Royal Clipper Trip Report -- Day 3, continued
Published Saturday, March 5th 2022We boarded directly to an outdoor covered bar (the Tropical Bar) at about 5:30pm. They gave us a cocktail as soon as we stepped on deck. We proceeded to the Purser for check-in. We surrendered our passports, they took our pictures, and gave us our keycards. It was a little odd to give up the passports for the whole week, but we'd had to give them up for several days on our DCL cruise to Iceland, so I wasn't too concerned. From there, we were officially passengers! Time to check out the ship and our stateroom!
Our luggage was already in the room when we got there. That was a nice surprise, as we're used to waiting a few hours to get our luggage on traditional cruises. The room is pretty small. Not a lot of space to move around, and no space for your suitcase(s) after you unpack. Fortunately, our cruise was sailing at only half-capacity (more on that later), so our room steward put our suitcase in an empty stateroom. Very nice. Also, you'll need a power adapter if you want to plug in phones or tablets. We brought a UK-style adapter (Type G), but that was no good. You need an EU-style adapter (Type C). Just a heads-up.
Here's our room. You can see that the bed is pushed all the way up to the wall on one side and there's a chair at the foot of the bed. That makes it tough to get in and out of bed if you're on the "wall side" of the bed.
There's one closet, and it's directly to the left of where I'm standing to take this picture. There is also a drawer under the bed, which is hidden under the bedspread in this pic. There is a set of shelves to the right of where I'm standing and there's a bedside stand with drawers next to the bed. So there's some space for clothes, but not a ton.
The bathroom is pretty typical, although the placement of the hand towels is odd. You're leaning against the towels while you're washing your hands.
Two things about the shower. Obviously, it's small. Almost all cruise ship showers are small, so that's not a big deal. But first, the shower curtain is on a cheap plastic track and is really difficult to slide open and closed. It was a pain in the neck all week. Second, if you look at the bottom of the picture, you may notice that the shower is separated from the bathroom floor by an inch-high lip. So if the ship is moving while you're in the shower, the water just spills out into the bathroom. So don't wear your socks into the bathroom if your cabin-mate has just showered.
Like most cruise lines, Star Clippers provides toiletries in the room. I have to be honest and tell you that I didn't think these were very good. The shampoo made my hair really stiff, and the bottles are rigid plastic, so you can't squeeze them to get the shampoo out. You have to shake it, and it's slow, and who has the time?
After fully unpacking, we went to our first dinner. In non-Covid times, Star Clippers ships have open seating for the meals in the dining room. But on our sailing, we had to tell them which table we'd be sitting at so that if we were with other people they knew who we'd had close contact with in case anybody tested positive. We tried to get a table for two (because I'm essentially anti-social), but they didn't have any left. So we were paired with a British couple, who turned out to be wonderful dinner companions for the whole week.
For our first dinner, Kathryn had the fish ceviche, which she liked, and I had the vol au vent appetizer, chicken in a puff pastry with a savory gravy, which was excellent. I also had the lobster bisque, which again was excellent, and Kathryn had the watermelon sorbet, which was just ok. (Side note: there was a sorbet every night on the menu. I'm used to a sorbet that is frozen hard, almost like a sherbet. But these were all more like a slushy, mostly frozen, but still liquid.) For entrees, Kathryn had braised "knuckle of lamb" (really a lamb shank) and I had blackened chicken in a really good gravy. Both entrees were excellent. For "afters", Kathryn had the brie cheese plate, which was good; and I had almond cookies with a red-berry compote, which I loved.
Ceviche:
Vol au vent:
The bisque:
And the sorbet:
The blackened chicken:
The brie plate:
And my cookies and compote. (So yummy!)
Unlike most traditional cruises that leave port by 4 or 5 p.m. on Embarkation Day, our ship wasn't due to depart from the port until 10:00pm. Just before 10, everyone gathers on the top deck and they play dramatic music and deploy the sails for the first time. It's actually really impressive for someone like me, who has never been on a true sailing vessel. Here's what it looked like:
And here's one shot of the finished product that night:
And then we were underway, under wind power! That first night, there was a LOT of motion of the ship. We weren't rocked to sleep as much as rock-n-rolled. In fact, I would say that it was the most side-to-side motion that I've ever felt on any of my cruises. There were a couple of people who definitely were feeling seasick that night. Thankfully, that was the worst of it, and even though the motion was still more than "normal" on a couple of days that week, it never came close to that first night again.
Before hitting the sack, though, I decided to check out the midnight snack, which was served in the Piano Bar above the main dining room. It was a major disappointment. I was hoping for something chocolate, but it was just grapes and cheeses. So I didn't eat anything, but I did spend some time talking to some other folks who had come to see what was being served. It was the first real chance to talk to other passengers. I finally got to bed around 1 a.m.
That's the end of our very long, kind of nerve-wracking, exciting first day on board!
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