Star Clippers Reviews 7

The USP of this company is that its fleet of 3 are all sailing ships, the largest of which - Royal Clipper - looks very like the 19th century square-rigged tea clippers. But there is a problem. If the wind is not blowing in the right direction, the ships still have a tight schedule to keep to as with any other cruise ship. For that reason they also have engines. My most recent trip was on Royal Clipper from Gran Canaria to Malaga, with stop-offs in Morocco and Gibraltar. Nothing was said officlally but you could tell the wind direction from the flags and we motored to our destination. I think this has to be accepted as reality on board such a ship.

The ships are magnificent and as a passenger you are free to move around the ship to watch the crew about their tasks. This includes standing near the bridge as the Captain etc. navigates the ship in and out of port. Now there are areas off-limits (e.g. engine room) for obvious reasons but on an earlier trip I joined a small group tour of this area led by an engineer. I read one review criticising the ship for health and safety reasons. This is a fully working sailing ship and you might encounter 'obstacles' on the deck or crew members undertaking some task. Its all part of the unique experience.

There are the operational staff - the crew - and those looking after hospitality (accommodation, catering etc.). All staff are very friendly - happy to chat if not too busy - and highly professional. The accommodation and catering is first class. You certainly won't go hungry!

Star Clippers operates in the Caribbean + Central America and the Mediterranean with transatlantic trips as they move the ships around. They previously operated in Asia but from answers to questions from passengers it was clear that such trips were not coming back on the itinerary. Pacific cruises would be even more interesting but again do not appear to be on the 'to do' list for the company.

Star Clippers has a very high percentage of repeat customers which has to be some kind of recommendation. The experience of being on the sea in one of these magnificent ships really is unique and I would also be a re-booker when an cruise of interest comes available. Its certainly the only kind of cruise trip I would ever want to take.

What a fantastic experience cruising around the Caribbean Islands on a Clipper. Everything was just perfect and it renewed our faith in cruising too, (Large ships are just too impersonal for us). I highly recommend Star Clippers, my only bugbear was having to wear long trousers to dinner where I think smart shorts should be allowed. Wonderful experience booked via Imagine Cruising with a 7 day stay in Barbados.

Just finished a 7 day cruise from Barbados and back around the neighbouring islands - utterly brilliant bar one tiny niggle. The crew were hard working, friendly and cheerful. The food was outstanding in bright and spotless surroundings. We had a wedding vows blessing by the captain on the bridge and a free bottle of bubbly to help celebrate. Just a fabulous trip which will be hard to beat, so we plan to go back for another cruise with them.
The minor niggle? I don't pay for WiFi in hotels and don't see the ship as any different. There were limited locations on the ship too. Sort this out and it will be perfect cruising on a gorgeous tall ship. Thank you Peter and Milo in particular - you know who you are!

I can only agree with the other reviewers negative experience. I was booked for 2021 and Clipper cancelled. We decided to be nice as cruise companies were taking a beating so rather than get our deposit back we moved it to 2022. I should have had concerns at this point as they wanted a small extra fee to cover 'inflation'. Looking back I should have realised that this showed their money-grabbing attitude. The Covid situation in Europe is still quite volotile and I have health issues, so we asked to move again to 2023, expecting another small inflationary raise. Guess what, £100 per person to move. That is Ryanair type practice, I am not paying £200 for what will take them 5 minutes to carry out. So we walked away and lost our deposit. In retrospect we should have not been nice and just taken a full refund in 2021, but Karma is out there, and will come back to bite them in the rear. Cunard are so different, stick with what you know and trust.

Taking advantage of Covid 19 to bilk their passengers is very wrong.

*****

I paid $4,000 for a cruise from Cannes to Lisbon in October. The company refused to answer my email in which I questioned why the trip director flatly refused to let me board because I couldn't furnish proof a PCR test. Days before the trip began, I had emailed the requested documents (CDC card, travel insurance, etc.) to them. Thereupon I was given clearance. "The documents you have submitted are acceptable for boarding," they said.

No one bothered to mention a Covid PCR test.

In the first hour of embarkation they had already refused boarding to 6passengers.

Why didn't they issue a warning beforehand? Why was there no printed material ever sent, no letter expressly stating the absolute requirement on their part and the reasons for divergence from EU protocol?

Passengers from North America have a gazillion things on their mind as they prepare for an almost 2 week cruise on another continent. Things come up, things slide, in the midst of a plethora of details and lists to do.

Surely one email several days before the start of the cruise would have saved stranded passengers like myself much heartache and not squandered months of planning and packing, as well as life savings!

In fact, going to France required only a EU digital Covid certificate and double Covid vaccination. Why the company was not in alignment with EU protocol is baffling.

In fact, the United States, France, Portugal do not require the PCR. An antigenic test suffices.

On the Star Clippers ships, everyone, anyway, was to be wearing masks on board except on the decks, just as is the case in the US or in France.

In fact, he didn't even suggest an alternative, how I could meet up in the next port, etc.

Another employee, a nurse told me how and wrote instructions down. Immediately took a taxi ($80) to rush to the airport to do the PCR, went back into Nice to find a hotel to stay overnight ($160) made air reservations ($400) to fly the next day to the port she said the ship would next stop at.

The port she told me to fly to, at considerable extra expense and effort, was not the one listed on the latest itinerary.

I went straight to the dock the next day after flying to Corsica. The taxi driver said he hadn't seen any such sailing vessel all day.

That same morning I had hours trying to figure out how to SMS, telephone, email, leave a message on their site in order to ascertain which city in Corsica the ship would stop at and for how long.

There was no way to do this. I trusted what the nurse who was standing 10 yards from the trip director had told me. She at least showed compassion. The trip director was totally indifferent to my plight and was of no help whatsoever. He was dismissive and acted as if I were asking for a refund on a $5 trinket. "No way. Now scram. I'm not interested in your problem. Do whatever you want. Why should I be concerned?"

I feel totally ripped off and treated with near total indifference by star Clippers. "We got your money, now we don't owe you a thing. Go hang yourself" is their attitude.

DO NOT TRUST STAR CLIPPERS OR GO ON ANY OF THEIR CRUISES.

My hunch is that they overbooked the cruise intentionally, knowing and even hoping that the insistence on the PCR would throw some passengers off. Thus, they counted on turning away a certain percentage of already paid up passengers so they could overbook, including passengers whose cruises had been postponed since the shutdown.

In any case, they are completely indifferent to the (plight of the) very people whose existence they financially depend on. "I've taken your money, so I no longer need you."

The owners threw in the clearly extraneous requirement to make for lost profits from the 18 months or so there were no sailings due to the Covid shutdown.

THEY'RE UNSCRUPULOUS.