Super Star Virgo is coming to Australia!!

Hi everyone,

My husband and I cruised on the original Gemini back in May 2007 Singapore to Hong Kong and back. It took best part of 3 weeks and the majority of the passengers were Westeners. It was our first real taste of Asia and we loved it.

All this talk of the Virgo and reminiscing of Star cruises in general got me thinking about the current Gemini and what their demographic is.

We're interested in cruising the western coast of the Malay peninsula and it seems the Gemini is the only one to travel this exact area.

I know that if it's full of gamblers we'll pretty much have the run of the ship, but I just feel uneasy about it as we'd be booking 3 B2B covering 7 nights.

The ultimate goal is a family event in Pattaya in February so there's plenty of time to get this sorted but I can't find any current reviews of the Gemini. CC doesn't even list Star cruises in their roll calls or other pages. The alternative is an overland journey from Singapore to Pattaya over a couple of weeks.

I'm thinking I might have to start a thread to ask. I'd appreciate your thoughts. Thanks.

Tracey.

Hi everyone,

 

My husband and I cruised on the original Gemini back in May 2007 Singapore to Hong Kong and back. It took best part of 3 weeks and the majority of the passengers were Westeners. It was our first real taste of Asia and we loved it.

 

All this talk of the Virgo and reminiscing of Star cruises in general got me thinking about the current Gemini and what their demographic is.

We're interested in cruising the western coast of the Malay peninsula and it seems the Gemini is the only one to travel this exact area.

 

I know that if it's full of gamblers we'll pretty much have the run of the ship, but I just feel uneasy about it as we'd be booking 3 B2B covering 7 nights.

 

The ultimate goal is a family event in Pattaya in February so there's plenty of time to get this sorted but I can't find any current reviews of the Gemini. CC doesn't even list Star cruises in their roll calls or other pages. The alternative is an overland journey from Singapore to Pattaya over a couple of weeks.

 

I'm thinking I might have to start a thread to ask. I'd appreciate your thoughts. Thanks.

Tracey.

Have a look at this link for Feb 2016

https://booking.starcruises.com/CheckPromo.aspx?pid=2522c795-4842-4569-9792-1e59a03e6409&lang=en

Yes but I would but would leave my manners behind lol

.....and me :D It's the quick and the dead. :eek: But I did like the ship

All this talk of SSV is stirring the old grey cells again. Sheridan's post reminded me of paying our onboard account, what a nightmare. This was our first cruise so we were a bit hesitant to have the 'express check out' so decided to pay by CC at the desk. That is, along with about three quarters of the other passengers who wanted to pay in cash, and pay in their own currency. Each person took forever to process, first they checked their account and argued over a few things, then the currency conversion was calculated, again a few arguments, then the cash was counted out, then the guest services person would go off somewhere to find change, then the change was counted out, several times, then the receipt was printed and explained and then.... it was the next person in the queue's turn.

We have learned since then!

Not a real cruise line or cruise ship. Everything wrong with how to run a cruise line can be found here

Yikes. Doesn't sound like my cup of tea at all.

Not a real cruise line or cruise ship. Everything wrong with how to run a cruise line can be found here

And yet they haven't gone bankrupt yet.

And yet they haven't gone bankrupt yet.

It is because of their target market. The Asian market is far less demanding than the Western markets. Things American would never stand for is allowed. They make a lot of money by dealing in a market most major cruise lines will not go into. That is not to say the whole Asian market is second or third class but the group Star targets is.

Also even if the cruise business loses money the main company is making big money with other land base operations, so the cruise line is a smaller less important part of the overall business.

Am I correct that this was a post from 2105?

Am I correct that this was a post from 2105?

Yes the thread was started in 2015 when they (Star) did a 48 day tour to AU. The home port for the ship is Hong Kong, but they move to other ports in SE Asia for 2 to 3 months. The ship is now based in Manila until May 2018. My comments are from a cruise March 5 to March 10th, which had the same types of problems and issues that was reported in 2015.

Management and the owners have not improved in the last three years it seems the ship has gone farther down hill. My post is current news for a on going problem ship and cruise line which is one of the main reasons for these boards. First hand information about cruises, ships, lines, and ports.

Lots of sweeping generalisations there. Not really any news.