Explora II, the second cruise ship being built for MSC Cruises’ luxury subsidiary brand Explora Journeys, will cruise roundtrip from Dubai several times during the 2024/25 cruise season.

The cruises from Dubai aboard Explora II will be 7-, 14-, and 19-night itineraries, making them some of the longest roundtrip cruises from Dubai ever offered by any cruise line.

Explora II will sail four cruises from Dubai, three of which will be roundtrip itineraries that begin and end in the UAE. Her fourth departure from Dubai will be a 14-night repositioning voyage to Mumbai in India.

Explora II

Explora II’s first cruise from Dubai will be on December 2nd, 2024. The 19-night roundtrip cruise will visit 9 ports, cruising as far as Cochin in India, before returning back to Dubai. Prices start at US $10,750 per person sharing an Ocean Terrace Suite at the time of writing.

Middle East and Indian cruise destinations on the itinerary include Doha in Qatar, Sur, Muscat and Khasab in Oman, and Mormugao, Cochin and Mumbai in India.

“Cruise from the serpentine souqs and futuristic urban jungles of Dubai and Doha to the ancient shipyards of Sur in Oman, where a maritime empire was built at the foot of the Arabian desert, home to wadis and oasis within an ethereal landscape,” says Explora Journeys.

Explora II stays overnight in Doha, and after Sur it sails for the coast of India, where “wild cats tiptoe through the steamy evergreen forests of the Western Ghats, a primordial lost world of thundering waterfalls and emerald tea plantations.”

Mumbai, India

In Mumbai, passengers will be able to discover the magic of Bollywood and the city’s Elephanta Cave UNESCO World Heritage sites, before the ship spends several days at sea cruising back for Oman.

Calling in Muscat and Khasab, passengers will have the opportunity to explore the capital of Oman, as well as the sleepy village of Khasab, which is set in the beautiful fjords of the Musandum Peninsula and is known locally as the Norway of Arabia.

Explora II then sails two roundtrip itineraries from Dubai, on December 21st and 27th respectively. The first visits Sur, Muscat, and Khasab in Oman, as well as Khor Fakkan in the UAE, while the second visits Sir Bani Yas Island and Abu Dhabi in the UAE, as well as Doha in Qatar before returning to Dubai.

The two itineraries can also be booked as a 14-night back-to-back butterfly itinerary. Princes for both start at US $5,300 per passenger sharing an Ocean Terrace Suite.

On January 4th, 2025, Explora II leaves Dubai, recreating her 19-night roundtrip itinerary, but this time without the homeward leg to Dubai, instead the 14-night cruise ends in Mumbai, from which she then sails on to Kenya, and eventually South Africa.