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Hi everyone,

 

I am very happy to report that Star Cruises has announced that they will deploy the SuperStar LIBRA to Keelung, Taiwan, from end June until late November of this year. It is great to have a ship back here in Taiwan. Libra will offer cruises to Naha and Ishigaki Japan, High Seas cruises, and a new destination, Punghu Island in Taiwan.

 

 

So many people in Taiwan are so pleased that Star Cruises is back. SuperStar Libra will be the biggest cruise ship to ever be homeported in Taiwan. I know the locals will really like this ship, as will all the expats living in Taiwan. I am looking forward to my first cruise aboard Libra as soon as the ship begins service. I hope that perhaps some of you on this Cruise Critic board may have the opportunity to be in Taiwan and find the time to take a cruise with Libra.

 

Will keep you all updated as to itineraries and sailings dates when they become available.

 

Regards,

Mike

 

SuperStarLibra_ex-NCL_PC-01_900.jpg

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Hi Vera,

 

Glad that the Libra and the Taiwan cruises are appealing to you. The Naha and Ishigaki cruise are especially nice and very relaxing.

 

Hope you do get the chance to sail with Libra from Taiwan. You'll be very welcome here.

 

Regards,

Mike

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  • 1 month later...

Hi all,

 

Star Cruises has just issued a press release regarding the SuperStar LIBRA being deployed to Taiwan, which I attach below. As soon as the English version of itineraries and sailing schedules are available, I will post them.

 

It would be so nice to see some CC members sailing with Libra from Keelung,Taiwan.

 

Best regards,

Mike

 

 

STAR CRUISES RETURNS TO TAIWAN

WITH SUPERSTAR LIBRA IN JUNE 2007

 

Star Cruises, “The Leading Cruise Line in Asia-Pacific" will reposition SuperStar Libra to Keelung, Taiwan for a seasonal deployment between June and October 2007. After two years, Star Cruises will return to Taiwan to yet again bring to this part of the world her magical cruises.

SuperStar Libra ends her current season in India on 25 May 2007. Thereafter, she will undergo renovations to especially cater to the Taiwan market in areas like dining with the addition of an International buffet and a Chinese family style restaurant.

This charming vessel is scheduled to arrive in Keelung on 29 June 2007 where she will commence offering a combination of 2 and 3-night cruises to destinations in Taiwan and Japan. The 2-night cruises will call at the new and popular destination of Penghu, located off the southeast coast of Taiwan and Ishigaki in Japan while the three night itineraries will call at Ishigaki and Naha, Okinawa in Japan. The new season will see SuperStar Libra making her maiden call to Penghu on 4 July.

Cruisers will continue to enjoy an exciting array of onboard facilities and activities including international performances, themed parties, food and beverage specials, fitness center, golf driving range, swimming pool, twin hot tubs, sports deck and a never ending string of other fun activities.

“The repositioning of SuperStar Libra to Taiwan is part of the company’s seasonal deployment strategy to mobilize Star Cruises’ fleet and thus bringing the Star Cruises’ experience of its variety of exciting destinations and ports-of-call to and from various parts and countries of the region”, said Mr. Chong Chee Tut, Chief Operating Officer of Star Cruises.

“SuperStar Libra’s stint in Taiwan will provide an opportunity for the Taiwan market to once again experience cruising as an exciting holiday option at sea featuring a combination of onboard dining, entertainment and recreation options while sailing to exciting destinations”, said Ms. Jean Teo, Senior Vice President, Sales & Marketing of Star Cruises. “The ship will undergo preparations to cater to the needs and demands of cruisers from this region in line with Star Cruises’ philosophy of always offering the best cruise experience possible to all its cruisers”, Ms. Teo added.

Star Cruises will continue to uphold the highest quality service standards through its warm and authentic Asian hospitality as well as safety standards. And no matter where Star Cruises’ fleet sets sail, it will continue to bring to the world truly unforgettable memories! All these and more from Asia’s favourite cruise line.

 

MORE ON SUPERSTAR LIBRA

SuperStar Libra is a 42,000 gross-tonnage ship with 740 well-appointed cabins with a passenger capacity of 1,480 lower berths. Measuring 216m long and 28m wide, she has 8 restaurants and bars, 7 entertainment outlets, meeting facilities and a host of sports, health and recreational facilities

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Hi all,

 

Star Cruises has just issued a press release regarding the SuperStar LIBRA being deployed to Taiwan, which I attach below. As soon as the English version of itineraries and sailing schedules are available, I will post them.

 

It would be so nice to see some CC members sailing with Libra from Keelung,Taiwan.

 

Best regards,

Mike

 

 

STAR CRUISES RETURNS TO TAIWAN

WITH SUPERSTAR LIBRA IN JUNE 2007

 

Star Cruises, “The Leading Cruise Line in Asia-Pacific" will reposition SuperStar Libra to Keelung, Taiwan for a seasonal deployment between June and October 2007. After two years, Star Cruises will return to Taiwan to yet again bring to this part of the world her magical cruises.

SuperStar Libra ends her current season in India on 25 May 2007. Thereafter, she will undergo renovations to especially cater to the Taiwan market in areas like dining with the addition of an International buffet and a Chinese family style restaurant.

This charming vessel is scheduled to arrive in Keelung on 29 June 2007 where she will commence offering a combination of 2 and 3-night cruises to destinations in Taiwan and Japan. The 2-night cruises will call at the new and popular destination of Penghu, located off the southeast coast of Taiwan and Ishigaki in Japan while the three night itineraries will call at Ishigaki and Naha, Okinawa in Japan. The new season will see SuperStar Libra making her maiden call to Penghu on 4 July.

Cruisers will continue to enjoy an exciting array of onboard facilities and activities including international performances, themed parties, food and beverage specials, fitness center, golf driving range, swimming pool, twin hot tubs, sports deck and a never ending string of other fun activities.

“The repositioning of SuperStar Libra to Taiwan is part of the company’s seasonal deployment strategy to mobilize Star Cruises’ fleet and thus bringing the Star Cruises’ experience of its variety of exciting destinations and ports-of-call to and from various parts and countries of the region”, said Mr. Chong Chee Tut, Chief Operating Officer of Star Cruises.

“SuperStar Libra’s stint in Taiwan will provide an opportunity for the Taiwan market to once again experience cruising as an exciting holiday option at sea featuring a combination of onboard dining, entertainment and recreation options while sailing to exciting destinations”, said Ms. Jean Teo, Senior Vice President, Sales & Marketing of Star Cruises. “The ship will undergo preparations to cater to the needs and demands of cruisers from this region in line with Star Cruises’ philosophy of always offering the best cruise experience possible to all its cruisers”, Ms. Teo added.

Star Cruises will continue to uphold the highest quality service standards through its warm and authentic Asian hospitality as well as safety standards. And no matter where Star Cruises’ fleet sets sail, it will continue to bring to the world truly unforgettable memories! All these and more from Asia’s favourite cruise line.

 

MORE ON SUPERSTAR LIBRA

SuperStar Libra is a 42,000 gross-tonnage ship with 740 well-appointed cabins with a passenger capacity of 1,480 lower berths. Measuring 216m long and 28m wide, she has 8 restaurants and bars, 7 entertainment outlets, meeting facilities and a host of sports, health and recreational facilities

 

Mike.

You probably have more infrormation on the Libra than I do. It is a 30 to 40 years old ship which was transfered out from NCL and was homeport in Houston, Texas. I have been on the ship before when it was on a repositioning cruise out of Singapore. It is a " tramp " cruise ship. Yes tramp compared to the Virgo or the Gemini.

John

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Hi John, nice to hear from you.

 

Actually the SuperStar Libra was built in 1988 for NCL as the Seaward, then later to become the Norwegian Sea. So that makes Libra 19 years old.

 

I certainly had a good chuckle over your description of Libra as being a "tramp" cruise ship compared to Virgo and Gemini.;) Of course Libra is not as deluxe as Virgo, but nevertheless, many past pax found the ship to be comfortable and having nice interiors. One very good point of the Libra is that this ship is very well connected to the sea. You have great sea views from numerous public rooms and of course the outdoor decks. Another good point, in my opinion at least, is that the Libra feels like a "real ship," as compared to the newer box boats out there today.

 

If you will John, I would love to hear why you felt the Libra was inferior. I think it will be most interesting and informative to hear your opinions and share them with us all. And thanks for replying to this thread.

 

Best,

Mike

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It surprises me that it is only 19 years old. You just take a look at it and it must be older than that.

Problems with various breakdowns are too numerous to mention. Well you will be able to tell before long what the ship is like and give us a long write up about it. Cheers.

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Hi Mike,

Thanks for the recent photo of the Libra, she does have the “sleek lines” of a Cruise Ship of that era, and I have to say that the newer mega ships to me look ugly from their outside appearance.;)

We have these “Sheep Ships” come into Fremantle, that take ten of thousands of live sheep from Australia to the Middle East, and they are all accommodated above decks in what looks like, from a distance, the many decks of “balconied” staterooms on these mega ships!:p

Call me old fashioned or whatever but the likes of the Libra, the Gemini even the “old” QE2 look like Cruise ships and not sheep ships!

OK I will grant you that the quality of inside of the likes of the Celebrity Millennium Class Ships, which we have cruised on, and the facilities provided, are simply first class, but!

Anyway I, like you, smiled when she was referred to as a “Tramp”, and I am sure you are correct in saying she will provide Cruisers with many a marvelous voyage.:)

Regards, Bruce

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Hi John,

Nice to hear from you mate, and you are totally correct in your proposition that everyone is entitled to there own opinion, and what a drab world it would be if we all thought alike, and only cruised on NCLA!;)

However I rather thought that as a “fan” of Star Cruises you might have been a little more generous towards the Libra, given that we can only make assumptions at this early stage.

I am also unsure of just what peoples “expectations” might be of her, as I have no first hand knowledge, and would rather bow to Mike’s opinions and recommendations, as another big fan of Star Cruises.:)

It is to be hoped that she doesn’t end up as simply a Floating Casino, but then again other peoples opinions may be that, that is what is wanted.

Catch you on Gemini one day.

Regards, Bruce

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Hi Bruce,

 

Your mention of the "sheep ships" made me smile and bring back a memory of the ex Cunard Ambassador, which was sold after suffering a fire and converted to a "sheep ship." Photo attached:rolleyes: (sorry, I do not know the author of this photo)

 

I am quite sure that SuperStar Libra will give many thousands of Taiwanese and hopefully some westerners other than myself, a very nice cruise experience. I believe the Libra will be very well accepted here in Taiwan. Although the ship currently does have a fairly large casino onboard, Libra is still most definitely a cruise ship. There will be some modifications done to Libra to suit the Taiwan market, such as adding a buffet to The Taj restaurant, but all in all, no major alterations are expected.

 

Wishing you a great cruise aboard Gemini in May.

 

Regards,

Mike

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Hi Bruce

 

Have had the same thoughts about some of the new ships looking like the sheep ships that come into Freo!

 

Mike - love the picture of the Libra - it's keeping me sane as I pack yet another carton for the move approaching soon!

 

Vera

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It strikes me that they should convert LIBRA to a casino ship and leave AQUARIUS intact and base her in Taiwan rather than making her a casino ship!

 

Having been on both in their previous incarnations, AQUARIUS is a much nicer ship. The "stretch" in the late '90s was quite detrimental to her but I still think she is far superior to LIBRA.

 

I do not want to discourage anyone from taking LIBRA but she is not a ship I would go all the way to Taiwan to sail in if I lived someplace far away like Australia... Unless I really, really liked the itinerary.

 

Certainly she cannot be compared either to a mega-ship like VIRGO or to a small upscale ship like GEMINI. I would say she is more like PISCES but a bit older and plainer. (In fact, even though she has always been a cruise ship, she is based on a Baltic ferry design that was essentially the generation of Viking Line ship before PISCES.)

 

Nonetheless she is an adequate vessel, and will probably be popular with the local market in Taiwan where there is not a tremendous amount of competition. She will probably be better-received there than smaller ships like CAPRICORN or ARIES were even though those were much nicer vessels IMHO.

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Gather the season for LIBRA last year in the Mediterranean was a fizzer ? too much competition as IIRC Star put up Med itineraries for 2007 but then withdrew some months ago . In anycase LIBRA would have been competing with other vessels in the Star Group in Marco Polo and various NCL boats plying the Mediterranean - so did'nt really make sense . Also reading between the lines in Star quarterly reports the LIBRA Indian seasonal deployments have not been as well supported as they expected . (For one the itineraries would not excite me to fly from Aus , they looked quite boring and far too short.)

 

So whats the go for LIBRA after this years Taiwanese season back to India, or perhaps to Aus as America/Holland line are now working out of here each Aus summer with the Statendam ?

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I agree that Libra is not a "destination ship" herself and would not warrant long haul air flights just to cruise with this ship. But, I am sure Libra will be liked here in Taiwan. There are many public rooms available onboard, which the Taiwanese do like and the casino space should prove adequate for the market here, as the Taiwanese, like most Asians, do enjoy gambling. To my knowledge, there will be no major alterations made to the ship when Libra enters dry-dock before heading to Taiwan. One addition that I do know of is that a buffet station will be put in "Taj by the Bay" restaurant, which will be most welcome by the locals here.

 

As of now, after Libra's Taiwan season ends, the ship will return to Mumbai to continue the Indian cruise season.

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Hi all,

 

On 21 March, Star Cruises Taiwan hosted a press conference to introduce the launch of SuperStar Libra sailings from Keelung, Taiwan. Press attendance was very good and the ship was introduced to everyone with promo movies and slide shows. The itineraries were discussed as well with the help of a route map projected on a screen.

 

Below is the itinerary map. Although it is in Chinese, I will tell you that the port of call on the west coast of Taiwan is Penghu Island. On the east coast of Taiwan, all the ports are Japanese Islands.

Beginning with the topmost port, that is Naha, Japan. Next down is Ishigaki Island and the bottom most island is Yonaguni Island.

 

The itineraries include 4D/3N Sunday departures that sail to Naha and Ishigaki, or 4D/3N cruises that call at Naha only, and overnight at the Island.

 

There also are 3D/2N cruises to Ishigaki departing on various dates.

 

High Seas cruises are also offered where the Libra sails towards Yonaguni Island, but does not call at the port.

 

The Penghu Island cruises are 3D/2N and departs Keelung and sails around the northern tip of Taiwan and then heads to the west coast of the island and arrives at Penghu. On the return segment of the cruise the Libra heads north and circles the southern tip of Taiwan and then heads towards Yonaguni waters and finally returns to Keelung.

 

taiwan-map-tc.gif

 

The photos below are from the press conference.

 

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I hope that maybe some Cruise Critic members may be able to cruise with Libra this season.

 

Regards,

Mike

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  • 3 weeks later...

Hi Mike,

 

Thanks for the update and nice pictures of SSL.

We will have to wait a bit more before we travel to Taiwan to board her, as we are booked on the RCI Splendour later this year and P&0 Ventura for next year.

Meantime I will regularly pop in to check this thread and the going ons.

 

Cheers and back later.

James:)

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Hi James,

 

Great to hear from you! You certainly have 2 nice cruises lined up, which I know you will thoroughly enjoy. Maybe, just maybe you will be able to squeeze in a "side-trip" and sail with Libra ex-Taiwan sometime next year.;) That would be lovely.

 

I am greatly looking forward to my first cruise in July and others until the end of the season in October.

 

Best,

Mike

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hi all,

 

I am very happy to finally be able to post the official itineraries and sailing schedule for SuperStar LIBRA ex-Keelung, Taiwan.

 

This should be a very successful season for Libra with the varied and interesting ports of call and the convenient length of the cruises. Something for everyone.

 

Here's hoping to maybe see some of you CC members sailing Libra from Taiwan and enjoying real Asian cruising with the charming local Taiwanese passengers and of course the brilliant Asian staff/crew onboard Libra.

 

ssq_tw01.gif

 

Click this link for the schedules and itins.

 

http://www.starcruises.com/Itineraries/Taiwan/index.html

 

 

My best,

Mike

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Mike,

I have look at the schedule for the Libra that you posted.

It looks like a mixed bag to me. Casino cruises and destination cruises. I don't know how similar the schedule is from the Gemini when it was home port in Taiwan. Is the cruising season in Taiwan really that short, 4 months.

I don't know if you are happy with the schedule. It looks to me like the Taiwan government allows them to operate more like the Hong Kong model than the Singapore model i.e. strict control over the cruise to nowhere (1 per week). This 1/2 hour techinical stopover is a puzzle to everybody and must be some sort of compromise with Star Cruises.

Enjoy your cruises.

John

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Hi John,

 

The itinerary for Libra is somewhat similar to Gemini's in the past, but not exactly. Libra will introduce the new port of call, Penghu Island. Also, Libra will be doing a few more overnight cruises by popular demand. Gemini used to have a fixed sailing schedule with departures every Sunday, Wednesday and Friday, whereas Libra's is not fixed, but varied. I actually like the current Libra schedule. It is very difficult for the local Taiwanese to take too many days off from work. So Libra's schedule has something for everyone, from a quick overnight getaway, to a more leisurely 3d/2n cruise to the "extravagant" 4d/3n cruises which goes to Naha and Ishigaki, Japan.

 

The season for Taiwan is usually much longer. But this depends on the availability of a ship. In general the season can start from mid April and end November. Sometimes the ships ended in February. There have been times when I have celebrated Christmas and New Years' aboard one of Star's ships sailing ex-Keelung. This year the Libra has to return to India deployment, hence the short season. If all goes well this year in Taiwan, next years' season may be longer, or possibly we may get a new transfer from NCL.

 

Indeed the "technical call" at Yonaguni is to fullfill Taiwan Government regulations which require foreign flagged ships to call at, or enter the waters of a foreign country before returning to Taiwan.

 

I am greatly looking forward to my first cruise this year aboard the Libra. I have a positive feeling that Libra will be widely accepted by the Taiwanese. Also, Libra will be the largest ship to ever be homeported in Keelung. I shall glady tell you all my opinions and experiences after I sail.

 

Best,

Mike

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  • 1 month later...

Hi All,

 

For any of you who may possibly be in my part of the world this summer and perhaps thinking of cruising with Libra, I am inserting a link to the comprehensive and interesting shorex that will be offered onboard SuperStar Libra.

 

I have done these shorex before, when Gemini and Aries were homeported here in Taiwan. They are very nice indeed, and not rushed. These new shorex seem to be updated versions with some new additions.

 

Here is the link: http://www.starcruises.com/Fleet/Libra/tours.html

 

Not too long now until Libra is officially welcomed into Keelung Harbor on her Maiden arrival, by the Keelung Harbor Bureau and Star Cruises will host an Inaugural Ceremony onboard the Libra on 29 June. This should be a very special event.

 

Happy cruising to everyone.

 

My best,

Mike

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I went onboard this lady on its first cruise(1 Jan) from Singapore. The ship is very comfortable, warm and feels like "real" cruising. The ship is a little worn out at some spots, but im sure it'll be solved at the coming dry-dock.

 

Surprisingly, I do not miss the Virgo whilst onboard Libra!

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