Paul & Cheryl, Reflections of A Journey to Barrier Reefs of Mexico, Belize and Honduras, Explora Journeys I

Hello, passionate cruisers! This is Paul and this week on The Joy of Cruising Podcast I am delighted to welcome back a special guest, my cohost Cheryl.

We are largely in the bucket list checking stage of our lives, and just got the opportunity to check one off—a cruise on a luxury cruise line, specifically Explora Journeys and its first ship, Explora I. Let me preface with a brief overview oo the main categories of cruise lines:

Mainstream-Carnival, Royal Caribbean, NCL

Premium-Celebrity, Holland America, Princess, Virgin Voyages, Disney

Luxury-Regent Seven Seas, Seaborne, Crystal, Windstar

 You can argue with those classifications but that is accepted in the cruising industry. Where you are more likely to get arguments is about these cruise lines on the edge between categories. When we decided on explora journeys it was not on our luxury cruise radar—the luxury lines just mentioned were. 

This aspiration to cruise in luxury was decidedly low on the list simply due to affordability; we have so many more affordable bucket list items; like going to the Panama Canal this fall. Then Explora Journeys surprisingly dominated the luxury category of the Cruise Critics Awards just a short time before I hosted Colleen Mc Daniel who happens to be the Editor-in-Chief of Cruise Critic. Not only did Colleen pique my interest by sharing her own experience on Explora Journeys but she turned me on to some Explora promotions—still going on—that had me researching as soon as the call ended with Colleen.

That research confirmed Colleen’s mention of attractive pricing, and it led me to several podcast guests who could talk about Explora Journeys including Kathy Lu, an executive with Explora Journeys, before we boarded in March.