websailor

Our cruise is getting closer! YEAH!!!!!! Can't wait to get on a plane and head for a warm, sunny Caribbean vacation. :)

Mine also - I look forwards to my Sabatini's breakfast to start the day off in a wonderful way!

That sounds fantastic! I've been on other vacations where Christmas was celebrated and it was always very enjoyable. I'm looking forwards to it!

Thanks for posting this, you made my day!

Totally correct Astros Flyer! Thanks.

I thought that the link to the Wikipedia article would explain the history of this ship. It is quite interesting to see all the lines it cruised for. Princess was one of them for a while.

Princess does re-use ship names.

Also the name on the bow is clearly "Dawn Princess".

The late night shows were a lot more risque - European style. These were the Princess Dancers of the day....

and the game shows on shore would never fly in todays PC climate - Blind folded men trying to feel which woman in a group is their wife assisted by the crew staff? I don't think so!

But it was fun!

The crew was smaller too! I think this was so they took up less room on the ship and didn't eat as much. :D

On a Bridge Tour (that you could easily do on different days) Note that the ex-wife was only 5 ft 3 inches. He could barely see over the console.

Our dining room waiters weren't much taller

Ditto our room steward on the Eastern Caribbean cruise

Some other ships in the same era

I believe this is a Royal Caribbean ship - it would qualify as a lifeboat on their current mega ships now. :D

Unknown other ship coming into Skagway

The ships were smaller - much smaller!

Here is a link to the Wikipedia article about the Dawn Princess (aka RMS Sylvania) that I sailed on.

General characteristics (after 1971 refit)

Type: cruise ship

Tonnage: 24,724 GRT

Decks: 11 (I think they counted all the ones the passengers were not allowed on also)

Capacity: 925 passengers

Crew: 330

The Ship

Note the lifeboats hanging out

At every port, what was not white, was painted. It seemed like the sailors had pride in their cruise ship, or at least, very strict officers.

Things were a bit more primitive back in 1988-90. Here are the seats on the White Pass and Yukon Route trains in Skagway. Yes they do look like ordinary lawn chairs all facing one way. :)

Cabins on the ships were small (still are) but we got towel animals and bed decorations using your own night clothes. Note the wonderful rotary dial telephone on the desk.

LOL, good thing you're not seeing us all dressed up with the women in big hair & puffy sleeves, etc. The 70's and 80's fashions were wild!

I liked it back in the day when a cruise ship like the Dawn Princess came into port and did not overwhelm the town You could walk around and it would not be crowded - with only 925 passengers, people could spread out.

Ketichikan 1988

At the historic Creek Street

Skagway 1988, look at the crowd!

You could do things on board the ship that could really get you in trouble. This was before any such warnings as "Be careful, the coffee is hot".

What's a little high voltage just out of reach (for most people). That will jolt you awake!

And you might not want to go down that ladder in the gap in the railing....but nothing will stop you from going down. :D

We had LIFEBOATS! Not the enclosed tenders that are everywhere now, but open lifeboats just like on the Titanic! It really made us hope the ship didn't sink! ;)

3 lifeboats, a batch of RAFTS, and 2 tenders

LOL, at Ketchikan, the US Coast Guard made the ships crew of the Regent Sun do a lifeboat drill with the same type of boats that we had. It was fun watching them lower the lifeboats....but then the Coast Guard made them try to motor away from the ship. I almost died laughing as they went in circles and bumped into each other.

The promenade was a lot more enclosed and closer to the sea.

Do you remember when we could throw streamers/confetti overboard when leaving the dock. It was quite a festive/celebratory affair when a cruise ship was leaving!

See the streamer on the railing and over the Captains hat?

Someone gathered a bunch for themselves

Back in 1988 and 1990 on the Dawn Princess, breakfast was served as a buffet. You got in a line on deck, picked up you food, found a table (out on the deck somewhere) and enjoyed the scenery. LOL, that was in any weather....

The buffet area (not in use when I took the picture) - what today is the equivalent of the grill

The breakfast line

and

It's not tooooo cold outside on the way to Alaska...am I chewing my food or is that just my teeth chattering?

Aaahhh, this is better....

Skeet shooting off the fantail, Dawn Princess Alaska Cruise, 1990

Help please! I've searched the Star Clipper threads looking for information about the electric plug converter that I think I need for the Royal Clipper. Since I'm from the USA, all my electrical plugs are the flat, two prong variety and most on the equipment is designed to work on 120 Volts.

Here is a summary from what I've read:

-Royal Clipper stateroom plugs are 220V with one low power 110V plug in the bathroom

- The 220V plug uses 2 prongs

- It appears to be a "Schuko" plug and I've read it is a Europeon Type F

- From one picture, it is an indented round fixture. I couldn't get enough detail to see if it had grounding or two bars on the side.

So I'm trying to figure out exactly what plug to buy. I never knew there were so many plug variations in the world!!! :eek:

I've checked all my devices and all their transformers say "120V - 240V", so I don't think I need a voltage converter, I just need a plug converter.

I think either of these two plugs would work:

Plug1

Plug2

and this information:

Does this look correct? Does it look like a plug converter that you used? Do you have a brand/specification of your converter? Any other thoughts/comments? Does anyone have a close up picture of the actual 220 Volt outlet?

THANKS in advance!

Thanks Robbie21! That does help a lot. We've cruised a lot but on the big cruise ships, so this will be a totally new experience for us. I'll love it, being a sailor, but I'm hoping it will be nice for the (non-adventurous) wife too. But she says she just likes to relax on board the ship....

That is very good news about the Chef. We like to eat. ;-)

We'll both love to talk to the other passengers, though it will be hard for me to get a word in edgewise. ;-) We've had many non-Americans at our dinner tables in the past and we've always found it fascinating and that they were easy to talk to.

I've read about a pirate night, but I'm not sure what to do for that. Most of the women's pirate costumes seem to be designed for teenagers, not sure the wife will wear any of those.

Some of the shore excursions sounded interesting but I've heard some people didn't think they were worth it. There also did not seem to be much to pick from.

LOL, I think this will be an adventure cruise. :-)

How did you all enjoy your cruise? Any words of wisdom for folks who haven't yet cruised on Star Clippers? What was the food like? We're the other passengers interesting? Did they have a dress up night? Did you do any of the shore excursions?

I'm surprised at this - all the pictures in the brochures and website are young folks. ;-)

This is Virgin Atlantic's video guide to Barbados. It is 25 minutes long and is mostly advertising but also shows a lot of views of Barbados and has some ideas of things to do. This is where our cruise starts and it looks like a fun place!

Time is moving so slowly it seems. I'm really looking forwards to this cruise!

Thanks for all the comments so far. This is our 1st time on the Star Clippers Line, so we have a lot to learn about them.

We are from San Francisco area and the airplane flights look like quite a few of them make some long stops at multiple airports. Does anyone else get a relatively inexpensive flight to the East Coast and then use the Star Clippers air from there? What airport is the best to go to to get to Barbados in your experience?

How is Star Clippers at arranging flights?

How are you enjoying your time on the Star Clipper? We also have a 1st time cruise coming up but it is in December (a long way aways!) and on the Royal Clipper.

We're really looking forwards to it, but would also love to hear anything about the other Star Clippers ships/cruises.

:):):)