Friday
We took a flight from London Gatwick to Athens - 3.5 hours on easyjet. On arrival we were greeted at airport by pre booked transfers and taken straight to our hotel, an easy 15-20 minute journey with friendly English speaking driver.  We arrived at our hotel St George Lycabettus - we had super balcony large rooms with stunning view of the Acropolis, I would really recommend this room type.  A stunning hotel and this is my second stay here, each time faultless.  Excellent view, amazing bedrooms, excellent service and lovely breakfast in the morning is included

 Tip hotel is very expensive for drinks so pop out to local mini market for refreshments to enjoy in roof top pool areas of hotel, again with amazing views. We are so glad we travelled out a day early as this was a perfect way to begin to unwind ready for the cruise. For the evening we got a taxi to the Plaka area of Athens (6Euros) and booked a table at Daphnies -  
Tip - request a table outside in the courtyard. Fabulous in-expensive meal with a good choice of Greek dishes in lovely setting.  We did go back to hotel for night cap - but be warned a beer was 15euros!  
A good night’s sleep was had by all followed by a large selection of breakfast with or without a glass of fizz!
We spent till 3pm on the Saturday simply relaxing at the hotels pool,

we were then met by pre arranged transfers and taken to Piraeus Port approximately 30 min drive away. As you arrive near the port – if this is your first glimpse of the stunning star clipper and you will be filled with excitement. You will now go through a very easy check in process. If you have completed all the forms in your ticket wallets this process will be much quicker. Passport cruise ticket and credit card will be required. Then through security and you are then free to walk onto the ship.

As you walk up the ships steps the excitement takes over, music playing, greeted by friendly staff with a glass on punch and canapés and immediately the scene is set!

Sunday – is for us a day at Sea, time to relax, sunbath, explore the ship etc. 

Monday – Turkey and off to the beach.  A delightful little spot called - Camiliami.  You travel by zodiac to the beach. Here we did snorkelling kayaking and dingy sailing! Did you know this is all included in the price!  Back on the ship for lunch, we then sailed for another hour before arriving in Kusadasi. Here it was shopping time in the many back street market bazars. Be prepared to really haggle. We brought genuine fake (their words not mine) hand bags and Rolex watches (3 for 30euros) some nice Turkish lantern lights, some branded tops and very pretty shoes. Lots of bargains to be had and here is the best place during your whole trip to buy such goodies..
Tuesday – Patmos/ Skala.   A choice for you today.  Beach by Zodiac or town by tender.  Or indeed why not do both. We did.

Wednesday - Amorgos again another tender to the town or zodiac to the beach. We hired mopeds for the day for at just 15Euros and found two breath-taking views on the opposite sides of the islands. Goats, crystal blue sea and rugged coast line were everywhere you turned. Our girls decided to simply relax and stayed on the beach and enjoyed volley ball, kayaking, swimming, wind surfing and water skiing and fun with the sports team.  And one of them simply sun bathed all day.

Thursday - we should have gone to Mykonos but it was too windy to get into the port so we went to Symi instead.  Here we found a pretty harbour, full of quaint little back streets, churches and an array of shops and cafes.  We had a good walk around and enjoyed the ambiance of the port, but then went back on the ship and simply relaxed on deck for a few hours

Friday – our favourite port of call.  Monemvasia.   We took the tender to a small port and walked the easy 15 minute walk into the old town.  We strolled past idyllic beaches, crystal blue waters and lovely countryside.  The old town was stunning.  Again a town full of cobbled streets and little arches with hidden walkways.  A lovely array of shops and cafes with hand-made gifts were on offer.  For us the views and the old buildings were the highlight
Our cruise finished back in Athens.  We spent the day back at the pool of the hotel we stayed at on arrival before our evening flight home

A perfect holiday is every way
In next week’s blog I will tell you more about the sailing experience along with some great photos. Have a look at our website shortly for some of the best of my holiday pics.

Its halfway through the holiday for Clare and her family and I have been told not to report back until the holiday is finished, but I just had to let you know that they all seem to be having the most amazing time, there will be plenty of pictures to follow. The destinations are amazing and full of history. Its seems we had a surprise visitor on-board for all Clare's eldest daughter Danielle who actually works for Star Clippers what a lovely surprise for us but especially for Clare 1.2.3 aahhhhhh.

I often chat with you about Star Clippers but I wonder are you aware of our other 2 ships in the fleet? The Royal Clipper and Star Flyer. Both equally as stunning (although I may be bias as Star Clipper captain!) Royal Clipper is able to carry 227 passengers and over 100 staff. With 5 masts and 42 sails she is full of elegance. Facilities on-board include 3 swimming pools and our unique spa and health club with underwater glass portholes, who knows what you may see swimming past as you relax.

The Star Flyer is similar to the Star Clipper able to carry  170 passenger in pure luxury with over 70 Staff on-board. 4 masts and 16 sails she may be smaller than the Royal Clipper but still the feeling of space on-board is vast. Facilities include 2 swimming pools a piano bar to spend an evening with friends and open seat dining area provides their informal yet indulgent approach that the Star Clippers fleet achieves.
Why not have a look on our website where if you look under Ships you can experience a virtual tour.

Well what a lot I have to tell you about since the last time I dropped anchor to come ashore and find the nearest Wifi venue.

It looks like I am going to be spending this week getting my ship the Star Clipper and her crew all ship shape as we have a VIP travelling with us. Clare Dudley Managing Director of Star Clipper holidays and Ponders is coming on board with her family for her holidays.
We will be travelling through the Eastern Mediterranean visiting the greek islands such as Patmos, Amorgos, Mykonos, Monemvasia and Piraeus. Envious? well why not check out the destinations section of the website and start planning your perfect holiday we would love to see you!

Knowing Clare though I am sure in between a spot of relaxing she will want to get involved so she will probably have a go at sailing us into one of the beautiful ports we will be visiting (under my navigation of course, Starboard and Port are very different ha ha!) We encourage people to be as involved or not on their holidays with us, so if you want to have a go at something then let us know and we will see if we can make it so.
So no doubt she will be taking lots of pictures and have some tales to tell of her sea faring adventures when she returns. So check back here for an update and more details on the itinerary.
 
In addition, I have heard a whisper in the waves that soon there is an exclusive offer sailing towards you. If you book your Star Clippers holiday between the 18th and 25th September this year then you will get some amazing offers such as on board spending money and an cabin upgrade! Wow!! this gives you just enough time to do your research on the website and give those lovely ladies at
Star Clipper holidays a call to find out more about the offer, then just make sure you book within the week of the 18th -25th September to secure it all. Remember though that's a bit of a Captains exclusive piece of news and there are limited places on board Star Clipper so hurry before everyone else gets to hear about it!

Well I had best be off ship mates to check on my crew and how that scrubbing of the decks is coming along. So with the wind in our sails its full sail ahead next stop Athens!