Star Cruises

MS Star Aquarius

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Operator:Star Cruises
Year Built / Last Refurbished: 1989/ 2007
Length / Tonnage: 579 / 40,012
Number of Cabins / Passengers: 689 / 2,200
Officers / Crew: International / International
Operating Area: Year-round 2 & 3 day cruises from Singapore

SuperStar Aquarius was formerly the Norwegian Wind, the sister of Norwegian Dream. She was transferred to Star Cruises in 2007 from NCL, and became the second largest ship in fleet.

I sailed the ship's one of the preview cruises ex-Singapore before her reposition cruise to Hong Kong. 3 weeks later, I sailed here again for her maiden Xiamen cruise ex-Hong Kong. Despite this is the maiden Xiamen cruise, there are no special events or special events as for the passengers.

SuperStar Aquarius is the largest cruise ship to be based in Hong Kong, although not the largest ever. She sails regular two !'destination cruises!( per month. These are 2-night cruises to nearly destination Xiamen. For the rest of the time, the ship sails daily overnight cruises to open sea where many passengers enjoy the gaming activities. That is a good substitution of one-night hotel stay in Hong Kong.

The ship has been through an extension, and density is quite high. The ship was designed to be around 30000 tons before the extension, so public rooms tend to be small except the Stardust Lounge, and there is no atrium.

During the ship's conversion to a Star Cruises ship, many shops, bars and lounges and one of the outdoor swimming pools are taken away in favour for more casino space, and also the karaoke. The relocated souvenir ship is very tiny. Decoration is !'deluxe!( in some parts while other parts remain quite old fashioned. Lifts look tired. Passageways are rather narrow and staircases have small steps. There simply are not enough public rooms for the size of the ship.

The ship now has only one small swimming pool at the stern, but adequate for Asian passengers. The 2 hot tubs, though remains, are on Deck 12 forward and thus if you wish to relax in the hot tubs after swimming in the aft pool, you have to walk a few meters and a few decks up in order to get to the hot tubs. Outdoor decks are mostly covered by painted steel, and only decks around the pool are covered by teakwood. The top pool was replaced by a VIP casino during the conversion and the deck above the casino is now an empty deck with nothing. The layout of the ship is quite awful and very much disjointed. The fact that many new casinos are added contributes to the pain. Many passengers keep finding their ways on the third day onboard.

Food and dining experience is best described as !'horrible!( onboard SuperStar Aquarius. The Dynasty Restaurant serves set meal Chinese food, while the Spices and Mariners restaurants are both buffet style. A four dining venue is on deck, which is a deck barbeque. All restaurants are crowded during meal times, especially when the ship is full.

Long queues appear as seatings are not assigned. The table services in Dynasty Restaurant are rather poor and insufficient. While food is served, appetizer and dessert are in buffet style and diners have to line up in the buffet lines for such.

When it comes to quality, the food on SuperStar Aquarius is only fair, and somewhat disappointing. Selections are quite limited even compared to other ships in fleet, and even worse when compared to many local casino ships.

Other than those included meals, the ship has 2 more pay-to-eat restaurants, the Blue Lagoon that serves Asian favour and Taipan, which is reserved for members and VIPs. The Blue Lagoon became quite crowded on the last day of the cruise as many passengers are unhappy with the long wait and food quality of the free restaurants.

Cabins are quite comfortable, especially for outside cabins. Although the cabin is not big in size, outside cabins have a small seating area and manage to be quite comfortable. The lighting of the inside cabins are rather dim. There is little drawer space, but again that is not needed since the ship only sail very short cruises. Room service is rather inefficient as I had to wait for more than 30 minutes for ice.

Cabin numbering is quite confusing. Despite all the cabins are re-numbered. For example, some signs show !'Cabins 10100-10001!( rather than the logical !'Cabins 10001-10100!( on your left hand side, despite the furthest cabin along the passageway on your left hand side is in fact 10001.

The 2-deck-high Stardust Lounge is the venue for production shows, band shows and games. The Aquarius Lounge is a small lounge which has live band, and sticks with the nearby Lagoon Bar and activity centre.

The production shows in the Stardust Lounge are of great scale, spectacular and colourful. A canton band also sings in the Stardust Lounge, quite strange as the stage is too big for them. Sightlines are quite poor unless you sit on the first few rows. Those at the back are almost impossible to see what's going on. Since this is the only showlounge onboard, it is crowded all the times and somewhat difficult to get a seat as shows continue one after another and there are no arrangements to vacate the lounge for those who could not get a seat.

Other than the colourful production shows, there are also some low key activities like bingo in the Stardust Lounge.

Xiamen is seldom visited by international cruise ships, but she is a beautiful modern port city of China, having the !'Garden City!( claim. Shore excursions include visits to temples, a piano museum, or underwater world on the Gu Lang Yu Island. Or you can choose the tour to a maritime museum with an ancient ship that has sat on the bottom of a river for a few hundred years.

The SuperStar Aquarius is deployed on one- and two- night cruises from Hong Kong. The one-night cruises depart at 6:00 pm and sail out into the South China Sea before returning the next morning. The two-day cruies at a stop at Haikou, China.

Mostly Chinese, and mostly Hong Kong passengers. There are a few foreigners on the cruise to Xiamen. Expect kids especially for weekends or school holiday departures.