Unfortunately Shipmate doesn't seem to let us post pics etc of cruise ships or cruiselines that no longer exist, such as the Star Virgo beonging to Star Cruises, which was my introduction to cruising in 2010.
It was a five-day South China Sea cruise from Singapore which left on the Monday and returned on the Friday.
Each weekend it was transformed into a floating casino for the benefit of Singaporean citizens who would normally have to pay a hefty fee to use a casino.
Star Virgo would sail past the 12-mile (or whatever) limit then open its casino for hundreds of Singaporeans. On Sunday night it would return, ready for the next lot of cruise passengers.
About 60% of the passengers on our cruise were of Chinese origin and the culinary offerings reflected that but there were still plenty of European meals available.
I had been persuaded to join the cruise by friends and did so reluctantly but in fact enjoyed it immensely and my wife and I have been cruising ever since whenever we could afford it.
The cruise line and the ship have passed through a few hands since then and according to Wikipedia it most recently operated with Dream Cruises as Explorer Dream.
