Royal Clipper October 9, 2021 - Cannes to Lisbon

[FWFrog]

We have now committed!  Anyone else doing this sailing?

 

 

[cluso]

Are they sailing yet?  Last update was the end of July on their website under the "Health" news.  Tried to chat with them yesterday.  Although it said they were online, I just got an automated reply to leave a message.  No response.

[FWFrog]

I believe only the Royal Clipper is currently sailing and only for the last week or two. Star Flyer and Star Clipper set to sail again before the end of the year.  This message board is so quiet that I have not seen any reports or chat around the first few scheduled departures.  I assume the first sails went as planned or are in progress. We have our cruise docs and are packing for departure next week.  Fingers crossed.

 

We only booked a few weeks ago.  During that process, we spoke by phone with Star Clipper several times with no hold at all.  I haven't tried the chat function.

 

 

[cluso]

I've lost track of our Star Clipper cruises, maybe 11 or 12.  There has never been a big presence of SC passengers on Cruise Critic.  Our last one was Lisbon to Rome 2019 on the Royal, 12 nights I believe.  Excellent.  Our next one is Malta to Athens , 13 nights,  on 24 April 2022.  We had to push it back a year due to Covid.  Made our flight reservations yesterday, hoping it will happen.  Please come back here and let us know how your adventure was, especially if ports were open to you without requiring ship's excursions.

 

Enjoy!

[FWFrog]

This is only our 2nd Star Clipper - we are excited to return after many years.  We were previously booked on Windstar but cancelled because of the shore excursion policy at the time. (It has since relaxed for certain ports.)  Star Clipper assured us that they are not requiring guests to take SC shore excursion to disembark at ports.  I will let you know how it goes - nothing is certain in COVID times!

[cluso]

 

On 10/1/2021 at 7:21 AM, FWFrog said:

  I will let you know how it goes - nothing is certain in COVID times!

 

Just checking to see if you sailed and how it was...

[FWFrog]

Sail went great!  A few ports in the itinerary changed but, overall, a very nice experience.  We had about 85 guests on board.  Everyone wore masks inside - a few wore masks outside. 

 

We were assigned dinner tables for the cruise.  Although, you could choose to join another table for dinner if you wished.  Temp taken and sanitizer when you entered the restaurant and plastic gloves required when you served yourself at the lunch buffet.

 

COVID test administered at port and also before Gibralter (although nobody asked to see the result when we disembarked), and right before disembarking if you wished.

 

No restrictions on shore excursions.  Although, several were cancelled due to low demand.

 

To my knowledge, nobody contracted COVID while on board.  Everything seemed fairly normal except only 85 on the cruise.

[cluso]

21 hours ago, FWFrog said:

Sail went great! 

Thank you for the update!

[Ben2travel]

On 11/16/2021 at 10:23 AM, FWFrog said:

Sail went great!  A few ports in the itinerary changed but, overall, a very nice experience.  We had about 85 guests on board.  Everyone wore masks inside - a few wore masks outside. 

 

We are booked on the same (or similar) cruise for this October (having postponed two previous reservations!).  Any impressions about your cruise or the ports would be more than welcomed.  We are still a bit worried about COVID, but keeping our fingers crossed.

 

Thanks.

[Denarius]

On 6/5/2022 at 10:56 PM, Ben2travel said:

We are booked on the same (or similar) cruise for this October (having postponed two previous reservations!).  Any impressions about your cruise or the ports would be more than welcomed.  We are still a bit worried about COVID, but keeping our fingers crossed.

 

Thanks.

Just returned from Royal Clipper two days ago, on Sat 11 June. Situation onboard was as follows.

Antigen (lateral flow) test required within 24 hours of embarkation - this was at 3pm. If you could not comply, a test could be administered in the cruise terminal before boarding. Proof of vaccination also required.

Ship fairly full but not totally so - no actual figure given, best estimate about three quarters.

Masks required inside the ship apart from in cabin, in bar and in restaurant. Restaurant table allocated on first night to be used for all meals during cruise - this impacted adversely on sociability. Some bar stools and seats in bars out of action to enforce social distancing - ditto! Apart from seating, restaurant and bar operating normally, as was library. Temperature check on entering dining room for dinner, and when embarking ship after port visits, but not overtly intrusive. Not aware of any covid cases identified onboard.

Overall, I enjoyed the sailing but not as much as I would have had covid protocols not been in force; the atmosphere onboard was noticably less sociable than on my previous Star Clipprs cruises because of them. Hopefully things will eventually return to normal.

Edited June 13, 2022 by Denarius
Clarification.

[Ben2travel]

On 6/13/2022 at 11:18 AM, Denarius said:

Just returned from Royal Clipper two days ago, on Sat 11 June. Situation onboard was as follows.

 

Thank you.  We're getting excited about ours.

[FLAMINGONC]

Boarding this year on October 8, 2022, Cannes to Lisbon and then staying on for the Transatlantic Lisbon to Barbados  !!

[Ben2travel]

3 hours ago, FLAMINGONC said:

Boarding this year on October 8, 2022, Cannes to Lisbon and then staying on for the Transatlantic Lisbon to Barbados  !!

We were booked on that cruise, but switched to a Venice to Athens cruise. Enjoy! I’ve always wondered what a transatlantic cruise would be like.

[donaldsc]

On 9/30/2021 at 9:39 AM, cluso said:

I've lost track of our Star Clipper cruises, maybe 11 or 12.  There has never been a big presence of SC passengers on Cruise Critic.  Our last one was Lisbon to Rome 2019 on the Royal, 12 nights I believe.  Excellent.  Our next one is Malta to Athens , 13 nights,  on 24 April 2022.  We had to push it back a year due to Covid.  Made our flight reservations yesterday, hoping it will happen.  Please come back here and let us know how your adventure was, especially if ports were open to you without requiring ship's excursions.

 

Enjoy!

 

Have you done the Greek Island cruises?  We are booked on the Southern and Northern Cyclades cruises B2B in October.  These will be be our first Clipper cruises.  Are there any tips or suggestions or thoughts that you might want to pass on.

 

DON