On board Royal Clipper, Laura will host lectures on marine wildlife, operate a daily whale and dolphin watch, lead beach walks and join Star Clippers guests on dives. She will continue her marine biology studies in the Caribbean this upcoming year, uncovering the mysteries of marine life, one port call at a time.

Marine Biologist Laura Del Rio Torres.

Ximena Dipp is Star Flyer’s cruise director.

This video was taken aboard the Star Flyer during the Talent Show. In the video, starting from the left is Marine Biologist Yago, Sports Team members Viktor, Fredrick and Simon, and Randall, a Costa Rican naturalist. Couldn’t pass this one up!

Mike and Connie Moran

We wanted to tell you how much we enjoyed our recent cruise on the Star Flyer. We took the Oct 31-Nov 14 cruise from Barbados (right on the heels of Hurricane Thomas) through the Panama Canal.

Your service and crew were just wonderful and you made our 30th anniversary most memorable. Herman and his crew in the dining room were just amazing, the food was great, the weather, well, what can you do? I was hoping you would have a way to share this photo with Joey — he was terrific at the Tropical Bar.

Thanks for what you do. — Deb and Erik Nelson

Cruise Director Ximena Dipp is another talented, enthusiastic and dedicated member of the Star Clippers family. The Mexican-born officer joined Royal Clipper a year ago and has become fully immersed in the Star Clippers way of life. Like our other cruise directors, Ximena speaks several languages, including Spanish, English, German, French and some Italian.

She’s not so focused on specific activities when asked what she enjoys doing with the guests, but looks more to the overall experience she can offer.

“We are an international ship that has an average of 12-16 nationalities per cruise, and so my favorite activity is to see that guests are enjoying their voyage doing what they like to do most,” said Ximena. “If there is an honest smile, a minute of excitement, a laugh, an exchange of ideas and knowledge … that is my favorite activity, satisfying individuals.”

Like so many, Ximena came to sea by chance. After studying hotel management and finance in Switzerland she wondered what it would be like to work on a ship. Ximena took going to sea as her chance to travel and strive for an international career. She worked at Regent cruise line and Silversea, and then her friend who was a sports attendant with Star Clippers suggested she apply to the line for the position of cruise director. With her knowledge of language and outgoing personality, he thought she’d be perfect for the job, and Star Clippers agreed.

For Ximena, she enjoys the balance of the job. Of course there is paper work that has to be done along with numbers and billing, but she also gets to interact with guests, which, for her, is the fun side of the position.

“I really like sharing information and knowledge about the ports, as well as looking after the entertainment during the day as well as the evenings,” she said. “Of course it sounds like a lot of work, but I am part of a team. We all work together to achieve the highest guest satisfaction.”

While Ximena believes all ports have something special, she does favor the warmer climates that offer an opportunity for a swim. She also enjoys going for walks, meeting the locals and getting the information that isn’t written in the books.

When not on board, Ximena takes advantage of the flexibility of living where her bags are. She goes home to Mexico during her vacations, but she also takes time in other parts of the world visiting friends.

When asked more about life at sea, she summed it up nicely. “Life at sea is either black or white. There is no in between, either you love it or you hate it. I love it! My job does not feel like a job, I enjoy it too much!”

We asked Angela for more details and she informed us that his name is Erhan Aydin and he is a bartender from Turkey. Congrats!

Royal Clipper’s Cruise Director Angela went to work on ships 10 years ago after hearing stories about sea life from colleagues, and she’s never looked back. She joined Star Clippers in April 2006 after working at Costa Cruises, Festival Cruises and Celebrity Cruises.

Part of what makes the position ideal for Angela is her love of travel, entertaining and socializing. She also speaks five languages — English, German, French, Spanish and Urdu (Pakistani language due to her father being from Pakistan; her mother is Austrian) — which comes in very handy considering Star Clippers international clientele.

Angela says one of her favorite aspects about being a cruise director is organizing, presenting and selling the excursions, and French Polynesia was her favorite sailing destination.

“It was the most beautiful place I have ever been to,” said Angela. “The region has beautiful turquoise lagoons, lush green forests, it’s so calm, so serene and cut off from the rest of the fast-paced world.”

Pirate Night and the crab races rank among her favorite activities to organize. She especially likes when the passengers dress up and really get involved.

“Sometimes we do crazy things like invading the dining room,” she added. “The Star Clippers ships really inspire a funny pirate atmosphere.”

Born in Vienna and then early-schooled in Libya and Pakistan, Angela then studied tourism and leisure time management in Austria and Spain. Before working on ships she worked in London on a cultural festival, in Madrid at the World Tourism Organization and in Vienna at Panasonic as a sales representative. She then joined Costa Cruises as international hostess and has been working on ships ever since.

“I love working on these beautiful sailing ships,” she said. “Once you have tasted the sea water, it is difficult to quit.”

In her off time, Angela is a classical Indian dancer as well as a yoga instructor. She also enjoys reading, singing and trying out many different types of food. Currently she splits her time between Austria and Pakistan, but she will move to Turkey next year. She met her finance on board Star Flyer and they plan to wed in June 2011.

“I actually met my treasure of a man onboard the Star Flyer,” said Angela. “He was working with me on the same ship … lucky me … it’s the love boat!”

Safely back on board, I decide to head for the ship’s library where a talk on the earliest sailing voyages of mankind is being offered up before dinner. Now I’ve attended many such presentations on other cruises and frankly, they can be boring. The library is comfortable, rich, and beautifully appointed. The stock of literature, predominantly in English and German, isn’t something to sneeze at either.

I arrive late and passengers are already comfortably assembled around the perimeter of the room. At the front with a world map affixed to the wall is Peter Kissner, a tall, tanned Bavarian with tousled blonde hair drawn back in a pony tail. He is Star Clipper’s Cruise Director. My expectations for the talk aren’t very high.

When he wrapped up at eight o’clock, and even with hunger pangs whispering, I was prepared to sit there all night, riveted by this man. I’m not the betting sort, but I’d wager that Peter has more knowledge about maritime history than academics in this field. Not only that, his storytelling ability is unmatched. We heard about Ferdinand Magellan, the first to circumnavigate the world. We heard all about the political intrigue surrounding his historic voyage, and Peter magically teleported me to the deck of Magellan’s ship where I became one of this famous navigator’s men.

I promised myself not to be presumptuous about on-board talks again.