Explora Journeys Caribbean Cruise Review – Day 14: December 25, 2025

Day 14 on Explora Journeys’ Explora I landed us in one of my personal Caribbean favorites – Philipsburg, St. Maarten. We docked around 7:30am and guests were cleared to go ashore at 8:00am. Joining us in port today were two Princess ships plus, once again, Oceania Insignia.

Because it was Christmas morning, a lot of people opted to stay onboard a bit longer instead of being first off the ship. Breakfast was running as usual, Fil Rouge had a special Christmas lunch, Santa showed up to hand out gifts to the kids, and the ship’s officers did some Christmas caroling in the lobby.

It was festive, but in a very Explora way. No over-the-top decorations and definnitely no inflatable Santas zip-tied to railings. I’m told that last year there were more decorations around the ship than this year, I guess understated is the “in thing” this year.

Now, before I get into St. Maarten itself, I need to answer a question that one of my friends asked me to touch on today:

What is the dress code on Explora Journeys?

Because if you search this online before sailing, you’re going to get every answer imaginable and none of them will actually be helpful.

You’ll get one group insisting this is a luxury cruise line and you MUST dress accordingly.

Here’s the reality after living on this ship for two weeks:

Nobody cares.

I packed multiple sport coats thinking I’d need them to “fit in” at dinner or around the bars at night. I can confidently say on Day 14 that I have not worn a single one (except tonight’s Christmas suit). Not once. Those jackets have done absolutely nothing this cruise other than take up space in my closet.

Yes, Explora Journeys has official dress code guidelines, and I’ve included them below so you don’t have to go hunting for them, but let me translate that into what actually happens onboard.

During the day, it’s extremely casual. People are going back and forth between the pools, outdoor bars, indoor lounges, and the Emporium Marketplace nonstop. You’re going to see swimsuits, cover-ups, shorts, flip flops, and pretty much everything else.

The official rule says no swimwear, bathrobes, or workout clothes in restaurants and indoor bars. In reality? Shirtless guys walked through the Emporium Marketplace straight from the pool. Nobody said a word. Someone wandered around in a bathrobe one morning. Also ignored. The crew here is very much in the “this is not the hill we’re dying on” camp and who can blame them.

So daytime rule of thumb: very casual, and enforcement is basically nonexistent unless you’re doing something truly ridiculous.

At night, I expected things to shift toward more formal. That didn’t really happen either.

Yes, you’ll see a few guys wearing suit coats and fewer in ties. But they’re the exception, not the rule. Most men are in khakis or dress pants, sometimes nice jeans, with an untucked button-down or a polo. Jackets are optional and absolutely not required.

Women dress a bit more than the men, but even then it’s still very relaxed. Dresses, simple evening outfits, nothing that screams “formal night at sea.”

And this applies to every restaurant onboard.

I’ve seen guys in dress shorts sitting next to someone in a suit at Marble & Company. Same thing at Fil Rouge and Med Yacht Club. Even at Anthology –  the $160-per-person restaurant I dined at last night – dress was still relaxed. So here’s the bottom line:

Explora I is a wear what you want ship.

Khakis and an untucked shirt? Fine.
Suit and tie? Also fine.
Loud colors, unique fashion choices, and doing your own thing? I’ve been doing it for two weeks with zero issues.

The crew genuinely does not care as long as you’re comfortable and not being disrespectful. There is absolutely no need to play dress-up every night unless you want to. And if you do want to? Go for it.

Just leave the swimsuit at the pool once the sun goes down.

Alright, now that we’ve officially answered the dress code question, let’s get into St. Maarten – which, Christmas Day or not, remains one of the easiest ports in the Caribbean to wander around.

St. Maarten 101 for Cruise Passengers

I’ve been to St. Maarten a lot over the years, so I’m not going to do a full deep dive here. If you want that, just search St. Maarten on the site and you’ll find plenty of articles I’ve already written. Instead, here’s a brief, no-nonsense version of what to do and not do when you’re visiting this beautiful port.

St. Maarten is one of the more unique islands in the Caribbean because it’s split between two countries. The northern half is French, the southern half is Dutch, and there’s no real border between the two. You can drive across it without ever realizing you’ve technically entered another country, other than the road signs changing language. The cruise port sits on the Dutch side, in Philipsburg, which is also the capital. The island is in the northeastern Caribbean, east of Puerto Rico, and surrounded by other familiar names like Anguilla, St. Barts, and Saba.

Ships dock at the Port of Philipsburg, which is one of, if not the easiest, ports in the region. It can handle multiple large ships at once without feeling chaotic. When you step off the ship you’re immediately in the “cruise bubble” with duty-free shops, jewelry stores, souvenir stands, bars, restaurants, and a well-organized taxi area.

Safety-wise, St. Maarten is generally very safe, especially around the port and in downtown Philipsburg. Like any busy cruise destination, basic common sense goes a long way. Don’t flash valuables, keep an eye on your belongings in crowded areas, and don’t wander off into quiet back streets for no reason. That said, this is not a port that feels sketchy the moment you step ashore. It’s well-policed and used to a lot of daily cruise traffic.

On busy days, you’ll see five or six ships in port, sometimes more, and it still works smoothly. Everything from taxis to shops to excursions is built around handling volume. Currency is simple. The local money on the Dutch side is the guilder, but in reality US dollars are accepted everywhere and credit cards are widely used. There’s no need to exchange money unless you really want to.

When it comes to shore excursions, this is one of those ports where booking independently, as opposed to from the cruise line, makes a lot of sense but you need to make sure you keep track of time and give yourself more than enough buffer to make it back to the ship before all abaord time. Most of the popular options are beach days, island tours, catamarans, snorkeling, trips to Maho Beach for plane spotting, or heading over to the French side.

The island is small, taxis are regulated, prices are generally posted, and independent operators know cruise schedules inside and out. Booking through the cruise line can be helpful if you want the ship guarantee or don’t want to think about logistics at all, but if you’re even mildly comfortable doing your own thing, it’s an easy port to handle without the cruise line markup.

If you don’t want to book anything at all, Philipsburg is very walkable. You can stroll the boardwalk, shop along Front Street, grab lunch or a drink overlooking the water, or sit on the beach without ever getting into a taxi. You’re not going to accidentally end up somewhere you shouldn’t.

Beach-wise, Great Bay Beach runs right along Philipsburg and is easily walkable from the port. It’s full of beach bars, chair rentals, food, drinks, and bathrooms, making it one of the easiest no-planning beach days you’ll find.

If you’re willing to take a short taxi ride, there are more options. Maho Beach is popular for plane spotting, Mullet Bay is wider and more relaxed, Orient Beach is on the French side and very well known, and Friar’s Bay or Happy Bay offer a calmer, less crowded feel. Taxi drivers know exactly where cruise passengers want to go. You tell them the beach, agree on the price, and that’s it.

Overall, St. Maarten is one of the easiest and most flexible and easy ports to visit in all of the Caribbean.

When it was time for me to head off the ship, I did what I usually do here and wandered over to Great Bay Beach and the boardwalk, which is only about a 10 to 15 minute walk from the pier. You literally just walk out of the port, hang a left, and keep going. You can’t miss it.

This is where things got a little interesting. With four ships in port and it being Christmas Day, I expected a lot of places to be closed. The last time I was here on Christmas, that was pretty much the case. The difference then was we were the only ship in port. This time around, most places were actually open. A handful of shops a block or two in on Front Street were closed, but the majority of bars, restaurants, and beach spots along the boardwalk were up and running.

What surprised me was how empty it felt. The beach wasn’t crowded, the boardwalk was quiet, and you could actually walk down Front Street without walking into people. It felt a little like a ghost town, in the best possible way.

The weather wasn’t perfect, but it also wasn’t bad. The rain stayed well offshore, but we had a lot of cloud cover and temperatures hovered in the high 70s, which made it feel cooler than your typical St. Maarten beach day. Still, all things considered, it was a really nice day to be in St. Maarten, especially with how calm and uncrowded everything was.

Dinner at Marble & Company on Explora Journeys

Back onboard, we ended up departing St. Maarten early once again, this time a solid 45 minutes ahead of schedule. Explora does not mess around. Once everyone is accounted for, the gangway comes in and the ship is gone. No waiting around just to wait around.

There were a few Christmas-themed things planned for the evening, including a Christmas music show at 10pm in the Journeys Lounge, which is the ship’s main showroom. As I’ve mentioned before, if you want to see everything that’s going on any given day, the full planner is always down at the bottom of the page. It’s worth a look, especially on holidays when things shift around a bit.

Dinner tonight was, shocker, at Marble & Company Grill. And yes, it was very busy. Families everywhere, celebrating Christmas together. This was actually the perfect real-world example of what I was talking about earlier when it comes to dress code. Multigenerational tables all over the place. Parents, grandparents, teens, twenty-somethings. And just as many different outfits. You had college-age kids in nice shorts and polos sitting next to granddad in a suit, with dad somewhere in the middle wearing khakis and a button-down. Nobody cared. Nobody looked out of place. So once again, please don’t get all uptight about what to wear on Explora.

No one is judging.

I did start the evening with a bit of disappointment. We’ve officially ran out of the gin I’ve been drinking all week. Yes, the upcharge one. Yes, the one that’s been happily padding my onboard bill for the last 14 days. Monkey 47 was no more. Tragic.

Without my beloved Monkey 47, I opened with some wine instead, because sometimes you just have to adapt and move on, especially on Christmas.

There wasn’t anything special being offered at Marble & Company Grill for Christmas dinner itself. It was the regular menu, and at this point in the cruise, I’m perfectly fine with that because the food here has been consistently solid.

I started things off nice and simple with a salad, and then moved right into what has become one of my favorite items on the menu, the Lobster Brioche. Butter-toasted brioche, lobster tail, aji amarillo aïoli, spring onions, mustard cress. This thing is absolute lobster roll heaven. Tons of lobster, a rich buttery bun, just enough aioli to add flavor without drowning everything. If you like lobster rolls, this one smacks.

For the main course, I went with “Terre et Mer,” which felt pefect for a Christmas dinner. Grilled veal medallions, Maine lobster tail, truffle mashed potatoes, bisque jus, Béarnaise. It’s a single veal medallion cooked medium rare, topped with a small lobster tail. The veal was lightly seasoned, incredibly tender, and cooked perfectly. The lobster was buttery and delicious. Simple, elegant, and honestly a really nice way to do Christmas dinner without going over the top.

Dessert, however, had to be skipped tonight. Not because I didn’t want it, but because the clock was creeping up on 9pm and I had another tasting to get to. Priorities, ya know.

Signature Whisky Tasting

Tonight was the Signature Whisky Tasting, and if you’ve been following along, you know this wasn’t my first rodeo when it comes to tastings on Explora I. So far, I’ve done whisky and chocolate, cognac and cigars, and the gin & tonic tasting. Tonight, though, was a step up into the “serious stuff” category.

This tasting took place, once again, in the Malt Whisky Bar and was hosted by Emmanuel, who has become the unofficial ringmaster of all things brown, aged, and dangerous on this ship. If there’s one thing he does well, it’s making whisky tastings feel approachable instead of pretentious. No lectures. No snobbery. Just good stories, good pours, and enough information to make you feel like you learned something without your brain hurting.

The lineup tonight was solid. We worked our way through Yamazaki, Fontagard, Glenmorangie 16, The Macallan Classic Cut, and finished with Johnnie Walker Blue Label.

Each whisky was introduced with a quick history lesson, what makes it unique, and what you might pick up when tasting it. I say “might” because let’s be honest, tasting notes are subjective. Some people get hints of honey, dried fruit, or smoke. I get things like “smooth,” “hot,” or “yep, that’s whisky.”

Each pour was paired with a piece of chocolate meant to complement the whisky.

As for favorites? Some were excellent, some were just “fine,” and a couple reinforced why I don’t normally reach for certain styles, like a peaty Scotch. But that’s exactly what makes a tasting like this worthwhile. You’re not committing to a full pour or a full bottle. You’re sampling things you don’t get every day.

The whole experience lasted about an hour and came in at $70 per person, which, considering the lineup and the quality of the pours, felt like a good value. Especially when you factor in the education, and the fact that you’re doing this on a luxury ship while sailing through the Caribbean on Christmas night.

Even if you don’t walk away loving every whisky, you absolutely walk away appreciating the experience. And honestly, that’s what these tastings on Explora are really about.

After all that whisky, I completely missed the Christmas show as I hung around the bar and chatted with the guys, took some photos with them to add to the memory bank for this cruise and called it a night.  We’ve got one more port stop to go and that’s tomorrow in Road Town, Tortola in the British Virgin Islands.  This journey is rapidly coming to a close, as the weekend is going to be spent at sea as we make our way back to Miami for a Monday arrival.

More tomorrow, and as always, thanks for following along.

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