2009 Monaco Gran Prix

[AustinBond]

We are planning on doing the 2009 Nice to Nice Windsurf cruise that includes the Monaco Gran Prix. Does anyone have any suggestions for the Gran Prix other than doing the cruise package. I've heard the La Venezia is a good alternative. I would appreciate any information you might provide. Also any information on making the best of the Cannes Film Festival would be appreciated.

[schmidlapp]

Can't speak for the ship's package but we were the ones at the Venezia.

We were right on the track literally some seats less than 10' from the guardrail. The only drawback was we did have to look thru the chainlink fence to view the race. We were just before turn 1 and there was plenty of action there, Massa spun out there in the rain near the beginning of the race. Venezia includes in their package a buffet lunch which was quite good. I was satisfied with what we got. Venezia also may have some balcony seats available for next year...

The ship charged $2,400 per person for their 2 day package.

We paid 820 euro for our 2 day package which is about $1,300 per person.

I don't know if the ships package warranted $1,100 more.

Overall the cruise was excellent, I still plan on a full review, but need to wait until we get one matter ironed out with the cruise line. (this was the only exception to the "excellent".

[schmidlapp]

Sorry about the second reply here, The Cannes film festival was not of much interest to us, just a lot of people looking for the one tiny glimse of a "star". We took the train from Cannes one day to EZE and did a lot of sightseeing. Since the ship overnighted there, we had plenty of time for day tripping. Both ST Tropez and Cannes were full of yachts, pretty impressive.

Windstar did a nice job at their tender landing with a pop-up tent with fruit, and a red carpet leading you away from the pier area.

[AustinBond]

Thanks for the information. How did you make your arrangements with Venezia? I sent them an email a couple days ago but haven't gotten a response yet. Perhaps too early.

 

We completed our first Windstar voyage on the Windspirit (Istanbul to Athens) at the end of May and were quite impressed. We are looking for to the next one.

[schmidlapp]

The contact person at Venezia is Lorenzo Fioli, a really nice guy.

I know sometimes it takes a little bit of time to get a reply as they are quite busy and mabye do not have 2009 prices yet.

It was pretty straigtforward as to booking the race. We wired them a

50% deposit and then when the ship arrived Friday, we went to the restaurant and paid the balance. There was a race on friday, a GP2 class race. He let us stay and watch that too. Kind of a nice bonus.

Have fun!!!

[AustinBond]

Thanks again for the information. I will give them a week or two prior to bugging them again. I'm sure the whole thing is a real spectacle. I'm looking forward to your review.

[AustinBond]

I have had no luck reaching La Venezia. I have emailed them a couple of times and the fax number they list doesn't work. How were you able to contact them?

[chicagogal]

Is anyone else on this cruise? We are considering booking - mostly because of making friends with austinbond and kimiata on a recent Oceania holiday cruise in South America. We have also been on 8 prior Windstar cruises and know that they are always great. We are just not sure about so many days docked. We like using the sports platform and especially like being at sea with the sails unfurled. What shore arrangements has anyone made? The Windstar packages seem very pricey. Has anyone made other plans in Monte Carlo or Cannes? Does any know how to get tickets to a film at Cannes?

 

Thanks

[chicagogal]

Is anyone else on this cruise which includes the Cannes Film Festival, or does anyone know from going in prior years how easy or hard it is to get tickets to a film at the festival?

 

In Sept 2006 we were in Venice prior to boarding the Windsurf during their film festival and we were able to walk up and get tickets the day of the film by standing in line - admittedly not the best show - but at least we could say we were there! Not sure what to expect in Cannes.

 

Thanks for any insights or experiences...

[sandpebble]

We did this cruise in 2007 and have some recommendations. As for Monte Carlo Gran Prix, the best spot to 'see' it is from the drive going up to the castle. We wandered past the casino in a vain attempt to 'see' the race many people were standing on chairs attempting to see the race thus enfuriating others who had paid dearly for a seat...We were able to observe better from the drive. BTW we both almost 'lost' our hearing when so close to the track. I am an older motorcyclist and am no stranger to loud noise, but this was unbearable...they do sell expensive (says 'gran prix') headphones to the unwary. Bottom line, vist Monte Carlo when there is'nt a million spectators in various inebriated states.

As for Cannes, the double decker bus ride is the best way to get above the crowd and see the town in its 'hollywood' state...the best 'shots' of film stars were captured as we motored to and from the Ship, as we saw several stars as well as film directors on the decks of their rented yachts in harbor.

They seemed to prefer the 'privacy' and 'security' of the yachts in harbor to the hotels.

BTW the World's Best Gelato :D stand is in a little square in Nice, try to arrive early as we did, and enjoy the ambiance of Nice, then Portofino and especially Eze de Mer easily reached by train from both MC and Nice.

Enjoy !

[chicagogal]

Thanks for all the tips! I appreciate it.

[Wenneke]

My boyfriend and I booked this cruise today, anyone joining us?

[chicagogal]

My boyfriend and I booked this cruise today, anyone joining us?

 

My husband, Bill, and I and our friends Paul and Kim are on this cruise. We have been trying to find others going for the longest time.

 

Welcome to the roll call! If you just booked today, I imagine you don't have much planned yet? We are trying to figure out how to get into the film festival.

[Wenneke]

Hi chicagogal, not much planned yet. This is very last minute, we will probably drive from our home to Nice. I am not very interested in the film festival in Cannes. But the F1 I want to see, do you already have tickets for this?

ps: next week I will be in chicago on a bizz trip

[chicagogal]

 

ps: next week I will be in chicago on a bizz trip

 

You DO get around! What kind of business are you in? I am a CPA in the personal tax field.

 

There are lots of F1 tix available on line at many price points. (Just google 2009 Monaco Grand Prix and you get lots of vendors. )We haven't made up our minds yet how much we want to spend on them and haven't bought any yet.

[Wenneke]

We've bought today tickets for the F1 to see the qualyfing session. (via the website autoclub monaco) The tickets on Sunday are really expensive. I work as a freight forwarder, I'll be at the windpower conference the whole week in chicago.