Welcome to the forum Graeme

Sorry I can't help with the currency issue but am sure some of our cruising members will try to assist. In the meantime (if you haven't already done so) check out our Cruise Reviews for this ship - here http://www.holidaytruths.co.uk/cruise-reviews/island-cruises/island-star/

We were in the Caribbean Feb 2008, but the only ports we had common to your own trip were Barbados and St Lucia. Looking at the Island prices, I would say they are fair compared to other cruiselines. Even at the poorer dollar rate you can always DIY at a cheaper rate. Most of the ports will have taxis & small minibus operators. A private taxi will cost more than a minibus trip which would typically have 8-12 people in it. Really it depends on your preference. Many of the ports are ideal for self exploration i.e. walking around, but some choose to go further afield. We tend to do a mixture of both.

Certainly if you want to do some of the "sea trips" i.e. catamaran, cruise to Pitons etc. my advice would be book with Island. Reason is that once you get to the port you will find that all the local boats have been hired out by your cruiseline, and other lines in port on the same day.

I am just back and at most islands the cost of a mini bus tour was 20dollars ,still a lot cheaper than the ships tours.

Anstruther, I have been reading nothing but bad reviews for this maiden Caribbean trip for Island Star. What are your views? We are due to go 29 January 2009 and are now feeling very apprehensive.

Hi folks thanks for the replies.

Subu where have you seen the bad reviews about Island Star? I have only read good reviews on this site.

Cruise.co.uk has quite a few reviews. It would be interesting to know what you think of them.

Hi Subu

The reviews don't look good, hope they manage to get transportation side sorted out by the time we go.
On our last cruise, we were with Airtours on Seabird just before she was sold to Thomsons. We still had a great time but if we had known Island Star was being sold, we would not have booked this cruise.

Its too late to back out now, so we will just have to go and enjoy ourselfs.
Hope you have a great time on the cruise.

Sulu, Im sorry I meant that I was just back from the Caribbean,I was on a Fred Olsen ship but the Island Star was berthed at a lot of the same ports we were at so the mini buses will be available.

We are thinking that people are not comparing like for like, some reviewers have been on a lot of cruises and it depends on their expectations and experiences. I did a lot of research about Island Star before booking but did not realise she was about to be sold. We read some bad reviews about Thomsons's Destiny but found nothing to complain about earlier this year, so going with an open mind. We have paid our money and will go expecting to enjoy the experience. Will report back mid February.

sulu wrote:

We are thinking that people are not comparing like for like, some reviewers have been on a lot of cruises and it depends on their expectations and experiences. I did a lot of research about Island Star before booking but did not realise she was about to be sold. We read some bad reviews about Thomsons's Destiny but found nothing to complain about earlier this year, so going with an open mind. We have paid our money and will go expecting to enjoy the experience. Will report back mid February.

We have been on 11 cruises, with 8 different lines ranging from Island/thomson to Cunard QM2 and everything else between these extremes. For what it is worth we sailed on the Island Star after having been on the Thomson Spirit, the QM2, HAL Noordam, and Celebrity Century. We thoroughly enjoyed it, recognising it was in a completely different market from some of the others. Indeed we have enjoyed every single one of our cruises, for different reasons.

Even if there are one or two things that irk a little, a far greater number of things will be just right, and you are in the Caribbean whilst the rest of us freeze!! Some of the reviews we have read over the years made us wonder if the author(s) had been on the same ship as us....an incredible number of people just love to whinge.

Go with an open mind, and you will thoroughly enjoy yourself.