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THANK YOU! We are booked on Symphony going the other direction - from Civitavecchia to Barcelona - in May. I have bookmarked this and look forward to scrolling through your journey. I need an injection of Crystallization right now, because it's so long until we board. Again, thanks!

I do think that they will be flexible. I hope you reach out to Crystal Guest Relations, as it sounds like they are willing to work with you and your TA. Please let us know what happens!

I haven't been on New Crystal yet, but I did my last Old Crystal cruise in 2019 with a single friend. There were two pre-scheduled "solo table" nights, one at Prego and one at Umi Uma. We signed up for both through the Maitre'D. At the Prego dinner we had one other lady and one of the gentleman hosts. At Umi Uma we had two solo ladies. It sounds like they are still doing this.

Ooh, another insider tip! I will remember to go to the Cove and ask for the "French Champagne" when we embark. 🙂

Oh, great idea! I'll buy the tickets online and that way we don't have to try to pick up tickets on Friday.

And more great info! Thanks, this is very helpful. We have a sea day right before our day in Monaco, which is our day right after embarkation. But we have two days in Villefranche immediately after. I just checked Rome2Rio (if you don't know about this website, it's the best way to find how to get from anyplace in the world to any other place in the world!) and it shows that it's just a 15 minute train ride from Villefranche to Monte Carlo. So....maybe we should get tickets for Saturday and watch the actual qualifying races of the F1s! We can pick up our tickets while we're in Monaco on Friday, then train it to the race on Saturday. Assuming there's no train strike, of course! But there's always the bus, which is only 38 minutes. All sounding very doable. Thank you again! 😄

I absolutely will! We've been living abroad on our sailboat for the past five years, but we just moved back to terra firma and are now stepping up our traveling on cruise ships. So far we've done Paul Gauguin and now an upcoming Crystal cruise, but I've heard great things about Azamara and I'm eager to investigate options. Thanks for the welcome!

YES! And with SO much information, exactly what I was looking for. Thank you so much for the suggestion!

THANK YOU SO MUCH! This is exactly the type of information I was looking for. We will be on a Crystal cruise, in Monaco on May 23rd, which is a Friday. According to the schedules I've found online, Thursday is the practice day for F2 & F3, and Friday is the qualifying races for F2 & F3, and practice races for F1. (Please don't hate me that I have no idea what F2 & F3 means! I'm sure my husband does. I will google it, I promise.) 😉 We'd be happy to see any of it, including practice races. I imagine it will be easier to attend if we are able to do it via a Crystal shorex, so I will reach out to them to find out if they will be offering them. Given our cruise is still 8 months away, I expect it's just way too early for them to appear. But if they will not be offering them, I will definitely look into purchasing tickets through the site you mentioned. Funny coincidence: the only other time I was in Monaco was about 12 years ago, when on a Regent cruise with my mother, and it was during the Grand Prix! Neither of us were interested in going to the races, so we did a private excursion that took us to the main sites of Monaco, avoiding the downtown area entirely. We then walked around town in the evening, went to the Casino and lost a bit of money, had THE MOST EXPENSIVE MARTINI OF ALL TIME at the Hotel de Paris Montecarlo, and enjoyed the exciting vibe. Yes there were many blocked off roads, barricades, crowds, and of course the track, but we were walking so it didn't bother us. I remember seeing the most OPULENT yachts I've ever seen, and tons of super high-end cars like Lamborghinis, Ferraris, Bugattis etc, just parked all over the place like they were daily drivers. So once again I will be in Monaco during Grand Prix! How cool is that? Thanks again for this detailed response. Cruise Critic comes through again! Full disclosure: I've never been on an Azamara cruise. But now that I see how friendly and accommodating Azamara cruisers are, I may have to change that. 😉

Thank you for this! We're on a Crystal cruise in that region in May, which also stops in Marseille. I'm working on my list of what to do in each port now, and I put Aix-en-Provence down for our day in Marseille. I've been to Marseille before and it wasn't a huge draw for me. We're planning on taking a train or bus to Aix-en-Provence for the day. Good to hear your thoughts on it!

I posted this question in the France port forum. Someone suggested I cross-post my question in this forum, as they thought some Azamara cruisers might have done this. We will be on a cruise in May that will be in Monaco on the first day of the Grand Prix. I've been to Monaco before and don't really feel like I need to explore it again, and we think it would be fun to go see a race. Anyone ever done this? Suggestions, thoughts, warnings? We're not tied to this, but my husband is a car enthusiast and if it's not too difficult to accomplish, it seems like it could be a good opportunity to witness something we never would normally (we're not such big enthusiasts that we would purposely travel to go see one).

Thanks! I'll do that. I haven't seen any shore excursions listed on our cruise that include the Grand Prix, but it's still WAY early so they may show up closer to the date.

Our cruise coming up in May will be in Monaco on the first day of the Grand Prix. I've been to Monaco before and don't really feel like I need to explore it again, and we think it would be fun to go see a race. Anyone ever done this? Suggestions, thoughts, warnings? We're not tied to this, but my husband is a car enthusiast and if it's not too difficult to accomplish, it seems like it could be a good opportunity to witness something we never would normally (we're not such big enthusiasts that we would purposely travel to go see one).

I was originally booked on that cruise. I recall seeing you in the roll-call. But the timing wasn't going to work, so I pushed it out and ended up booking two back-to-back cruises in May instead. I do hope somebody else picks up the task of organizing private tours! That's going to be a lovely itinerary, enjoy! Ah, so you're on the itinerary right before we board, and then you'll be with us on our first leg of our B2Bs. Do pop over to the roll-call. I'm an "organizer" type, and I love to arrange private tours for any other cruisers interested in joining us. Even if you're not interested, please just say hello! Maybe we'll get lucky and get a few more people in the roll call. It's always nice to have a few ready-made friendships before boarding.

Awesome on BOTH accounts! Would be fun to meet you, after seeing you on this board for so long. We will be on back-to-back cruises - Rome-Marseille & Marseille-Tarragona, May 21-June 4. So it sounds as if he'll at least be on the first one. If he's on the first and Vicki is on the second, that's great - I do keep hearing good things about her (thanks @USCAdventurer for your comments) and it would be fun to experience them both. I wish I could remember where I heard Russ wouldn't be on Symphony - it's possible it was just a temporary departure for him and I read it wrong. Anyway, will you be on either of those itineraries? If so, I've started roll-calls for both already, so please head over! I've been so disappointed in the participation in roll calls lately. I did a Paul Gauguin cruise recently and while a few lovely couples showed up (and joined private tours with us), it wasn't like the good-ol-days when we'd have dozens of people and were able to set up private tours in every port.