Royal Clipper-Cabin Selection Suggestions??

[Psoque]

Hi.  We just booked our first cruise with Star Clippers on a Venice on a chartered (no, we are not chartering the ship…) round-trip itinerary on Royal Clipper in August of 2024.  We have never been on any Star Clippers ship or any other ship like it except for a Caribbean cruise on Wind Surf years ago.  I’m assuming that Wind Surf would be more similar to Royal Clipper than any “typical” cruise ship, but we are looking forward to this new experience.

 

We tentatively picked a category 4 cabin on the Commodore Deck, assuming that category 3 and 4 cabins are larger on the Commodore Deck than on the Clipper Deck.  We would like to hear if there are any particularly good locations on the ship to consider.

 

Here are our questions:

 

1.  Are there more desirable locations for category 3/4?

2.  What is the storage situation in these cabins?  I see that there are no closets (thought clothing is casual).  We want to know if there is a good space to store our suitcases under the bed.

3.  What kind of power outlets do they have?  Also, are there any USB outlets?

4.  I read that wifi is not all that great on the ship (it’s never all that great on any other cruise ship we have been on).  Is that true?

 

Thanks.

 

 

[Psoque]

Another question:  Where is the gym/spa in the ship?  I looked at the deck plan and it shows in a rectangle outside the actual outline of the ship next to Commodore deck.  Is it below Commodore deck??

Edited March 1, 2023 by Psoque
typo fixed

[Denarius]

A voyage on Royal Clipper is totally different to a cruise on a large cruise ship, but may not be dissimilar to Windstar. In answer to your questions;

1. Cat 3 & 4 cabins on Clipper deck tend to be of an unusual shape or have a fixed double bed. This is indicated on the deck plan. Those on Commodore deck are of a more standard shape but are of course closer to the waterline. Chose one as near to the centre of the ship as possible, to minimise any pitching in rough seas.

2. There are closets (wardrobes) in all cabins but they are only small; on a sailing ship space is at a premium. There is space to stow suitcases under the bed.

3.Power on Royal Clipper is 220V, I think that it is 60~ but cannot be sure. The plugs are of the round pin European type. There are no USB sockets.

4. Never used wifi onboard but believe that it is slow. OK for emails.

5. Spa is on lower deck below the waterline. Porthole gives underwater view!

Edited March 1, 2023 by Denarius

[Psoque]

14 hours ago, Denarius said:

A voyage on Royal Clipper is totally different to a cruise on a large cruise ship, but may not be dissimilar to Windstar. In answer to your questions;

1. Cat 3 & 4 cabins on Clipper deck tend to be of an unusual shape or have a fixed double bed. This is indicated on the deck plan. Those on Commodore deck are of a more standard shape but are of course closer to the waterline. Chose one as near to the centre of the ship as possible, to minimise any pitching in rough seas.

2. There are closets (wardrobes) in all cabins but they are only small; on a sailing ship space is at a premium. There is space to stow suitcases under the bed.

3.Power on Royal Clipper is 220V, I think that it is 60~ but cannot be sure. The plugs are of the round pin European type. There are no USB sockets.

4. Never used wifi onboard but believe that it is slow. OK for emails.

5. Spa is on lower deck below the waterline. Porthole gives underwater view!

Thanks.  I am trying to figure out how high the portholes on Commodore Decks are located. Is it correct to assume that the second row of portholes in the pictures are the ones on Commodore Deck?  I prefer our portholes to be above water, though we had an underwater cabin previously when we did New Zealand and it was cool.  We saw dolphins from our window.

[Denarius]

13 hours ago, Psoque said:

Thanks.  I am trying to figure out how high the portholes on Commodore Decks are located. Is it correct to assume that the second row of portholes in the pictures are the ones on Commodore Deck?  I prefer our portholes to be above water, though we had an underwater cabin previously when we did New Zealand and it was cool.  We saw dolphins from our window.

All the passenger cabin portholes on Royal Clipper are above the waterline. On a pic of the ship, the lower row of portholes are the Commodore deck. the higher row the Clipper deck.

[Psoque]

From which part of the Commodore deck do you access the fitness center/spa?  The deck plan looks a bit odd.

[Denarius]

6 hours ago, Psoque said:

From which part of the Commodore deck do you access the fitness center/spa?  The deck plan looks a bit odd.

It does. From memory it is accessed via the main stairwell which goes all the way through the decks immediately forward of the piano bar and the dining room.

[mapsd]

I always rec selecting the cabin nearest the center of the boat.

Less motion if seas are angry, and less curvature of the walls shrinking your cabin size.

The deck map will also tell you what cabins have ship structures that impact the cabin size/shape.

[Wacktle]

On 2/28/2023 at 4:43 PM, Psoque said:

We tentatively picked a category 4 cabin on the Commodore Deck, assuming that category 3 and 4 cabins are larger on the Commodore Deck than on the Clipper Deck.  We would like to hear if there are any particularly good locations on the ship to consider.

We've done 2 cruises on Royal Clipper. Our first was from Venice and we had Cabin 112 (pic 2184). The second was from Barbados in Cabin 128 (pic 6527).  No issue with either. On balance, the 2nd cabin was better because it didn't have a 3rd berth above the bed. It's folded up, but you need to watch your head.  It was our choice on the 2nd cruise to have the bed split into 2 singles because it gave access to the underbed drawer.

 

Edited March 5, 2023 by Wacktle
Info added

[Psoque]

On 3/5/2023 at 7:46 AM, Wacktle said:

We've done 2 cruises on Royal Clipper. Our first was from Venice and we had Cabin 112 (pic 2184). The second was from Barbados in Cabin 128 (pic 6527).  No issue with either. On balance, the 2nd cabin was better because it didn't have a 3rd berth above the bed. It's folded up, but you need to watch your head.  It was our choice on the 2nd cruise to have the bed split into 2 singles because it gave access to the underbed drawer.

 

Some people here said that the location of the cabin made a big difference in how they felt the motion of the ship.  We are doing a Venice round trip cruise of the Dalmatian coast next year on Royal Clipper.  Did you personally notice any difference between cabin 112, which is closer to the bow of the ship vs cabin 128, which is midship?

[Wacktle]

15 hours ago, Psoque said:

Some people here said that the location of the cabin made a big difference in how they felt the motion of the ship.  We are doing a Venice round trip cruise of the Dalmatian coast next year on Royal Clipper.  Did you personally notice any difference between cabin 112, which is closer to the bow of the ship vs cabin 128, which is midship?

No, I don't think we did. However, as one cruise was in the Caribbean and the other from Venice to Croatia and Montenegro, the sea conditions would have been different. We did have some stormy weather on the Venice sailing. I do remember the cabin steward putting up the safety bar on the bed one evening, but can't remember where we were. Neither of us suffer from sea sickness.