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In August 2009 we took our first cruise on the Royal Clipper, the flagship of the Star Clipper line and what a fabulous holiday it was.

The Royal Clipper, in all its splendour, is one of the largest and only five masted sailing ships in the world. Grand but compact in size, it gracefully manoeuvred us into ports that other larger cruise ships cannot access. Our cruise took us from the beautiful city of Venice to majestic Rome calling in at the wonderful little harbours of Rovinj and Hvar, gliding us onwards to the marvels of Dubrovnik, Kotor, Corfu, Naxos, Taormina, Capri and Ponza.

The Royal Clipper holds 227 passengers and has a very welcoming and laid back atmosphere. This vessel is tailored to the more discerning holiday maker who just wants to sit back, relax and go with the flow. The evening entertainment was rather limited but offered us lots of free time to sit on deck with a glass of wine, watching the glorious sunsets, as the sails gently flapped in the breeze. If you do feel livelier, the crew organised events such as a Pirates Night and Talent Competition but we were too chilled to take part.

What I really liked about the ship was its friendly feel and especially the mixture of nationalities ranging from American, Australian, Italian, French and German with the odd Brit mixed in of course. To manage the language barrier, the staff took the trouble to seat you, wherever possible, with your native speakers but we also enjoyed the opportunity of meeting and making lots of foreign friends.

The food on board was excellent. However, the resident chef was kept firmly on his toes by the marvellous cooking demonstrations given by the guest Michelin Star chefs. Not only that, we were delighted by the wine tasting sessions hosted by Isabell Mangaert and Christina Marbler, who have their own vineyard in the South of France.

There are many off board excursions on offer but we took the opportunity of catching the ship to shore Tender to do our own exploring.

Once the ship was moored, there were also many water sports available from the swimming platform at the rear of the ship. These ranged from diving, snorkelling, canoeing, swimming and sailing. We did attempt one dive when docked in Naxos but it was disappointing, like most of the diving in the med can be, with no coral reefs or pretty fish to look at.

All in all I would definitely take another Star Clipper cruise and would highly recommend the experience. However, to get the most out of the diving, I think the Caribbean or French Polynesia beckons next. Ahoy there and enjoy.