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Star Cruises

MS Star Pisces

Your Rating:
Reviewed by: Andy Ku
# previous cruises: 10 to 20
Date of Trip: June 22, 2005
Itinerary: Orient

As mentioned by the captain, "Star Pisces is an old friend of Hong Kong". She has been deployed in Hong Kong for 10 years. She offered short cruises out of Hong Kong to destinations like Xiamen and Haikou some years ago before being placed on budget daily overnight cruises to nowhere. Now that it has been around five years that she has never sailed to anywhere, she brings back the 2-night cruise to Xiamen, after the departure of SuperStar Leo. This is the first of several special sailings planned in the summer.

As it is a special sailing the program's and activities have been specially arranged so nicely that I rate it a 4-star cruise. Note that normally the ship sails on overnight getaway cruise which I would rate just 3-star.

Join this ship for her special cruises if you wish to explore coastal area like Xiamen from Hong Kong by sea. Or maybe its overnight cruise is a nice alternative to one night hotel stay in Hong Kong.

Finding your way is easy when compared to large megaship with a dozens decks of public rooms. There are three main decks of public rooms Deck 7, 8 and 11, of which most passageway enjoy sea view. First on Deck 3 are two casino for general use. On Deck 6 is a large health centre with indoor jacuzzi, massage and gym.

On Deck 7 forward is the Mariners, a large international buffet restaurant, with sea view on three sides. At the extreme forward there is a forward facing view through glass wall windows spanning up to Deck 8. Aft of the Mariners is the two deck high lobby which houses the reception and a little seating area, a nice place to gather. Walking aft will come to the Photo shop and Ports O' Call, selling snacks. Next to it is the Blue Lagoon, a large 24-hour a-la-Carte eating venue serving Asian food and snacks. At the aft of Deck 7 is the Club Royale, a member's only casino.

On Deck 8 forward is a smaller Chinese buffet restaurant called Ocean Palace, where again passengers can enjoy sea view on three sides, linked to the lobby by the Castaway Piano Bar, a nice bar with sea view and live band. Aft of the lobby area is the Sunset Boulevard, which again enjoys sea view. It begins at the Umigawa, an a-la-Carte Japanese restaurant serving Japanese and Korean cuisine, with a sushi bar. Next to it is the duty free and forum shopping, a large shopping area featuring snacks, gifts, jewelry and duty free items. A beauty salon is situated inside the forum shopping. Next to the shopping area is the karaoke night pub, which offers private karaoke rooms. It also serves as a sports bar. At the aft is the Galaxy of the Stars showroom, featuring production shows and crew shows, a nice place to hold private functions. A small Windows on the sea bar is located inside. At portside aft of the ship is the Fortune Club, which is a "high-tech" casino. Next to it is the child care centre.

The pool area is situated on Deck 10 aft (a cabin deck), with teakwood floor, a jacuzzi, a small swimming pool and a pool bar on Deck 11. On Deck 11 is a small glass dome, under it is the entrance to the Rua Thai, a Thai style buffet restaurant, with floor to ceiling windows. Next to it are the two auditoriums, which can join together and serve as a cinema and aero seats, also ideal for private functions. Next to it is the activity centre and the observation lounge with floor to ceiling windows, followed by a non-smoking casino called the Phoenix room. This deck also houses the meeting room, mahjong and card game room and the video arcade. Aft of these is the expansive open deck, where deck buffet is sometimes held. There is also open deck on Deck 12, the top deck of the ship, with a nice view around the ship and is ideal for sightseeing or watching the sea goes by.

Formerly a car ferry, this ship is of the mass market side and is hardly luxury. However, it does have certain features that newer and larger ships lack, like sea view in lots of public rooms and passageway, offering natural light and connection to sea. Everywhere is observatory and the ship still feels nice in heavy rain when open decks are abandoned. The weak point is that the public rooms are all of the large size and there is no intimate rooms for silence, although the ship seldom gets full.

Three restaurants, the Mariners, Ocean Palace and Rua Thai serves food in the included meals. Star Pisces offers freestyle cruising so they do get crowded in peak hours. They are all buffet restaurant and the ship has no formal dinning rooms. To be honest, there isn't much distinction between the food from them - they all serves mainly Chinese food and similar menu, and some western food. Not all of them are open for all meals. The Rua Thai will be closed if there is deck buffet arranged. With freestyle cruising there are also a number of alternative restaurants, like the 24-hour Blue Lagoon, the Umigawa and the Tai Pan Chinese restaurant inside the Ocean Palace. I especially enjoy eating in Blue Lagoon midnight, 5am for example, for Hainanese Chicken Rice.

I also especially enjoy dinning either in the forward part of either Mariners and Ocean Palace, with great forward facing sea view (and silence), especially nice when the ship is sailing (and at day time). If you wish to avoid crowding, I suggest you to dine either very early or very late. About the Rua Thai, well although it also enjoys sea view, it gets crowded and noisy all the time.

On overnight cruise it is hard to try them all, but on this special longer cruise I managed to try most of them.

My cabin was a CC grade cabin, a single cabin with ocean view. It is the only single cabin in Star Cruises. Similar in size as cabins in DD grade inside cabin, they should be among the smallest cabins at sea, due to the ship's ferry nature. Cabin amenities are just the basic. However, as my cabin does not have upper berth, it proves to feel far more comfortable and spacious. Most cabins on this ship is rather small, but her passengers don't have much baggage, for just a short getaway. There is little "closet" space. Some cabins on lower decks were originally crew cabins (like mine), which proves to be a bit larger and more comfortable than cabins of the same grade on the upper deck. Some cabins at the aft do experience certain level of vibration. Cabins on Deck 5 are difficult to locate.

Can I hear baby crying next door? Well, just to say that most passengers do not stay long in their cabins, and the ship seldom gets full. The ship was full on this special sailing, but I don't find it noisy at all.

The Galaxy of the Stars features production shows, band and bingo. However, the sight line is poor except the front seats and in this way the room doesn't serve very well for its purpose. The production shows are excellent and is up to the standard of other ships in the fleet. In this special sailing there is also a nice crew show. For bands, depending on where they come from, it may be of Hong Kong or Chinese taste. However, there is always another band singing English songs around. I always enjoy listening to the band or piano in the Castaway bar, with sea view and a little bit intimate when the nearby Ocean Palace is closed. The bar serves as a passageway for passengers getting to the Ocean Palace.

On my special cruise there were a number of extra program's. There was a special part before the first show - Meet the faces of Star Pisces. It features crew members from different departments, from the captain to cabin maid, introducing themselves and their duties, which feels like a captain cocktail party. There is a special crew show with magic show, very impressive.

The ship stopped at Xiamen from 9am to 8pm, so there is plenty of time for a long shore excursion. The shore excursion is operated by local tour operator, not quite impressive but still fine. Due to expected rain shower in Xiamen every passenger is provided a raincoat upon disembarkation. Traveling in Xiamen is fine, there was no major traffic congestion and the terminal is quite close to the city centre.

On this special sailing there is dancing class, and a bridge tour, of which the captain becomes your guide and explain the operation of the bridge. Other activities include bingo, karaoke and monopoly competition... Childcare service is available, and parent can get around (like going to the casino) by themselves.

Mostly Asian, and mostly Chinese. Most passengers are from Hong Kong and mainland China, and on this cruise there are a few westerners. Expect some kids, especially on weekends and school holidays.