Star Clippers Sailing Cruise Reviews

I decided to start my cruise holiday with an overnight stay in Athens in order to experience the Greek capital's culture and take a look at the ancient Acropolis before embarking on the Star Clipper for a 4 night ‘taster' cruise visiting, Paros, Kusadasi and Mykonos.

A 30-minute transfer from my hotel in the centre of Athens took me to the port of Piraeus, where I caught my first glimpse of the Clipper ship. The Star Clipper looked tiny next to the cruise liners in port- perfect!

I was welcomed aboard with a refreshing cocktail which I enjoyed on deck before checking out my cabin. I had booked a category two cabin, which was elegantly decorated with plenty of storage space and a light and airy feel.

The food on board was delicious and certainly plentiful, with buffet style breakfasts and lunches followed by six course evening meals. I also liked the open seat dining which gave the flexibility of choosing who you sat with and the smart casual dress code stopped dinner being too much of a formal affair.

I found the Star Clipper to be a beautiful ship which was small, yet spacious and really allowed you to embrace the overall sailing experience with opportunities to climb the rigging and help put the sails up.  One of my fondest memories of the whole holiday was the sail away party, gathered on deck, champagne in hand, with the sails being raised as we cruised away from Piraeus; truly magical.

The crew on board were fabulous! Friendly but professional and their ability to make you feel special with little touches such as remembering your name and favourite drink, made the overall experience more enjoyable.

Excursions were well organised and the guides were very informative - certainly something that is required in a place like Ephesus.

Overall a truly amazing cruise holiday and one I hope to repeat sometime in the near future.

I had the fantastic good fortune to select a Royal Clipper Cruise in the Caribbean. From arrival at the port too the final steps away from the cruise operators, the service was amazing. Royal Clipper is probably the best looking ship in the world, both inside and out. Classixcally designed and with the maximum number of passengers being 229, she is all that one could wish for. Food is excellent, I certainly wasn't disappointed and eating dorado for the first time a real mouth watering treat.

The service by the crew is discrete but friendly and very attentive - but not overly so. Rarely is a smile far away from the faces of any of the crew and you feel as if they genuinely enjoy what they do. This is an informal ship, with passengers being welcome on the bridge at any time of day. There is no set dress code, except that shoes and for men athletic type vests are banned from the dining room whilst a shirt should always be worn there.

The beach trips with snorkelling equipment  provided for everyone who wants it are wonderful and the marine wildlife plentiful. There are oportunities for scuba diving if one is interested and the beach barbeque is a must. Excursions are possibly the weakest point, but even these I would score 8/10, swimming under a waterful in Grenada will live in my memory for a very long time.

Would I recommend it to others - Yes on the proviso that they took me with them.

We booked this cruise about the Royal Clipper as our honeymoon treat and we were not disppointed.  It was a fabulous experience, luxurious without being pompously OTT and the casual nature of the crew, the open seating at meal times and the smart /casual dress code all made for a truely relaxing trip.

 Would recommend to anyone - particularly if the idea of a 3000+ passenger cruise aboard a floating apartment block has put you off cruising - try out the Star Clipper fleet and you won't be disappointed.

I cannot recommend this cruise ship enough (Royal Clipper),  From boarding in Rome until leaving the clipper in Venice we had the most wonderful holiday we have ever had.

The staff, food and cleanliness were excellent.  The crew even remembered your name and what drink you had after a day or two.  There was food and drink available at any time of the day or night.  The excursions were very well organised and there is always something to do on board, if you do not go ashore.

 We are certainly planning to go on another cruise on this vessel.  Perhaps to the Far East this time.

I took a morning flight from Leeds/Bradford to Nice airport with Jet2. The taxi transfer from the Nice airport to the harbour side at Cannes takes approx 50 minutes.

When I approached the harbour side I was a little confused as the ship was moored up out of the bay and I wondered how on earth all the passengers got onboard. As I haven't been on a ship like this before I didn't realise they commuted you back and fore by tender boats (small boats similar to a lifeboat size). I checked in at the harbour side and was given a cruise credit card to use on board. I made my way to the tender to go across to the magnificent Star Clipper. The porters took charge of your luggage so I did not need to bother or worry about getting this off the tender and onto the big ship. My luggage was taken straight to the cabin.

I stayed in a category 3 cabin for sole occupancy on the commodore deck, room 107. The cabin was a reasonable size and furnished well. It had a small porthole, two single beds, a small dresser and chair, TV, wardrobe and marbled shower room with toilet and basin. Over all the cabin was a good standard but maybe needed a little updating on the furnishings. The porthole was just above the water level as at present it didn't both me, however when sailing through the night the water was always sloshing around in the porthole and the water noise hitting the cabin side was loud.

Dinner was always served around 7pm. Every night the menu was different and there were always 5 courses with a variety of meals to choose from. Dietary requirements were always looked after. The food was out of this world. Lunchtime was a buffet with different continents food (American, Italian, Asian etc). I would certainly recommend in losing some weight before travelling. All I seemed to do was eat and drink. The table sizes varied they held 4, 6, 8 or 10 people and each had a waiter. In the centre of the dinning room was the buffet table which was used a breakfast and lunchtimes only. 

Every day they always tried to raise the sails (subject to weather conditions), which was the most magnificent sight I had seen. It was beautiful. Evening entertainment was provided onboard every night. It was light entertainment either a quiz, disco or cloths show. There were mixed nationalities onboard so the entrainment was certainly entertaining at times. Dress-code onboard was mainly casual however in an even guests did want to make an effort, however they didn't "dress-up" in cocktail dresses etc. It was more smart/casual.

Every day you were always moored in a different location, if not two locations. This gave you time to look around these places, take the option of going to a near by beach or simply laze around the sundeck soaking up the sun and dipping in the pools. On the itinerary I did my favourite stop was Portofino. This was full of very expensive yachts and boats and as you approach it has a look of wealth about it. I strolled the various shops and ally ways to offer but I will admit it was mainly window shopping as the famous shops were far too expensive for me. We sailed to many other places of interest, however being on my own it was a little strange walking around so I would get of the ship and look around for about an hour then I'd get back onboard and sunbathe.

The staff certainly knew how to look after everyone and they were so friendly. They even knew what your favourite drink was by the 2^nd day. Even though I was a single passenger onboard I never felt left out particularly at mealtimes and evenings. The staff always made sure I was sat with other passengers at meal times. The only time I was left alone was through the day, which I didn't mind because I was there to unwind.

I chose to book a sailing holiday for a ‘special' birthday and had a fabulous time.

The itinerary we booked was the Cyclades cruise as I have always been a fan of the Greek Islands and the cruise meant my and husband and I could visit a lot of Islands we hadn't been to before, in particular Santorini, which has always been on my list of places to visit it! It didn't disappoint!  

The food on the ship was very good, the staff were fabulous and the overall ambience was great. I even managed to pluck up the courage to climb the rigging!

I would highly recommend this cruise and am now busy saving for another cruise for my next birthday.

Star Clipper 7 night cruise of Southern Cyclades from Athens

The most important thing to bear in mind if you are looking at a Star Clipper cruise is that this is a sailing holiday and not a cruise. Unlike the big cruise ships, these ships do not have stabilizers and therefore there can be quite a lot of rocking and rolling if the sea is anyway rough.    On the first night's sailing a substantial number of passengers suffered from sea sickness including my wife!  The ship's nurse was on hand with sea sickness tablets and if you feel that you may be prone to this, takes a tablet early.

Getting on board

Arrival and check-in was quite painless and as there is a maximum of 170 passengers, there was no queuing.  The company do the usual thing on cruise ships by welcoming you on board with a cocktail and a buffet but on this ship you can probably meet most of you fellow passengers in one go!

Cabins are quite compact compared to some of the bigger cruise ships but they were very comfortable.  During the trip I found that if I went to the bar it gave my wife room to do whatever women do. The price of drinks at the bar is reasonable compared to other cruise ships I have been on and tea, coffee and drinking water are all complimentary for the duration of the trip.

Bring a southern European adapter, the ship can supply you with one but have a very limited supply.

Dining

Apparently the ship has a Michelin Star chef and the standard of food reflected this.  Breakfast and lunch were buffet style and evening was a la carte. You can sit wherever with whoever which was helpful for those travelling alone. The house wine was fine and cost around 15 Euros for a bottle.  There were also early morning, late afternoon and mid-night snacks for those of us with a bit appetite.  It would be worth going on this cruise just for the food which was outstanding.

Sailing

As I said earlier, this holiday is all about the sailing experience and the shore excursions are an optional extra. I had heard some complaints from passengers who had travelled on a Clipper and the Captain had used the sails very infrequently. Fortunately this was not our experience and we appeared to travel under sail all the time.

 It was nice to get ashore to shop and see the sights but I could have as easily stayed on board for the duration of the trip.  Organized excursions are generally expensive but it is worth paying for the Dalyan River trip.  The Cruise Director was either poorly trained or was in the wrong job.  What information he did manage to communicate to the passengers was generally wrong, including simple things like paying for entrance to the castle and museum in Bodrum.  No, you cannot pay in any currency, they only accept Turkish Lira but if you stop at the nearest bar they will exchange your Euros for Lira.  You get a really poor rate but it was worth it to get in.  Entrance was 10 Lira.  Also unknown to the Director was that some of the sights were closed on the day of visiting. Fortunately we and a number of the other passengers treated this all as a bit of extra entertainment and it did not spoil our holiday

 Some passengers came on the trip just to see Santorini but if I go again I would give it a miss, particularly if there are other big cruise ships in.  We choose this holiday to get away from the queues but queued for about an hour to get the venicular railway back down to the harbor to board the ship again. Couple this with the problem of getting ashore on time due to the rough sea, it just wasn't worth the bother.  The place was pretty but very crowded and very expensive.  

 Setting sail each evening to the sound of Vangelis was an exhilarating experience and there was always something going on deck during the day.  This is not a big ship but the deck and bar never appeared to be crowded but you should also be aware that if the sea is rough, it is possible that the ship will be unable to berth or drop anchor.  They usually have a plan B!

Last but not least, the crew and staff were very friendly and helpful making this a lovely holiday and we will go back, perhaps taking the trip through the Panama Canal. 

Star Clipper 7 night cruise of Southern Cyclades from Athens

The most important thing to bear in mind if you are looking at a Star Clipper cruise is that this is a sailing holiday and not a cruise. Unlike the big cruise ships, these ships do not have stabilizers and therefore there can be quite a lot of rocking and rolling if the sea is anyway rough.    On the first night's sailing a substantial number of passengers suffered from sea sickness including my wife!  The ship's nurse was on hand with sea sickness tablets and if you feel that you may be prone to this, takes a tablet early.

Getting on board

Arrival and check-in was quite painless and as there is a maximum of 170 passengers, there was no queuing.  The company do the usual thing on cruise ships by welcoming you on board with a cocktail and a buffet but on this ship you can probably meet most of you fellow passengers in one go!

 Cabins are quite compact compared to some of the bigger cruise ships but they were very comfortable.  During the trip I found that if I went to the bar it gave my wife room to do whatever women do. The price of drinks at the bar is reasonable compared to other cruise ships I have been on and tea, coffee and drinking water are all complimentary for the duration of the trip.

Bring a southern European adapter, the ship can supply you with one but have a very limited supply.

Dining

Apparently the ship has a Michelin Star chef and the standard of food reflected this.  Breakfast and lunch were buffet style and evening was a la carte. You can sit wherever with whoever which was helpful for those travelling alone. The house wine was fine and cost around 15 Euros for a bottle.  There were also early morning, late afternoon and mid-night snacks for those of us with a bit appetite.  It would be worth going on this cruise just for the food which was outstanding.

Sailing

As I said earlier, this holiday is all about the sailing experience and the shore excursions are an optional extra. I had heard some complaints from passengers who had travelled on a Clipper and the Captain had used the sails very infrequently. Fortunately this was not our experience and we appeared to travel under sail all the time.

 It was nice to get ashore to shop and see the sights but I could have as easily stayed on board for the duration of the trip.  Organized excursions are generally expensive but it is worth paying for the Dalyan River trip.  The Cruise Director was either poorly trained or was in the wrong job.  What information he did manage to communicate to the passengers was generally wrong, including simple things like paying for entrance to the castle and museum in Bodrum.  No, you cannot pay in any currency, they only accept Turkish Lira but if you stop at the nearest bar they will exchange your Euros for Lira.  You get a really poor rate but it was worth it to get in.  Entrance was 10 Lira.  Also unknown to the Director was that some of the sights were closed on the day of visiting. Fortunately we and a number of the other passengers treated this all as a bit of extra entertainment and it did not spoil our holiday

 Some passengers came on the trip just to see Santorini but if I go again I would give it a miss, particularly if there are other big cruise ships in.  We choose this holiday to get away from the queues but queued for about an hour to get the venicular railway back down to the harbor to board the ship again. Couple this with the problem of getting ashore on time due to the rough sea, it just wasn't worth the bother.  The place was pretty but very crowded and very expensive.  

 Setting sail each evening to the sound of Vangelis was an exhilarating experience and there was always something going on deck during the day.  This is not a big ship but the deck and bar never appeared to be crowded but you should also be aware that if the sea is rough, it is possible that the ship will be unable to berth or drop anchor.  They usually have a plan B!

Last but not least, the crew and staff were very friendly and helpful making this a lovely holiday and we will go back, perhaps taking the trip through the Panama Canal.