Royal Clipper Cruise Review - Grenadines Cruise on the Royal Clipper

We're avid sailors, so when we were looking for a cruise we thought that Star Clippers would be a great fit. We booked a cruise in the Grenadines on the Royal Clipper, and even sprung for a luxury suite (special occasion ;-). The ship is beautiful, but the first thing we noticed was that sailing is only for the press -- every evening the sails are unfurled in the sunset to dramatic music, and then rolled back up about an hour later (the engines don't actually stop during the 'sail').

The ship doesn't offer much in the way of sailing, and we did find that it lacks the amenities and comfort of a larger ship. In particular, the air conditioning in our 'luxury suite' didn't actually function, nor did the TV. We asked about both during the cruise, and got the predictable response 'we'll have the electrician take a look', but no one actually came to address the problem.

We thought we'd find the adventure we were looking for on one of the additional trips that are available (for significant cost!) during the trip. We booked a day of sailing and snorkeling on a Catamaran with a company affiliated with the cruise line. We boarded the Catamaran in the morning, and were immediately told that the wind wasn't suitable for sailing at the moment (we would motor to the snorkeling site). We motored for a couple of hours, and were then told that the current was too strong for snorkeling. So, a long day without sailing or snorkeling later, and we were given a 'sorry, that's the way things go' - my feeling is that weather and tides are pretty predictable, it felt as if we were basically swindled out of our fee.

If you're looking for sailing, adventure or creature comforts, I'd look for another cruise company. We tried to express the disappointment we felt with the personnel on board, but didn't get much back from them. It was an expensive week during which we didn't sleep well or get to experience the adventure we thought we'd signed up for.