Day 1
Day 2
We then proceed to have lunch at a Thai restaurant. The food is not bad. We were then brought to a souvenier shop, a fish farm, and the fossil shell beach, all of which in my opinion were not impressive.
After dinner, there was a Russian-themed musical performance show for the night that features an all-European casts of acrobats and dancers. A glass of cocktail drink was provided during the show.
Next, we headed to a honey shop before being brought to visit a sea shell museum. There are many interesting varieties of sea shells exhibited here, many of which I have not seen before. There are also some which are offered for sale.
Our next stop is the Promthep Cape view point. It is very windy here and the view is breathtaking. It is a very good place to snap scenic photographs.
Our final stop of the day is at Patong Beach. The Junceylon Shopping Mall, which is a very large shopping complex, is located here.
After dinner, we took a walk around the jetty area as there was a night market there.
Later in the night, there was a farewell party at the pool deck, with food provided and further performances by crew members.
We began our journey from Berjaya Times Square as this is the bus departure location to Penang cruise terminal. The bus was supposed to depart at 7.30am but it was delayed for 30 minutes.
Our bus arriving at the Penang cruise terminal
We arrived to Penang cruise terminal at noon. Upon checking-in and clearing custom, all passengers would be stopped for a photograph session with their crew members and mascot, photos of which will be charged at premium price should you intend to purchase it later. :o This would be a norm after a few days on board the ship as each time you disembark from your daily tour, there would be different mascots and crews to snap photos with you ^.^’
Next, we handed over our passports to the cruise staffs in exchange for our room access card-cum-identification card, which also doubles up as our ‘credit card’ on board the ship. All meals utilization, purchases, gaming activities, etc that involves payment will be transacted via this card as the ship incorporates a cashless system. We were then given a sheet of itinerary called the “Star Navigator”, which lists restaurants and meals covered, as well as time for events and meals.
Once on board, we headed to our room to store our luggage. It is quite spacious with attached bathroom. Too bad thought, for the cabin that we have selected, the window view was obstructed by the safety boat.
Our CAB-type room
Complimentary tea leaves provided
As we have yet to take our lunch and starting to feel a little bit hungry, we headed to one of their three restaurants with inclusive meals (i.e. no additional charges) for their Afternoon Snacks session which is from 1pm till 4pm. The menu is the same for all 3 restaurants for the Afternoon Snacks session and is quite mediocre. Note that you may dine only once for each of the dining sessions (breakfast, lunch, dinner, and supper) and you may choose any one of the 3 restaurants for the respective sessions. There is one serving Chinese dishes, one with Western and Fusion dishes, and another serving buffet.
Afternoon Snacks at Four Seasons Restaurant
We then joined their ship walkaround tour which brings us to places around the ship. There’s a performance hall called Stardust Lounge where the daily performances would be held. There’s a basketball half-court at the aft (i.e. back of the ship), some duty free shops, a karaoke (chargeable), disco (chargeable), 2 swimming pools at the top deck (1 adult and 1 for kids), 2 Jacuzzi pools, a saloon, a gym room, and of course, 3 casino rooms with table games, slot machines, and roulettes. There are a few non-inclusive restaurants on board as well (i.e. you will have to pay to dine in these locations).
At about 4.45pm, we joined the safety drill prior to the ship setting sail.
Life jackets for the safety drills
We then joined the French BBQ dinner at the pool deck, which has roast lamb, fish, prawns, and many other side dishes and desserts. There were some performances by the cruise staff during the dinner session. As we have to take a tender boat (sort of like a shuttle boat that takes passengers from the cruise ship to the jetty at Krabi) to shore for our Krabi tour the next day, we went to the reception to collect our tender boat stickers for the earliest session. Note that reservation for the Gala Dinner (more on that in Day 2) session would also have to be made by then.
Tender boat stickers for disembarking to Krabi
Performances at the pool deck
Food served at French BBQ dinner
We also went to the Ocean Palace restaurant that serves Chinese dishes to try out their set dinner.
At night, there is a 45-minutes magic show session by a magician from Czech known as Zee Deneck. His brand of magic is based on humour with some usage of magic props as well as invitation for participation from viewers. If you do not intend to go up on stage, I would suggest you not to sit anywhere near the front rows ;) Overall, the show was quite entertaining.
Showtime – Zee Deneck Magic Show and his ‘victim’ from the audience
You may then head on to the photographs area where you may then view and decides whether to purchase photos snapped earlier the day when you board the ship. The photos are not cheap and it costs between RM26 ~ RM38 per piece!
Sample of the photo
We had our breakfast at Four Seasons. It was a mini-buffet spread with sausages, ham slices, cheese spreads, cereals, cakes and fruits.
Breakfast at Four Seasons
Then, we walked around the ship before heading over to take the tender boat to Krabi jetty. Our first stop in Krabi is the Tiger Cave temple. There was supposedly existence of footprints in a cave left by tiger and thus a temple was built at the cave. If time permits, one could also climb a hill here for a scenic view of Krabi from the hilltop. There’s an old section of the temple and also a newly constructed pagoda section of the temple. Note that there are no real tigers here for view, only statues of tigers. There’s plenty of live monkeys though, climbing on the temple roofs.
Newly constructed temple
Staircase to climb to the hill top
Salt-water fish farm
Next, we were brought to the Nopparatara beach, which has a long row of shops facing the beach, selling all sorts of souveniers. After having bought some souveniers, we took the tender boat back to Superstar Libra.
Souvenier from Krabi
View of Superstar Libra from the tender boat
After taking the tender boat back to the cruise ship, we attended the Gala Dinner at Four Seasons, in which the Captain of the ship would be joining cruise guests for dinner. It was the Western Cuisine session. Guests were informed to ‘dress up’ for the dinner and there was a pre-gala dinner cocktail session prior to that at the Stardust Lounge, where guests were given the opportunity to have their pictures taken with the ship captain, but which photographs would be sold at premium price should you decide to purchase it. The food for the gala dinner was rather so-so in my opinion for a ‘gala’ dinner.
Starters – Prawn salad
Main Course – Stuffed Roasted Chicken Breast
Soup – Cream of Mushroom
Dessert – Cheese cake
Captain of the ship
Showtime – Reflections of Russia
Cocktail provided during the show
We then went to the pool deck to grab some fresh air and moon-bathe a little, enjoying the moon and stars, before taking supper and calling it a day.
Full moon
Day 3
Breakfast was at Ocean Palace. It was a set menu, with some dimsum, pau, glutinous rice, porridge, and yam cake. We took a walk around the ship after having breakfast.
Breakfast at Ocean Palace
A three-man ensemble playing songs to entertain guests at the lobby
Miniature model of Superstar Libra
Enjoying the view at the top deck
Sun bathing at the top deck
Basketball court
The ship arrives at Phuket jetty by noon so we took our lunch before heading to the jetty. Our Phuket tour takes us first to a cashew nut factory, where we could observe how cashew nut is extracted from its shell. There were also various flavour-coated cashew nuts on sale here. My personal favourite is the chocolate-coated as well as the honey-coated variety. We could also purchase cashew fruit drinks here.
Cashew nut before extraction
Next, we headed to a honey shop before being brought to visit a sea shell museum. There are many interesting varieties of sea shells exhibited here, many of which I have not seen before. There are also some which are offered for sale.
Some of the shells on display
Our next stop is the Promthep Cape view point. It is very windy here and the view is breathtaking. It is a very good place to snap scenic photographs.
Promthep Cape
Promthep Cape
Patong beach
At the Phuket jetty
We were back to the jetty in time for dinner. Dinner was a Mariner’s Buffet, where there is a spread of western, Chinese, and Indian food.
Dinner at Mariner’s Buffer
After dinner, we took a walk around the jetty area as there was a night market there.
Night market at Phuket jetty
A night, there was a performance by ordinary crew members of the ship at Stardust Lounge. Although entertaining at certain segments, it gives the impression that Starcruise is trying to cut cost by not engaging in professional acts for their shows. Among performances were singing and dancing, sand art, and men-dressed as women sketches.
Showtime – Colours by crew members
Later in the night, there was a farewell party at the pool deck, with food provided and further performances by crew members.
Day 4
After having breakfast, we took our passports back. We had to take a number and wait for our turn to disembark from the ship. Overall, our first cruise experience would be best remembered with the amount of meals that we had in a day! ;P
Breakfast at Ocean Palace
Waiting card for passport collection
Negative points:
During the Krabi tour, Hwajing’s tour guide should have waited for us at the jetty for our arrival but he was nowhere to be found. We have to instead search for him and found him ‘hiding’ under a tree, seeking shelter from the sun! We were then made to wait for 1 hour under the hot sun as it seems there are other tour mates who have yet to arrive! This is a very poor tour arrangement from a company such as Hwajing and we were utterly disappointed. We were also made to walk for 15 minutes from Nopparatara beach to the bus rather than the bus coming to pick us up.
For the Phuket tour, we completely skipped visiting Wat Chalong temple, which was supposed to be part of the itinerary, as it was raining when we reached there and the tour guide did not bring us back to the temple after the rain stops.
Point of advice: Seriously reconsider if you intend to make a booking via Hwajing. The optional tours arrangement on board Starcruise itself might be a better choice.
