Is star clipper for an inexperienced sailor?

[Clinching]

Hi, wondering about Star Clipper Jan/feb 20014 Carribbbean. Love the sound of it but some people seem to think it is more for those with at least some sailing experience. The only sailing we've done is some years ago on a small yacht around the grenadines with a crew, for our 25th wedding anniversary. It was fabulous. My husband did suffer with sea-sickness just the first night when moored in Mustique, after that he was fine. Can you tell me..is the sailing from port to port at night or during the day? I guess I'm wondering how much of the day is spent sailing and how much off the boat ie. excursions,snorkelling etc. thanks to anyone that replies.

[figgysd]

Hi, wondering about Star Clipper Jan/feb 20014 Carribbbean. Love the sound of it but some people seem to think it is more for those with at least some sailing experience. The only sailing we've done is some years ago on a small yacht around the grenadines with a crew, for our 25th wedding anniversary. It was fabulous. My husband did suffer with sea-sickness just the first night when moored in Mustique, after that he was fine. Can you tell me..is the sailing from port to port at night or during the day? I guess I'm wondering how much of the day is spent sailing and how much off the boat ie. excursions,snorkelling etc. thanks to anyone that replies.

 

We sailed from malaga to barbados last year on the star flyer (this included 12 days at sea with no sight of land). We had done very minimal sailing before that. It was a fabulous experience and we soon learnt the ropes! We are now booked next February out of Cuba for a week.

Others will be able to answer your other questions.

[JOBAKE]

Broadly speaking the sailing is overnight and your are in the port of call for a good time during the day - either alongside or anchored off. Because of the size of the Star Clipper any tendency for seasickness should be less than on a yacht. Maybe take some Stugeron tablets with you (we do) just in case, and, if you husband is feeling a bit queezy, half a tablet may well be enough.

 

We have sailed on all three of the Clippers on several itineraries and, as is often said, have met lots of very interesting fellow passengers. My guess (after a bit of thought) is that probably less than 10% of the passengers are yacht owners / charterers. Also the Clippers have many repeaters - maybe a good indication of their appeal. My feeling is, given what you say, that the should we / shouldn't we go on the Star Clipper question is a no brainer - hope you do and have a super holiday. Our next one is on the Royal Clipper out of Barbados in January.

[johnwillimas]

No sailing experience needed! We've done three transatlantic crossings and one yucatan cruise and while some folk have suffered some sea sickness (and we've had some whopping seas mid-atlantic) I would say that you'll soon get your sea legs. We're doing Rome to Venice this month and for that trip mostly the sailing is at night with good length short times on almost all of the days.

[SailorJM]

No sailing experience needed. Star Clipper ships are cruise ships with sails, albeit smaller, more intimate ships, and to my way of thinking, much better!

We have never had any seasick problems on any of the smaller sailing cruise ships, except one (24 passengers during a rocky morning sail one day) but those who might should bring along some ginger tabs or ginger cookies. These work amazingly well and very quickly.

[cstrycha]

Our first cruise was on Star Clipper. It was wonderful. We didn't think of ourselves as cruise ship people and went for the sail ship experience first. It was fantastic.