websailor

We are going on our first Star Clippers cruise! Yeah!!!!!!!!!

We're excited to experience what the Royal Clipper will be like. We've cruised a fair bit on Princess and Royal Caribbean ships to a few destinations. But the smallest ship we've been on had ~600 passengers, so the Royal Clipper will be quite different.

We really like meeting people and talking with them, so I think we'll really like that aspect of Royal Clipper.

As I sailor, I know that I'll enjoy all the sailing related parts - I hope we have some good winds!

I found this link that had some great pictures that show more parts of the ship than I've seen before. Enjoy.... http://experience.usatoday.com/cruise/story/cruise-lines/star-clippers/2016/01/20/cruise-ship-tours-royal-clipper/78353986/

I hope to hear from others that will be on this cruise....though these boards seem to be very slow....oh well, maybe we'll have the whole ship for ourselves. ;)

What were the snacks at 5 pm? Did they all have cheese in/on them (asking for my non-cheese eating wife)

Did they have a pirate dress up night?

Did you go out on the bowsprit net? Was it easy to do?

We're really looking forwards to our first Star Clippers cruise!

Thanks JOBAKE, that helps. I'll absolutely be up on deck for the sail aways! It sounds fantastic.

Any other tips or hints would be appreciated. :)

We are so excited since we just booked our first cruise on the Royal Clipper, the BVI Christmas trip. Since we've never been on board before, we don't quite know the cabins. We booked Cabin 312 on the Main Deck and just noticed that the ship's Launch is right above us (or at least we think it is).

Is this good or bad?

We already figure that we shouldn't be on our tiny balcony when they lower the Launch. I was thinking it might be nice to have the shade and perhaps some shelter from the rain, but we also wouldn't be able to look up and see the stars.

Anyone have any experience with such a cabin or any thoughts on this?

So I see that Princess can change the rules of the rewards program at any time. Is the rumor true that if you wear a lanyard, you get extra points. And one of the sparkly lanyards is double extra points?

;) :) ;) :)

Maybe instead of a diamond on the cruise card, we could get a free Princess Logo tattoo, somewhat discrete, but where we could make it visible as required.

:)

I'd actually need at least three free drinks first though.

Another reason Ensenada is the port of choice is that it is closer to Honolulu.

From Honolulu to Ensenda and then to San Francisco is 3,220 miles. From Honolulu to Vancouver BC and then to San Francisco is 3,677 miles.

At the rate the cruise ships burn oil, that extra 457 miles is quite a bit of extra cost.

I can totally understand that if the Star Princess is 1.5 hours late, it might end up leaving 1.5 hours later also. Since it was supposed to depart at 4 pm, if I add 1.5 hours to that, it would have left at 6:30 pm because it was delayed by the fog.

Oops, make that 5:30 pm departure, so the delay was 6 hours after that.....

I was on the Star Princess that anchored in the Bay for an hour and a half on 1/13/2015 due to the heavy fog. That is the first time that has ever happened to us in our many SF port departures & arrivals. Incidentally I found it to be quite magical watching the fog shift around, revealing some parts of the City and hiding others. It was a lovely end of a cruise, though since we are local, we just had to hop on BART to get home - I'm sure it was more stressful for other people who had to catch airplane flights.

I can totally understand that if the Star Princess is 1.5 hours late, it might end up leaving 1.5 hours later also. Since it was supposed to depart at 4 pm, if I add 1.5 hours to that, it would have left at 6:30 pm because it was delayed by the fog.

BUT, it actually left at 11:34 pm, a long 5 hours past what I'd think could have been created by the fog.

I do wonder what caused that 5 hour delay. The Dock Workers delaying tactics in all the West Coast Ports is well documented so I see that as the smoking gun here. But I'm willing to hear other factual information about what caused the 5 hour portion of the delay.

This is a hilarious (and informative) thread! :D Thanks!

I have to ask a question though - does one have to be sitting on the seat for the various buttons to work? I ask, because way back when I was a kid, that toilet would be an invitation to hide with the control and then ask my brother or sister to come in.....just as I press the water jet button.....devious, I know, but us kids were always doing such things to each other as jokes. :)

It's standard now for the cruise ships to be escorted by armed CG boats. Last week when we left the two inflatables were on either side of us (looked just like the picture posted) and the larger cutter behind us. The other times we've sailed from SF in the past few years was the same.

I hope the passenger is okay.

Thank you so much! Okay, I'll post pictures - I've been away for a while, so I have a lot of CC catching up to do!

I think talking to your room steward is the key. We make it a point to meet them at the beginning of a cruise and to let them know our expectations and what we are like (go to each of the meals, usually away for an hour, good time to make up the room, wife take afternoon nap - do not disturb her unless you enjoy fire breathing dragons, etc).

When we leave, we try to wave to them or talk to them to let them know what we are doing (going out to breakfast, going on shorex- back around noon, etc).

We try to get to know them a bit personally - have kids, where are you from, etc.

We also use the DND/Service tags but don't rely on them too much. We do let the steward know that they are to knock on our door. We haven't yet had to tell them that a failure to do so will be reflect in their gratuity, but if they ignored it, that would certainly be a short discussion with them.

We've had a couple of times being surprised, but it was no big deal. Most of the times the steward is professional and apologizes and quickly backs out of the room.

We've had the Patter delivered to the outside door box, under the door, on the bed - we don't care one way or the other. We know we can also always get one from the Pursers desk if we need one. Never had one stolen though.

We go on cruises to be happy - we're not going to let a minor faux pas ruin our day.

:)

This is a great discussion here!

That's odd....oh well, maybe I won't post pictures anymore.

Interesting - I see them, they are hosted on my web server at home. Maybe outside people can't see them - I checked the permissions and the firewalls and all that looks okay.

Let me try something else - can you tell me what it is you do see?

If I remember correctly, clean dishes in the kitchen waiting for food to be put into them for us.....or else dirty dishes!

A garbage scow pulled up alongside the Island Princess - it was interesting to see what was being thrown out.

And in a different area of the ship, the bicycle storage:

Here is a different portrait type picture taken at sunset

NO GRAFFITI ALLOWED!!!!!!

 

Fixing the link on an old post

The Star Princess on a recent Mexican Riviera cruise had such evening entertainment also by a pair of crew members. All I can say is that young love is so interesting to watch if it doesn't involve any family members!

 

But back to behind the scenes....

 

Here is the crews balcony on Mariner of the Seas :D:

Fixing the link on an old post....

NO GRAFFITI ALLOWED!!!!!!

Now that beats all manner of blackwater piping, lagged hot water pipes, mooring lines coiled on bright green spools

freezer lockers, grunge disposal rooms, crew-only companionways

- and everything else ever shown on this somewhat mundane thread!

 

.

The Star Princess on a recent Mexican Riviera cruise had such evening entertainment also by a pair of crew members. All I can say is that young love is so interesting to watch if it doesn't involve any family members!

But back to behind the scenes....

Here is the crews balcony on Mariner of the Seas :D:

Here is the forward line handling room on the Coral Princess in 2008...we were walking the promenade deck and they left the door open :)

I was slightly amazed at how clean it was.

Sorry for the blurry pictures - the camera didn't do so well in the light on the setting I had it on. :(

You might also be interested in this thread - Photos Of the Bridge

pmenefee - WOW! Gorgeous!!!

Oh, Ok, that is interesting.

That is my camera. I love it and am just starting to find all the things it can do. It is a 10 mpx and I rarely use the flash.

The photos are on Webshots.

LOL, well give a challenge to an IT geek and that's what you have to expect. :D

You should see what happened on CC for our last cruise where we had a bunch of computer folks and someone commented that it was a "Geek Cruise"! We had weekly challenges where you had to work to figure out the answers....then we doubled it since some of the cruisers felt left out, so we had cruise trivia questions. By the time we got on board the ship, we all knew each other quite well - at our get together, we had prizes and award certificates!

BTW, your pictures are great! I read your posts about the new camera - it sounds like a great camera. I'm glad to see you are trying different things with it.