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Back From First Star Clipper Cruise


Got2Cruise
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I'm going to write a review soon aimed at folks who are interested in Star Clipper but don't know anything about them. My itinerary was the ten day Venice to Athens. If anyone has any questions about the ports or any generic questions in general I'd be happy to try to help. Some of us like to know details, nothing wrong with that. :-).

 

Until I write the review keep in mind it's all about the sailing!

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Hi leaving on 7/22 cruise from Athens. Appreciate any info on the monetary situation in Athens. How was it?

 

 

You mean 8/22? We loved the cruise. The food at dinner could have been better, but we didn't starve. It is not gourmet. But they did have lobster tail on the Captains night.

 

The crew is great all around. The guys who work the sails work very hard. The ship uses the sails almost all the time. They are constantly changing up the sails. That is the best part.

 

There is also a sports crew led by Jay Jay who are doing all sorts of stuff with the guests. Helping you climb the mast, driving the zodiac to a beach, taking kids waterskiing, going on tours etc

 

The Captain is out there everyday. He's very personable. Tell him you heard he does gymnastic moves on the pull up bar. Lol

 

The CD is Peter from Bavaria. I guarantee you never had a CD same as him. Lol. Every day he had storytime. He can talk for an hour nonstop about any port and about sailing. Lol

 

We did the ten day Venice Croatia Greece. If you want details how those ports worked let me know.

 

Because it is a true sailing ship it is going to be different than a big oceanliner, expect that. One night there was a storm and I became seasick, yet hubby didn't feel a thing.

 

All the guests friendly and fun loving. The cabin steward keeps your room nice and clean. They even have turndown with chocolates.

 

My favorite day was when they put up all of the sails so we all could go on the tenders and take photos of the ship. I'll post pics of ship on next post

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  • 3 weeks later...
You mean 8/22? We loved the cruise. The food at dinner could have been better, but we didn't starve. It is not gourmet. But they did have lobster tail on the Captains night.

 

The crew is great all around. The guys who work the sails work very hard. The ship uses the sails almost all the time. They are constantly changing up the sails. That is the best part.

 

There is also a sports crew led by Jay Jay who are doing all sorts of stuff with the guests. Helping you climb the mast, driving the zodiac to a beach, taking kids waterskiing, going on tours etc

 

The Captain is out there everyday. He's very personable. Tell him you heard he does gymnastic moves on the pull up bar. Lol

 

The CD is Peter from Bavaria. I guarantee you never had a CD same as him. Lol. Every day he had storytime. He can talk for an hour nonstop about any port and about sailing. Lol

 

We did the ten day Venice Croatia Greece. If you want details how those ports worked let me know.

 

Because it is a true sailing ship it is going to be different than a big oceanliner, expect that. One night there was a storm and I became seasick, yet hubby didn't feel a thing.

 

All the guests friendly and fun loving. The cabin steward keeps your room nice and clean. They even have turndown with chocolates.

 

My favorite day was when they put up all of the sails so we all could go on the tenders and take photos of the ship. I'll post pics of ship on next post

Thanks for your review. We are taking the Sept 23 same trip. Question on ports of call.....Did you take any of the planned excursions or did you do your own thing? Is it easy to get into the towns or is it a production? I assume most of the time we will be anchored off shore and tender in. I love sailing and have chartered smaller sailboats on numerous occasions but never on a clipper ship and I am looking forward to it! Any other suggestions or comments would be greatly appreciated! Galley Queen

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Thanks for your review. We are taking the Sept 23 same trip. Question on ports of call.....Did you take any of the planned excursions or did you do your own thing? Is it easy to get into the towns or is it a production? I assume most of the time we will be anchored off shore and tender in. I love sailing and have chartered smaller sailboats on numerous occasions but never on a clipper ship and I am looking forward to it! Any other suggestions or comments would be greatly appreciated! Galley Queen

 

 

Hi. If you love sailing you will have the time of your life on this cruise. Most of the ports are tender ports but since there are so few pax it's not an issue. We like to walk so hiking up the forts in Hvar, Dubrovnik and Kotor is what we did, we didn't need a tour. We took the ship's tour to Ancient Olimpia and Santorini. We thought they were both worthwhile. We missed Mykonos because of high winds but they took us to an equally lovely island, Paros instead. If you are not picky with your wine simply ask for the "house wine" it's cheap but they don't really mention it unless you ask.

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Thanks for sharing your trip with us. We are on a different itinerary so the ports, while yours were fabulous and interesting to read about, it is the daily life aboard that I'm curious about having not sailed with Star Clippers before.

 

This will also be the shortest cruise we have taken at 7 days. Normally we look for 10-12 day itineraries to fit with our work vacation schedules but could not resist this trip. So much anticipation!

 

All days will be port visits. How was time on board on your trip?

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Thanks for sharing your trip with us. We are on a different itinerary so the ports, while yours were fabulous and interesting to read about, it is the daily life aboard that I'm curious about having not sailed with Star Clippers before.

 

 

 

This will also be the shortest cruise we have taken at 7 days. Normally we look for 10-12 day itineraries to fit with our work vacation schedules but could not resist this trip. So much anticipation!

 

 

 

All days will be port visits. How was time on board on your trip?

 

 

The time on board was awesome for us. We were always on the top deck enjoying the sailing. The CD always gives a talk about the surrounding islands every morning. The Captain gave a talk several times about navigation. The sports team supervised climbing the mast, walking a mile, and pool exercises. Five pm every day there was happy hour with a small buffet of snacks. Dinner is at 7:30 each evening. There is a very talented piano player singer onboard for before and after dinner entertainment. Every sail away is a huge deal with the raising and trimming of the sails.

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  • 4 months later...
Hola,

 

 

 

Thanks for the info. We are thinking of doing a similar cruise with SC this summer and wondering how long you spent in most ports. We are hoping you get to spend some evenings/overnights.

 

 

Hi. The time in port was about the same as ocean cruises 5-6 hours. No overnights. We spent days precruise in Venice and post cruise in Athens ourselves. Both cities very easy to DIY

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What were the snacks at 5 pm? Did they all have cheese in/on them (asking for my non-cheese eating wife)

 

Did they have a pirate dress up night?

 

Did you go out on the bowsprit net? Was it easy to do?

 

We're really looking forwards to our first Star Clippers cruise!

Edited by websailor
Typos
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Hi Got2Cruise,

 

We're excited to hear about your recent trip. Please consider posting your review in our reviews section, so others are able to search your experience: http://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/collect/star-clipper/

 

There are not as many Star Clippers reviews as there are some other mainstream lines, so it would be a great addition.

 

Thank you!

 

~Brittany Chrusciel, Associate Editor, Cruise Critic

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What were the snacks at 5 pm? Did they all have cheese in/on them (asking for my non-cheese eating wife)

 

Did they have a pirate dress up night?

 

Did you go out on the bowsprit net? Was it easy to do?

 

We're really looking forwards to our first Star Clippers cruise!

 

They did have a pirates night. One passenger was sitting in the net and her room key went in the ocean. Opps....$50.00 when that happens.

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What were the snacks at 5 pm? Did they all have cheese in/on them (asking for my non-cheese eating wife).

Plenty of choices. A mini buffet. Don't even remember cheese. Lol

 

Did they have a pirate dress up night?

On our sailing, Venice to Athens they did not.

 

Did you go out on the bowsprit net? Was it easy to do?

Yes going out to the bowsprit is easy to do. Don't worry

 

We're really looking forwards to our first Star Clippers cruise!

 

 

You're going to love the experience!

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  • 1 month later...
I'm going to write a review soon aimed at folks who are interested in Star Clipper but don't know anything about them. My itinerary was the ten day Venice to Athens. If anyone has any questions about the ports or any generic questions in general I'd be happy to try to help. Some of us like to know details, nothing wrong with that. :-).

 

Until I write the review keep in mind it's all about the sailing!

 

 

 

My sister and I are taking the same cruise in Oct 2016 from Venice to Athens. I would love your comments about the ports. Thanks

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  • 1 year later...

Ships have personalities. My experiences with Star Clipper were highly variable; we hugely enjoyed Star Flyer: it's a smaller ship in every way: crew are great and you interact with them on ship and off; many went to the beach with us in their off days. Passengers are an energetic mix with no pretences, fun to be with on board and off.

Royal Clipper is a (comparatively) much larger ship with a fairly formal dining room. Passengers were 10 years older in fact and seemed 20 years older in their thought process; some of the women traveled in cliques; reminded me of high school.

I had the same issue with Windstar; the smaller ship was much friendlier in general in terms of the passengers; while they were a bit older than those on Star Clipper, the ones on the larger ship were also older than those on the smaller one.

The funniest thing I remember was that both Star Clipper and Windstar had the same sail away song; is it still that way?

We had some heavy rolling in our bed on one tumultuous night on the Flyer in the upper Caribbean; I don't get seasick but I've never seen much of that on any sailing ship.

Star Clipper is great fun if you are young at heart or body; having traveled on everything from Carnival to Sea Dream I highly recommend it.

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  • 8 months later...

Everything I read just makes it more exciting!!

We sail Aug 25th out of Piraeus.

Rhodes

Bodrum, Turkey

Dalyan River Turkey

Santorini

Hydra

Athens

Curious if anyone did any of the Turkey trips. (We'd like to see the tombs)

Also wondering how easy it was to take the tram from Athens to the Port. We will have one small suitcase each.

Already enjoying the trip through planning!

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