Cruise holidays: A luxury wellness retreat cruise with Explora Journeys

For a high-end version of your Headspace app, this new luxury cruise ship offers the best way to find wellbeing on the waves, writes Lauren Murphy.

I often visualise myself standing at the edge of the ocean, feeling the sand beneath my feet, warm waves washing over my toes as the sun beams down above me. Standing on deck on the Explora I as it starts its inaugural UK journey, I am transported mind, body, and soul to some faraway paradise, with one goal in mind: complete relaxation.

Explora I is the first luxury ship in the new Explora Journeys brand fleet, and cost a cool €500 million ($888m) to build. Five more ships are on order, for the company that’s a new venture for the MSC group, a global shipping operation and the world’s largest privately-owned cruise company. The vision behind Explora Journeys is to “create a transformative ocean travel experience” – refined yet effortless luxury, with the opportunity for exploration and transformation of the inner and outer self.

The ship features a luxurious spa with steam rooms, saunas, salt caves, experience showers, and a hydrotherapy pool, as well as a fully equipped gym, complete with open-air fitness, so guests can feel at one with the ocean. Brands on board include Aromatherapy Associates, Dr Levy Switzerland, The Tides Wellness and Technogym.

These experiences – described as Gifts of Wellness – focus on energy, calm, immunity, sleep, and mindfulness, and are delivered through Explora’s extensive Ocean Wellness Menu. Guests can choose from luxury spa rituals, Medi-Luxe facials, and signature treatments, such as calming and grounding massages, sleep retreats, and mindfulness journeys. The sleep retreats can be supplemented with a sleep-enhancing meal served in your very own luxury ocean suite.

This all amounts to one of the best wellness and holistic experiences available at sea, with opportunities to explore ports of call ranging from Iceland to the Arabian peninsula, while you focus on your wellbeing.

It’s a smaller-sized ship, with 461 oceanfront suites, penthouses and residences, 11 distinct culinary experiences across six vibrant restaurants plus in-suite dining, 12 bars and lounges, (eight indoor and four outdoor), a Chef`s Kitchen, four swimming pools, extensive outdoor decks with private cabanas, and more.

It’s the travel equivalent of haute couture, with experiences tailor-made for those who seek truly customised wellness programmes. The all-inclusive “wellness journeys” really do go the extra mile. With complimentary champagne, wine, and spirits in-suite, high-speed Wi-Fi, spacious cabins with walk-in wardrobes, a diverse range of wellness and spa activities, there really is an option for everyone.

The luxury doesn’t stop at just the ship, with high-end excursions ranging from private yacht and helicopter tours, to French-Creole cooking classes and yoga classes on volcanic sand beaches.

The ship’s simple yet luxurious interiors complement the spa space perfectly, and the whole combination of sights, sounds, and smells is pure sensory rejuvenation.

Ten minutes into a signature spa treatment “Ritual of Ocean Renewal” – a 105-minute full-body treatment – my amazing therapist, Om, has cast a spell on my overthinking brain, and I am filled with a sense of calm and serenity. As the aqua chime glistens throughout the room, gentle whale calls playing in the background, I could beanywhere from the Arctic Circle, to the Caribbean Sea.

The holistic, sensory journey, inspired by the ocean, features a soothing full-body massage with warmed frankincense, patchouli, and lemongrass oils, finished off with the best scalp massage I’ve ever experienced. I leave the massage table feeling weightless, young and truly refreshed.

But the pampering doesn’t stop there. With one of the most exquisite spas I’ve seen on my travels, I am spoilt for choice. The Ocean Wellness Thermal spa offers a salt room, marble heated loungers, a steam room, experience showers, and an infrared sauna.

I am prescribed some lifestyle recommendations, with the intention of optimising my ocean wellness on board. Om personally recommends a vast array of hugely beneficial wellness and fitness offerings on board and I am so glad when she suggests I start with some stretching and yoga. The fitness programme is expansive and diverse and focuses on the main goal of connecting guests to the ocean while taking into account the individual needs and abilities of each passenger.

Dheeraj, the ship’s very own Yoga Master, leads me through the daily sundial salutation for morning awakening. These gentle yoga poses and moves are carried out in the beautiful fitness studio, complete with floor-to-ceiling windows, offering a visual connection to the ocean. Dheeraj offers the opportunity to experience meditation, sound healing, and breath work through group classes and 1-1 lessons.

I try a variety of their wellness offerings, including a 1-1 Pilates class using the Align-Pilates machines. Stefan demonstrates a range of gentle exercises using the machine, which leave me feeling strong and re-centred. For those preferring a more active and energetic kind of wellness, you can take part in the Train and Play outdoor Bootcamp or perhaps hop on a rowing machine or exercise bike in the outdoor gym before unwinding in the hydro pool to heal aching muscles.

Our bodies heal just as much through what we put into them, and this is where the Ocean Wellness programme on board appears to go further than any other ship at sea. Om offers food and drink recommendations to further aid in my holistic experience. Light, healthy meals and delicious smoothies can be ordered in one of the six gourmet restaurants or through the extensive in-suite dining offerings, which are all included in your stay, and all diets and lifestyles can be catered for.

Now I will admit to choosing a cheeky Nutella crepe with vanilla icecream from the ship’s delicious Creperie over the nutritious, healthy smoothie offerings, but after all the mind and body healing it seems fair to nourish my soul a little too. However, I do ensure that I take time out of my busy jam-packed day to schedule moments to appreciate the beauty in the stillness and the quiet connection between my body and nature.

There is also time for a little retail therapy and culture. In the afternoons, I browse the ship’s art galleries and exhibitions. And although I am very much window shopping, I love their curated, luxury shopping options – browsing Rolex, Cartier, Piaget, and Panerai, as well as other artisanal brands devoted to helping people and the planet.

Om’s product recommendations also mean I can recapture this journey at home, with a quick spritz of Deep Relax Sleep Mist from Aromatherapy Associates. Closing my eyes, it’s easy to be transported back to the beautiful, elegant Explora I and an ocean state of mind. I leave the ship reinvigorated, grounded, and ready to take on the world the moment I step back on land.

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EXPLORA JOURNEYS

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For more information on Explora Journeys’ range of itineraries and programmes, see explorajourneys.com/int/en