African Safari Club, Royal Star Review

Overall Rating

Good Food
Cheerful and very friendly waiter and cabin staff
Helpful and competent doctor
excellent ratio of staff to passengers
good prices for drinks etc

Ship too small to take on the might of the Indian Ocean

Having read many reviews prior to taking the plunge we went with expectations that were probably a little low for the money we paid, however we were pleasantly surprised when on board the Royal Star.

She is an old ship but that does add to the charm and nostalgia. Lots of wood and brass that is lovingly cared for by the mainly Phillipino staff that are a credit to the Royal Star. The food was extremely good and plenty of variety. Tea/coffee on tap whenever required and always served with a huge smile. If you required anything at any time all you had to do was ask. Very good laundry service, casino and bars.

There was limited sun beds/deck chairs however this only became a problem on the two full days at sea. The ship does have a policy of removing your belongings to lost property if you leave them on the bed for more than 15 minutes and it is monitored quite well, this stops the bed hoggers from staking out their claim for the entire day and a good thing too!

The entertainment is a bit ropey. The resident band are not the most musical on the planet but that was entertainment in itself with the female member sounding more like a sea sick Charles Aznavour...Their English was pretty poor and bearing in mind the majority of the people that take this cruise are English speaking, singing well known UK hits phonetically doesn't hit the mark...Their only saving grace was the main man 'Valentino' who was musically very talented and 9/10 times got it right. The dancers were OK, not my cup of tea but there you go. The best evening entertainment came from the crew. Really funny and a great effort, watch out for the coconut dancers a treat not to miss...

The cabins were clean and tidy and in good repair. In fact they were 100% better than the hotel we stayed in but that's another review...All facilities were provided. Having read some of the comments on other reviews they just don't compare. We as a group had no complaints at all on the standard of the cabins. they were smaller than your average hotel room but it's a ship for goodness sake!

The doctor was very good and as it's a small ship very busy...Sea sickness was rife but even the restaurant manager had a never-ending supply of pills which he gave out freely. He, is a real charmer and nothing is too much trouble which also goes for the waiters and cabin crew in general.

We were informed at the welcome meeting that the ship would not be calling at La Digue/Praslin as we all had been lead to believe and instead would be spending an extra day at sea which of course lead to complaints from the majority of passengers. They said that they had informed African Safari Club of this in November 05 however nothing had filtered down to the paying customer and it is still in their brochure for 06/07. In the end the Captain agreed to take us there as a gesture of good will of which the on board cruise director made great reminders about. The visit to La Dogie was well worth it however it could have done with a full day exploring the island instead of the 4 hours in the itinerary, as it was beautiful.

Over all the experience was a good one. You must be prepared to take things as you find them and not expect the same facilities as you would find on board one of the large luxury ships of which we were reminded of time and time again by the seasoned cruiser's...Don't these people read brochures...The buzz amongst the crew is that the Royal Star has another 3 years if she's lucky and then it's off to the scrapyard which is a great pity for the crew as they love her.

Members' Comments onboltbolt's Review

• mjeavo on 25th Aug 2006

  It is good to read a fairly positive review. I am booked on the Seychelles Royal cruise leaving 26th Aug. I am quite concerned about La Digue and Prasin being removed from the itinery - was a reason given for this? The other question I have is about the sea sickness - is the sea very rough and should I take a large supply of tablets? One more question did you find the engine noise a problem?

• boltbolt on 25th Aug 2006

  reply to your comment:
  
  We were on a different cruise to you. La Digue was at the end of our cruise as we were due to terminate at Mahe to fly back to Kenya. The cruise director told us they had informed ASC that La Digue had been taken off the itinerary last November. After a barage of complaints from a lot of passengers La Digue was back on the list of ports of call. This apparently was due to the good will of the captain, expertise of the chief engineer and a good tail wind! I will say that I did'nt read of any other reports of La Digue being taken off the list for previous trips, I'm sure someone would have commented on this on the web...perhaps it was a little rouse to make the ship seems ever so efficient...not that it is'nt.
  
  Sea sickness, well it's all down to the individual. I personally never suffered at all but there were plenty that did. The sea is not that rough but a good swell will cause the ship to rock 'n roll. She is'nt that big as I said and the Indian Ocean is a big place. Sea sick pills are in ample supply and happily dished out by the restaurant manager (parden the pun), a real gem.
  
  We were in the depths of the ship on the caribbean deck with a porthole that had its inner cover closed during rough or choppy seas. Most likely due to it being under water some of the time but nothing to worry about. It really was'nt that rough I think it was just a little precaution they take, it does mention it in the book. The engine noise was surprisingly not as bad as I thought it would be. Even in the middle of the night you could hardly hear it. Just the motion of the ship during the swell..
  
  It should be a good trip remember to take it on face value and have some fun...watch out for the female singer...and have a nice holiday.

• Rutherfordxx on 14th Nov 2006

  I agree with your African Safari Club, Royal Star review totally. We had a trio called the Fan F.Arts - whoever thought that one up?