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Star Flyer

Star Clipper

Royal Clipper

Izmir

This was my 4th Star Clipper cruise and I knew the drill and what to expect. Had inside cabin 218 which is bunk bed and basically a closet but for one person I used the upper bunk as storage.  Be aware that here is not a whole lot of open deck space and may have trouble finding a chair especially in the shade. I always enjoy the food on Star Clipper and this was no exception.  They do a good job of seating you with others and they were all very welcoming to me.  We had a mix of UK, Germany, Scotland, and US which was a nice group of people and were told we had 130 on our cruise.  Had more wind, choppy seas and showers on this than all 3 of my past trips combined but luckily this did not affect our shore time.  Sadly it seems that time on shore gets less and less.  Guess that is on effect of using sails but other times we stopped in the morning to let excursion go out and by the time we got to afternoon stop only had a very short time to visit.  I still have issue that they do not have any island beer as Carib on board which seems strange to be in the Caribbean and offer Bud Light and a German Draft beer.  

When I got home I discovered I did not receive the $75 OBC I was supposed to receive.  I had my travel agent call and he was offered was I should book another cruise to receive the $75.  I called and the lady agreed it was on my documents and she would send it to Mark and he would call me back that day and I have never heard from him at all. This treatment causes me concern for a repeat customer and I am not sure if I will give them my business in the future.  If you have never been and want to experience a ship under sails you should try it  but if you are promised anything be sure to check your documents before you leave the ship.

No problem until I got home

The cruise was nice, ship was in great condition , staff was accommodating but the management has some strange ideas about customer service. 3 major problems occurred on our recent cruise which would prevent me from cruising with Star Clippers again.

First, there policy of confiscating passengers passports for the duration of the cruise is incredible in this day and age. It makes life easy for the cruise line but is a burden and risk that should not be foisted on passengers, particiularly since the first one hears about this is after the cancellation date has passed, so one is faced with the choice to cancel and lose a significant deposit or to have their passport taken away and not returned until the end of the cruise. We would have like to take a ferry from st kitts to nevis but had no documents to permit this so the cruise line holds you 'hostage' to their itinerary and excursions. Terrible customer focus! 

Their billing practices are also problematic and even suspect.  Our initial bill was wrong: it included significant overcharges at the bar ( we are not drinkers and we were charged for 2 bottles of wine). When I asked this be corrected I was given a particularly unwelcome cross examination and when they learned they were wrong no apology was offered and they refused to re-issue a corrected bill. Again, terrible customer service.

Finally, the cabin air unit was VERY loud, well over 100 decibels and made it difficult, and some nights impossible to sleep. After a week of this OI was truly sleep deprived and was happy to end the cruise.

It's too bad, because the ship is beautiful, the route was excellent, the food was quite good, but some of the policies need to be re-examined with a better eye towards focusing on the passenger and not what is convenient for the cruise line. When I raised these issues with the purser, she seemed that she didn't care at all and couldn't be bothered. Again, more lack of customer focus.

We will be investing our vacation dollars elsewhere in future and I suggest you be aware of these policies before making your travel choice.

Good cruise but some significant drawbacks

Just returned from a back-to-back two weeks on the Star Flyer, Leeward and Treasure Islands.

 Absolutely wonderful experience we have come to expect from Star Clipper. Ship absolutely beautiful, crew amazing, food top class. Wonderful guests on board.

Monya our cruise director was warm, friendly but most importantly knowledgeable and efficient. Wonderful home-spun entertainment each evening led by Monya along with Sandra and Max the sports team. 

Different evening entertainment each week. First week 140 passengers onboard, including a film crew and small party of travel agents, second week 120 onboard.  Loved all the islands, which we had visited before but not on this ship. 

Excursions were all good value for many and great fun. Highly recommend. Can't wait for the next one. Nothing beats sitting up on the sun deck for sailaway or later in the evening with a drink in hand and the sails billowing in the breeze.

Another fantastic Star Clipper experience

This was my second time on Star Flyer that sailed out of St Marten to the Leeward Islands, Nevis, Dominica, Guadeloupe, Antigua and St. Barth.  I was solo and surprised that I was upgraded from category 6 to category 5 which was very convenient to all areas, cabin 404.

Ship routine was same as last year except the cruise director gave a talk on each port on the bridge before we got to the islands, this was helpful and don't think I missed it last year but anyway I was glad they did this.  The lure of these trips is everything the large cruise ships lack, no crowds, small ports, very relaxed atmosphere.  There were many from UK, Canada, Germany, and US on our trip.  Food on Star Flyer is very good to my taste.  I am not a gourmet but every meal I had was very good, only breakfast buffet I have seen that had crispy and non crispy bacon.  Only negative is it took over two hours for dinner which is way longer than I am used to but this may be due to I was seated at table for 8 each night where last year I was at table for 4.  They do a great job of seating you with other people and they were all very welcoming to me as a solo.  We sailed over 80% of the time according to the Captain and only one night did it get "bumpy".  I am not a sailor but am amazed to watch the sails and the sailors who operate the ship.  I did only one ship excursion of a tour of Nevis which gave a tour of the entire island, I only wish we could have stayed longer on each island but understand time and sailing.  I feel very fortunate to be able to sail on these ships due to specials where they sometime remove the single supplement and will be on the Royal Clipper in March out of Barbados.

My Second Time on Star Flyer

I booked this cruise when they offered a no single supplement offer as I have wanted to get to BVI for a long time and my Windstar cruise to BVI in December was moved to Barbados.

Flew in one day earlier as few flights available and stayed at Alicia's Inn and enjoyed being on the Boardwalk and warm temperatures.  Boarding began at 4:00 PM and quickly we were led to the ship, I had cat. 6 cabin 218 which is two bunk beds.  Cabin was as small as I expected and two people in room would really be cramped and no way I would risk the ladder for the upper bunk. (if you are in this room as a single the ladder will rattle on it's hanger at night so I used towel to cushion)  For one person it was perfect and no problems at all.  There were 82 passengers on this trip with half from US and other half from UK, Austria, Germany,  Australia, Switzerland and I met a wonderful family from Austria at Alicia's Inn and they included me at their table and for meals and we spent the day together in port and they were a big reason I had such a good time, thank Alex, Jutta, and Mario.  Since this is a sailing ship there is less deck space thank my past experiences and shade was at a premium.  Stairs are steep and thresholds are high but I had no problems during the cruise and you do notice the motion more but I was expecting this. 

Best food of any cruise I have been on and I only had breakfast and dinner with lunch being on the islands we stopped at, I had fish every night and was done perfectly and so good.  They do have appetizers on deck from 5-6 and start with heavier apps first few days and less as week goes by but still plenty to choose from.  I only drink beer and they listed carib on the menu but was not available but they did have a german draft that was fine once I gave it a chance.  I enjoyed each Island and only wish we could have stayed longer like we did with Windstar but each was fun.  They offered an excursion to the Baths in Virgin Gorda but you can get a taxi there for $4 each but I did do the train in St Kitts and enjoyed that experience.  I did not care for the beach club they take you to catch the tender so I went back to my old favorite the Dock at Timothy Beach resort after the train and that was good as ever.  Only one night did we have what would consider rough seas and glad it was at night and not during the day. Light shower one morning for 45 minutes and could see if in a rain storm for many hours during the day that could be a problem with where to go and do if not in port. Crew was friendly and ready to help for the most part except for the sport team.  

As this was my first cruise with Star Clipper I read everything I could find before my trip to know what to expect and not a whole lot of info available but I really enjoyed my trip and seeing some Islands that I have longed to visit and sorry I had to do this after the storm as the damage visible is terrible but there are enough places open to visit and I am sure the vegetation will be coming back also.  I hope to do another cruise with Star Clipper and hope this review will help others looking for information.

First Star Flyer Experience

We picked this cruise because we are loyal repeat customers, but no longer.  It was such a disappointment.  The crew were rude and room had no air conditioning.  The staff did nothing to help us, the higher up we went with our concerns the worse we were treated.  We finally had to get wifi off ship and have the main company help us with the issues.  It was so stressful.  Many others aboard had similar troubles, poor food, rude comments from staff, poor communication and no maps or names to go with the scenery around us.  The ship looked old, dirty and dated and lacked the water equipment they had advertised.  With no flippers available, we got stung by sea urchins and cut up on coral.  The cruise director said it was our fault for not packing flippers, but the advertisement for this particular cruise promised flippers available for "all".  The food was so recycled, it became a bore after the third day.  Lots of dry bread at dinner, bread pudding the next day, of course. Very sad experience, last sail for us with this company.

Such a disappointment, so sad to say.

We booked this cruise as we wished to see some of the smaller islands in the BVI's and other neighbouring islands. We booked a cabin on the deck as is it the only accommodation that offers a double bed where you do not have to climb over one another to get in and out of bed. The space was restrictive but the bathroom was a good size. We were kept awake every night by the electric sail motors and banging from the deck above. The food was OK  and the waiting staff very friendly and helpful. There was a complete lack of information about the ports of call and the history of the area. No maps or information sheets were provided. What a pity lectures were not available. We wonder why we went to some of the locations often just a beach with a bar and no means of transport to other places on the islands. We left the ship exhausted and needing another holiday. Never again!

A cruise to forget

We had been out to the tall ship festival in Green Bay, WIsconsin in August 2016 and got a   brochure about the Star Clipper tall ships. When our 1st vacation fell through we decided to do a cruise with Star Clippers. We had never been on a cruise before but we wanted to travel with 170 people rather than 3,500 or more. 

 Everything about the Star Flyer was great. The crew knew our names after the 1st day which was really astonishing. The food was very good and we had plenty of choices. The best part of the whole cruise was getting to meet all the different passengers from the 14 different countries. We became very close for only knowing them for 7 days and will stay in touch with them for years to come. 

 We can't wait to go on another cruise with the Star Clipper company. You really need to give them a try. It is totally different from the big cruise lines were you are just a number.

If we could change anything about our cruise is that we needed a longer period of time in each port. However, each port of call was outstanding and the choices for shore excursions were great. I can't say enough good things about Star Clippers.

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