The Best Seat At The Monaco Grand Prix? Aboard This Luxury Ship
The ship will dock in the heart of the action.
getty
If you've ever watched the Monaco Grand Prix and thought, this looks incredible—but also crowded and chaotic, you're not wrong. The streets fill with fans, the hotels book out months in advance, and just navigating from your room to the race can feel like an endurance event. But in 2025, there's a way to bypass all that: by staying on EXPLORA II, the only luxury ship that will be docked in Monaco's iconic Port Hercule during race weekend.
That detail changes everything.
Instead of scrambling for taxis or dealing with packed sidewalks, guests on EXPLORA II will quite literally wake up in the heart of the action. Port Hercule isn't just nearby—it's the location. The yachts, the grandstands, the pit lane—it's all right there. You could step off the ship and be trackside in minutes. Or, if you'd rather ease into the day, you could take a pilates class on board, enjoy breakfast on your oceanfront terrace, and watch the buzz of race day unfold below before heading out.
For 2025, Explora Journeys is offering three-night (May 23–26) and four-night (May 22–26) stays aboard EXPLORA II. And while luxury cruise experiences aren't new, the chance to stay aboard a ship docked in Port Hercule during the Grand Prix is. Typically, yachts crowd the harbor, and hotel rooms can be eye-wateringly expensive. EXPLORA II offers a floating alternative—one with all the comforts of a high-end hotel but without the crowds and constant logistics.
The ship itself feels like a boutique hotel at sea. The suites are spacious and designed to be 'homes at sea,' complete with sweeping ocean views and private terraces. There are multiple restaurants (eleven culinary experiences in total), four pools, wellness spaces, and even 64 private cabanas if you need a little peace and quiet between practice laps and qualifying rounds.
But what really sets the experience apart is how seamlessly the weekend unfolds. You arrive in Monte Carlo and board EXPLORA II on May 21, greeted by calm luxury and the chance to unwind before the real excitement begins. It's the perfect moment to slow down—whether with a spa treatment, a sunset cocktail on deck, or simply taking in the views of the harbor before the city transforms.
By the following day, Monaco starts to pulse with anticipation. The streets fill with fans and celebrities, and from your exclusive spot in Port Hercule, you're perfectly positioned to soak it all in. On board, a curated lineup of entertainment, live music, and special events builds the energy without overwhelming you. You can feel the race weekend beginning, but you're in complete control of the pace.
Then comes Friday, and the action is fully underway. EXPLORA II's location places you steps from the F1 Paddock, the Grandstand Tribunes, and the Paddock Club. But this isn't just about watching cars race past. Guests can access behind-the-scenes moments like the ARAMCO Formula 1 Pitlane Walk, where teams prepping cars live. There are exclusive interviews with current drivers and racing legends and intimate, expert-led tours of the F1 Paddock for small groups—a rare window into how strategy, teamwork, and raw talent collide on race weekend.
Saturday brings more adrenaline, with Formula 2 and 3 sprint races and the tension of Formula 1 qualifying. You can witness drivers battling for pole position up close before retreating back to the ship for a night of fine dining, celebratory parties, and vibrant entertainment that continues long after the track falls silent.
And then it's Sunday—the grand finale. The atmosphere builds to a fever pitch, and the final race brings Monaco to life in a way only this city can. Guests can choose to take their seat in the Tribunes or the Paddock Club just steps away or watch the high-speed drama unfold from the ship's elegant deck with a glass of champagne in hand. When the checkered flag waves, celebrations ripple through the entire principality, and you're right at the center of it all.
Of course, this kind of access doesn't come cheap, and bookings are expected to go quickly. But if you've ever wanted to experience the Monaco Grand Prix without the typical hustle—if you want to be in it, not just near it—this is one of the most interesting and exclusive ways to do it.
And really, what could be better than watching the race with the harbor on one side, the track on the other, and your luxury suite waiting just a few steps away?
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Car and Driver
4 days ago
- Car and Driver
Damson Idris Says Street Driving Is Boring Now That's He's Experienced a Formula One Car
Damson Idris is a serious actor, best known for his work in Snowfall and British films like Farming. But get him talking about cars and racing and Idris can't stop smiling… and he's especially exuberant when he's talking about his experiences making F1, in which he co-stars with Brad Pitt. Apple Original Films | Apple In the big-budget blockbuster, directed by Joseph Kosinski (Top Gun: Maverick), Idris plays an up-and-coming racer Noah Pearce, who is mentored by and clashes with an aging star named Sonny Hayes, played by Brad Pitt. The movie, which opens on June 27 features appearances by top F1 drivers including Lewis Hamilton, Max Verstappen, George Russell, Charles Leclerc, and Carlos Saenz. While those elite drivers lent verisimilitude, Idris and Pitt did their own driving as Idris discussed in a recent video conversation. What drew you to this movie? I've been a fan of Brad my whole career, and Joe's work on Top Gun Maverick made this a no-brainer. But the biggest thing for me was I knew that we were going to be filming at the real Grand Prix races. So it was like a sneaky way for me to get free tickets to every Grand Prix. Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures Apple Original Films
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Yahoo
‘F1: The Movie' Review: Brad Pitt and Damson Idris Power Joseph Kosinski's Exhilarating Motor Racing Drama
A few years ago, a taut and well-made reality TV series called Drive to Survive plunged uninitiated viewers, like this critic, into the highly competitive and surprisingly dramatic world of Formula 1 racing. The show, which premiered on Netflix in 2019 but gained significant traction during the early years of the COVID-19 pandemic, helped popularize the motor racing sport in the U.S. Ferrari, Mercedes and Red Bull weren't just brands of luxury cars and caffeinated beverages, but teams aggressively vying for Grand Prix titles around the world. Monaco, Silverstone, Baku and Singapore weren't cities, but ways to measure progress within a season, which consisted of 24 races between March and December. And Lewis Hamilton, Max Verstappen, George Russell and Charles Leclerc weren't just people, but drivers whose names gained far more meaning as my lockdown pod energetically discussed their lives on and off the track. More from The Hollywood Reporter 'F1: The Movie' Director Joseph Kosinski Reveals Why Simone Ashley's Role Was Cut From Film Will Smith Rejected Nolan's 'Inception' Because He Didn't Get the Plot Tommy Hilfiger's 'F1' Capsule Is Going Fast - Snag These Motorcore Styles Before They're Gone Part of what made Drive to Survive (now in its seventh season) so gripping was how deeply it immersed viewers into this unfamiliar world and portrayed the clash between individual pursuits of glory and the success of the team. It only takes a few episodes to realize that drivers aren't just competing with athletes from other teams; they are fighting with their partners for leads as narrow as a tenth of a second. Joseph Kosinki understands the excitement of this tension, and that's what makes F1: The Movie so thrilling. The film, which lands in theaters June 27 before a streaming release on Apple TV+, is a deft addition to a sturdy lineage of motorsport flicks, from Rush and Gran Turismo to Ford v Ferrari and, most recently, Ferrari. But what sets F1 apart from those other offerings is how impressively Kosinki threads the realities of Formula 1 into his fictional narrative. Collaborating again with his Top Gun: Maverick screenwriter Ehren Kruger and DP Claudio Miranda, the director shapes a high-octane adventure about the late-career return of a once promising premier motorsport driver. The formidable cast — led by a fine Brad Pitt and a compelling Damson Idris — and the crew filmed for 18 months during more than a dozen real Grands Prix. The leads drove real F1 race cars and, as in Top Gun, Miranda and Kosinki experimented with how far they could take the camera to precisely capture the addictive energy of living on the edge. There are scenes in F1 that put viewers in the car so as to translate the feelings conjured by such proximity to, well, death. Sonny Hayes, played with a devil-may-care attitude by Pitt, lives to drive. When we meet the former professional motorist, he's competing in 24 Hours of Daytona, an endurance race in Florida. After he secures the lead, helping the team to victory, Sonny, uninterested in the glamour or the glory, takes his paycheck and maps a route to Ensenada, where a random company is seeking drivers. But the low-profile driver's cross-country road trip plans are intercepted after he runs into his old friend and former teammate, who now owns a struggling Formula 1 team. Reuben (a winning Javier Bardem) begs Sonny to be the second driver to his rookie Joshua Pearce (Damson Idris, excellent) so that APXGP can win one race. If they don't, a desperate Reuben warns, the board will fire him and dissolve the team. Of course, Sonny isn't sure about all of this. He's still reeling from a near-fatal crash that effectively ended his career 30 years ago. Memories of that disastrous race in Spain, summoned at random and evoked vividly by Stephen Mirrone's nimble cross-cutting, still haunt him. Reuben remembers that moment, but encourages his friend that he's still got it. Unlike Joshua, who represents a younger generation of F1 drivers, Sonny is mature and possesses a discipline that could be useful. After a bit of convincing and playful goading, Sonny agrees to help Reuben. F1 follows Sonny's experiences as an older driver trying to regain his footing in a sport that differs greatly from what it was in his heyday. Apart from Kosinki's portrayal of the races, some of the most exciting elements of F1 grapple with the intergenerational differences between Sonny and Joshua while exploring the way the sport has changed. Formula 1 has always been about money (teams often pay half a million dollars for drivers to compete in races), but like many sports, its athletes must also charm off the track to maintain their relevance. Sonny doesn't care about any of that, but Josh, one of two Black drivers in this fictionalized version of the league, can't afford the same attitude. Hamilton, the first and only Black driver in Formula 1, helped produce F1 and appears as himself in the film. There's a poignant moment near the finale where his character briefly locks eyes with Joshua before a race, subtly addressing a key issue of diversity within the sport. It also feels like a nod to the future, in which access to Formula 1 becomes less prohibitively costly and therefore more inclusive. Kruger's screenplay gestures to these issues, but I do wish those threads were sturdier considering how monumental it would be in real life if there were not one but two Black drivers in the sport, as there are in the film. Acknowledging and interrogating that would have invited more nuance into Joshua and Sonny's relationship, which at a certain point leans into conventional archetypes to keep the story going. What does it mean for this intergenerational pairing of underdogs — the Black Brit and the American, both outsiders to a mostly European sport — to work together? Still, Joshua gets robust characterization and there are memorable scenes between the young driver and his mother Bernadette (a standout Sarah Niles). She's fiercely protective of her son, but she also recognizes how Joshua's ego leads to inappropriate moments of ageism. At times she seems to be channeling Deloris Jordan, played by Viola Davis, in Air. In one early humorous scene, Bernadette forces Joshua to apologize to Sonny for disrespecting the older driver during a press conference. Sonny and Joshua clash from the start because their similarities run deeper than either are willing to admit. Joshua possesses a confidence that can border on brash. He's worked hard to make his way in this world, and part of his cocksure attitude is self-protective. Idris (Snowfall, Swarm) channels these subtler elements of his character's personality with a performance that relies on understated physicality and softer facial expression. As Joshua deploys sarcastic commentary, his eyes tell a story marked by fear. Sonny understands this — and as the two drivers learn about each other, he learns to read Joshua. For the most part Pitt plays the hardened protagonist like a rugged cowboy in the Wild West of this luxury sport. Whereas Joshua wears clean-cut, mixed-fabrics looks, as if he's just stepped off a runway, Sonny opts for various combinations of denim (costumes by Julian Day). Most of F1 chronicles how Sonny and Joshua transform their mutual hostility into a healthy competitive spirit. Their personal relationship develops through professional milestones. Kosinki uses each Grand Prix to advance this unlikely friendship as well as to help viewers understand different parts of Formula 1. Early races are about the cars, the speed and the money. Sonny gets acquainted with his vehicle and the lead engineer who built it, Kate McKenna (Kerry Condon). She's the first and only woman in her position, and there's a lot riding on APXGP's success or failure for her because she rightly wants to prove anyone who doubted her wrong. He also meets the team's principal Kaspar (Kim Bodnia) and Peter Banning, an eager but slippery board member played by Tobias Menzies. Later races shift focus from the mechanical to the emotional, showing how each member of the team — from the drivers to the pit workers — must self-regulate and collaborate to gain any leads where they can. In the words of one character, 'slow is smooth, and smooth is fast.' The strongest scenes in F1, which boasts a two-and-a-half hour runtime, are these moments during race weekends, when Kosinki embeds his fictional team with real ones. Fans of the sport will recognize cameos from Verstappen, Leclerc, Carlos Sainz, Lando Norris and many more drivers. Hans Zimmer's adrenalized score ups the ante, adding tension to already nail-biting moments like a driver making a dangerous turn on a slick course or mechanics in the pit having mere seconds to switch out a car's tires. The impressive craft of these scenes extends to Kosinki's exploration of the various technologies, like road simulators, used to help drivers gain any advantage. Of course, there are some unrealistic elements in F1, moments that might have sticklers raising an eyebrow, but the film doesn't feel any less dramatic than the real thing. Best of The Hollywood Reporter 13 of Tom Cruise's Most Jaw-Dropping Stunts Hollywood Stars Who Are One Award Away From an EGOT 'The Goonies' Cast, Then and Now
New York Post
4 days ago
- New York Post
Anti-Jeff Bezos protesters in Venice vow drastic action to disrupt $7m wedding, make guests ‘choke on their wedding cake'
Anti-Jeff Bezos protesters out to disrupt his Venice wedding to Lauren Sanchez have threatened to make them 'choke on their wedding cake'. Local protesters have branded the Amazon founder and his helicopter pilot fiancée as 'oligarchs' and said they will take whatever action necessary to spoil the fairytale $7m wedding, which the locals mayor's office said will be held on Bezos' $500 million superyacht Koru, set to be anchored just outside the floating city. 'We'll throw ourselves into the canal if we have to, we'll make sure they choke on their wedding cake,' activists leading the protests said, according to the Italian edition of Vanity Fair magazine. Advertisement 8 A poster showing Jeff Bezos with a red clown nose and tape over his eyes. The text reads 'Veniceland: A playground for the olicharchy' No space for Bezos!/ Instagram 8 Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez at the Monaco Grand Prix 2025 Formula One race on May 25. IPA / 'We don't object to the marriage, but to the hubris of this technocrat feudal overlord who acts with such entitlement,' the local No Space for Bezos movement said. Groups protesting against Bezos — the third richest man in the world with a net worth of $226 billion — have also threatened to blockade the major waterways into the city, effectively cutting off supplies. Advertisement If that happens, as well as causing problems for the wedding organization, it would immediately cause prices to spike for anyone within Venice city limits, one of Europe's top tourist destinations, during high season. 'If they block the canal we wouldn't receive our goods. They would definitely block the Grand Canal, which is what transporters use to deliver goods in the morning. 'They start from Tronchetto and then arrive at Rialto [bridge in the center of the city], so it would create quite a lot of issues. The goods wouldn't arrive,' a representative for the Despar supermarket in Venice told The Post. 8 A huge banner hoisted onto St Marks' bell tower in Venice, one of the most recognizable landmarks of the city, protesting Bezos' wedding. Venezia NON è Disneyland/ Instargam Advertisement 8 The No Space for Bezos campaign — which sees the billionaire's wedding as the ultimate symbol of over-tourism — has been distributing stickers across Venice ahead of the wedding, which is set to take place next week. AFP via Getty Images 8 The iconic Rialto bridge in the center of the city was draped with a protest sign, as one of the city's famous gondola operators look on. REUTERS Sources also said protesters were planning to arm themselves with water pistols to create more disturbances around the wedding. A number of yacht berths have been reserved for six days for the wedding – expected to take place between June 24 and 26 – including at Marittima, San Basilio, Zattere, Punta della Dogana, and Riva dei Sette Martiri, twice the number locals were told would be allocated by authorities. Advertisement Details of the wedding are shrouded in secrecy but it will include a rumored 200 guests — also expected to be mostly drawn from the jet setting ultra-rich. Bezos' Koru yacht was just off the coast of Croatia Tuesday morning, according to 8 Jeff Bezos's $500 million superyacht, Koru, at sea. The yacht is the world's largest sailboat, measuring 417 feet. AbacaPress / 8 A guide to the Koru, showing what it has aboard. Mike Guillen/NY Post 8 People gathering in Venice to protest against the wedding of Bezos and Sanchez on June 13. AFP via Getty Images Over the last weekend, protesters in Venice hung a huge banner over St. Mark's tower in the city with 'Bezos' in blue capital letters and a red cross over it. The No Space for Bezos campaign – using a play on words related to the billionaire's Blue Origin space exploration company – have also unfurled banners and distributed stickers throughout the city. The Venice protests come against a backdrop of locals taking action against what they call over-tourism across southern Europe. Meanwhile, staff at Paris' Louvre art gallery, the most visited museum in the world, went on strike yesterday, saying it allows too many visitors in. Advertisement Around a thousand residents of Barcelona protested last Sunday by marching through a popular tourist area and spraying water pistols while slapping stickers reading 'Tourist Go Home!' on businesses and lamp posts. Other protests have taken place in Genoa in Italy, Portuguese capital Lisbon and the Spanish island of Majorca. Residents say they are being priced out of their towns by the influx of tourists from around the world and the hotels and other infrastructure built to accommodate them.
