Tall Ship Cruise Reviews

I decided to start my cruise holiday with an overnight stay in Athens in order to experience the Greek capital's culture and take a look at the ancient Acropolis before embarking on the Star Clipper for a 4 night ‘taster' cruise visiting, Paros, Kusadasi and Mykonos.

A 30-minute transfer from my hotel in the centre of Athens took me to the port of Piraeus, where I caught my first glimpse of the Clipper ship. The Star Clipper looked tiny next to the cruise liners in port- perfect!

I was welcomed aboard with a refreshing cocktail which I enjoyed on deck before checking out my cabin. I had booked a category two cabin, which was elegantly decorated with plenty of storage space and a light and airy feel.

The food on board was delicious and certainly plentiful, with buffet style breakfasts and lunches followed by six course evening meals. I also liked the open seat dining which gave the flexibility of choosing who you sat with and the smart casual dress code stopped dinner being too much of a formal affair.

I found the Star Clipper to be a beautiful ship which was small, yet spacious and really allowed you to embrace the overall sailing experience with opportunities to climb the rigging and help put the sails up.  One of my fondest memories of the whole holiday was the sail away party, gathered on deck, champagne in hand, with the sails being raised as we cruised away from Piraeus; truly magical.

The crew on board were fabulous! Friendly but professional and their ability to make you feel special with little touches such as remembering your name and favourite drink, made the overall experience more enjoyable.

Excursions were well organised and the guides were very informative - certainly something that is required in a place like Ephesus.

Overall a truly amazing cruise holiday and one I hope to repeat sometime in the near future.

I cannot recommend this cruise ship enough (Royal Clipper),  From boarding in Rome until leaving the clipper in Venice we had the most wonderful holiday we have ever had.

The staff, food and cleanliness were excellent.  The crew even remembered your name and what drink you had after a day or two.  There was food and drink available at any time of the day or night.  The excursions were very well organised and there is always something to do on board, if you do not go ashore.

 We are certainly planning to go on another cruise on this vessel.  Perhaps to the Far East this time.

We booked this cruise about the Royal Clipper as our honeymoon treat and we were not disppointed.  It was a fabulous experience, luxurious without being pompously OTT and the casual nature of the crew, the open seating at meal times and the smart /casual dress code all made for a truely relaxing trip.

 Would recommend to anyone - particularly if the idea of a 3000+ passenger cruise aboard a floating apartment block has put you off cruising - try out the Star Clipper fleet and you won't be disappointed.

I took a morning flight from Leeds/Bradford to Nice airport with Jet2. The taxi transfer from the Nice airport to the harbour side at Cannes takes approx 50 minutes.

When I approached the harbour side I was a little confused as the ship was moored up out of the bay and I wondered how on earth all the passengers got onboard. As I haven't been on a ship like this before I didn't realise they commuted you back and fore by tender boats (small boats similar to a lifeboat size). I checked in at the harbour side and was given a cruise credit card to use on board. I made my way to the tender to go across to the magnificent Star Clipper. The porters took charge of your luggage so I did not need to bother or worry about getting this off the tender and onto the big ship. My luggage was taken straight to the cabin.

I stayed in a category 3 cabin for sole occupancy on the commodore deck, room 107. The cabin was a reasonable size and furnished well. It had a small porthole, two single beds, a small dresser and chair, TV, wardrobe and marbled shower room with toilet and basin. Over all the cabin was a good standard but maybe needed a little updating on the furnishings. The porthole was just above the water level as at present it didn't both me, however when sailing through the night the water was always sloshing around in the porthole and the water noise hitting the cabin side was loud.

Dinner was always served around 7pm. Every night the menu was different and there were always 5 courses with a variety of meals to choose from. Dietary requirements were always looked after. The food was out of this world. Lunchtime was a buffet with different continents food (American, Italian, Asian etc). I would certainly recommend in losing some weight before travelling. All I seemed to do was eat and drink. The table sizes varied they held 4, 6, 8 or 10 people and each had a waiter. In the centre of the dinning room was the buffet table which was used a breakfast and lunchtimes only. 

Every day they always tried to raise the sails (subject to weather conditions), which was the most magnificent sight I had seen. It was beautiful. Evening entertainment was provided onboard every night. It was light entertainment either a quiz, disco or cloths show. There were mixed nationalities onboard so the entrainment was certainly entertaining at times. Dress-code onboard was mainly casual however in an even guests did want to make an effort, however they didn't "dress-up" in cocktail dresses etc. It was more smart/casual.

Every day you were always moored in a different location, if not two locations. This gave you time to look around these places, take the option of going to a near by beach or simply laze around the sundeck soaking up the sun and dipping in the pools. On the itinerary I did my favourite stop was Portofino. This was full of very expensive yachts and boats and as you approach it has a look of wealth about it. I strolled the various shops and ally ways to offer but I will admit it was mainly window shopping as the famous shops were far too expensive for me. We sailed to many other places of interest, however being on my own it was a little strange walking around so I would get of the ship and look around for about an hour then I'd get back onboard and sunbathe.

The staff certainly knew how to look after everyone and they were so friendly. They even knew what your favourite drink was by the 2^nd day. Even though I was a single passenger onboard I never felt left out particularly at mealtimes and evenings. The staff always made sure I was sat with other passengers at meal times. The only time I was left alone was through the day, which I didn't mind because I was there to unwind.