ITTN’s Shane Cullen caught up with Priti Mehta (VP/Head of Sales, UK & Ireland – Explora Journeys) and Suzanne Rowe (Head of Sales in Ireland, MSC Cruises/Explora Journeys).
Explora Journeys is the luxury lifestyle ocean travel brand of the MSC Group. Explora Journeys represents the ambition and long-held dream of the MSC Group and the Aponte family to create a unique luxury ocean travel experience.
Explora Journeys’ first ship, Explora I, was delivered by Fincantieri in July 2023. Explora II set sail in September 2025. She is the sister ship to Explora I with a similar style in terms of suites and design. The newest addition has more interconnecting suites such is the demand in the market.
Interview with Priti Mehta, Explora Journeys
So Priti, tell us about the expansion of your fleet?
“Obviously, we now have Explora I. She arrived last August, joined by her sister this September with Explora II. We’re not resting on our heels, we have Explora III joining us in late summer 2026.
“At the moment, we are also due to have Explora IV and Explora V in 2027 and then Explora VI in 2028. So a huge, huge expansion. When I joined the business back in December 2021, I joined knowing that we were going to have four ships in the fleet and by June of the following year, we’d announced the additional two ships.”
“In terms of the ships, Explora I and II are identical with a few nuances. Each has her own personality and her own unique offering.”
“Explora III and IV will be the first of our LNG (Liquid Nitrogen and Gas) ships and then Explora V and VI will be liquid nitrogen hybrid.”
Pledge for Advanced Environmental Technologies
Explora V and Explora VI will have new state-of-the-art energy efficiency measures and will also be capable of using alternative fuels such as bio and synthetic gas and methanol and the Cruise Division will work in the future with their ship-builders, Fincantieri, to equip the ships with future technologies including carbon capture, and more advanced waste management systems. This is part of Explora Journey’s pledged to continue its push towards a net zero-carbon emissions target by 2050 by investigating additional new and advanced environmental technologies for the luxury ships.
All six ships in Explora Journeys’ fleet will be equipped with the latest environmental and marine technologies and will also feature the latest selective catalytic reduction technology to enable a reduction of nitrogen oxide emissions by 90 per cent, be equipped with shore power plug-in connectivity to reduce emissions in port and fitted with underwater noise management systems to help protect marine life.
A Winning Streak – Recent Award Accolades
You have had a really successful run at the awards recently, how is it going with Explora Journeys being such a new brand?
While earning many accolades in the brand’s short history, Priti highlighted four very recent wins, two at the Aspire Awards (as voted by the readers of Aspire which are all luxury travel advisors across the UK) and two at the Wave Awards (organised by the World of Cruising and Cruise Trade News)
- Ultra-Luxury Cruise Line of the Year (UK) – Aspire Awards 2024
- Best Luxury Sales Team – Aspire Awards 2024
- Best Luxury Ocean Cruise Line – 2024 The Wave Awards
- Best for Wellbeing – 2024 The Wave Awards
“Yeah, absolutely. It’s great to start to get lots of global recognition… so they’re starting to come in and it’s fantastic to get not just the recognition but the trade are our lifeline. They are the blood behind everything that we do. It’s great to see them recognising us and understanding who we are – the brand itself.”
These four awards will add to their impressive collection of 2024 wins:
- The Best New Cruises in the World – Condé Nast Traveller The Hot List 2024
- The Best Cruise Lines in the World (UK) – Condé Nast Traveler 2024 Readers’ Choice Awards
- The Best Cruise Lines in the World (US) Condé Nast Traveller 2024 Readers’ Choice Awards
- The Best New Cruise Ships of 2023 (USA) – Travel + Leisure It List 2024
- Best Boutique Cruise Lines 2024 (USA) – USA Today Reader’s Choice Awards
- World’s Best Cruise Spa 2024 – World Spa Awards
- Best Cruise Line – Overall Small Ship (up to 1,000 passengers)- Recommend’s 2024 Reader’s Choice Awards
- Best Cruise Line – Ultra Luxury – Recommend Reader’s Choice Awards
- Winner of Ultra-Luxury Cruise Line of the Year (UK) – Aspire Awards 2024
- Overall Best Cruise Cuisine – Travel Weekly US Gold Magellan Award
Suzanne Rowe – a New Focus within MSC – Explora Journeys in Ireland
And of course, we have the great Suzanne Rowe looking after Explora Journeys in Ireland.
“If you’ve not met Suzanne yet with her Explora Journeys hat on, beware, she is coming for you… I had the pleasure and privilege of actually hosting Suzanne on board Explora I back in August this year. And actually watching her live our brand through her eyes and seeing it through her eyes was phenomenal. And she’s just brought that energy and passion back to Ireland and it’s fantastic. She’s already got so many of the travel partners behind her over here.”
And Suzanne, how are you finding the Explora Journeys role and you are still looking after MSC as well?
“I’m still looking after MSC, that is my day job as we call it, however, my heart is with Explora Journeys, that’s our secret. I have to say, it’s quite easy to speak about Explora Journeys because I’m passionate about it and it’s very easy to speak about something you absolutely love.”
So when I’m doing a sales call, or when I’m speaking to an agent, I automatically bring in Explora Journeys which is a natural progression. And what I am fascinated with is a number of agents who say they don’t have business for Explora Journeys, however, we have that one client or those two clients that come into us maybe once or twice a year and they might like it. Whilst they start by saying they don’t have any business for us, they’re the ones that have actually made some really nice bookings.”
“I would say that Explora is about to explode here in Ireland. Explode. Everybody wants it.”
This is fresh from the recent Travel Centres Conference in 2024 with significant interest from participants signing up, seeking further information and requesting training sessions. In Suzanne’s own words, “It’s been fantastic!”.
Anyone who has had the pleasure of engaging with Suzanne Rowe, knows her enthusiasm is uplifting and infectious. I can’t wait to see what she does in Ireland with this luxury cruise product and if you want to find out more about life onboard Explora I, see below.
- https://ittn.ie/travel-news/onboard-explora-journeys-mscs-new-luxury-brand/
- https://ittn.ie/travel-news/culinary-beverage-philosophy-of-explora-journeys/
- https://ittn.ie/travel-news/explora-i-ocean-front-suites-onboard-msc-explora-journeys-with-ittn/
Black Friday Offer with Explora Journeys
This week Explora Journeys has announced its pre-sale for travel advisors and limited-time Black Friday offer for guests who have sailed before.
Ahead of the consumer launch on 20th November 2024, travel advisors will have early access to The Exclusive Sale up to Thursday, 20 November 2024 as part of their pre-sale. Past guests will also receive early access and encouraged to book via their preferred travel partner.
Explora Journeys has also announced a limited-time offer, giving travellers who book by 4th December 2024, the chance to save up to 50% on selected journeys, with a reduced deposit of only 5%.
And for more on Explora II, check out ITTN’s exclusive interview with Antonio Paradiso and Priti Mehta.
