Super Star Virgo

[themaxydog]

Hey has anyone here sailed on Superstar Virgo with Balcony class before? Need to know if theres any cabin reccomendations. Ohyeah and has anyone sailed on the o/v staterooms on deck 9 (facing the bow)?

Thanks in advance.

 

The first time I sail her we had a balcony on Deck 11 ( BA ). I recommend that you dont get a cabin on this deck due to the noise from the pool deck above. The dragging of deck chairs during the day wasnt that bad because you were not in your cabin that often but, at night the deck hands are scrubbing down and dragging hoses around and high pressure hosing the deck all night:(. The cabins midships too were said to have a vibration problem on deck 11:).

The second time we sailed we opted for suites forward and had a great time with no noise at all. Cant help you with the O/V.

 

Cheers

[fairywren]

Balcony cabin or suite on deck 10 would be my choice. Very quiet as there are cabins both above and below and you also get the dining and drinks credit and the balcony seating at the shows.

[cruiseaddict6583]

Thanks alot to Baby Cruiser 60 and fairywren for their advice. Baby Cruiser 60 Would you prefer the view from the suites overlooking the bow with a forward view to the standard balconies facing port & atarboard side? Thanks.

[themaxydog]

Thanks alot to Baby Cruiser 60 and fairywren for their advice. Baby Cruiser 60 Would you prefer the view from the suites overlooking the bow with a forward view to the standard balconies facing port & atarboard side? Thanks.

 

To be honest there wasnt much difference. The AD suite have the same size balcony as the the BA balconies. The other half of the balcony has been taken up by extending the bathroom on to it. Great when you are having a shower you can watch the whole world go by. Personally the ride was much better in the suite, forward deck 10, than the balcony we had midships deck 11.

With reference to "Fairywren's" coment on the balcony seating at the shows. It was difficult when we travelled balcony class to get a seat in the that section due to the fact that half the ship is balcony class. Apart from the cabin credit there is not much difference between balcony class and what ever they call the class below it. The section reserved for them at shows would hold around lets say 50 pax.:( We stopped trying to get a seat in this area and just went into the main seating area, never any problem there.

When we had the suite though they have the same amount of area reserved on the other side of the theater for the small amount of people that are in suites. We often went to the shows and the Admiral class area was empty apart from us. If you want to pay the extra I recommend AD and above, the perks are great. Just the shear fact that you never line up for anything and there is always someone making sure you are alright and everything is booked or reserved really makes a cruise.:cool: IMO.

 

Cheers

[BroomeGirl67]

When we had the suite though they have the same amount of area reserved on the other side of the theater for the small amount of people that are in suites. We often went to the shows and the Admiral class area was empty apart from us. If you want to pay the extra I recommend AD and above, the perks are great. Just the shear fact that you never line up for anything and there is always someone making sure you are alright and everything is booked or reserved really makes a cruise.:cool: IMO.

 

 

We have booked a junior suite for the cruise. Now with admiral class do you have to book for the Gala Night or is that already done for you? On previous posts i read that guys wore jeans to gala night is this not the done thing, unfortunately living in this warm climate noone has long trousers at the ready, some cruise lines hire formal wear out is this the case on Virgo

[themaxydog]

I am unsure weather or not they hire out clothes for Gala night or not I have never asked. I would suspect they would though. Can I suggest you go to the Starcruises web site and send them an email asking. I have always found that they will respond to your questions reasonably quickly. Jeans are definitly out. Long trousers shirt and tie will be enough others at our table wore that. Talk to your assistant he or she will sort anything out for you. As far as booking for Gala night your personal assistant will meet you in the boarding area in area at Singapore terminal. They will tell you everything from there. Just book your suitcases in and go to the boarding area. We had a great Gala night on the last cruise with the First Officer and the Engineer. Both men were great in a conversation on any subject and we sat there until very late in the evening.

[dlf aust]

Dress standards at all meals are smart casual. There is no actual difference for gala night.

 

Gala - Most people on our cruise (later dining session) basically had at least cotton trousers (chinos) and either a short or long sleeved button up shirt. Ties definitely optional. Jackets - for some tables making night of it, but not that many.

 

You can actually hire suits etc on board ship. No idea price. No idea sizes. Just was one item that surprised us.

 

have a look at the web site I put the info on - it has scans of the actual gala night details (inlcuding dress note at bottom) and menu sheets. From July 09.

 

(details on previous page of postings)

 

 

Cabins - definitely deck 10, mid-for for me. Ones at rear have more traffic as it goes onto kids club.

 

 

course if you are going in a higher class and actually sitting with crew then it would be good part of the scene to dress it up a bit. Jacket over trousers and dressy open neck collared shirt would make sure you fit the occaision. After all senior crew are in formal dress uniform.

 

If not on crew table then it would not make any difference what you wear PROVIDED it is shoes, trousers, collared shirt and fitting of an evening dining. (i.e. SMART causual).

[BroomeGirl67]

:).

[bellman1957]

I have cruised on the gemini before, and enjoyed it, is the virgo a similar type of friendly cruise.

Is there a big number of Aussies on board like the gemini

 

thanks Les:cool:

[wenmar]

We were on the Star Viro (Departed Singapore 19th July 2009).

Jackets and Ties were not needed for hte formal night.

I just wore black pantas and a top and my husband wore black pants & shoes and short sleeve shirt with a button down colar

[BroomeGirl67]

Thanks for all the comments re: Formal Wear, we will go with trousers and shirts.

 

Thanks to DFL, I printed out every page which we all poured over. :p

 

I went back a few pages and found some photos of the suite and that was great sorry can't remember who posted it but thanks for that too...

 

A few of you suggested going to the star cruise website, which i have on many occassions, but I find it lacking, and more questions have been answered by reading this board and going back pages.

 

I am sure as it gets closer we will have some more silly questions.

Regards

Broomegirl

[cruiseaddict6583]

Hello again!

This question is for those who have gone by cruise to penang, malaysia.

when is the new penang cruise terminal being built?

i got some info about this new penang cruise terminal from here.

http://www.explorepenang.com/ENG/Transportation/CruisetoPenang.asp

http://www.penangport.gov.my/ppc_futuredev.htm

when is it going to be completed? i hope soon, as the superstar virgo continues to tender there.

 

theres also a pic of the construction i got. on the net.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2113/2518510262_3d589dbae9_b.jpg

thanks in advance.

cheers.

[dlf aust]

Not sure when complete but it externally was looking pretty complete when we visited mid-July 2009. They were still tendering at the time but got impression from comment one of crew made to another passenger that it is not too far away. Whether that is 2-3 months not sure.

 

From photo I would say not far away. Have tried to attach - see what happens. :o I think you need to click on to see at better resolution.....

[dlf aust]

That did not work so well as they obviously downsize images when you upload. :(

 

get it at full res (jpg 184k) by clicking here.....

http://www.teda.net.au/Virgo/Photo_Penang_CruiseWharf_13July2009.jpg

 

you can right click and then "save image as" onto your own computer.

should be able to zoom in a bit then.

 

You can see that roof etc is in place but they are still working on exterior on the right. Left seems pretty much done.

[busseltoncruisers]

We are heading off to Perth today and flying to Singapore tomorrow for Sunday sailaway. I will do a brief review on my return. Looking forward to escaping this cold weather.

[human bean]

Wishing you a safe and enjoyable trip Denise - can't wait to hear how it all goes.

 

Cheers,

HB

[boeckli]

We are heading off to Perth today and flying to Singapore tomorrow for Sunday sailaway. I will do a brief review on my return. Looking forward to escaping this cold weather.

 

Have a great trip :)

[busseltoncruisers]

Hi all. Arrived home on Saturday safe and sound. Flight to singapore with Qantas was uneventful. Cabin crew made a big fuss of my Mum the birthday girl (90 years young). We stayed for 2 nights at the Allson Hotel in Singapore and would recommend this friendly hotel. Arrived at the port and offloaded our bags without too much hassle. We then took the escalator to the 1st floor and 2 of our party of 10 queued for check-in. This was fairly quick and painless. We then joined a very long queue for boarding. This queue did move reasonably quickly. One observation was that people coming to the top of the escalator joined the end of the boarding queue without checking in only to be re-directed when they got to the head of the queue. That would have been very frustrating.

Our observations

The ship: The crew on this ship can not be faulted. Our cabin attendant provided us with an esky full of ice which she replenished daily and this kept drinks cold for all 5 cabins. Towel animals every night..always a good touch especially for the first timers. Cabins are as good as any we have previously sailed in. Having a balcony is always a bonus. We managed to fit most of our party into a cabin/balcony for a nightcap. One thing I did notice was the staff were having a battle keeping the public restrooms clean. I reported twice issues to the staff. Normally try to avoid the public restrooms but with travelling companions with limited mobility this was not always possible.

Food: We ate mainly in the Bella Vista which caters mostly for Westerners. Some meals were great, some not so great. We did venture into the buffet on a few occasions and from advice from this site went well after it opened. Again the staff were wonderful and made sure we had a table all together. We love Indian food and I must say that the vegetarian buffet selection was wonderful. It did get a bit pushy in this line but it was well worth it. On Mum's birthday the staff came out singing with much gusto and presented Mum with her birthday cake. You would think that this was the first time they had sung to someone they were so lovely. In fact they probably did the same routine 6 times a day. The captain dropped by at dinner to wish Mum a happy birthday which really overwhelmed her. We also ate a couple of meals at the Blue Lagoon on the promenade deck. If you like Asian food give this a go. We all loved it. The covercharge was roughly $12. We had snacks also at the Taverna. Great club sandwiches. The only problem we had was the smoking policy is a lot different to Australia. Smoking was on any open deck and in any bar. This meant that you may be about to bite into your sandwich and someone could sit at the next table and light up (which they did). Shows what a long way we have come. The smell of smoke was also obvious in the cabin corridors.

Entertainment: We went to the Juggling/comedy show. This was not to any of our tastes. Juggling was ok but the humour was a bit lame to us. Do not miss Maestro and Muse. The singing and dancing was a bit ordinary but I think that was just a fill in while the acrobats prepared for their performances. This was spectacular. We are still talking about what we saw. Really amazing

Port of Call: Penang - this is a tender port and it was heaving with rain on this day. We caught a taxi to Komtar for a bit of retail therapy. We had a great time but this is a pretty old centre now. The taxi ride was very hair raising. Phuket - Some of us independently of the ship headed off to the elephant safari park and rode the elephants. Great fun and we beat the buses from the ship. We then caught up with everyone else at Patong beach for more shopping. Weather was great just a little humid. Singapore - We arrived back in Singapore to drop off those passengers doing the 3 night trip and pick up new passengers for the next 2 night leg. We were able to get off so those that wanted to shop got off. We had to collect our passports and get of with the departing passengers. While waiting for our call we were taken to the Galaxy of Stars and given champagne. Nice touch Star Cruises. Kuala Lumpur - Again a rainy day so only the hard core shoppers headed off to South Klang shopping centre. Very modern centre and fortunately loads of sales. Catching the taxi was painless as there is a taxi stand at the wharf and your return trip is guaranteed. My brother was determined to have an authentic rendang curry and he got his wish.

 

We chose this trip because it didn't involve a long flight from Perth and also the duration of the cruise was important as we were travelling with elderly people. Also the water is dead calm and we didn't have to worry about sea sickness. It fulfilled our needs.

 

Would we sail with Star cruises again ? We wouldn't do this circuit again. Quite rightly this cruise caters for the Asian market as they are the majority of passengers. Aussies in general are a social lot and enjoy the pomp of the Captains dinner and the fun of the island nights etc.( Oh the memories of the good old Gemini). This seemed to be lacking on this cruise. Some passengers dolled up but a lot just didn't make any effort. No island night!! We have cruised this circuit 3 times before (a while ago) with Star cruises and the changes are very noticable.

 

We are off again on the Diamond Princess in November. We are sailing Bangkok to Sydney. Roll on November.

 

If anyone has any questions please feel free to ask.

[ssv]

brusseltoncruisers - Was young Alexey, the contortionist still around when you were watching Maestro & Muse? If he was performing that show, it was his last performance before signing off to work on land. Or did you see Ying Huan and Ying Si, Chinese twin contortionist and the new troupe of Chinese acrobats?

 

About the itinerary, don't give up on Virgo as she'll be sailing longer duration cruises next year.

 

Cheers!

[boeckli]

About the itinerary, don't give up on Virgo as she'll be sailing longer duration cruises next year.

 

Cheers!

 

That would be very good news indeed!

[harras]

Hi Denise,

I'm off on the same cruise later this week, can you tell me if the ship was full to capacity and were there long queues for the restaurants, what are the best times to eat?

Sarah

[busseltoncruisers]

Hi Denise,

I'm off on the same cruise later this week, can you tell me if the ship was full to capacity and were there long queues for the restaurants, what are the best times to eat?

Sarah

We sailed with a full ship. When we returned to Singapore to drop off the 3 night cruisers 1700 passengers left the ship and 1400 got on board for the 2 nighter. We never had a problem with queues. The Bella Vista was mainly popular with the Westerners. We usually ate breakfast in the Bella Vista at 8.45am or 9.15am...very unusual to have to wait long and we required a table for 10. Always ask about the Asian and Western special.

Lunch was never an issue. Usually ate about 12.30pm. The evening meal was usually at 7.30pm. Again no great problem. If you eat in the buffet just wait about 1/2 an hour after opening. The queues on this ship are no worse than on any other ship we have sailed on. Sometimes it looks worse than it is. Any chaos was in the Indian vegetarian buffet but the staff did their utmost to try to keep people in an orderly queue. If you enjoy Indian food the experience is truly worth it. Grab an orange tray and fill up with the beautiful curries and condiments. The rest of the buffet is mainly Western food. Taverna and Blue Lagoon are good alternatives for lunch or a snack after being on shore. No waiting at these venues.

Have a great trip.

[busseltoncruisers]

brusseltoncruisers - Was young Alexey, the contortionist still around when you were watching Maestro & Muse? If he was performing that show, it was his last performance before signing off to work on land. Or did you see Ying Huan and Ying Si, Chinese twin contortionist and the new troupe of Chinese acrobats?

 

About the itinerary, don't give up on Virgo as she'll be sailing longer duration cruises next year.

 

Cheers!

 

We saw the Chinese twins and the new troupe of Chinese acrobats. I still get the shivers when I recall this show. Absolutley amazing. I can't rave enough about this show.

[seasick_in_a_bathtub]

Great news about the longer cruises and (hopefully) new itineraries.

 

SSV....any details yet? :rolleyes:

 

Cheers

[Bugis]

Yes SSV great news IF they are going to offer longer cruises on Virgo, is this wishful thinking or solid information.

 

We were on Virgo for 5 days 3 weeks ago and many staff members told us they had heard the ship might relocate to India after the Singapore casinos open early to mid next year. After seeing the passenger make up you would think it already has!!