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New to Royal Clipper: any tips?


travelberlin
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We have just booked with the Royal Clipper in the mediterranean for September this year. Although we have cruised many times, we have never taken a sailing ship. Can you give us any recommendations, that might help us to better prepare ourselves for this new adventure?

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I have also just booked royal clipper for May this year. Cannot seem to find much info on here re royal clipper other than reviews. Cannot find any roll calls for example so expect that is because ship is small. We have cruised a lot but are looking for something different. However my main concern is that I am not the worlds best sailor and cannot find any info re how much the boat rocks etc. Anyone out there could answer this for me? Also interested in replies re above post.

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I have also just booked royal clipper for May this year. Cannot seem to find much info on here re royal clipper other than reviews. Cannot find any roll calls for example so expect that is because ship is small. We have cruised a lot but are looking for something different. However my main concern is that I am not the worlds best sailor and cannot find any info re how much the boat rocks etc. Anyone out there could answer this for me? Also interested in replies re above post.

Hi Lisabeth, I am glad that you posted also. We are not sailors. I hope we will be fine. We are very much looking forward to this sailing experience, specially DH. But we do not have much information on what to expect...

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Hi. I have done 4 cruises on Royal Clipper 2 in carribean and 2 transatlantic crossings Lisbon to Barbados. Only had 1 rough day between Lisbon and Casablanca when really felt any adverse movement. I always carry sea bands and stugeron tablets but never needed to use them. I have also sailed once on Star Flyer around Cuba. You will love Royal Clipper I am envious as I do not have any sailings on her pending at the moment. The crew are really friendly and helpful.

 

Enjoy your sailing.

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I have sailed with Star Clippers about a dozen times (in the Caribbean, Mediterranean, Far East and Costa Rica) and can only recall about four occasions when the dining room was a little short of customers for the evening meal due to the effect of the sea state.

 

Yes, ask your pharmacist for a sea sickness pill - I've occasionally had (successful) recourse to these if things were predicted to get a bit rough. I also find that getting horizontal helps - be it in your cabin or, better still, on a sun bed on deck.

 

As for what to expect compared to a bigger cruise ship: Star Clippers offer informal relaxation. Get up on deck by the bridge with a cup of coffee early in the morning and watch the ship approaching the next destination. Sit out on deck with a good book or sit in the nets under the bowsprit (keeping an eye open for the frequent appearance of the dolphins) as the ship glides along. Meet new friends at the outdoor tropical bar before dinner. Be on deck - back at the bar - for the evening's entertainment - very amateur compared to the big ships but simply huge fun. And if you still have the energy, dance the evening away under the stars.

 

And, if you feel like it, sample the sailing life. Take the opportunity to climb up to the crow's nest; listen to the captain's stories; find out just how hard it is to hoist the sails if you don't use the powered winches. And watch the crew really sailing the ship when the winds are favourable.

 

Have a great trip.

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It is free seating at all meals. Turn up when you want during meal hours. Breakfast and lunch are buffet style and it's not hard to find a table to yourselves at these meals. However, in the evening, there will be a rush when the dining room opens...so we prefer to have another drink at the bar with like-minded travellers and go down to eat a bit later when the rush subsides.

 

Royal Clipper has an interesting multi-level dining room with most tables seating six or eight. There are a few tables for two, if I recall correctly, but you'd need to get down to dinner either early or late to 'bag' one of these. The evening meal is waiter-served.

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It is free seating at all meals. Turn up when you want during meal hours. Breakfast and lunch are buffet style and it's not hard to find a table to yourselves at these meals. However, in the evening, there will be a rush when the dining room opens...so we prefer to have another drink at the bar with like-minded travellers and go down to eat a bit later when the rush subsides.

 

Royal Clipper has an interesting multi-level dining room with most tables seating six or eight. There are a few tables for two, if I recall correctly, but you'd need to get down to dinner either early or late to 'bag' one of these. The evening meal is waiter-served.

 

Thanks!

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I have also just booked royal clipper for May this year. Cannot seem to find much info on here re royal clipper other than reviews. Cannot find any roll calls for example so expect that is because ship is small. We have cruised a lot but are looking for something different. However my main concern is that I am not the worlds best sailor and cannot find any info re how much the boat rocks etc. Anyone out there could answer this for me? Also interested in replies re above post.

 

Good morning Lisabeth.

 

Like you I am looking for something different and have booked on Star Clipper in the Far East later this year.

 

One thing that puzzled me was there is no 'cruise personalised' on their website. I had planned to see what, if any, shore excursions were available.

 

I eventually telephoned Star Clipper UK and they could only tell me that there is no personalised and that they don't do 'advance' bookings.

 

Perhaps Purley King can enlighten me on what goes on in this area.

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It is free seating at all meals. Turn up when you want during meal hours. Breakfast and lunch are buffet style and it's not hard to find a table to yourselves at these meals. However, in the evening, there will be a rush when the dining room opens...so we prefer to have another drink at the bar with like-minded travellers and go down to eat a bit later when the rush subsides.

 

Royal Clipper has an interesting multi-level dining room with most tables seating six or eight. There are a few tables for two, if I recall correctly, but you'd need to get down to dinner either early or late to 'bag' one of these. The evening meal is waiter-served.

 

I'd be with you and the extra drink. I guess this early eating is an American thing.

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I had planned to see what, if any, shore excursions were available.

 

Excursion programme will be a part of your travel documents, provided ususally about three weeks before departure. Advanced bookings are not possible (and not neccessary). During the cruise, an 'excursion folder' is displayed in the library. Just put yourself on the list of an excursion, and you are booked for it.

 

 

For some excursions, a minimum or maximum number of participants is given - this is stated in your travel documents as well as inside the folder. There is a deadline for excursion bookings, usually the first morning for the first two or three days, and then always two or three days in advance before the specific excursion starts. Until then, bookings and even cancellations are possible. Later than that, bookings are still possible when places are available. That information will be given by the cruise director. If a minimum number of participants is not reached, the cruise director will first announce that to attract the excursion to some more folks. In some cases, an excursion is cancelled due to missing the minimim number of participants - as all other cruise lines do. Alternatives are usually offered to guests who have originally booked a cancelled excursion.

 

In my experience (after nine Star Clippers cruises) most excursions are running. English speaking guides are on every excursion. Other languages are posible (but not guaranteed) if there is a huge interest in a specific excursion. If that is the case, the group will be divided by languages.

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Excursion programme will be a part of your travel documents, provided ususally about three weeks before departure. Advanced bookings are not possible (and not neccessary). During the cruise, an 'excursion folder' is displayed in the library. Just put yourself on the list of an excursion, and you are booked for it.

 

 

For some excursions, a minimum or maximum number of participants is given - this is stated in your travel documents as well as inside the folder. There is a deadline for excursion bookings, usually the first morning for the first two or three days, and then always two or three days in advance before the specific excursion starts. Until then, bookings and even cancellations are possible. Later than that, bookings are still possible when places are available. That information will be given by the cruise director. If a minimum number of participants is not reached, the cruise director will first announce that to attract the excursion to some more folks. In some cases, an excursion is cancelled due to missing the minimim number of participants - as all other cruise lines do. Alternatives are usually offered to guests who have originally booked a cancelled excursion.

 

In my experience (after nine Star Clippers cruises) most excursions are running. English speaking guides are on every excursion. Other languages are posible (but not guaranteed) if there is a huge interest in a specific excursion. If that is the case, the group will be divided by languages.

 

Thank you very much for that most comprehensive answer which is more than satisfactory.

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  • 1 month later...

We have recently returned from royal clipper cabin 237 slightly more midships. I am not a good sailor and had concerns about movement. We were not blessed with the best of weather and for a few days had very strong winds but reasonable seas. Yes we did roll a bit but only once did I have to resort to a pill and lying down. In choppy weather I found the dining room the most challenging as the seas sloshed up the windows so did resort to breakfast in bed once. It was our first experience of royal clipper and overall I would not hesitate to go again. For me personally the only downside was the more pronounced movement which I had expected on this type of trip. As to the rest it was fantastic. If anyone else has questions please ask happy to help as there doesn't seem to be much information on clippers.

Back to cabins although 237 was not the same layout we were pleasantly surprised at how much room we had and good storage and amenities. Happy sailing

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We have just booked with the Royal Clipper in the mediterranean for September this year. Although we have cruised many times, we have never taken a sailing ship. Can you give us any recommendations, that might help us to better prepare ourselves for this new adventure?

 

We loved our Royal Clipper sailing in January 2015 in the Caribbean, so much that we are sailing Star Flyer in October 2017 in the Adriatic/Med. for 15 days. Please feel free to read my Cruise Critic review. I will guess that since you have not taken a sailing ship, you are inquiring about general info. First of all, I will say that I have heard that Mediterranean cruises will have more of an international passenger list with perhaps French, Italian, German, Spanish, and varying English speaking people from UK, Australia, New Zealand and probably few Americans. We have booked the Star Flyer anticipating that to be the case for our cruise. The Royal Clipper is currently the lines flagship and the largest. We love the casual ambiance (country club casual for dinner and shorts are permitted in the dining room for lunch and breakfast which are buffet style). Come anytime to eat during the hours of service and choose your table. Be prepared for tendering to ports frequently as some ports don't have large docks and others will have larger ships at the docks. Both boats operate in each direction simultaneously. The marina aft is great for water sports - kayaks, etc. and swimming and is available at most ports. Snorkel gear is provided. Rooms generally have plenty of storage but some staterooms have different layouts and most lower categories do not have a lot of square footage (less than 135). Portholes are small but allow plenty of daylight. There are 3 swimming pools and many people are topside during sailing hours for conversation as well as entertainment at the bar area. Plenty of loungers and people like to hang out at the bridge area and assist crew in lowering/raising sails and there are times to climb to the crows nest (my favorite part for the great views). Absolutely be prepared for water spilling over the shower curb as the curtain does not touch the floor (unless that has changed); there is a drain in the bathroom outside of the shower to handle the overflow, but the floor gets completely wet if showering while sailing so don't put bath mat down til ready to exit. We showered while anchored or in port when we could. There is a lot of info on their website as well.

 

As for inquiring about #217, we had #248 which was midship, and we noticed that the floor starts to ramp up slightly in the hall at about the location of #217, but I believe you are far enough towards midship that you will not have a lot of swaying

Edited by Mimi A
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We have recently returned from royal clipper cabin 237 slightly more midships. I am not a good sailor and had concerns about movement. We were not blessed with the best of weather and for a few days had very strong winds but reasonable seas. Yes we did roll a bit but only once did I have to resort to a pill and lying down. In choppy weather I found the dining room the most challenging as the seas sloshed up the windows so did resort to breakfast in bed once. It was our first experience of royal clipper and overall I would not hesitate to go again. For me personally the only downside was the more pronounced movement which I had expected on this type of trip. As to the rest it was fantastic. If anyone else has questions please ask happy to help as there doesn't seem to be much information on clippers.

Back to cabins although 237 was not the same layout we were pleasantly surprised at how much room we had and good storage and amenities. Happy sailing

 

Thanks Lisabeth, was your cruise on the Mediterranean? Ours will be there and I know the Mediterranean can be quite temperamental...

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We loved our Royal Clipper sailing in January 2015 in the Caribbean, so much that we are sailing Star Flyer in October 2017 in the Adriatic/Med. for 15 days. Please feel free to read my Cruise Critic review. I will guess that since you have not taken a sailing ship, you are inquiring about general info. First of all, I will say that I have heard that Mediterranean cruises will have more of an international passenger list with perhaps French, Italian, German, Spanish, and varying English speaking people from UK, Australia, New Zealand and probably few Americans. We have booked the Star Flyer anticipating that to be the case for our cruise. The Royal Clipper is currently the lines flagship and the largest. We love the casual ambiance (country club casual for dinner and shorts are permitted in the dining room for lunch and breakfast which are buffet style). Come anytime to eat during the hours of service and choose your table. Be prepared for tendering to ports frequently as some ports don't have large docks and others will have larger ships at the docks. Both boats operate in each direction simultaneously. The marina aft is great for water sports - kayaks, etc. and swimming and is available at most ports. Snorkel gear is provided. Rooms generally have plenty of storage but some staterooms have different layouts and most lower categories do not have a lot of square footage (less than 135). Portholes are small but allow plenty of daylight. There are 3 swimming pools and many people are topside during sailing hours for conversation as well as entertainment at the bar area. Plenty of loungers and people like to hang out at the bridge area and assist crew in lowering/raising sails and there are times to climb to the crows nest (my favorite part for the great views). Absolutely be prepared for water spilling over the shower curb as the curtain does not touch the floor (unless that has changed); there is a drain in the bathroom outside of the shower to handle the overflow, but the floor gets completely wet if showering while sailing so don't put bath mat down til ready to exit. We showered while anchored or in port when we could. There is a lot of info on their website as well.

 

As for inquiring about #217, we had #248 which was midship, and we noticed that the floor starts to ramp up slightly in the hall at about the location of #217, but I believe you are far enough towards midship that you will not have a lot of swaying

 

Thanks very much indeed for this detailed description on several aspects of sailing with the Royal Clipper!

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Thanks Lisabeth, was your cruise on the Mediterranean? Ours will be there and I know the Mediterranean can be quite temperamental...

Yes we did Canne, Elba, Corsica and Sardinia and back to Monaco and Canne, because of the wind we missed a port in Corsica but went to an alternative. We have done lots of cruises on large ships in the med and from experience it's usually strong winds rather than rough seas that can cause problems. Using tenders to get ashore was often a trial for me as they bob about a lot and getting on and off took a bit of doing so it was sometimes slow and I took to trying to board last so as to cut down the time on the tender. Having said that we are eyeing up their cruise that takes on Montenegro and Croatia.

We were not able to use the marina for water sports as a "bump" in Corsica left the door badly damaged and it could not be opened so we had to use a tender platform. Having said that the sea is still a bit chilly for swimming though we and a few hardy souls did go in. If you are going later in the season hopefully the door will be repaired and the sea warmer.

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Yes we did Canne, Elba, Corsica and Sardinia and back to Monaco and Canne, because of the wind we missed a port in Corsica but went to an alternative. We have done lots of cruises on large ships in the med and from experience it's usually strong winds rather than rough seas that can cause problems. Using tenders to get ashore was often a trial for me as they bob about a lot and getting on and off took a bit of doing so it was sometimes slow and I took to trying to board last so as to cut down the time on the tender. Having said that we are eyeing up their cruise that takes on Montenegro and Croatia.

We were not able to use the marina for water sports as a "bump" in Corsica left the door badly damaged and it could not be opened so we had to use a tender platform. Having said that the sea is still a bit chilly for swimming though we and a few hardy souls did go in. If you are going later in the season hopefully the door will be repaired and the sea warmer.

 

Ours is a very similar itinerary if not the same! What was that bump? I hope that in the mid time the ship has been repaired...

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Ours is a very similar itinerary if not the same! What was that bump? I hope that in the mid time the ship has been repaired...

We reversed into a dock wall which damaged the marina door to such an extent is was not able to be opened. It was pronounced seaworthy but apparently has to be repaired within 4 weeks. According to a crew member this was going to be done in the water not dry dock but would take 3 days. So at that time schedules were being sorted out. So hopefully this will be soon done before your trip. If I could fathom out how to post a photo in these replies I would!!

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I recently started a thread about our Royal Clipper trip in January."Royal clipper now,Grenadines".Many tips on there.(take torch for bathroom at night,wi fi tips etc)..It was the Grenadines but same ship! Hope it helps.:D

 

Thanks I have just looked at it. It was helpful indeed.

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You may wish to take a look at my remarks under the thread "Star Flyer Greek Isles" - while I was not referring specifically to the Royal Clipper, many of the features of Star Clipper and Star Flyer are quite similar to Royal Clipper. Enjoy your journey!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

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You may wish to take a look at my remarks under the thread "Star Flyer Greek Isles" - while I was not referring specifically to the Royal Clipper, many of the features of Star Clipper and Star Flyer are quite similar to Royal Clipper. Enjoy your journey!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

Thanks for the comprehensive information! I am getting a much better idea now on what to expect...

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  • 2 weeks later...
Yes we did Canne, Elba, Corsica and Sardinia and back to Monaco and Canne, because of the wind we missed a port in Corsica but went to an alternative.

 

Hello, Lisabeth;

The ports you stopped at suggest you took the same cruise (14 nights) we are considering for Oct. 7th. Any suggestions regarding explorations at any of the stops? We're pretty active (did the Camino de Santiago de Compostela this spring), and are already looking at a 4-5 hour hike in Lerici ... but cannot find port times anywhere!

Also - we're not subject to seasickness - any thoughts on a bow stateroom? I'd guess they'd be quieter than amidships, or especially the stern...

Alan & Desiree

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