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Abu dhabi/India cruise - anyone experience?


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Looking to book this cruise for 2018. Anyone been on this cruise and want to share their experiences?

Wonderful! The contrasts between the ports in India were dramatic and contrasting with Dubai and Abu Dhabi were even more dramatic. You need to open yourself to the experience and work through the sensotory overload.

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Looking to book this cruise for 2018. Anyone been on this cruise and want to share their experiences?

We have booked this itinerary for 2019. So hoping for some replies

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We've booked singapore to rome B2B.....very interested in hearing more about the dubai to rome part where someone reported that they essentially blacked out the ship and had guards on deck.

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Don't be overly concerned about the Indian Visa.just follow directions and you'll be fine. Celebrity has a recommended service, Visa Central if you decide not to do it yourself.

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Wonderful! The contrasts between the ports in India were dramatic and contrasting with Dubai and Abu Dhabi were even more dramatic. You need to open yourself to the experience and work through the sensotory overload.

Right up our alley! I'm booking this one for sure. Thank you!

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Don't be overly concerned about the Indian Visa.just follow directions and you'll be fine. Celebrity has a recommended service, Visa Central if you decide not to do it yourself.

Funny you should mention about the visa requirements. No worries. We went to St Petersburg, on our own, a couple of years ago. No cruise. Had to send our US Passports to an agency that would process our Visas through the Russian embassy in Wash DC. A bit of panic for me (sending off our Passports), but all worked out perfectly.

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This is one of the cruises we're considering for 2019. I'm Jewish - would that pose a problem? (And I know that my passport says nothing about that, but I do have a Jewish last name).

 

Why should there be a problem? Many people with Jewish names on my cruise and no problems. Do you think Celebrity would go anywhere where all passengers wouldn't be welcomed?

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Why should there be a problem? Many people with Jewish names on my cruise and no problems. Do you think Celebrity would go anywhere where all passengers wouldn't be welcomed?

 

Technically, Emerates states don't let Israeli's in, so was worth asking I think. Thank you for the quick reply from your experience. I appreciate it.

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Wonderful! The contrasts between the ports in India were dramatic and contrasting with Dubai and Abu Dhabi were even more dramatic. You need to open yourself to the experience and work through the sensotory overload.

Just noticed we both live in SE Fla. Would you mind telling me about your departure flight city? MIA, FLL, PBI or MCO?

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Just noticed we both live in SE Fla. Would you mind telling me about your departure flight city? MIA, FLL, PBI or MCO?

 

Used Choice Air and the lowest cost was from FLL. Long flight! FLL to Charlotte; Charlotte to Frankfurt; Frankfurt to Abu Dhabi. Long layover in Frankfurt so got a room for the day in Airport Hotel. Best move of the trip. Arrived very early in the AM in Abu Dhabi and thought I'd need to stay in the airport until transfer to bus. Surprised that Celebrity was waiting for us and took the group to a very nice hotel for breakfast and registration for the ship. I would recommend this service for anyone arriving the day of the cruise. Return home was Abu Dhabi to Frankfurt; Frankfurt to Atlanta; Atlanta to FLL. Flight was very late in the evening so I would plan something for the day. Some actually left in Dubai where the flight schedule was better.

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Hi all

Just done Connie this april from abu dhabi to rome it was amazing and it must be on your bucket list and yes they do black out the ship which they called LOVE time !!! Lights Out Virtually Everywhere we also took on armed guards which were transferred off the ship once the threat level got reduced.

Abu Dhabi WOW that was an eye opener ,Do not miss Petra jordan which we done with a private company and was so much cheaper than CEL and more personal because of the group size ( only 10 ) .

Suez canal was interesting as we had a running commentary all the way through pointing out points of interest .

All in all a excellent cruise.

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We did Singapore to Abu Dhabi this Easter & loved it.

 

Really great itinerary, the variety of ports was fascinating, coupled with a nice, fairly even sprinkling of sea days made for a perfect relaxing but interesting cruise. Worst port (by far) was New Mangalore but I think that may be dropped for next season? All others - Phuket, Colombo, Cochin, Goa, Mumbai, Oman, Dubai offered interesting & enjoyable days out.

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We are sailing on the Constellation this fall from Rome to Abu Dhabi. I cannot wait. I'm so excited to be able to see this part of the world AND take part in the Formula 1 Grand Prix race.

 

To the poster who wants to use United points. We booked both of our flights to and from with points. Going out, we fly Denver to Chicago to Munich to Rome. Coming home we are flying Ethiad Airlines out of Abu Dhabi (the day after the cruise ends to get a better flight schedule). Then we spend one night in Rome. From Rome using points, we fly to Boston, where we have another overnight and then home to Denver. It's taking us four days to get home, but we decided that was better on our bodies. It was only 30,000 points each way to book our tickets.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hi Chewbecca

We are booked on this cruise April 2018 and would like to know how long does it take to get off the ship in Kochi going through immigration. We plan on doing a 2 day trip to the Taj Mahal and need to book a flight from Kochi. Is it easy to get a taxi at Kochi port? Please provide information on excursions that you enjoyed at the different ports.

We did Singapore to Abu Dhabi this Easter & loved it.

 

Really great itinerary, the variety of ports was fascinating, coupled with a nice, fairly even sprinkling of sea days made for a perfect relaxing but interesting cruise. Worst port (by far) was New Mangalore but I think that may be dropped for next season? All others - Phuket, Colombo, Cochin, Goa, Mumbai, Oman, Dubai offered interesting & enjoyable days out.

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We are hoping to be on the Abu Dhabi/India cruise in December. At the time of booking I struggled to get a straight answer from Celebrity regarding the legal drinking age on this trip. I eventually got an email from Celebrity US saying it would be 18 years, and the terms on the UK website/brochure were altered to reflect this (previously they said age 21 whereas in the US it said 18). Can anyone who has done this trip confirm whether it says anything on the daily news sheet about this, or have any personal experience? Thanks

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We are sailing on the Constellation this fall from Rome to Abu Dhabi. I cannot wait. I'm so excited to be able to see this part of the world AND take part in the Formula 1 Grand Prix race.

 

To the poster who wants to use United points. We booked both of our flights to and from with points. Going out' date=' we fly Denver to Chicago to Munich to Rome. Coming home we are flying Ethiad Airlines out of Abu Dhabi (the day after the cruise ends to get a better flight schedule). Then we spend one night in Rome. From Rome using points, we fly to Boston, where we have another overnight and then home to Denver. It's taking us four days to get home, but we decided that was better on our bodies. It was only 30,000 points each way to book our tickets.[/quote']

Thanks for the comments about United points. Hopefully we will end up with a similar points situation. We booked the Nov 2018 cruise, so it's too early to book our flights. I'm being told not until Dec 2017.

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Regarding the question about being Jewish on this cruise. We did Singapore to Dubai in 2015 on the Century that visited Oman and the UAE. We had friends on the cruise that were Jewish (US Passports) and there was no problem.

 

Our cruise was fun, here is my detailed review.

 

http://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=501167

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Technically, Emerates states don't let Israeli's in, so was worth asking I think. Thank you for the quick reply from your experience. I appreciate it.

 

We visited the Emirates, Oman, Egypt, and Israel on our recent cruise (different cruise line but that shouldn't matter). None of the many Jewish friends we made on the ship mentioned any problems entering those Arab countries. I'd have to look at the passport more carefully, but from my recollection, Israel did not stamp our passports, just giving us landing cards with our passport photos scanned on them, so even if our direction had been reversed, it would not have been a problem.

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Looking to book this cruise for 2018. Anyone been on this cruise and want to share their experiences?

 

Not sure what kind of experience sharing you are looking for. A segment of our recent RTW cruise covered India, the Emirates, and several other ports. If you are looking for shoreside experiences, you can check out the May and April archive of my blog. Different cruise line, but that should not matter if you are looking for ideas for sightseeing.

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This is one of the cruises we're considering for 2019. I'm Jewish - would that pose a problem? (And I know that my passport says nothing about that, but I do have a Jewish last name).

---------

 

Shalom.....:)

 

Dubai is more open for all tourists, as long you don't say out loud that you are jewish.

 

Your problem is going to Abu Dhabi. It's another Emirat with other laws then Dubai.

 

In Abu Dhabi and Sharja you could get questions.

If they ask, say no, I'm american.

 

If you have relatives in Israel, find another cruise.

If your name is known in Israel, find another cruise.

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