Scuba and Children On Star Clipper??

[joediver]

I've just finished a wonderful week on Seadream and we're trying to start arrangements for next year. We saw both Windstar & Star Clipper ships on our cruise and I've heard Windsar offers an excellent scuba program. Does Star Clipper offer this also? I could not find any info on their website.

We also have an 11 year old who will be a certified diver by then. Has anyone seen many pre-teens on Star Clippers? I understand Windstar rarely has any on board.

[DoctorTom]

My partner and I were on the Star Clipper in December, and did some diving with them. This was the first cruise for the dive team, and they were a little unorganized. My major complaint about diving off the Star Clipper is that all the equipment has to be lowered and raised over the side by winches, and it all took a long time. They had two dives scheduled every day, and things got tight because they had'nt planned on how long it wouldtake to load everything. The two divemasters were very good once we got in the water. If you are interested in doing alot of diving, I would look into the Royal Clipper. That ship has a dive platform off the stern.

 

There were no children on our cruise, and I understand there are usually very few children on Star Clipper cruises. They don't have a children's program, and I imagne a child could get bored easily on the boat. There's not much to do other than relax and enjoy the sensation of being on a real sailing vessel.

[Gwife]

We have booked for Flyer med in June. I contacted star re children and were told they have very few children aboard. They recommend they are able to entertain themselves as they do not provide sitters or entertainement programs. My daughter is a laze by the pool and read and loves to sail so we've booked...hope it works...

[dogandcat]

We have just returned from 2 weeks on the Royal Clipper. The first week there was one child aboard and the second week there were a dozen. The cruise line has no organized programs for children. There are board games to use in the library and they have free DVD movies to view in the cabin. They offer mast-climbing (with a harness!!) a few days during the cruise and an 11 year old on the 2nd cruise did it. Some reading about square rigged ships before the cruise would be helpful for a teen to appreciate the ship and the 43 sails.

Diving: Although we are not divers, we met some people who enjoyed the diving program very much. They raved about the aspect of leaving the ship in the zodiac and having all the dive equipment on board the Royal Clipper. I noticed in the program that some days there were 2 dives scheduled. The dive master checks for certification and also asks the participants how many dives they have done.

Windstar: I have never seen any children or teens on the cruises we have taken with them.

[spratty2k]

Just back from a week on the Star Clipper and there was one pre-teen on board (mostly hanging onto her mother). Two dives scheduled for most days -- they take their diving pretty seriously -- to the point of ingnoring the snorklers I'm sorry to say.

[donna5]

We are just back from the Feb 27-March 6 Star Clipper. The new dive guy Aaron didn't embark until Feb 28 in Anguilla. The first dive briefing for certified divers was on Wed March 2. There were only 2 dive days with Aaron. I know one gentleman had a dive outfit pick him up. I was glad we didn't take our dive gear. You aren't in the ports very long and the dives didn't leave right away so you wouldn't be able to do anything else. They did one snorkel safari-they take you out in the tenders and you have to get off and on from the ladder on the front. They cancelled on Anquilla, so the only one was on Norman Island near what they called the caves. They had 3 trips starting at noon,1:00,2:00. You have about 45 minutes. Almost everyday there is a beach day, they tender you in to the beach and the beach boys(Gustaf and Magnas) take out the zodiac with pool floats, kayaks, the yellow banana, laser sailboat and a wakeboard.

As our Captain kept saying we are a Tall Ship(we sail) Windstar is computer controlled roller furling. The starclipper uses people power.

We had two children on the ship until Anguilla, a lady from National Geographic had her kid there and they were in the Owner's Suite for 1 night and got off in Anguilla.

There is no children's program. The only public rooms are the library, piano bar(sort of like a surround balcony over the dininingroom) and the dinningroom.

[cheezwhiz]

We were on the March 24 cruise on the Royal and both kids are certified 14 and 16 the dives were great. The divemaster was OK very quiet. Sign up early because the scuba filled up right away.