What you need to recognize is this ship is marketed to compete in the mid-standard cruising range, and is not a premium line, and priced accordingly. On that basis I would review as follows:

The public areas on the inside of the ship, particularly the main restaurant, shopping and show areas on decks 7 and 8 are excellent. Staff do all they can to keep ship clean, and work extremely hard. Only downside is that some of the sunbeds (the "white" cloth ones) are filthy and do, as a previous reviewer suggested, need binned and replaced with a more sensible alternative.

The food is plentiful, and varied. We used the Island Restaurant for dinner and enjoyed the buffet style with no complaints worth mentioning. The Beachcomber too is buffet style and fine for salads, cold food and quick snacks, but the "hot" food there is cool and the system used to keep food heated is inadequate. Having sailed on the Escape, where the food is hotter, I know that Island can and must do better on the Star.

The entertainment is varied throughout the week, and whilst not all nights in the main show-lounge suited our tastes we recognise the need to cater for all. I think the Star succeeded in this and certainly the standard was very good, and participants highly enthusiastic. All the show staff, resident singers and the "Freedom" band are very good.

One final comment about the cabins. We were on Bronze deck 4 with three of us in the cabin with a "pull-down" bed suitable for an adult. The cabin is simple in decoration, but offered plenty of space including the shower and certainly exceeded our expectations (compared to the Escape).

Travelled 14th to 21st October visiting Nice (instead of Villfranche), La Spezia, Marseille, Barcelona and Ibiza.
This was our 3rd cruise in 12 months as we have been bitten by the cruising bug. Previously sailed on the Island Escape and P&Os Arcadia.
We booked about 5 weeks before and paid approx £1120 for the two of us.
We had an outside twin cabin midship on Coral deck. Room was spacious with plenty of wardrobe space and hangers and was clean but unfortunately smelt of cigarette smoke even though smoking is not allowed inside the cabins. We noticed early on that our bathroom sink was emptying very slowly indeed and so reported this to guest relations. A maintenance man arrived promptly and was sorting the problem out within the hour. He found loads of cigarette nub ends in the outlet pipe that previous occupants had obviously disposed of in their eagerness to conceal their dirty disgusting habit, which could also have endangered other passenger lives if they had caused a fire - some people! Anyway once they had been cleared the sink worked perfectly and the smell of smoke / dirty ashtray cleared very quickly thank goodness.
Our cabin maid Maria was very attentive and kept the room spotless. She also noticed our cards for our wedding anniversary and made us two swans and a flower from the towells and wrote us a congratulations note also. She was from Romania and had made the sacrifice of leaving her two children to work on the ship so that she could afford to provide for them and to send them to a good school. She put the beggars that we encountered in most of the ports to shame. Their only effort was to shake an empty cup under your nose. In fact a lot of the staff on board had made huge sacrifices in leaving their homes and families so that they could earn what is for them a decent wage. I respect them immensely.
The onboard entertainment was good, especially the show team who gave wonderfull West End style performances in the theatre. There were two comedians, one good the other not so good, and the cruise director Rob Boyd did an excellent show also. There were also other caberet acts in alternative venues which were enjoyable too.
The food in both the 24hr beachcomber buffet restaurant and the semi-waitered Island restaurant was plentifull, tempting and appetising. The restaurants are also decorated with fruit carvings and other displays which are very pleasing to the eye.We ate in the Oasis restaurant once, which carried a small supplement and the food and service was excellent. Alcoholic drinks are reasonably priced especially when you consider that all spirits are double the UK equivalent (although I found they didn't measure them at all - just tipped up the bottle and stopped when they pleased - hic hic!!).
All of the staff were extremely pleasant, helpfull and always smiling. They were a credit to the captain and the ship. Talking of the captain, he was often seen around the ship and was very pleasant. He did a question and answer session and also hosted a Captains cocktail evening for previous passengers of Island cruises where free champagne and canapes were given out.
The ship was kept very clean and hand sanitising gel was available and its use encouraged at all entrances to the restaurants.
We only took one organised trip to Florence which was very interesting. It was a long tiring day though. The rest of the time we made our own way around the ports of call.
In comparison to the other cruises we have taken we were happy. Obviously with P&O it is more expensive and formal and things are done on a grander scale, especially the food, but Island cruise holidays are good value for money and we have had two great cruises with them. You do get what you pay for but in no way were any of them any less enjoyable than the other.
In all we had a very pleasant holiday and luckily the sea was calm for all but one night. Would definatly sail on the Island Star again.

Just back from a fabulous week of cruising with the Island Star on The Rivieras itinerary. This was our first cruise and what a cruise it was. Could not fault the experience in any way. From the time we arrived in Palma to the time we left the excellent staff looked after our every need. We stayed on the Coral deck and must give special metion to our cabin steward Angelina who made sure we had everything we needed. The towel arrangements were a special treat every day we arrived back. We had booked a couple of excursions before we went and while although may seem a bit pricey is well worth it. We would recommend one of the excursions from the port of Livorno as the ship docks in the industrial of the city. Overall we would highly recommend cruising with Island because as their motto says they are relaxed, friendly and informal. Hats off to Captain John and his crew for one of the best holidays we have ever had.
P.S. We are a young couple under 30 and while the guests were of and older age didn't feel in any way out of place.

We traveled on the island star for the rivieras cruise 2nd to 9th September 2006 we had a fantastic week the food was excellent especially the steak house and oasis restaurants the t bone steak in the steak house is unbelievable you have to pay a supplement in these restaurants but it is well worth it
the whole ship is spotless clean with very high standards of cleanliness.
there are plenty of bars on board a pint of Stella is
£2.55 cocktails are £2.85 they do 2 cocktails of the day at £1.95 each good red and a good white wine is on offer each day at £8.95 a bottle it changes each day and at the pool bar you can get 2 bottles of Heineken for £2.30.
the entertainment in the pub is superb and the staff are great fun.
this was my 4th cruise and this was as good as any of them

Went on the Island Star from 2nd-9th September cruising the Med. Had been very badly let down by another tour operator two days before leaving saying Italian hotel was overbooked so when another tour company suggested a cruise we did wonder what it'd be like. No need to worry at all . We had an absolutely brilliant time and couldn't fault anything. Had a balcony cabin on Golden deck with no noise whatsoever. Even slept through docking ! Have already got the brochure for next year and deciding which one to go on. Spoils any other holiday you've been on.

1 Week cruise 2-9 September 2006

This was our first time on the Island Star, having sailed on the Island Escape 3 times. We have also sailed with Airtours x3, Thomsons x2, Ocean Village x2 and Carnival x1. To be a little different I will compare ships where possible.

PRICE
The biggest concern for most people. Due to Airtours exiting the cruise market, we are never going to see £399 2 week Med and £579 2 week Caribbean cruises - I kid you not! (Oh Airtours please come back cruising).
We held our nerve and booked the Island Star cruise 7 days before departure and managed to get an outside restricted view on deck 9 (Golden deck) for appx £480 each inc flight and taxes, via teletext ITV page 227.

CABIN
Our standard cabin was great, very spacious, loads of cupboard and drawer space and a large shower. They are a lot bigger than Island Escapes std cabins, and it does make a difference. We had cabin 9062, not quite mid-ships but luckily there was no noise at all engine wise, so we were very satisfied with it bearing in mind what we paid!.
We did notice a lot of vibration noise further back towards the end of the ship, and further down the decks it got worse. (see further comments regarding this issue) We have been there before on other ships, but we always book a late deal - so you usually get what you pay for. We always take ear plugs just in case!
Ocean Village still have the best std cabins, Large, kettle tea & coffee, free safe and a FRIDGE!

Food
We ate all our meals in the Beachcomber on deck 11. We couldn't be bothered waiting in line for a table in the Island restaurant for what is essentially the same food and the Beachcomber had a different theme every night ie. Indian, Mexican, Italian etc. The food was hot enough for us. My partner said she thought the food was better on the Escape, I disagreed! Anyway, no complaints and plenty of choice.
I think Ocean Village are the best for food overall.

ENTERTAINMENT
The main show lounge, Ocean theatre, is on 2 decks and it's huge, the biggest I've seen on a British informal cruise ship... but they didn't make use of the massive stage.
On the Escape they had 5 dance shows a week and a guest artist one night. They have tried to change things on this ship, just 2 dance shows and more guest artists. This did not work for me and on one night they had the Cruise Director headlining, ok for the smaller Bounty club lounge maybe, where they have the gameshows and bands etc, but not good enough for the main lounge. Also the Bounty lounge is way too small, the Hotel Director agreed, but it will take the next referb and a lot of money to sort that problem out.
We preferred the entertainment on the Escape, but I suppose they have to try new things, but it was OK at the end of the day.
Airtours topped the entertainment stakes, Thomson are pretty good too.

One negative point: some of the sunbeds are MINGING. They are filthy and quite frankly they need dumping. We were quite shocked at the state of them. Good job they were matresses to put over them, if you get on deck early enough (day at sea) get a bed before 10:00 or you may be in trouble and not get a bed, like most ships.

IN SUMMARY
Our personal favorite ship all things considered is the Ocean Village and is similary priced as the 'Island' ships.
The Star is a very good ship if you like the informal type of cruise. It has more space than the Escape, so you don't feel as hemmed in. All the staff seem to prefer this ship too, which is a no brainer really as it's a proper built cruise ship and not a referbished cruise ferry ship like the Escape, so it does have the edge if the prices are the same. I can't wait to go back on her next year.
If you would like more in-depth info on the Star, Escape, or any of the other ships I have mentioned, please e-mail me at gwuk@go.com and put 'cruise query' in the subject box and I will be happy to try and answer your question(s).

Having cruised with Thomson and the fact that the Island Star was a refurbished ship we thought we would try the cruise. The ship is large, the cabins are spacious and comfortable we were on the diamond deck. We did have quite a lot of noice when we were docking and also when the anchor was being dropped we were in cabin 6009. The onboard entertainment in the theatre was not what we expected we found it rather unprofessional compaired to Thomsons which was rather dissapointing as it haas a massive theatre on two levels on the last evening talent show( not what you expect on a 4* ship). The food was nice although I felt that the Island dinning room was a bit cramped, we did try the Sreakhouse one evening it was very nice( although I see it has a 50% increase for 2007). I agree with the other review about some of the sun loungers they were filthy. Also on deck 12 the perpexs around the ship seemed to have paint overspill on it which looked a bit shabby. What we could not understand is if this ship had a full refurbishment this year why did they need to take one of the outside staircases from deck 12 down to deck 11 apart and work on it complete with anglegriders and other tools. As this ship is so large it cannot always dock right in at the town this then costs for a bus to take you into the main resort. We were also ment to meet my parents in Ibiza as they were on holiday there but due to were the ship docked we missed them and spent a whole day on the ship rather than them coming on the ship then us all going into Ibiza.In saying all the above we still did enjoy our cruise although cannot see us cruising again on the Island Star.

having been our first cruise,what can we say about the island star,well,from the moment we arrived,the service was excellent and we settled in and relaxed immediately,all the staff were friendly and always a pleasure to talk to..
we ate mostly in the island restaurant where the food was good,but thought we'd treat ourselves to the steakhouse,and what a treat it was,the food was absolutely superb and well worth paying extra for!!
all the ports of call were great,our favourite being barcelona,lots to see and do although we found the excursions to be a little expensive..
entertainment was very good and something happening everynight,the showteam and the cruise director work very hard,guest entertainers were also good,our favourite being a girl called Eve Sherratt who has a fantastic voice and is a great all round entertainer,a pleasure to listen to!!
next was the ships cleanliness,the staff are constantly working very hard and doing theyre best but with so many guests we think they did a very good job..
the captain and all his crew were very friendly and made our cruising experience very enjoyable.... would we sail on the star agan...yes without a doubt ..a very friendly and informal cruise.... very relaxing holiday!!

just back from a week on board where we travelled in two cabins a 3& a 4 and would like to give a warning on cabin 6163 on the diamond deck.If allocated this get it changed immediately as the engine noise is unbeliveable.Combined with the vibration you will never sleep !!!! We were told they get regular complaints about this and 1 other cabin but do not move you as they would get a reputation !!!we have submitted a complaint onboard and on our return,
As experienced cruisers we were delighted to take our grandson 8 and neice 15 on board a ship we new previously as the royal carribean Millenium.
cabins are more spacious than any of the Thomsons ships and there is just more of everything.
however thomsons do the entertainment and things to do much better especially in the evenings.shows are a big thing on a cruise and island star guest artistes left a lot to be desired.
Trips are expensive for a family and if Docked in Marseille stay on board .
All said though cruising is a great holiday for a familly and we will certainly be going again and on the informal atmosphere of the Island Star because they will get it right next year.

The Island Star is a very clean ship and I was pleased to see people making use of the hand cleanser whilst using the restaurants. The cabin was bright and roomy but oh! the noise, we were on Diamond Deck like the previous cruiser. One night I was convinced the cabin was going to flood as there was the sound of running water all through the night. Went to complain in morning but was told I should have sent for someone during the night (fair point but the reception staff couldn't think what it was - yeah okay!!)

I was very disappointed with the entertainment it was pretty basic and I agree that the Thomson ships excel in their entertainment (although their ships are not so good in other areas).

The food was wonderful with plenty of choice the salads were very fresh looking and scraps of food were replenished regularly. Clean utensils and tables.


I would probably like to sail on this ship again but unfortunately we had to cut our holiday short due to family illness. The staff were extremely helpful and booked us flights home from Marseille and arranged a taxi to take us to the airport. They were kind and caring so thank you for that.

The very early reviews for this ship were not favourable but this was probably due to teething troubles which you usually get with any new venture.