There are cruises. And then there are cruises for people who hate cruises - at least of the big-ship variety.
Some of the newer ships are so monstrous that you might as well be in Vegas instead of on the water. There's as much temptation to stay aboard as to explore the ports. And for those of us who book cruises to sample several foreign cultures at once, big ships defeat the purpose.
But on little ships, there's little to do. As a result, passengers are more likely to venture off to excursions and, on rare occasions, wander beyond the ports.
For those of us in the latter category, we're lucky to have a ship like the Royal Clipper.
First of all - and this is obvious - it's gorgeous. Operated by Star Clippers, the Swedish-owned company of international sailing ships, the Royal Clipper looks like something out of Pirates of the Caribbean. Modeled after the German-built Preussen - a steel-hulled windjammer famous when it was built in 1902 for being the first five-masted sailing ship - the Royal Clipper is all grandeur and sails. There are 42 of them in all - think about that for a minute: 42 sails - rigged to five tall masts, and together they catch enough wind to power the ship sans engines. (There are two on backup duty, just in case.)
Since the Preussen's 1910 wreck in the English Channel, the Royal Clipper inherited, upon its 2000 completion, the title of the only five-mast sailing ship - and largest full-rigged sailing ship - in the world.
It's a title worth bragging rights. With the heavy-duty Dacron sails comes the potential to capture enough wind to carry the 5,000-ton ship around the world - if it did globe-circling cruises.
Sailing vessels such as the Royal Clipper are the ships of pioneers, of pirates. It's the real deal. And its passengers - many of whom are people who would otherwise hate cruises - are well aware of it.
There were 223 of us aboard the Royal Clipper for a week on a late-March sailing tour of the Caribbean's Windward Islands. A few folks nearly missed the boat (yes, literally) due to a tardy connecting flight, but when the vessel's this small, it can afford to wait for stragglers. So it did, for nearly two hours past our scheduled departure time from the port of Barbados.
But when we finally sailed just after midnight, nearly everyone was still on deck, anticipating the sail-off. On a ship like this, it's worth the wait.
