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Star Clippers

Royal Clipper

Your Rating:
Reviewed by: John Siegel
# previous cruises: 5
Date of Trip: August 12, 2005
Itinerary: Mediterranean

This is the largest sailing ship in the world. 5 masts with 50+ sails unfurling is an awesome sight. Unfortunately on this itinerary, the winds were mostly unfavorable for a square-rigged sailing ship like the Royal Clipper. Most of the voyage was under engine power, although a show was made of unfurling the sails every evening at sail-away. I was told that these sails are more useful in the Caribbean, or other areas with trade winds.

Atrium dining room was comfortable and adequate for the 200+ guests on this vessel. The wait-staff seemed overworked but generally competent. No casino, limited entertainment and three small deck pools describe the limited on board activities. Dinner is from 1930-2200 and most guests go to the tropical bar area for conversation, refreshment and music/dancing. As this ship is now 5 years old, I would say it is at the end of its' "cycle" and requires refurbishment soon. This is not to say that it looks bad or unpleasant in any way; only that the sails could probably use replacing and the hull looks like it could use a fresh coat of paint, rather than constant touching up.

The food was adequate, but not stellar. Full breakfast and lunch buffets, along with omelette & carving stations were good with enough variety to satisfy most tastes. Afternoon deck buffets were light, consisting of sandwiches and a few hot items. Midnight "buffet" was a joke with 2 plates of cheese and ham squares the only thing we could find. Again, the dinners were good and varied. Generally 5-6 courses are available with 2-4 choices of each one. The wait staff was competent but spotty and we generally got the impression that they were a bit understaffed. The open seating policy was quite pleasant and we got to meet a number of our fellow guests and crew members each night at dinner.

We got a deluxe cabin with a veranda and we were very happy with it. Large size with great appointments including a jacuzzi tub in the bath. Cabin was generally quiet except when the tender boat outside our cabin was lowered or raised.

Based on the feedback of other guests it sounds like the standard cabins are much smaller than this deluxe and we would certainly recommend the upgrade if you can do it.

Singer/keyboardist pretty bad. Cruise director terrible. We don't expect them to be around much longer.

Ports were Rome, Ponza, Capri (actual Naples), Lippari, Taormina, Corfu, Dubrovnik, Hvar, Karcula & Rosvinj (Croatia) and finally Venice. Great ports. Croatia beautiful but quite behind in tourist comforts and art items.

Generally 45-80 in age. A few honeymoon couples and teens. Also a handful of younger kids, but generally quiet and well behaved. Fellow guests were sophisticated and well educated (doctors, retired execs, airline pilots, etc;) and genuinely friendly and fun. Americans, Europeans, Aussies make up the majority of guests, and we noticed no Asian guests. We hooked up with one couple who lives nearby and will certainly arrange dinner with them at home.

Finally, a great many guests were on their third, fourth or even tenth cruise on this line. While we liked the cruise overall, I don't know that we would do another one in the foreseeable future.