The first cruise that I took was many years back and I was not very impressed by the whole experience. Thus when an invitation came this year to go on a cruise to Thailand, I took up the offer with very little expectations and with a tinge of hope that it will be better than the last one I took.
Star Cruise Superstar Libra is 216 meters long, 28 meters wide, with a gross tonnage of 42,000 tons Finland build cruise ship. It was originally christened Seward after it was built in 1988 and renamed Superstar Libra after joining Star Cruise fleet in August 2005.
Embarking at Penang Swettenhem port, we check-in our baggage on the ground floor of the terminal building and then proceed to the first floor for our own check-in at a counter manned mostly by foreign crew. Once we embark onto the ship, passengers are required to surrender their passports and go through a body scan. We proceed to our room located on the third deck of the ninth deck ship and was pleasantly greeted by the cosy double single bed, ocean view room with attach bath. The room comes with cabinets, T.V, bed side and writing table. Bath room, or rather bath chamber is rather narrow notably the shower cube. Passengers with above average size will find it difficult to move around, especially when you need to bend down and soap your feet.
Baggages were efficiently sent to our room and safety drill is conducted upon departure. Afternoon snacks are provided at Ocean Palace which serves Chinese cuisine and at Mariners buffet which serves international selection. All breakfast and dinner are available in all three restaurants, the other being Four Seasons which serves western food. Lunch and supper (11:30pm – 12:30pm) however are served only in Mariner buffet located on the ninth deck.
We set sail at 5:00 pm heading to Phuket and a welcome aboard pool party was held at the pool deck for the guests with activities like mini Olympic games and fun fair challenge with the cruise staff. A sumptuous BBQ dinner is served on the same deck after the activities. Guests on the superstar Libra are able to relax walking around the ship or get entertained at the many outlets like Stardust lounge, Galaxy of Stars, Crystal court, Royale club, Skyline KTV and Boomer disco. Other outlets that are available in the ship include medical centre, child care centre, beauty salon, laundry outlet, library, duty free outlet, fitness centre and gym. Programs are a plenty right up to over 1.00am. Guests are also able to pre-book package tours around Phuket and Krabi islands.
We arrived at Phuket around 8.00am and after the buffet breakfast, guests who have pre-booked Phuket tours are transferred to a ferry to take them ashore. Those who opted for free and easy would have to wait for the tour group to be completely transferred before their turn to go ashore. Safety aspects, from the transfer to the condition of the ferry are well taken care of. However I find that the tour packages that were offered on board are quite expensive considering we could get better deals when we got ashore. Guest are required to board the ship before 9.30pm (Malaysian time) before we set sail to Krabi.
We got into Krabi around 8.30am the next day and transfer from ship to Krabi island is done similarly to the one in Phuket. However this time around, guests are required to board before 6.00pm (Malaysian time). We encountered a slight storm on our journey back to Penang but the ship is still cruising smoothly. It will purely be psychological for someone to get sea sick while in a cruise.
Reaching Penang around 10.30am the next day, disembarking, baggage transfer, immigration and custom clearance all went smoothly. This experience definitely made a positive impression on me and many of the guests on board and will be looking forward for more cruises to come.
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