Chasing Constellation from Rome to Arabian Nights November 2016

[Moonraker7]

Hey Jenna, it was good to meet you and partake in a quiz. I really hope you enjoyed the f1. I managed to get to quali with 5 mins to spare. Taxi driver broke a few speed limits I think!! Luckily I shared can a taxi with a German couple that were in the same stand as me, so that was very lucky!! Looking forward to the rest of your review!! Xx

[bogofman]

Are visa's required for Jordan, Oman and UAE?

 

even for day trips?

 

what sort of costs are involved?

 

perhaps looking at similar cruise next year.

[need2bespoiled]

Are visa's required for Jordan, Oman and UAE?

 

even for day trips?

 

what sort of costs are involved?

 

perhaps looking at similar cruise next year.

 

No visa's or extra costs were associated with any of the countries on our cruise. All imigration was done onboard except for the UAE. Passports are collected and returned as needed (onboard), except for the UAE which collected everyone's passports in the crusie terminal (later returned onboard).

 

Happy sailing,

Jenna

[need2bespoiled]

Let me bring you back to the Gulf of Aden, with a few exceptions, seas were calm, but for 5 days it was full steam ahead, 20-22+ knots. I enjoy using the pp called MarineFinder which gives information on vessels through the AIS system. You can search anywhere in the world and most cruise ships show up, but not always. Several vessels in our area, like this one had their destination altered.

 

We occasional saw the small fishing boat far offshore

 

I spent much of my day, when not at trivia, with this view:

 

We were graced with many amazing sunsets

 

To be continued . . .

[need2bespoiled]

But closed windows (this is Luminae starting at 6:15pm each night.

 

We bought ourselves a treat while we were in Rome and enjoyed this the night before thanksgiving:

 

And then again, on Thanksgiving in addition to a gift brought to us by a friend,

 

as part of a larger feast we shared with the other Penthouse guests. We started in their cabin

 

And then shared Thanksgiving dinner in our Cabin. Celebrity made it very special, with many amazing touches, but what Thanksgiving would be complete without a bird?

 

For some reason, I got stuck with the honors

 

Next up, Oman

 

Happy Sailing,

Jenna

[need2bespoiled]

Oman was nothing like what we expected, though I am not sure what we were expecting. Right from the approach, it seemed different than Israel or Jordan (the only other places I have been in the middle east). Large mountains coming right down to the sea.

 

As we approached, you can’t miss this building from the port side (unfortunately, I never found out for sure what it is, so please chime in if you know).

 

After arriving at 10am (scheduled time) we hopped off and boarded the bus that would take us to the terminal gate where there were MANY taxis waiting to drive passengers all over. It wasn’t very organized but we were on a mission. We (4 friends and I) overpaid a bit ($40usd) for the van to drive us one way to Al Bustan Palace, which is a Ritz Carleton.

 

The people were extremely friendly and what we saw on our drive through two parts of Muscat (one way there, the other way back) was incredibly clean, neat and well maintained. Even though we had just had 5 sea days we were still pretty toured out and even before arriving had decided to spend the day at the Al Bustan Palace which is a tourist destination in itself. We saw many ship passengers walking through the day. It was a decision we certainly don’t regret. We reserved a room to gain access to the facilities. I reserved it for check-in on the day we arrived, when I should have reserved it the day before, with late arrival and late checkout because the room wasn’t available until only a couple of hours before we were ready to leave. They did provide substantial compensation back for this as my primary pre-arrival request was an early check-in (11am or noon would have been nice). It didn’t matter too much as we enjoyed the time we spent by the wonderful pool, at the beach and having lunch poolside. This is a place we absolutely want to go back and visit (both Muscat and Oman).

 

The lobby is stunning (in my opinion prettier and more intimate than the Emirates Palace in Abu Dhabi)

 

The ground were stunning and comfortable as well

 

To be continued . . .

[need2bespoiled]

 

Activities typical of any resort, most things were in English, though the guests seemed to be from all over the world.

 

I spent a good part of my day in the pool (perfect temp) with this view

 

The needed help

 

and here

 

To be continued . . .

[need2bespoiled]

The beach was excellent

 

Lunch was delicious, with a mix of western dishes, some with Arabic flare, seafood (this is the Octopus carpaccio appetizers and was reasonably priced, coming to about $150 with tip for 5 people.

 

Finally, about 2pm we were brought our room keys.

View of the lazy river pool in front of each side of the hotel main building and the outside of our pool front room.

 

The room (Junior Suite) was nice with a large Bathroom, tub, etc none of which we really got to enjoy. They did leave us some nice treats which we took back to enjoy poolside for dessert

 

To be continued . . .

[need2bespoiled]

I could definitely see enjoying coffee here with the sun rising for a few days before heading off on a cruise

 

As we headed back into the port, there were amazing views of Connie, and I should have asked the driver to stop, but we really didn’t have time. I was late getting my phone out, but I did manage to get a couple pic of the other ships in port. No, those aren’t cruise ships, they’re the Yachts belonging to the very popular leader of Oman, Qaboos bin Said al Said

 

We had to leave the pool by 4pm, hoped in our taxis at about 4:10p to make it back by 4:30p all aboard for 5pm sailing. This stop was definitely too short. We didn’t arrive in Abu Dhabi until 4pm the next day at 15 knots most of the way, the only explanation to me is that Celebrity is saving on berthing fees as there were a number of people (even on Celebrity shore excursions) who missed F1 Qualifying. Maybe they can schedule a later night departure with a slower sailing and a sea day in the middle to arrive in Abu Dhabi in the morning moving forward (but they haven’t yet). Either way, we were treated to another beautiful sunset off the back of Connie as we departed.

 

Happy sailing,

Jenna

[Cotswold Eagle]

 

As we approached, you can’t miss this building from the port side (unfortunately, I never found out for sure what it is, so please chime in if you know).

 

 

Ooh, I know this one :)

 

It's the Muttrah Observatory, or Riyam Monument (it's in Al Riyam Park) - built in the shape of a local incense burner, or mabkhara, to celebrate the sultanate's 20th National Day. It is a watchtower, but somewhat different to the old stone ones along the same coast!

[need2bespoiled]

Ooh, I know this one :)

 

It's the Muttrah Observatory, or Riyam Monument (it's in Al Riyam Park) - built in the shape of a local incense burner, or mabkhara, to celebrate the sultanate's 20th National Day. It is a watchtower, but somewhat different to the old stone ones along the same coast!

 

Thank You! I am sure I could google it, but this was more fun.

 

Happy sailing,

Jenna

[cruising teacher]

Thank You! I am sure I could google it, but this was more fun.

 

Happy sailing,

Jenna

Jenna

Thank you so much for all the time you took to post. We were particularly interested in the letter from the captain regarding your passage through the Suez Canal. Wow! The speakers looked very interesting. We are on the Constellation the month of January and are looking forward to an amazing cultural experience!

[caribill]

After downloading the Celebrity Todays from

 

https://www.dropbox.com/s/ahiucsj6w738y3a/Constellation%2011-14-16%20Athens%20to%20Abu%20Dhabi.pdf?dl=0

 

is there a way to save them on my own computer?

 

I do not see an obvious way with dopbox to do that.

 

Or do I just have to download them every time I want to look at them?

 

Thanks

[Jayneykul]

Thank you for your reviews I have read them all with great pleasure they are so well informed and helpful. Happy cruising x

[Texed]

Need2,

 

Thanks for posting. :)

[chemmo]

Thanks Jenna,

 

Really enjoyed reading again. I hope you have booked another cruise whilst on board to give me something to look forward to following in 2017!

[need2bespoiled]

After downloading the Celebrity Todays from

 

https://www.dropbox.com/s/ahiucsj6w738y3a/Constellation%2011-14-16%20Athens%20to%20Abu%20Dhabi.pdf?dl=0

 

is there a way to save them on my own computer?

 

I do not see an obvious way with dopbox to do that.

 

Or do I just have to download them every time I want to look at them?

 

Thanks

 

These are PDFs so it will depend on the behavior of your browser. You should be able to "right click" anywhere on the document and choose to save them to your computer. Alternatively you can ask your bowser, but changing your settings, to download instead of opening the link.

 

I am going to try and get Abu Dhabi done later today and Dubai tomorrow leaving our flight home as the finale.

 

We have many cruises booked, not all will be sailed by us, but surely there will be more to come.

 

Happy sailing,

Jenna

[need2bespoiled]

The pilot arrived onboard at 2:15p giving hope that maybe we would arrive in Abu Dhabi early and not have to rush to make qualifying for the F1 Grand Prix Finals. Alas, that simply mean we would have the piolet onboard for a long time and slowly make our way to the port. Seeing Abu Dhabi off in the distance was just a big tease.

 

It every, so, slowly became clear

 

We could see the new national museum

 

Until finally, we arrived in the basin, only to wait for the painstaking time for the captain to turn the ship 180 degrees so we would be berthed facing bow towards the sea (as I found he generally likes to do). The cruise terminal is new and the port seemed genuinely welcoming and happy to have us

 

 

With a place to relax, and take pictures

 

There were challenges to be worked out, as there is a gangway, to steps from Deck 3, a short gangway on 1 and the crane had to be brought in last minute to adjust. I am not sure why they had boarding aft when the terminal was forward, maybe it is for security reasons, or in case of lines, but it made for extra unnecessary walking to the port, and then back out.

 

To be continued . . .

Edited December 3, 2016 by need2bespoiled

[need2bespoiled]

Michael’s Club provides many benefits that have been discussed on this forum at length. One of those is priority boarding and disembarkation. I am not going to get into whether that is right or wrong on this posting but I did ask to be first off to deal with transportation to the races. This was not handled or organized as well as it could have been by the Michael’s Club Concierge. *Rant on* One of other Michael’s Club Guests started to complain out loud about her. I basically said, be patient, she is doing the best he can. He told me to mind my own business. I told him to be nice, treat people nicely and we went at it for a bit. Dee told me to drop it, but I was ready to take it all the way to the point of getting security or officers involved. I was happy to see who would win the battle but Dee ended it with “He’s just an entitled white man” and his response of “yes I am” which I missed. Even if priority boarding is a benefit, it doesn’t give you the right to behave like an entitled jerk. *Rant off*. Incidentally, we were never provided any special boarding or disembarkation past the gangway from Michael’s Club as we have received in the past or heard about. I think this was the fact the MC Concierge was filling in for a vacation. We were able to move to the front of an immigration line once when Dee’s knee was bothering her and she needed a wheelchair (in Jerusalem I think it was) but I still had to wait for an additional, what seemed like, random bag search.

 

I walked in front of Mr. Entitled as we disembarked and never looked back. There was a medium length line to get into the terminal, maybe 100 people. Inside there were two lines and we chose the shorter one. Since the UAE would not do immigration onboard as every other county on this trip had, we had to give our passports to the agents in the terminal. The line did move quickly as all they generally did was look at and collect passports to be stamped later. Each time you left and entered the terminal there was a perfunctory scan of your hand luggage and metal detector. They barely looked at the screen and didn’t care if you set the detector off with your phone so I am not sure why they bothered. I rushed through, grabbed a cab for 5 while I waited for the others to catch up. Larger cars were generally available everywhere but were more rate than the standard sedan. We were off on the way to qualifying at 4:30p We looked a number of options for transportation to and from the races including a rental car (free parking at the port and races) but decided parking was too far away at the track and we would need a shuttle bus. Pre-arranged driver was very expensive so we chose taxi as I found out they could drop us right at the stands and they were supposed to be plentiful. We were always able to get a larger cab at the terminal but I was told later in the afternoon cabs were more scarce. The Hop on hop off bus does stop right at the terminal with tickets purchased right inside. Cab prices are VERY reasonable and highly regulated so I wouldn’t worry too much about using cabs. If they don’t run the meter, the ride is FREE unless you agree in advance of course.

 

Our cab originally took us to the wrong place/gate but I knew generally where we were supposed to be so he was re-directed to the correct gate and off we went. We arrived at the right gate about 5:00p and were in our seats with a short walk through the South Oasis by 5:10p. We missed the beginning of the first round of qualifying but got to see most of it. Gates are clearly marked and the best gate for the South Grand Stand is gate 6 and 7. Gate 4 and 5 is closer but there is no way to get there coming from the direction of the ship and made for a longer walk being dropped off in a parking lot across the street and having to walk down to a pedestrian crossing and then back up to the stands. North and Marina grandstands should be the first two you arrive at so not hard to find.

 

We chose the top row of the bottom level of south as we could see the Marina, have less walking up and down the stairs of the grandstand. There is an elevator up to each level but less steps for Dee (and Jane who originally booked) the better. The seats were good, though it was hard to avoid the overhand in some distant pics and of the fly over. You can go down to the end of the stands for great viewing and pictures:

 

View of the Marina from our seats

 

A few track shots during qualifying

 

After qualifying we had dinner in the South Oasis (about $15-25/person for amusement park / fare food) and then headed to the shuttle busses to watch Lionel Ritchie. The wait for a bus and the drive was not long but it took a while until we got into position to get off, so if you need to sit down, make sure you wait for a seat. We knew it would be a general admission concert and wile I had emailed in advance if a place to sit was available I was only told it was available to those in a wheelchair. I did find the area but it was very small, and many in a wheelchair were down on the grass. It was more than 40 min still from when we arrived until Lionel Ritchie went on. The sound was ok, but we were pretty far away and even with the video screens, we decided to leave after a few songs as Dee couldn’t stand up any more and we didn’t want to deal with the crush of Taxis after the concert.

 

There is a sign for a Taxi Stand just outside the gates “750m / 10:00 minute walk” but I would estimate it is more like 1000 m and a 10 min jog! We did argue with a police officer for a bit to see if he would let us flag down a cab as there was no way Dee could do the walk but alas it was to no avail so off I went to the taxi stand to get a cab and come back around to pick up Dee (Tatiana, Toni and Pam). This caused another problem as the only place near where they were to stop was a bus stopping area. I basically forced the Taxi driver to avoid it, disobey the police and quickly pick them up. Needless to say, they don’t like making accommodations for those that are less fit.

 

We were back to the ship in about 30 minutes. Our average ride to or from the track was about $20 so about $4/person for a group of 5. We each gave whoever in our group was paying (generally in local currency) $5 to make sure tip and exchange rates were well covered.

 

Next up, Abu Dhabi tour and F1 Grand Prix Finals, a LONG day to be sure and LOT more picture and less wirting than thiis post was.

 

Happy sailing,

Jenna

[Jim_Iain]

Jenna - really enjoying your blog and especially your photos. You have a really good eye.

 

Jim

[need2bespoiled]

I'm glad everyone likes the photos, because the next post, well, it's long and has many photos and I could only think of a few to eliminate, but by that time I was thinking, what the heck, why bother…and to warn you in advance Dubai and the flight home have plenty too.

 

We had all originally planned to do a tour of Abu Dhabi on Sunday morning, then those that were heading to F1, head over to the track early afternoon. We decided it was too much and I wanted to go to the track earlier to see the other races and maybe the F1 cars but I found we didn’t have access to the pits and I was the only one who wanted to go early to see Ferrari World and the water park. I don’t think it would have been the best time (I could be wrong, maybe it would have been less busy) but Tatiana and Toni and Nick were heading out by Cab to do a city tour so I jumped in with them at the very last minute, in 4 hours we visited the Grand Mosque (a must see), the Emirates Palace (very nice), went to a Souk (waste of time) and drove by some other sites.

 

I can’t remember what these towers were (or I couldn’t understand our cab driver) on our way to the Grand Mosque.

 

As we arrived at the mosque and knew it was going to be special, it’s HUGE from the outside but figured we’d be through in 15-30 minutes, even though our driver told us it would take 45.

 

I wouldn’t call it an insane amount of walking, but it was a decent amount to do the basic walk through, increased greatly to get proper dress unless you’re prepared. You can visit a small amount outside the mosque without the proper dress. This is just before the point you can’t go any further:

 

We were told the top of the turrets were solid gold

 

To be continued . . .

Edited December 3, 2016 by need2bespoiled

[need2bespoiled]

We assumed, elbows and knees covered and a scarf on our heads, would be OK but you need to be covered, wrists to ankles and head.

 

In our opinion, the walk down into the parking garage, across the garage and getting the free to borrow (you must leave a drivers license/ID card, a credit card is NOT ok) covering was worth the walking but you will save a lot of time and walking if you are prepared.

 

The outside is spectacular

 

While I believe we were told it is the largest mosque in the middle east, it has the largest mosaic floor in the world

 

Amazing doorways

 

To be continued . . .

[need2bespoiled]

Of course, I can’t get enough of amazing ceilings and this was not exception

 

And chandeliers, and more chandeliers and more chandeliers

 

To be continued. . .

[need2bespoiled]

Of course, the mosque itself was beautiful on the inside

 

We were really blown away and I was so happy I joined in.

 

Our next destination was the Emirates Palace which our Taxi Driver told us was a 7 star hotel. If you’ve been reading my posts, by now you know that we prefer more luxurious travel over more budget travel, but at the same time, 7 star surpasses most of what we do. I won’t say that what I saw was nicer than 6 start places I have been before or that the prices I looked up on the web were outrageous but the palace is very, very nice and is connected to the presidential palace. We actually saw the presidential motorcade leaving when we left (police blocking roads). It is beautiful on the outside

 

Complete with fountains

 

and views of the “downtown”?

 

They had painted a flag on the grass for the upcoming national day, but it looks like someone made a mistake:

 

To be continued . . .

[need2bespoiled]

The ceiling inside was a stunner

 

As was the overall design

 

And floor

 

I assume this was a function hall courtyard based on the location

 

With views of the new Hotel in Abu Dhabi, I was told maybe a St Regis, does anyone know? This is by the Marina mall.

 

To be continued . . .