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.

What is a typical sea day like for you?
A sea day is usually a little bit more calm than a port day. We usually have a morning meeting, then we start the activities. Mostly there are a lot of sport activities like mast climbing, gymnastics, aquagym, etc., but also additional programs like treasure hunts and quizzes.

I prefer to do paperwork on these days because I never leave the ship like the other days for excursions. So I have the maximum time to do the paperwork. On the other hand, its also a great day to do lectures because everyone is on board. The lectures are about historical subjects, etc.

What is a typical port day like for you?
In port we have a lot more activities and I have to be in many different places. The most important thing is that the tender service is working properly. We have tenders going in and out for excursions and everyone has to be in the right place at the right time. So I am on the ship doing paperwork, leaving the ship to meet the excursion agents, going back to the ship and writing the program, going back to shore and picking up the excursion again…

Besides that, there are a lot of water sports activities as well, either from the ship or from the beach which take place at the same time as other activities.

I don’t really have a typical day. Most of the activities strongly depend on the arrival and departure time, so I might either start with an excursion in the morning or with the conception of the next daily program or with a lecture, sports activity, dance class, quiz, paperwork … Usually I start very early in the morning and try to finish as much work as possible, then I take a little break after lunch or go out myself and then I start again in the afternoon. After the evening entertainment “the job is done” but I like to stay with the guests in the bar and talk to them.

What activities do the guests seem to enjoy?
As there is a very wide range of activities, almost every guest can find the perfect entertainment for himself or for herself — from fruit carving to knot tying. Usually the “special” activities are very much appreciated, such as mast climbing, the photo tender around the ship, engine room visit, talent show … It depends on the type of passengers, but usually they like everything that makes the ship and the cruise special and everything that is personal like the talent show. The don’t want to watch a movie on tv, they appreciate more the entertainment where they are in a direct contact with the crew.

What are your favorite kinds of activities to arrange?
I always try to find the corresponding activities for the type of passengers. I think excursions with a historical background are quite interesting, but also typical sailing ship activities like mastclimbing. I am personally very much into scuba diving and sailing in general. My favourite activity is actually being on deck when we have the sailaway. Still after many cruises its so impressive to stand on deck and listen to the sailaway music while seeing the lights fading away.

There are many different things:
Organization/Coordination:
* Organization of the whole daily program. This means that I put together all activities from the different departments, depending on the destination, arrival, departure, availability, etc.
* Check all activities with the people in charge (e.g. mastclimbing has to be approved by the captain, etc.)

Excursions:
* Promotion and presentation of all shore excursions, recommendation of the right excursion for the particular passenger
* Confirmation and cancellation of the excursions with the local agents
* Escort the groups to the meeting points (in advance: check landing place, accessibility for buses, etc.)
* Organization of an appropriate tender service for the excursions depending on the number of participants
* Administration of the excursions

Entertainment:
* Organization of the other entertainment activities (knot tying with the rigger, dance class, cocktail demonstration, etc.)
* The entertainment has to be the right combination depending on the type of passengers (nationality, age, interests, culture, destinations…). So there is no week that has the same program, it actually changes every day and it has to be adapted to all the passengers so that everyone has the maximum opportunities to enjoy the cruise.
* Evening entertainment: talent show, fashion show, line dancing contest, ship’s quiz, music quiz, karaoke, pirate night…

Shore operations:
* Organization of transfers for the guests at the end of the cruise
* Information about all the destinations (going to the tourist office, providing the guests with maps, collecting materials about every place, etc.)

Embarkation/Disembarkation:
* Supervision of all embarkation and disembarkation processes
* Transfers

Sports:
* Organization of a varied sports program for the guests

Anna is quite the multi-tasker! We’re lucky to have her on board!

When I was 11 years old, my mother went on a cruise with me on the Star Flyer. She actually thought that there are only old people on the ship but she wanted me to come with her. I was looking forward to that cruise although I had no idea how it was going to be like.

I will never forget this moment when I came out of the cruise terminal in Athens and saw that beautiful ship the first time. It made me speechless and I still have this picture in my mind. This cruise was the best week of my life, also for my mom.

From that day on, I always told my mother that I want to work on this ship when I’m grown up. First she was laughing at me because it sounded like other young girl’s dreams like “I want to become a princess one day” and so on. After a couple of other cruises on the Star Flyer, my wish to work there became very serious. After I finished school, I just applied for a position in the Sports Team, as I am very much into sailing and water sports. It was worth a try I thought. First I wasn’t successful because I couldn’t offer a long working period. But all of a sudden, the evening before my final exam at high school, I got another offer for joining the Sports Team on the Royal Clipper.

So I sailed in the Med for a couple of months in 2009 and that was the best time of my life, I enjoyed it so much. As I am studying international event management and marketing I thought about becoming a cruise director one day because it’s very much related to what I am studying so I just applied again.

Now I interrupted my studies for a while in order to take this fantastic opportunity and work as a cruise director.

We also asked Anna (as we ask all of our well-traveled crew) about her favorite part of the world. She responded:

I am very curious and looking forward to seeing Costa Rica. So far, I have only sailed in the Mediterranean with Star Clippers and there my favourite area was definitely the Adriatic Sea. I love Croatia and I was very impressed by the Fjord of Kotor in Montenegro. Apart from that, I also love Sweden and I might move to Sweden one day as well. The most important thing is that its close to the water.

Anna told us a lot more about what a typical day is like for her on board, so check back tomorrow to read part 2 of “Meet Crusie Director Anna Laeng.”

My best friend I enjoyed meeting Bosun Pereira Piedade on the Royal Clipper April 2010 in the Grenadines. Miss you!

Here is Part 2 of Larry Haugh’s interview with Vacation Agent magazine.

Who’s your typical client?
We’ve found that 50 percent of our passengers have been involved in boating at some point in their life. Anybody who owns boats…[or belongs to] any type of sailing club or yacht club, whether they’re power or sail boats, are potential clients. Our passenger is an average age of 55 with a household income of $120,000 who takes about three weeks vacation a year.

We offer a four-star product and we [use] actual sailing ships—our ships are designated SPV, for sail passenger vessel. We have engines, but we go primarily by sails as much and as frequently as possible. Over 80 percent of our American guests have been on previous cruises, and then they come to us because they want to do something different. We’re truly experiential when it comes to travel.

What sorts of programs do you have for travel agents?
Travel agents are the primary source of our business. One exciting new program is for groups in 2010 and ‘11 that gives clients savings of up to 50 percent off the brochure rates. A group size with us is only nine paying guests, and the 10th sails free, so you earn TCs much faster. We do have a maximum of two tour conductors per group, occupying the same cabin. If agents achieve group numbers, they can earn a $500 to $1,000 bonus commission per group. We’re currently redoing our website, and in the spring we plan to have a new, improved travel agent area on it as well. We don’t have a booking engine, but we have postcards and e-mails and flyers that can be customized.

Larry Haugh is vice president of sales for Star Clippers Americas.

Larry G. Haugh, Star Clippers’ vice president of sales based in the company’s Miami office, recently sat down with “Vacation Agent” magazine to discuss programs and new itineraries. Here’s what he had to say.

Star Clippers has some interesting new itineraries planned for the upcoming year. Tell us about the new Costa Rica program by Star Flyer.
Our owner decided that it would be a good idea to have all three ships in Europe for the summer. Half of our business comes from Europe, so we have a drive-up market. Star Flyer is currently doing a pretty interesting repositioning sailing, going 34 nights from Papeete, Tahiti, to Balboa, Panama. From there, it will move on to Europe in May. We cannot move the ship back to Tahiti for the fall, so we will move it to Costa Rica for the first time. We listen to what our passengers are saying and what they like. We’re always looking for new opportunities.

We’ll visit 40 new ports of call this year, which is exciting to offer new passengers but also gives our past passengers the opportunity to sail into new wonderful ports. Over 55 percent of our passengers return. As we say to our agent friends, once you get passengers on Star Clippers, they’ll definitely come back, and they will tell their friends.

What’s on tap for the summer Mediterranean season?
Once the Star Flyer comes back from Tahiti, it will operate western Mediterranean cruises from Monaco or Cannes. During the summer, the Star Flyer also will do a series of sailings out of Rhodes along the Turquoise Coast of Turkey. The Royal Clipper sails from Barbados in April back to Rome and will do a series of seven-night Rome roundtrips visiting Sorrento, Taormina and other places. It will also do a series of 10- and 11-night sailings in July, August and September up the Dalmatian Coast to Venice and back. Star Clipper will be sailing from Athens to the Greek Isles and Turkey, which is quite popular. There are a couple of sailings that go from Athens to Venice and back along the Dalmatian Coast.

Star Clipper is not returning to the Far East. Why not?
The ship will spend next winter in the Caribbean, operating alternating itineraries from St. Maarten. We’re moving the Star Clipper out of Asia due to the rise of piracy in the Strait of Malacca, Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean and the increasing boldness of the pirates. The stability of the region is too unpredictable at this time. We hope that the piracy situation can be alleviated, and when that happens, we plan to return to Thailand and Malaysia.

The Larry Haugh interview will be continued tomorrow in another post. Stay tuned!

Schröter started his carrier at the age of 14 and went on to worked 10 years as a chef, five years as an executive chef and 12 years as F&B Manager around the world in South America, Europe, the Middle East and Sri Lanka.

Since 2000 he’s been in charge of Star Clippers’ hotel operations. He is a member of Eurotoques and the Chaine des Rotisseurs.

Broccoli Cream Soup with Chili Cream

Ingredients for 4 persons:

100 gr finely chopped onion
300 gr diced broccoli
1 tsp of olive oil
200 ml of vegetable stock
50 gr of cream cheese (5% fat)
Salt, pepper and sugar to taste

Chili Cream
100 ml fresh whipped cream
1 tsp of finely chopped red chili peppers
3 tsp of croûtons

Decoration
4 Italian bread sticks
4 slices of smoked ham

Preparation
Heat the oil and sautée the onion until it looks transparent. Add the broccoli and let the mixture cook a little bit before adding the vegetable stock. Cover the pan and simmer for 5 to 10 minutes.

Mix the soup in a blender with the cream cheese and season to taste (salt, pepper, sugar)

Mix the chopped chili with the whipped cream.

Wrap a slice of ham around each bread stick (leaving half the bread stick free)

Serving suggestion
Pour the soup into a warm soup plate or bowl and garnish with some of the chili cream, sprinkle with croûtons and decorate with one ham bread stick.

Accompany with fresh or toasted baguette.

Chef’s tip:
Strips of turkey breast or sautéed chicken liver also work well as a garnish