Island Star, The Captain John Mcniel Is the star of the ship, My next cruise will only be if he and is crew r on board ( Its not where you go, its who you go with.) Island cruises you have to bild a ship for this captain. He is a gold mine...

As previously promised I am listing my review of The Island Star.
Our party consisted of my wife and myself.
Flight details. Managed to gain extra leg room by the emergency exits. Flight crew were excellent and couldn't do enough for us.Flight was on time and the journey was uneventful.
Transfer to ship took around 20 minutes from Parma to the port.
Processing of passengers to board the ship was good with very little waiting time.
Our cabin was midship on Bronze deck was very comfortable. A lot bigger the Thomson Spirit.
We were supposed to leave Palma at 20.00 hours. However some passengers had flight delays and so we did not sail until 23.30 hours. Therefore the lifeboat drill was delayed until the next day at sea.
Day at sea. Sunbeds are at a premium and are fully taken by around 12.30 so I suggest an early trip to the top deck to secure yours. The Lifeboat drill was a bit of a mess with no actual role call. The weather was perfect being a cloudless sky and gentle sea breeze.
The sea was like a carpet for the whole of the 14 days aboard ship. For sea turbulence the Island Star was faultless with little or no movement felt.

Day Three.Villefrance.Tender to shore. Went to Marineland. Not a patch on Sea World and was not really worth the money in my opinion. A long day in the sun with very little breeze.
I enjoyed the coach ride through Nice and Cagnes though.
Visited The Steakhouse restaurant in the event. T Bone steak was the best I have ever eaten. My wife had the Sirloin and could not finish it. I helped her!
The deal is 2 meals and a bottle of wine for 24.99p .Very reasonable.
Day 4. La Specia.Took an excursion to Portofino which was lovely but very tiring.
Very expensive for drinks,meals and gifts.
Day 5. Marseille. I did not like this port very much. We found it quite intimidating and very HOT.This just our opinion as other people on the cruise enjoyed the trips they went on.
Day 6.Barcelona. DIY trip around Barca on the open top bus . I love Barcelona and treally seeing the mime artists along Las Ramblas. Beware of pickpockets though as a fellow cruise passenger had her purse stolen. Just a word of warning . But a lovely post nevertheless.
Port authority supplies a bus into town . Island cruises charge £2 for their bus World trade centre.
Day 7.Ibiza Town. You can get the shuttle into town . We took a cab to Cala llonga(15 euros each way) and just "chilled" on the beach. A lovely island and not at all like some of the bad press it gets.

Day 8. Palma. We took a cab to Palma Nova(15 euros each way) to do some shopping and such.Returned to Palma and walked along the promenade.

Day 9. Day at sea. Same problems as last week.

Day 10. Palermo. Too busy for our liking. Traffic do as they like and you have to really be careful with the scooters etc.

Day 11. Citavecchia. Rome what a city .The history of the place makes the hairs on your back stand on end.You can catch the train from Citavecchia and do the trip yourself .
For peace of mind we always take the planned excursions.We done "Rome at your own pace" trip.

Day 12. Ajaccio. I just love Corsica. We have been there on three previous occasions. This time we visited the Turtle Reserve which as animal lovers we both enjoyed.If you haven't been before I suggest the open top bus and not the little train as this gets packed and is uncomfortable.

Day 13.Alghero. Tender to shore. Beach a short distance from quay. Sea heavy with seaweed and the smell of the place wasn't that great. Very picturesque though.

Day 14. Mahon. You be around the deck area when you pull in the harbour as it is one the most beautiful posts in the med.

Thoughts on the ship.
Cabins.. excellent.
Food.. Good although not very hot. Various theme evenings in Beachcomber. Italian,Mexican and Indian.
Island Restaurant.You wait to be seated. Gets very busy around 20.00 and a queue some develops.Expect a delay around this time.
Oasis Restaurant. You pay extra for certain items on the menu and you have to book 24 hours in advance. We did not experience this restaurant.
Steakhouse. Excellent . But please ensure you book early as we tried to book on a second occasion as were disappointed not get a reservation.

Bars and Entertainment.Ocean theatre is where the shows are performed . Very professional and enjoyable.
The Pub. Young Irish Duo. Saffire. Not to our taste .
Bounty Club. This is where we spent the majority of our time.They have a competition called "Team trivia" where you enter a team at the beginning of the week and they run a quiz each night and tally the scores up to produce an overall winner for the week.
Various other games such as "who what to be a millionaire?", Deal or no deal, Mr and Mrs etc.

Overall the ship is the most informal ship we have been on. The captain is always around and happy to talk.
The bar prices are OK with the exception of the canned sodas at £1.40 which is a rip off.

Would we travel again with Island Cruises? A resounding YES!!

I hope this is of helped to those who are going on The Island Star. If I can be of further assistance pease let me know.
Bon Voyage.

Made a last minute booking to cruise on the 29th July 2006. What a good decision :-) The holiday was great from start to finish..... the flight, checking in at Palma, transport to the ship, the cabin, the crew, the entertainment, the food and of course the Captain.

As others have said deck space on the day at sea was difficult to find and despite being asked not to reserve beds, beds were reserved all day without seeing anyone using them !!!

As to the ports of call:

Livorno - decided to do Pisa on our own. Walked into the town centre (10 minutes or so) bought bus tickets at the newsagents stand 1 euro each and caught the bus to the central railway station (too far away to walk!!), then bought train tickets to Pisa for 3.40 euro each. Train journey takes about 15 minutes and regular trains every 20 minutes or so. Fares for two people to Pisa was 10.80 euros (Island Star trip was 34 pounds each !!).

Santa Margherita - lovely port - tender into the port

Nice - again lovely port - lots of local buses for reasonable prices to neighbouring towns etc.

Toulon - French navy port - lots of boat trips from the harbour

Sete - slight hitch on this particular cruise - the wind started blowing and a force 7-8 was expected in the area so the captain took the decision to move away from the French riviera and head back towards the Balaerics - we had a very uncomfortable night en route to Mahon in Minorca for a surprise visit - headed to the beach at Son Bou for a few hours.

All in all good value for money and will definately be going back.

First time cruisers, we were so worried prior to sailing as there had been a lot of poor reports on various sites. We flew from Newcastle and once in Palma we were put at ease by the friendly staff waiting for us there. We were in our cabin at 11.50 but the stewardess was still polishing the dressing table and asked if we could give her 10 more minutes as we were early. Our cabin was an inside on Bronze deck, loads of wardrobe space, adequate bathroom facilities and a double bed, well 2 singles locked together. The only criticism I had about the room would be that the inclusion of some hot drinks facilities in the room would have been very useful as it was 8 decks up to the 24 hour restraunt!
We were not the youngest couple on board and certainly not the oldest, one gent was in his 90's.
One thing that "tickled" us was that those on the top decks with the balcony, paying a lot more than us were ofter complaining they had not slept as the ship swayed a lot during the night, we felt nothing being lower down in the ship.
The food, entertainment and the whole ship's ambience was superb, from the Captain to the cabin staff they gave us the holiday of a lifetime, next to Disney world, Florida of course!!
Speaking of Disney I found the 14 day cruise much more tiring than Disney ever was as every day was filled to the gunnels with sightseeing and onboard activites.
I could go on and list everything but realy must go and do the ironing! Take comfortable shoes,pleanty of suntan lotion and as Rob the entertainments director says, "frowns are not allowed"
A brilliant holiday, booking up for the next one,
The Hansons

i would just like to say how much we enjoyed our weeks cruise on the Star. From the moment you get on board you are made to feel special. the cleanliness of the ship is exellent, the food was good ,plenty of choice, entertainment was very good although i thought the shows could have lasted longer. the cruise director was fab realy professional, the captain and crew were friendly every one wanted you to enjoy the experience. we enjoyed it so much we have just booked a week on the Escape next month.

Our cabin was on bronze deck we found it very comfortable.It was always clean and tidy thanks to the cabin steward always clean towels was left, as long you put the used ones on the floor .
All the food places were very clean the staff was great, the food very good with plenty of choices
we went between the island restaurant where you waited to be escourted to a table and then it was self service buffet plenty of fresh fruit was to be had along with other nice food ,and the beechcombers you just took pot luck there where you sat inside or out on the sunny deck the restaurant was on the 11th deck where tea and coffee and water was served all day and night along with all the self service foods
the staff where ever we went to were wounderful .
the Theatre was very nice and a joy to sit in we would go there after our dinner and wait for the shows and entertainments to begin .
would I go again O yes and very soon Ihope

We have sailed on island cruises other ship the isalnd escape on two occasions and was impresed so this year we decided to try the island star for two weeks we have just got back home and could of stayed another two weeks .From the moment we boared the staff were helpfull poliet and kept the cabins and all public areas clen and tidy. The food was great i again need to visit the gym for a month and this ship also boasts the steak house which is out of this world a fantasic holiday with fantastic crew staff and of course the captain who never found it to much trouble to engage in conversation when passing .I should also mention we had a change over of captins on our cruise the 1st master john brock and the second week was captin john mcneil both are a credit to island cruies as we have sailed with both on the island escape.The only niggle we have is the on board entertaiment but you cannot please everyone .We did read a few reviews about the island star on this site before going and there is some bad reports but island cruies once again delevered 1st class........

Last year I cruised with P&O and had a brilliant time. I booked the holiday in January and after seeing the bad reviews I nearly cancelled my holiday. Needless to say I had a wonderfull time. We had a balcony cabin on deck 10. The cabin was maintained to the highest standard and what they do with the towels always brings a smile to your face. There are plenty of places to eat, the food and choice is excellent and the waiting staff attentive. It's a shame there's not a rating box for passangers. My only moan would be why don't people wash their hands in the gel thats provided. Thank you Island Cruises and First Choice. Your star is the Island Star.

Found the cleanliness of the ship fine, cabin well looked after, cabin stewards attentive. Ate in the Oasis Al a Carte everynight, excellent, some of the courses are included in the general dish of the day price, others are extra, i.e. lobster (£9.00), fillet steak (£7.00) etc. Say hello to Julian and Jobert, provided excellent service and care and attention. On the whole a good value for money cruise, we stayed on diamond deck, abit noisey in places, get a cabin in the middle of the ship if you can, avoid the galley area above you at the rear of the ship, they start very early, but we complain and move cabin no problem. What bit of the entertainment we saw was fine, but we like the eating experience the best, food is fab. Would cruise on Island Star again.

First cruise in a long time and I was a little apprehensive in view of some of the negative comments made here about this ship.

In general a very nice cruising experience but i dont think that the ship was at full capacity. We were in Coral deck which was fine with adequate space a sea view and comfortable single beds. The Staff were friendly in their approach and very competent regarding their duties.
Entertainment was of a high quality and there was usually something of interest taking place during some part of the day. Spacious sun decks for those seeking a tan ... this cruise was predominately older generation but good family fun.
The staff came from all over the world and seemed to work well together and was a fine example of good international co - operation.
One thing that I found hard to understand, an excellent eleven table card room being unused!!! Most contract bridge directors would give their eye teeth for such a facility!!!??? Something for low season activities perhaps?... 44 bridge players must be a worthwhile contribution...
The off ship excursions were well chosen and generally interesting with transportation on modern well appointed coaches.
People in wheel chairs also seemed to be evident on the ship and were catered for with tolerance and good fun.
The food was good well selected and plentiful .. it could become cold fairly soon on the plate but I think this may have been due to flow of cool air from conditioning units in the restaurants?
Plentiful supply of Tea or coffee and cool non alcoholic drinks .....
All in All a good cruise but 7 days was perhaps too short.
Value for money? ... bordering on fair ... but then I am Scottish!

Would I sail in her again?
Yes if the price was right and the ports of call were interesting and there was contract bridge on board!