Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Cruise News

Something a little different.



EssEffChron

Looking past them, at sails being raised on the three other masts and at the sun setting off our starboard, I thought about how rare (and how high) this view is - you can be 10 decks up on a mega-cruise ship, but still feel like you're in an office building. From this perch, there's vastness - a startling amount of empty space between me and the deck, plus an open panorama of stern, prow, port and starboard of the ship.

The Star Flyer, which has four masts rising 206 feet and can set 16 sails totaling 36,000 square feet, carries 170 passengers. My cabin (Category C, with a queen bed) measured roughly 9 by 12 1/2 feet, had a fixed nightstand on the open side of the bed, a padded seat against the hull and a stool beneath the shelf opposite the bed. While the voyage is clearly an upscale experience, it helps to have a flexible definition of "luxury." (The bathroom was a snug 5 by 3 1/2 feet.)

The masts aren't just for show. The Star Flyer is one of the handful of commercial passenger ships that use sails as their primary propulsion.

"We are a sailing ship," Capt. Jurgen Muller-Cyran told me. "The wind, the seas - we want this for our onboard atmosphere. ... Our passengers come for adventure: They don't care where they are going."

Much more in the piece, including how to park your car at an active volcano...

See also Star Clippers Cruises. I couldn't find any prices without signing up so they must be expensive.

I'd love to see Fixer after this cruise - a peg leg, eye patch, parrot on his shoulder, new tattoos where we wouldn't want to see, regaling us with tales of rum, sodomy, and the lash and a good time was had by all!

7 comments:

Fixer said...

I could play pirate but everybody better cover their portholes. Heh ...

No cruises for a while probably. We'll most likelyspend next summer looking at houses in the old country.

BadTux said...

My guess is that the passengers on this cruise are a bit... younger... than the passengers on the cruises Fixer usually takes. Maybe Fixer wouldn't fit in as well with them. Heh. :)

- Badtux the Snarky Penguin

Fixer said...

I still can rock and roll with the youngsters and still look better in a tux than you do, Penguin. ;)

Gordon said...

A gauntlet has been thrown! It's always fun to unknowingly start something. I betcha the penguin can waddle in his tux better than Fixer...;-)

Fixer said...

I'll admit, I can't waddle, but I can dance!

BadTux said...

Alrite youse guys, makes your own judgement about who waddles better in a tux. As contrasted to Fixer dancing in a tux.

- Badtux the Snarky Penguin

Gordon said...

The Mystic penguins are definitely cuter than a bug's ear and probably Fixer, but I don't think the F-Man would take kindly to someone chasin' him around and spritzing him with a spray bottle to make him move unless it was filled with something fun and illegal.

The dancer appears to have been every bit as sober as the cameraman.