feedback from the travel partners present.
Anna Nash – President of Explora Journeys
Anna Nash joined Explora in September 2024 and reports directly to MSC Cruises’ executive chairman Pierfrancesco Vago. She has been in luxury for 25 years. She joined from Aman, where, during her 10-year tenure, she held the position of Chief Marketing Officer and Chief Communications Officer. Her career began at Orient Express & has also worked at Rosewood Hotels.
Her ambition is to bridge the gap between more traditional cruises and the luxury hotel world. She explains, many guests are from land-based hotels and are really beginning to adopt the “Ocean State of Mind”. This is a unique strategy to forge a new market segment in between ultra-luxury cruising and hotel stays. Explora Journeys are high-end hotels that happen to glide through the oceans.
Anna shares that in this target market, guests are just discovering the way of life on the ocean. The seamlessness of travel. The time spent travelling is time spent enjoying the amenities onboard, not spent journeying to the destination. Every moment is part of the holiday. Equally, those new to this type of experience realise the incredible value in terms of the fine dining and world-class entertainment offering onboard compared with a similar standard on land.
Anna explains, there is a lot of education to undo due to the success of mainstream cruising and to wrap this offering into a new package that is properly marketed and sold to the consumer.
Explora Journeys Deliver Incredible Growth
Jenny Wade, shared that the Explora Journeys brand has already delivered incredible growth, with the opportunities for the brand remaining significant. She highlighted how the team is “introducing something fresh, something new, something contemporary” and while mainstream cruise has really saturated the market in Ireland, this product is almost a hidden secret.
Priti, with eleven years of experience at Silverseas prior to joining the Explora Journeys brand, shared that their view is they have “Something very different for [travel agents] to talk about and really disrupt the market in the world of ocean cruising”.
Interestingly, she explained, the MSC family had the mindset to seek out the views of travel buyers, existing travellers, cruise customers… to understand what was important to them. With a blank page, they crafted the concept of Explora Journeys with the luxury traveller in mind, not a reinvention of what was already done within MSC Cruises.
The concept is that of the relaxed feeling of a luxurious yacht with the amenities of a high-end boutique hotel. With the leading shipping company in the world, the MSC Group, behind them, no expense has been spared, and that is very evident onboard. This is driven by passion for travel, not just built around shareholders and board meetings. It gives this brand the freedom to develop quickly, adapt and deliver.
Ambitious Launch Schedule of Ships
Priti shared that the luxury brand has aggressive growth plans matched with an ambitious launch schedule, with the fleet expected to grow to six ships by 2028:
- Explora I – 2023
- Explora II – 2024
- Explora III – 2026
- Explora IV – 2027
- Explora V – 2027
- Explora VI – 2028
As the fleet of ships are being rolled out quickly, the brand benefits from a consistency of offering. The style and standard will be equal regardless of which of the six ships guests are on. The newer ships will have more top-end suites with minor variances in terms of dining and boutique offerings onboard.
Amenities Onboard
Each of the ships has three heated, outdoor pools, an indoor pool with retractable glass roof, 64 luxurious cabanas and multiple whirlpools located both indoors and outdoors along each of the ships.
The Ocean Wellness spa has 700 sqm of wellness facilities, including 11 treatment rooms and 21 treatment options, including Explora Journeys’ signature treatment “The Ritual of Ocean Renewal”.
For younger travellers, the Nautilus Club has dedicated staff, entertainment facilities and the latest generation of video games and VR consoles, sports sessions, technology, art & craft activities and ample time to find fellow travellers.
Food Utopia
Explora Journeys has a range of onboard dining experiences with the Emporium Marketplace (all-day dining with flavours from across the globe), Sakura (finest Pan-Asian cuisine), Marble & Co. Grill (a refined European steakhouse experience), Med Yacht Club (flavours & dolce vita of Mediterranean cuisine), Fil Rouge (French-inspired menu), Chef’s Kitchen (hands-on culinary experience within an ocean-front private kitchen), Crema Café, Gelateria & Creperie as well as in-suite or private terrace dining. Most restaurants are included in the cruise fare, with only Anthology, a fine-dining experience, subject to a surcharge.
“It’s not complicated or fussy but it’s fresh. Tasty, there’s no other word for it. It really is. You can actually taste the ingredients, and that’s really important.” We have a French Master Chef who is head of all about culinary onboard.”
The cruise company has earned Food & Wine – 2025 Global Tastemakers Awards, Best Dining Luxury Category – Cruise Critic 2024, Overall Best Cruise Cuisine – Travel Weekly Magellan Award 2024.
All Explora Journey trips include: in-suite bottle of champagne and spirit of guests’ choice of spirit, the nine culinary experiences, as well as Authentic, cultured and intuitive service from the team of hospitality experts.
Explora I
For more onboard Explora I, check out more ITTN articles:
