Bath soap or Gel on Star Clipper

[MSEm]

Is the bath furnished with bar of soap or with the bath gel?

 

MSEm

[Sassy Chassis]

I know there is soap...I don't remember if there was any gel. There is also lotion and little sewing kits in the basket on the counter in your bathroom.

[jandar0721]

Soap -- not gel as of last week on the Star Flyer. Lots of little things seem to have disappeared in the past few year, I'm sorry to say :-(

[Zam]

Jandar, what do you mean lots of little things have dissapeared? We are going on the Star Flyer in July - did we make a mistake? Thx!

[FLL_EWR]

Don't care much about soap or gel, but I hope they haven't cut anything that is really part of the cruise experience. We are planning a family reunion Greek cruise in August and I was wondering if the economy has changed the Star Clipper. Any staff cuts on ships? Is the food the same (i.e. pretty good, not the best)? Drink prices still OK? Is the line in decent financial shape?

 

-- Thanks

[jandar0721]

Zam and FLL,

We have recently returned from our fourth Star Clipper cruise -- the Star Flyer in French Polynesia and noticed a few things that would indicate some cut-backs on the part of the company. Aside from the fact that the air conditioning was not working (and that's a whole other story) there were some minor changes from the last time we cruised with Star Clppers. Please bear in mind that these are mainly minor issues -- just noticed changes.

The chocolates on the pillow at night used to be "Star Clipper" branded -- they are now Hershey kisses. The sail card (plastic ship-board credit card) used to be a nice souvenir -- now just plain white plastic with an office-type label. No nurse on board. Apparent shortage of glasses and crockery. Slight shortage of dining room staff. On-again / off-again internet. Somewhat old and tired feeling of bedding, towels, table linens, etc. Uniforms on staff were old and tired and not as uniform as once were. No onboard laundry service (2 of 3 washers apparently broken). Some of the snorkling equipment was a little tired.

 

Food was excellent and I detected no drop in quality. The sailing was superb. The staff were as wonderful as ever. The diving equipment was good.

 

We enjoyed this cruise and we will cruise again with Star Clippers.

[Zam]

did you have? We are set for the July 5th sailing and are in cabin 533 (Sun Deck). Just wondering if we made a good choice in rooms? Your opinion is appreciated. Scott

[jandar0721]

We had cabin 335 on this trip but we have had the comparable Sun Deck cabin on the Royal. We liked the aft cabin a lot and thought it was quite convenient to the pool and the Tropical Bar (heart of the ship). I like too that it is a cat 1 cabin with a bathtub which is good for rinsing your snorkling gear and will contain the shower water even if the ship is heeled over (showering in a cat 2 or 3 shower when the ship is heeled over is quite a feat!!). I'm sure that you will really enjoy 533!

[Zam]

for the info. We are looking foward to the trip!

[rickeywray]

Curious - what was the story with the air conditioning. It sounds as if they have cut back to save some expenses, and then with washers broke, A/C down, trying to save money on routine maintenance and it may be catching up with them.

 

Good to hear that the food and service remains of good quality.

 

Thanks so much for the info. Rickey Wray

[FLL_EWR]

Jandar,

Thanks for the info. We are sailing the Greek Islands in August -- I hope the a/c is working! This will be my second Star Clipper cruise but the first for my extended family --I hope they won't be disappointed. I prefer the Star Clipper style, but you never know how people will react to the lack of "Broadway style revues."

[jandar0721]

Air conditioning was down in some parts of the ship. There were technicians from Europe on board working on it but it had been down for over two weeks. Something to do with one of the generators (?) -- doesn't matter what the problem was! Some of the cabins were adequate, some really hot. The dining room at night was very hot (too hot to sit and stay for desert)! Don't think that it was directly connected to cutbacks as they appeared to be working on the issue, but you're right rickeywray, lack of routine maintenance may be the real issue.

 

I love the Star Clipper style too FLL and personally would never go back to the "Broadway" ships. As for the family ... yeah, you're right, never try to second guess the family! Have a wonderful trip in August! I'd love to be going with you!