I loved the idea of real sailing and always wanted to see the smaller ports in the Med, so when I saw that on reposition one could travel the entire width of the Med (Turkey to Caneries), I signed up for the whole 35 days.
Even with the single supplement, the price was quite reasonable; the accommodations, food and service excellent. Sailing into the small ports was as nostalgic and ...
My wife and I have always loved the "small ship" experience, and have no need to be entertained, so this was a perfect fit for us. BUT, if you need nightly entertainment, want to dine alone at a table, don't like international crowds, (I would say 60% of the passangers NOT from the USA) or are prone to seasickness, this is NOT the cruise for you. If you remember that this is first and formost ...
Although I'm a veteran cruiser (more than 19 cruises at this point), this was my first experience on a Star Clippers ship. Sailing on this type of a ship offers a unique cruise experience, and in my opinion has the following pros and cons:
PROS:
• The Star Flyer has a passenger capacity of 170 max, but we had 155 on our sailing with all rooms occupied but one. This low passenger count ...
We’ve done a couple of “big ship” cruises and we decided they weren’t for us; too many people basically. We decided to give the Royal Clipper a try. For us, this turned out to be a good experience.
If you want a casino, cabaret shows, dressing for dinner and so on then the Clippers probably won’t be your thing. If you prefer a more informal experience then yes!
It’s probably not best suited ...
We really loved the sailing element of this Mediterranean cruise, and the feel of being on a small ship. The sails were up most of the time, although I’m not sure how much of our journey was carried out under pure sail rather than ‘motor-sailing’, because of course they do have to keep to schedule.
Star Flyer is a beautiful, elegant ship – lots of brass and varnished wood, and neatly coiled ...
Though I am not sure I could withstand more - my wife and sister in law and local friends were all set on going and my knee was shot. And the ship had stairs (ladders in nuatical terms) but no elevators. And I use a cane. Not good. Hoofed it to a colleague who shot me up with enough cortisone and marcaine to make me think I was 21 again and away we went. I knew I would pay for it but the other ...
We have done a couple of cruises on the big ships but wanted something different and we sure did get it with this trip. The Royal Clipper is a sailing ship and we made our way through the Eastern Caribbean region under sail for the entire week. That is not something which you get to do every day. We loved every minute of it.
The food - The food was amazing. Breakfast and lunch were buffet ...
So the “sail always” were nice especially because this is a full rigged clipper ship, rigging took quite awhile and the amount of canvass was impressive. After a few departures this got kind of old and as far as I could determine the ship mostly relied on the engines for propulsion as is the case with other “sailing ships”, it’s mostly for the visual effects.
The traditional wood and fittings ...
This was our first time on Star Clippers – a choice we made due to the interesting small port itinerary not typical of larger cruise ships and the fact that it was a working tall ship with a small complement of passengers. The Royal Clipper is hand’s down a fun and dramatic ship to sail on. The fact that they raise the staysails with each port departure and play Vangelis’ Conquest of Paradise ...
The Royal Clipper is like no other cruise ship—you sail on her for the experience of being on the world’s largest active sailing ship. Where you go is almost incidental. It is like a very large, traditionally outfitted yacht. Lots of brass and wood, and quite elegant. We were on the Cannes-Lisbon cruise. It was our second cruise on the RC (there are many repeat customers—over half on our cruise ...