Super Star Virgo

[kuldalai]

You are in fact taking two back to back itineraries on SS GEMINI a 7 day Straits Adventurer departing 16/09 followed straight on by a 7 day South China Seas Itinerary .

 

Check out Star Cruises website for full ship, cabin, itinerary details plus details of tours available at each port you mention .

 

Penang - we have done pedicab ride and lunch. Phuket - the trip to James Bond Island was very good . Ho Chi Minh City - we did pedicab ride and also full day Ho Chi Minh city highlights, both good. Koh Samui - do the full day Elephant riding, it vists several attractions in the course does full circumnavigation of the island by road coach . Koh Samui is very shallow draught and even the smaller SS GEMINI anchors offshore and you are taken ashore by tender boats .

 

Tip as soon as you board SS GEMINI (Or SS VIRGO) go to reception and join up free in the STARCRUISER card . Then have Reception activate the card for you which automatically adds brownie points on your card based on the cabin type you have booked. Then on board you charge all purchases including grog, souvenirs, photos, tours etc to your personal cabin card . When you settle the cabin card account before disembarking you will also have earnt brownie points for all your on board purchases on the cabin card . Then present your Star Cruiser card at settlement and the brownie points accumulated can be used as part payment in settlememnt of your account . We saved over $ 200 Aus for our 7 day cruise . Plus the settlement of the actual account also appears to have earnt even more brownie points for our next cruise . Important : to get the brownie points credit for the cabin you have booked the STAR CRUISER card must be swiped /activated at Reception BEFORE the vessel departs from Singapore.; on EACH of your two separate itineraries . Hope this helps.

[jyi1693]

Back from the June 3rd Ho Chi Minh City Cruise!

 

Here are 3 pics, I'll upload some others later. :)

 

SuperStar Virgo at Phu My Port, Saigon River.

 

SuperStar Virgo anchored off Redang Island.

 

One for deck 9 001.

 

Yes! It's SuperStar Libra at Singapore Cruise Centre! And she's looking great, workers can be seen on board her, refitting going on before she goes to Taiwan! :cool:

 

 

Jyi1693.

[ssv]

Welcome back from the trip, jyi! It must have been sad disembarking from the magnificent Virgo. Certainly hope you had a great time onboard and maybe its time for the next booking :D

[deck 9 001]

Welcome back Jyi1693, from your Virgo cruise. I am sure you had a great time. Thanks also for posting your photos. Indeed there is some work already being done aboard Libra and more to come when the ship enters dry-dock very soon. Libra should be "looking good" when she comes to Taiwan. Thanks.

 

Have you booked another cruise yet?

 

Best,

Mike

[silverdream]

Hi,

 

My fiancee and myself are planning to take the star cruise virgo (3 day tropical islander starting Sep 2 2007) for our honeymoon. We are from India and we contacted our travel agent to take care of the bookings. We are being informed by our travel agent that we would need visa's only for Singapore (double entry), Thailand (Phuket). Since the cruise stops over at Malaysia (Langkawi) shouldnt we require Malaysia visa too?

 

Anyone who has taken this cruise please confirm this.

 

Also we are planning to go in for the Ocean View Stateroom with Balcony on Deck 10. Any drawbacks or inconveniences that we need to be aware of?

 

Thanks

 

Srini

[ssv]

deck 10 is perfect, no lounge or buffet above which means no scraping chair or kids running around.

[Deck10 007]

Hi,

 

My fiancee and myself are planning to take the star cruise virgo (3 day tropical islander starting Sep 2 2007) for our honeymoon. We are from India and we contacted our travel agent to take care of the bookings. We are being informed by our travel agent that we would need visa's only for Singapore (double entry), Thailand (Phuket). Since the cruise stops over at Malaysia (Langkawi) shouldnt we require Malaysia visa too?

 

Anyone who has taken this cruise please confirm this.

 

Also we are planning to go in for the Ocean View Stateroom with Balcony on Deck 10. Any drawbacks or inconveniences that we need to be aware of?

 

Thanks

 

Srini

 

Your TA is correct. Trust them. There were 1000 Indian pax on board 3 weeks ago

[brissie gal]

Hi,

My family and I (husband, son 15yo, daughter 12yo) are counting down the days until we leave on our first cruise (SSV)which leaves Singapore on June 24th. We booked the cruise over 6 mths ago and now we think we can be officially VERY EXCITED! We travel to Phuket, Langkawi and Redang Is. I've read everything I can get my hands on and I only discovered this forum this afternoon. The info here is wonderful and very current. I've got so many questions but will start with an important one -shopping! My daughter and I are keen to locate some copy handbags & watches while we're away. Any ideas about where to find some? We're also keen to buy dvd's of latest movies. We'd prefer to shop quickly as there will be so many things to look at and totally different experiences for us to take part in.

 

Also, we're keen to ride an elephant while in Phuket but the excursion that has advertised this also includes many other things that don't really interest us. Any ideas about how to organise just one activity or do you think that it's best to do the advertised tour? Any idea about how long the tours take?

 

Thanks. :confused:

[ssv]

Wow, imitation and pirated dvds! Definitely available at Patong Beach(in Phuket) or the Town(not so sure). I would be slightly worried about the pirated dvds due to customs at Singapore, maybe you could copy the purchases into a hard drive or laptop.

 

Good Luck and have a great cruise!

[revkar]

Wow Brizzie gal, you are doing the same cruise the month before us with our gang. Look forward to hearing how it goes. We have 4 kids (17,14,11,7) and I'm keen to hear how yours enjoyed the cruise...

Are you going to be staying in Singapore long? If you are you could always hop on a bus over to Johor B. (malaysia) for the day and get some cheap stuff there (I believe you can get DVDs there and you could post them home to avoid customs issues).

 

I understand that on the Gala night you can book any of the other resturants and eat at no charge. I would like to do that but I can decide between them (mailny the Japanese and Italian) any suggestions, comments on menus etc would be much appreciated...

 

....less than 50 days to go!!

[ssv]

Specialities restaurant are open free to Balcony and Admiral class passengers only during Gala nights. World Cruiser class passengers have to pay if they are able to secure a seat in those restaurant which is virtually not possible as Balcony and Admiral class have priority booking.

 

The Samurai is a favourite of many passengers. Personally I like Noble House which serves Chinese food, not so sure about Palazzo.

[revkar]

Thanks SSV - fortunately we have booked balcony this time so it is included. So how different is the food -ie comparing Noble house and the Pavillion.. what style, menu does Noble offer?

 

From what I have read the Taj is cheap to eat at anyway so it wouldnt be the one to choose for Gala night... We never get to eat upmarket so you make the most of such an opportunity when it arises..

 

What happens with kids on this night? Are there special meals etc arranged?

 

Your experiences much appreciated.

[boeckli]

We never get to eat upmarket so you make the most of such an opportunity when it arises..

 

I can relate to that .... LOL

[Deck10 007]

Thanks SSV - fortunately we have booked balcony this time so it is included. So how different is the food -ie comparing Noble house and the Pavillion.. what style, menu does Noble offer?

 

From what I have read the Taj is cheap to eat at anyway so it wouldnt be the one to choose for Gala night... We never get to eat upmarket so you make the most of such an opportunity when it arises..

 

What happens with kids on this night? Are there special meals etc arranged?

 

Your experiences much appreciated.

 

The Noble House is superior and window and inside room pax have to pay about $50 pp for the Gala dinner there but they wont be able to get a booking there.

However if you want the Noble house Gala dinner you have to compete with the locals who would line up as soon as they board the ship and wait 3 hours until booking begins.

[brissie gal]

Thanks everyone for your advice, particularly about dvd's. Would hate to spoil a wonderful trip with a run in with customs.

 

Revkar, your family must be very excited. We had originally planned for just the two of us to go as we celebrate our 20th wedding anniversary this year. However,when it was crunch time we decided that we'd like to share it with the kids - we don't go on big holidays very regularly and it's so special to share it as a family. So we booked 2 balcony cabins - we're still getting good mileage out of it with co-operation levels soaring through the roof here! Wonder if it will have lasting effect or will wear off in a couple of weeks??

 

We have an overnight in Singapore before the cruise and then 4 days after so we're planning a night safari to the zoo and a trip to Sentosa. We all love walking so plan to just walk,walk, walk and see what we find.

 

Could anyone give me some details about the teens club? My daughter is 12 but is taller than me and looks at least 15, so she wouldn't fit into the kids club. If they decide to go, what activities are provided? I think that we will probably do most things as a family but would have it as an option.

 

Gala night is obviously very much anticipated. We'd probably choose the Noble House but I don't think any of us would want to queue for 3 hrs when we could be enjoying the many facilities available. How quickly do the specialty restaurants book out for Gala night?

 

Thanks again for your comments. It's great to find a group of people who get excited about cruising. We've become cruise groupies in the last 12 months - we visit Portside, the new cruise terminal in Brisbane whenever a new ship comes in. The security guards recognise us because we're there so frequently. We pretend to know people as we wave madly to the ship as it pulls out! It's funny because there won't be friends to wave us off in Singapore - but I'm sure we can pretend that we're waving to someone!

[ssv]

deck10007 is right

 

Pavillion is more of a mass-market diner with reasonable food whereas Noble House serves delicious and more upmarket items eg Lobster. Normal dishes are also more creatively cooked at Noble House, but taste good so no worries. Noble House serves traditional chinese food whereas Pavillion IMO is the "diluted" version.

 

The Taj is a Indian halal buffet, cover charge is S$12++ for lunch and dinner if my memory did not fail me. So there is little advantage to booking this for Gala.

 

Kids menu is available at Bella Vista(western section) however not at other places which is fine because food is suitable for kids except toddlers. Do note that kids(above 16) are not allowed to dine at Palazzo at any time

 

Usual charge at ala-carte(specialities) restaurants except Taj start from 8++ for a plate of sushi to as much as you can pay/eat, set menus range from 38 for 2pax to 400+ for 10pax.

 

You do have to act quickly for the reservation which is open the first night(not so sure) because Singaporeans are pretty quick whenever free things are there.

 

To brizzie gal: the ala-carte restaurants always get booked out first, so you'll want to be the first 10 in the line to be safe as there are limited seats and each person there will occupy one table or more with their family already.

[Riviera 30]

Hi Brissie Gal

Im going to those places in September on the Gemini. To answer your question about the elephants, In Phuket there is a pretty cheap elephant place run as a refuge, I have attached an e/mail address. if you send him a e/mail he will respond very quickly with all the details. I am going to do his one myself as I do not want to do all the other stuff since I have been there before.

Hope this helps.

 

richard@phuket-scuba-diving.com

 

Cheers

 

Les

[Mahjong77]

Hi Mike :D

 

My sincere and special thanks to you for ensuring we had an unbelievably wonderful time on SS Virgo in March .

 

Mr Yap went out of his way to ensure we were looked after at all times , the invitation to the Gala dinner at the Captains Table is something we will never forget and made hubbie a very proud man , he even wore his Medals and we met some lovely fellow cruisers.

 

Since the cruise we have had a few ups and downs with hubbies health hence I've not been frequenting the net much but I haven't forgotten your help and advice and thank you for it from my heart.

 

I would go on another cruise in a heartbeat , we loved everything , we were very spoiled with special seating at meal times and extra assistance with booking tours and billing.

 

We received the same treatment on our 2nd cruise 2 days later but declined the 2nd invitation to the Captains Table ( gorddd how many people get 2 invites ? lol) as we felt the same opportunity to dine with the Captain should go to others .

 

Thanks Mike , you made 2 people very happy chappies :D

[Doubletrouble_in_oz]

Revkar and Brissie Girl

 

Reservations for the Gala Night for suite and balcony passengers open earlier than for "World Cruisers". Just make your way to the Lido, past the looooooooooooooooong line of passengers and sign up:D The times will be given in your first "Star Navigator" newsletter, but I believe it was on the Sunday between 4 and 5 (?).

 

 

Brissie girl - have a great cruise, your family will love it:) .

As you disembark in Phuket, there will be quite a few cars/taxis waiting for passengers. Just negotiate a price with 1 of them (we paid AU$50 for about 5 hours) and he will take wherever you want to go, and wait for you , including the elephant ride.

 

 

I am impatiently waiting for prices to come out for next July....I want to book it ASAP:D . Anyone know when the itineraries and prices will be available?:(

 

My son will be a teenager then and therefore ineligible for the Kids Club.....any details about the teen club will be greatly appreciated!

 

 

Happy sailings,

 

Justine

[deck 9 001]

Hi Ina, I am so happy that you had a great time on both your cruises aboard SuperStar Virgo. The staff/crew on Virgo are just outstanding!

They will go the extra yard to make sure that passengers are having a memorable time. I can just imagine how proud your husband must have been, and you proud of him. That's great!

 

I truly hope that your husbands health issues are much better now and there will be no further problems in the future.

Maybe another cruise with all that fresh sea air will do you both good:)

 

Please stay active on this board and pop in whenever you can.

 

My best,

 

Mike

[ssv]

Edit : For palazzo restricted from kids BELOW 16, not those who are young at heart.

[whizforty]

Hi we are on the cruise less than a month away. Just can't wait:D!.

 

1.On a 3 night cruise when do they generally have the gala night. What is so special about the gala night any ways or for that matter dining with the captain of the ship.Are children allowed for these gala nights. It would be quite exciting for a 15 year old.

 

2.Are meals served with the shore excursions and are they included in the excursion price.?

 

3.Are credit cards accepted on Star Virgo?

 

Thanks to you all for such a lot of information.

[ssv]

To whiz:

 

Gala night is usually on Tuesday, after leaving from Phuket(Penang & Phuket cruise). You can get to see the officers and have your photos taken with them at the Grand Piazza before dinner - Captain's Cocktail. Childrens are definitely welcomed but they wont be allowed into Palazzo(below 16) at any time.

 

Meals are served on a shore excursion only when stated, do check the slips of paper with detailed information on the excursions placed in your cabin.

 

All onboard purchases are charged to your personal key card and charges can be paid by most credit card(Visa, Mastercard etc.) when collecting your travel document.

 

Hope this answers your question, have a great cruise!

[revkar]

Does anyone have any first hand experience of kids programs on Virgo? They are starting to get quite excited and asking questions. There is a bit on the starcruises site but not much.. perhaps someone who has travelled with kids recently may be able to shed some light.

 

Thanks so much

[boeckli]

Mr Yap went out of his way to ensure we were looked after at all times , the invitation to the Gala dinner at the Captains Table is something we will never forget and made hubbie a very proud man , he even wore his Medals and we met some lovely fellow cruisers.

 

Glad you had such a lovely time and enjoyed Gala Dinner at the Captain's Table. We have been fortunate enough to be invited to the Captain's table on two occasions on the Virgo and felt quite privileged and enjoyed every moment.

BTW - who is "Mr Yap" ?

 

1.On a 3 night cruise when do they generally have the gala night. What is so special about the gala night any ways or for that matter dining with the captain of the ship.Are children allowed for these gala nights. It would be quite exciting for a 15 year old.

 

3.Are credit cards accepted on Star Virgo?

For some people it's special, others may not care about it - personal preference. We felt quite chuffed about getting an invite to the Captain's table - other senior officers also host their own table (hotel manager, staff captain etc.) that passengers may receive an invitation to. Not restricted to suites either. On Gala Dinner night the dress code is "formal" but if you do not want to dress up, you can still eat at the Mediterranean buffet I believe.

The evening commences with the captain's cocktail party in the atrium where the captain introduces the senior officers and then the passengers disburse to the varying restaurants for dinner. Depending on the number of passengers onboard, there may be 2 sittings (the only evening with set meal times).

 

Hope you have a great cruise - any further questions, fire away ...