Hello and welcome to today's independent travel podcast is Friday the 7th of March. I'm still in Berlin for ITB, the world's biggest travel show.

And I'm delighted today to be talking to Anna Nash. She is the president of Explorer Journeys.

Now, if you're not familiar with Explorer journeys, you might imagine that they were some

overland company.

But Anna, that's not quite true, is it?

No, we are in the business of ocean travel.

We are the luxury division of MSC cruisers.

We're a fairly new brand to the water.

Our first ship was launched in August 2023, Explorer 1.

We currently have two ships sailing with a total of

6 by 2028. So we're a new ocean travel brand with a mission. Tell me why Explorer Journeys is

different from MSC cruises, which is a very familiar, very well-known, well-run cruise company.

It was created on a white sheet of paper really to redefine ocean travel,

to bring an ultra-luxury experience to the waters

and to really uncover less than known destinations along the way.

So a brand new brand,

but of course have the heritage and the seafaring history

and the maritime excellence from, you know, our foundations as a family business linked to MSC.

Now, just over in the corner, you've got a model of Explorer 1.

She looks properly like a ship, which is exciting as opposed to a floating apartment block, as some of them are these days.

But it's still a fairly standard cruise ship

what's different once i step on board well she's very beautiful i mean she's decked out and a

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