Emporium Marketplace on Explora Journeys: A Different Take on Casual Cruise Dining
Updated: Sep 21
There are cruise ship buffets, and then there is Emporium Marketplace on Explora Journeys.
Calling Emporium simply a buffet does not really describe what happens here. The concept is built around a collection of individual culinary stations, open kitchens and smaller displays where chefs prepare, cook or finish much of the food in front of you.
Across our cruises with Explora Journeys, Emporium has become one of the venues we return to again and again. Not because it is simply convenient, but because it gives you an enormous amount of choice without feeling like a traditional mass-market buffet experience.
We recently documented the venue in much greater detail, including its individual stations, dishes, Sunday Brunch selections and many of the things we actually tried ourselves.
You can find our complete Emporium Marketplace guide here:
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So, Is Emporium Marketplace on Explora Journeys a Buffet?
Technically, parts of Emporium work like one. You walk around, choose what you want and build your own meal.
But the similarities largely stop there.
Instead of one continuous buffet line filled with large trays, Emporium is organised more like a luxury food hall. Different stations specialise in different areas, and many dishes are freshly prepared, cooked to order or finished by the chefs.
During our visits, we have watched chefs prepare sushi, cook pasta, finish seafood, grill meats, assemble burgers and work with freshly made pizza dough.
Other dishes are presented in small individual portions rather than in large serving trays.
The result is a dining experience where you can create a meal that would normally require visiting several different restaurants.
You might start with sushi, move on to fresh seafood, have a small pasta dish, try a slice of pizza and somehow still find space for dessert.
And that freedom is a large part of what makes Emporium work.
A Collection of Culinary Stations
One of the easiest ways to understand Emporium is to think of it as a collection of small restaurants sharing the same dining room.
The exact offering rotates throughout the day and can vary between sailings, but there are several recurring areas and concepts.
You will typically find selections built around seafood, sushi, freshly prepared pasta and pizza, grilled meats, salads, vegetables, charcuterie, cheeses, bakery items and desserts.
Some stations are clearly designed around one speciality, while others change their dishes depending on lunch, dinner or the particular day of the cruise.
That changing selection is important because Emporium is not a venue where you simply see the same food every day.
Ocean Pearls and Seafood
For many guests, the seafood displays are among the most visually impressive parts of Emporium.
Fresh fish is displayed on ice and seafood selections can include oysters, prawns, crab, lobster and other shellfish depending on the day and sailing.
Some items are available chilled, while others can be prepared or finished for you.
On special occasions such as Sunday Brunch, the seafood selection can become particularly elaborate.
Sushi Prepared in Front of You
Emporium also has a dedicated sushi station where chefs prepare sushi throughout service.
Selections can include maki, uramaki, nigiri, sashimi and other preparations using salmon, tuna, yellowtail and vegetables.
Because the chefs are working directly behind the counter, the station feels considerably closer to a small sushi bar than to a conventional buffet sushi display.
We have also seen the selection change between services and sailings, giving the station more variety than you might expect.
Fresh Pasta Made Onboard
The pasta station is another good example of what separates Emporium from a traditional buffet.
Fresh pasta is produced onboard in several shapes and varieties, with examples we have seen including spaghetti, fettuccine, pappardelle, caserecce, maccheroni and spinach pasta.
Different sauces and prepared dishes rotate through the station.
During our cruises we have seen everything from classic Bolognese and tomato-based sauces to lobster risotto, truffle ravioli, artichoke risotto and seafood preparations.
The experience is much closer to walking up to an open-kitchen Italian restaurant than simply helping yourself from a large pasta tray.
The Pizzeria
The pizza station deserves its own mention.
Fresh dough is worked behind the counter and baked in the onboard pizza oven, producing pizzas with the airy, blistered crust you would expect from a proper high-temperature oven.
There are classic options such as Margherita alongside rotating pizzas and different styles.
One of the interesting parts of documenting Emporium has also been learning more about the people behind the food.
We have had the opportunity to meet members of Explora Journeys’ culinary team involved in the development of the pizza and bakery concepts, including Alban Gkjoka, Gian Luca Mazza and Frederic Godineau.
During one of our cruises, I also had the chance to sit down with Alban over coffee and hear more about his journey, the development of the product and some of the thinking behind where the concept may go in the future.
Those conversations make it easier to understand just how much work sits behind something that, to the guest, can look as simple as ordering a pizza.
Grill, Burgers and More Casual Choices
Emporium is not only about seafood and carefully plated dishes.
There are also plenty of more relaxed choices.
Burgers can be prepared fresh, grilled meats rotate through the station, and you may find chicken, steaks, sausages or other dishes depending on the service.
The burger is actually a good example of the concept.
Rather than sitting under a heat lamp waiting to be picked up, it can be assembled and served much more like something you would order in a casual restaurant.
Desserts Are a Destination of Their Own
The dessert section could almost be its own venue.
Across our cruises we have seen individual cakes, mousse, cheesecake, fruit tarts, cookies, chocolate desserts and beautifully presented small pastries.
The presentation is frequently closer to a pâtisserie display than a traditional buffet dessert counter.
Some of our photographed selections include chocolate mousse, peanut cheesecake, key lime pie, vanilla and raspberry cake, cassis choux, chocolate hazelnut desserts and a wide range of small individual pastries.
There is also fresh fruit and, depending on the service, other sweets and bakery items.
Sunday Brunch Is Something Different
A small but important note about the photos in our Emporium coverage: not everything you see represents a normal lunch or dinner service.
Sunday Brunch is typically 09:30–13:30 on selected Sundays/sea days. Availability and times may vary by sailing.
Some of the most elaborate displays were photographed during Sunday Brunch.
Sunday Brunch can feature significantly expanded selections, including impressive seafood presentations and other dishes that are not necessarily part of the regular daily offering.
It is also not something that should automatically be expected on every itinerary or every sailing.
That is why we always recommend looking at our photos as examples of what Emporium can offer rather than treating every individual dish as a permanent menu item.
The Dining Room Matters Too
One thing that is easy to overlook when concentrating on the food is the actual dining room.
Emporium is the largest dining venue onboard the current Explora Journeys ships, but its design helps break the space into smaller areas.
There are window-side tables, booths, more open seating areas and outdoor seating depending on the ship and weather.
Large windows bring in a huge amount of natural light during the day, while the atmosphere becomes noticeably different in the evening.
It never really feels like one enormous cruise ship buffet hall.
And that is probably intentional.
What We Like About Emporium Marketplace
What makes Emporium successful for us is not simply the number of dishes.
It is the combination of choice, flexibility and quality.
You can have a very casual meal, or build something that feels considerably more elaborate.
You can eat quickly before heading somewhere else, or sit by the windows with several small plates and turn lunch into a much longer experience.
And because so many of the stations operate independently, two people sitting at the same table can have completely different meals.
That flexibility has made Emporium one of the places we naturally return to whenever we sail with Explora Journeys.
Want to See Everything?
This article only scratches the surface.
We have created a much more detailed Emporium Marketplace guide where we walk through the individual stations, show many more dishes, explain what each area offers and share photos from lunch, dinner and Sunday Brunch.
Read the complete guide:
If you are planning your first Explora Journeys cruise, it should give you a much clearer idea of what to expect before you step onboard.
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