Formula 1 specialty cruise

[boone2]

Good morning

Never cruised on celebrity and would like to try it. My husband is an avid Formula 1 fan and I noticed a cruise on the constellation in November that ends up in Abu Dhabi for the final GP of the season. Besides being an amazing price, to attend his second GP of the season would be a list item for him. I wondered if anyone has actually done this specialty cruise and what it would consist of in terms of on board activities. Or is it a regular cruise with the GP at the end.

Thank you

Terry

[NorbertsNiece]

From what I can see this is a regular cruise that happens to arrive in Abu Dhabi on the 26th November with a couple of days in port at the end. It's a repositioning cruise that was due to board in Istanbul and has now been changed to Piraeus. Prices are really good.

[grannybee]

Booked this 2 weeks ago and great price to and from Manchester uk with private transfers and hotel in Athens and Abu Dhabi. The TA decided we would not want to fly at 2 am after leaving the ship at 8am previous day. We also booked F1 tickets with TA. So excited.

[Moonraker7]

I booked my trip in March and my tickets were booked direct with Yas marina. Sat/sun was £256 then. Cruise a lot more expensive for 1 person but still works out cheaper than just going for the weekend!! I hope they do some special f1 lectures. I've not been on Celebrity before so am not sure what sort of lectures they do. I was on Arcadia last year and they had a great speaker that had worked in Coventry in Motorsport industry for many many years. Great lectures!!

[larches167]

So looking forward to this cruise, we have been booked for quite a few months and at the time we felt it had a very interesting itinery as we cruised through Panama Canal in Nov 2016 with celebrity we thought it would be good to do suez too.

 

It's Great that you have got the cruise at a good price however it's very disappointing to have booked this cruise & paid top prices and now not even getting time to see Athens.

Whilst we appreciate the change in itinery has been done for all the right reasons we are still disappointed in not being able to have our shore visit to Athens one of the places we really wanted to see.

As yet we are still waiting on our new air travel times.

We are not new celebrity cruisers on the contrary we are loyal to the brand and celebrity havent even offered us any obc to compensate for the much reduced prices now being offered.

When we booked this cruise we booked a further 2 cruises for 2017 and not a penny of obc was offered I don't understand how some cruisers manage to get this.

You get nothing for loyalty it seems apart from captains club it seems with celebrity these days.

I don't think we will be booking so far in advance in the future

Hard lesson learned.

[grannybee]

We are also loyal to Celebrity and Royal Caribbean. We had to cancel our transatlantic in April as my Mum died suddenly the week before we were to fly out. So this cruise is a last minute booking ( 16 weeks away when we booked)

We did St Petersburg last year and booked 3 weeks before we sailed and got a great price so now we wait, and wait until we are happy with offer and then they still reduce the price.

[Guernseycruiser]

Good morning

Never cruised on celebrity and would like to try it. My husband is an avid Formula 1 fan and I noticed a cruise on the constellation in November that ends up in Abu Dhabi for the final GP of the season. Besides being an amazing price, to attend his second GP of the season would be a list item for him. I wondered if anyone has actually done this specialty cruise and what it would consist of in terms of on board activities. Or is it a regular cruise with the GP at the end.

Thank you

Terry

This is the first time that Celebrity have sent a ship for a season to the Middle East, and hence I presume the first Suez Canal cruise for them. Other cruise lines have offered similar itineraries in the past. You can either purchase 2 or 3 day tickets for the GP, however even when purchasing a 2 day ticket for Saturday and Sunday, as the ship does not dock until mid/late afternoon, it will be extremely tight to be able to see the qualifying session on Saturday. Even with that, as you have already been to a GP, you know it is an experience not to be missed. I note that certain websites are offering 20% off ticket prices for the GP if you book before the end of today.

Edited July 31, 2016 by Guernseycruiser

[Beanb41]

The Constellation on its cruise out of Barcelona on May 26 next year will be in Monte Carlo for the Monaco Grand Prix. It will be a tender port. Watching the Grand Prix this year on TV I counted 12 cruise ships at anchor and one alongside. Tickets for the Grand Prix are already on sale

Edited July 31, 2016 by Beanb41

[boone2]

Thanks everyone. Interesting all the Brits answering. We are expat. I think we

will probably go for it. Just researching air prices now I Guess in the uk once you are booked you are locked into the current price. Very different here as we can take advantage of prices dropping and rebook at ththe lower price. Been to Monaco many times but it is hubbys ultimate dream to attend the Monaco GP. I I'll look pinto that too

Terry

Edited August 1, 2016 by boone2

[Haworth]

The Constellation on its cruise out of Barcelona on May 26 next year will be in Monte Carlo for the Monaco Grand Prix. It will be a tender port. Watching the Grand Prix this year on TV I counted 12 cruise ships at anchor and one alongside. Tickets for the Grand Prix are already on sale

 

The ship alongside is a Seabourn one, it's chartered by Ferrari for the time the GP is on.

[two_n_six]

So looking forward to this cruise, we have been booked for quite a few months and at the time we felt it had a very interesting itinery as we cruised through Panama Canal in Nov 2016 with celebrity we thought it would be good to do suez too.

 

It's Great that you have got the cruise at a good price however it's very disappointing to have booked this cruise & paid top prices and now not even getting time to see Athens.

Whilst we appreciate the change in itinery has been done for all the right reasons we are still disappointed in not being able to have our shore visit to Athens one of the places we really wanted to see.

As yet we are still waiting on our new air travel times.

We are not new celebrity cruisers on the contrary we are loyal to the brand and celebrity havent even offered us any obc to compensate for the much reduced prices now being offered.

When we booked this cruise we booked a further 2 cruises for 2017 and not a penny of obc was offered I don't understand how some cruisers manage to get this.

You get nothing for loyalty it seems apart from captains club it seems with celebrity these days.

I don't think we will be booking so far in advance in the future

Hard lesson learned.

 

Were your bookings made onboard? If so you could cancel without losing the deposit and just transfer it to another booking. We did this and rebooked our upcoming cruise through a US agent to take advantage of the price drop.

Like you we booked well in advance but one of our cruises next year (Panama Canal) has actually increased by 50% so we have scored on this one.

[nekzaadvakil]

Hmmmm, cruising and Formula1 are my 2 favorite holidays. Been to 10 F1 races including Abu Dhabi and I think you'll have an excellent time. The Yas Marina circuit in Abu Dhabi is top class and during this time the hotels are FRIGHTFULLY expensive. So being on a cruise at this time is a win-win.

[Moonraker7]

The ship alongside is a Seabourn one, it's chartered by Ferrari for the time the GP is on.

 

 

Ahhhh I wondered if it was Bernie and the FIA that had that. Good to know!!

[Rascal1]

We've booked the May one for the Monaco Grand Prix and booked our grand prix tickets at the weekend, very excited. We booked the cruise based on the Saturday port being Monaco and thought we could go to the qualifying and then realised how close Nice was on the Sunday so have decided to go both days. I know it's a risk if they can't dock or change itinerary for any reason and need to work out the transfer from Nice to Monaco but fingers crossed the plan comes off.

[Rascal1]

It's also the 75th anniversary Grand prix in monaco so should be a great one.

[bogofman]

We've booked the May one for the Monaco Grand Prix and booked our grand prix tickets at the weekend, very excited. We booked the cruise based on the Saturday port being Monaco and thought we could go to the qualifying and then realised how close Nice was on the Sunday so have decided to go both days. I know it's a risk if they can't dock or change itinerary for any reason and need to work out the transfer from Nice to Monaco but fingers crossed the plan comes off.

 

It tenders at Villefrance, which is even closer to monaco, is only about 20 minutes, if that by train.

 

Would love to do this cruise (if the price drops)

 

Went to the Monaco Gp in 2004, and have always said would go back,

 

We were at indianaplois for the 6 car race in 2005

[Beanb41]

We've booked the May one for the Monaco Grand Prix and booked our grand prix tickets at the weekend, very excited. We booked the cruise based on the Saturday port being Monaco and thought we could go to the qualifying and then realised how close Nice was on the Sunday so have decided to go both days. I know it's a risk if they can't dock or change itinerary for any reason and need to work out the transfer from Nice to Monaco but fingers crossed the plan comes off.

 

Because we are tendering into both Monaco and Villefranche and because there is a possibility that tender operations may be cancelled it is a strong argument to take out quality travel insurance which should refund costs incurred if access ashore is not possible.

[Rascal1]

It tenders at Villefrance, which is even closer to monaco, is only about 20 minutes, if that by train.

 

Would love to do this cruise (if the price drops)

 

Went to the Monaco Gp in 2004, and have always said would go back,

 

We were at indianaplois for the 6 car race in 2005

 

Bet Indianapolis was different with just the 6 cars, was that the one with tyre issues when drivers refused to drive? We've never been to a Grand Prix abroad, but I'd also love to see NASCAR racing at some stage.

[Rascal1]

Because we are tendering into both Monaco and Villefranche and because there is a possibility that tender operations may be cancelled it is a strong argument to take out quality travel insurance which should refund costs incurred if access ashore is not possible.

 

we always take out insurance but never thought to check whether that would be covered, thanks for the tip will have a look at the T&Cs of our normal travel policy and if not look around to check other plans.

[bogofman]

Bet Indianapolis was different with just the 6 cars, was that the one with tyre issues when drivers refused to drive? We've never been to a Grand Prix abroad, but I'd also love to see NASCAR racing at some stage.

 

Yes that was the one, two car race really, two ferrari and 4 back markers,

 

We did get a refund, paid by Michelin, pity it was not monaco prices @€750

 

We got $50 back