windstar-windstarjt050397

Name: James Tagliani
Email: avalon1025@aol.com
Age: 28
Occupation: Financial Consultant
NumberOfCruises: 26
TravelAgent: No
Ship: Windstar-WindStar
SailingDate: 05/03/97
Itinerary: Italian Riviera
FoodDiningRoom: 98
CruiseDirector: 90
CabinComfort: 95
FoodRoomService: 95
CruiseStaff: 98
CabinAmenities: 95
FoodLidoDeck: 90
DiningRoomService: 98
CabinQuietness: 98
FoodMidnightBuffets:
CabinSteward: 98
ShoreExcVariety: 95
FoodVariety: 98
DeckService: 98
ShoreExcValue: 90
GoodForHoneymoon: 100
CasinoStaff: 98
PrivateIsland:
GoodForFamilies: 80
LoungeService: 98
TenderService: 90
GoodForSeniors: 80
BeautySalonStaff:
EntertainmentLounges:
WheelchairAccess: 75
ExerciseFacilities: 90
EntertShowLounge:
OverallPortsofCall: 98
BeautySalon:
EntertainmentPoolside:
CruiseActivities: 98
Casino: 95
AirSeaProgram:
MedicalFacilities: 95
ShipCleanliness: 100
EmbarkDisembark: 98
DiscoNightclubs: 90
DeckSpace: 100
Stabilization: 90
ShopsOnBoard: 95
SpaceRatio: 100
OverallCruiseValue: 97
Submit: Submit Review
Date: 25 Mar 1998
Time: 13:48:49
Remote Name: 165.37.203.12
Remote User:

Comments

After 0ver 25 cruises on larger ships, starting when I was 3 years old on the Rotterdam V, I decided it was time for a
smaller ship. I was worried that the ship would be too small, but was rather surprised that it was so spacious. The
Windstar carried only 100 passenger on my sailing and after a few days everyone knew everyone else.

Many of the passengers were repeat passenger of Windstar and/or Holland America. The ages on board ranged from 28
(me) to 80-ish. THe majority were in there early forties. The ship has no elevators so it is a strain for older, disabled
passengers.

The food in the dining room was wonderful. The food was always varied and was often seen comming on board in each
port that we visited. Often a speciality dish would be made with items purchased from ashore. With only 100 passengers
the chef made dinner feel like one was in someones home.

The ship itself is very sleek. The sails above actually work and are used. They give a strong nautical feeling to the ship.
The inside follows the sailboat theme. Blue and white with lots of teak. There is a large main lounge, a small casino, a
bar, a shop, a dining room and a verandah room on the top deck for casual eating.

The cabins are spacious, with the neatest bathroom I have seen. Everything in the bathroom is teak (including the floor)
and based on a ciircular design. THe cabins have stereos, TV and a minibar (ours flew out one night off Corsica due to
HEAVY seas!)

The ports were great. The ship is of the size that it can get into small coves off ancient cities. Many of the townspeople
would come out to great the ship. These are ports that the larger ships just can't approach. I can not see how the likes
of the Grand Princess with 2,600 pasengers could give this same experience.

There is a sports deck-marina that folds down off the back of the ship that serves as a venue for water activity. Sail
boards, the Banana thing and sail boats are availble.

We hit some very heavy seas one night (the heaviest I have encountered !), and the ship did OK. The ship was not ready
for it and many of the dishes were heard crashing around the ship. It was very exciting. Since many of the passengers
are such avid cruisers, the passengers were up and around the ship actually assising crew that were ill. It was all part of
the family feeling on board.

In all a wonderful cruise. Highly reccomended for those who like an upscale, club-like atmosphere without all the
regement of the larger ships and an opportunity to really get to know the ports and the cultures the ship visits. It is for
the active (the active that enjoy sports minded activities and not disco-ing till 3AM) The ship is fairly quiet at night.

Most passengers retire to their cabin after dinner and a drink in the lounge to watch a movie (oh, the cabins have VCR
and the ship has an extensive video libray)

If you have any questions please feel free to e-mail me!

Bon Voyage!

Name: John Moffitt
Email: NNTNkid@aol.com
Age: 55
Occupation: tv producer
NumberOfCruises: 8
TravelAgent: No
Ship: Windstar-WindStar
SailingDate: 6/11/00
Itinerary: French Riviera
Cabin: 138
FoodDiningRoom: 85
CruiseDirector: 20
CabinComfort: 95
FoodRoomService: 60
CruiseStaff: 85
CabinAmenities: 95
FoodLidoDeck: 80
DiningRoomService: 100
CabinQuietness: 100
FoodMidnightBuffets:
CabinSteward: 95
ShoreExcVariety: 60
FoodVariety: 85
DeckService: 90
ShoreExcValue: 60
GoodForHoneymoon: 100
CasinoStaff:
PrivateIsland:
GoodForFamilies: 0
LoungeService: 100
TenderService: 60
GoodForSeniors: 75
BeautySalonStaff:
EntertainmentLounges: 70
WheelchairAccess: 0
ExerciseFacilities: 80
EntertShowLounge:
OverallPortsofCall: 60
BeautySalon:
EntertainmentPoolside: 70
CruiseActivities: 50
Casino:
AirSeaProgram:
MedicalFacilities: 95
ShipCleanliness: 85
EmbarkDisembark: 100
DiscoNightclubs:
DeckSpace: 85
Stabilization: 100
ShopsOnBoard: 90
SpaceRatio: 85
OverallCruiseValue: 70
Submit: Submit Review
Date: 08 Jul 2000
Time: 20:27:38
Remote Name: spider-wo071.proxy.aol.com
Remote User:

Comments

Comments:

We were really looking forward to our Windstar cruise as everybody said ‘you’ll love it! It’s a great
ship! And well worth the extra cost!’ (even with the '50% discount' it was still twice as much as the
Royal Caribbean ‘Legend’ we took last year.) So while the Windstar experience was really nice in
many ways, it was sadly disappointing in many others.

First, we must commend them on the check-in and check-out procedures. They were flawless and
easy. They went out of their way to streamline the process which is especially appreciated by
jet-lagged travelers.

We were shown immediately to a lovely cabin - well appointed, amply spacious, cleverly arranged.
The only flaw was that it looked a tad shabby and could do with some freshening of the bed covers
and carpets.

The dining room service was excellent as were the cabin steward and the bartenders. We had heard
raves about the meals. The food, we thought, while good, was no better than the ‘Legend’ which
served 10 times the number of people.

Where the Windstar really faltered was in the lack of a coordinated effort between the Captain, the
Hotel manager and the Cruise Director.

Shore excursions were planned without regard to when shore shops were opened. Lunch hours were
often missed because of erratic tender service. One tour was so bad the money was refunded and
they promised never to go there again - too bad for the passengers that wasted that day.

Tender service was a disappointment. We were promised tenders would run every 30 minutes. But
instead, they would stay on the shore only long enough to unload and reload those waiting
passengers. If you were within a two minute walk of the tender you were out of luck until the next one
came back.

We complained to the Purser about the tenders . He said he had talked to the Captain about this but
there was no improvement. He also told us this didn’t happen on the other ships- where tenders were
prompt and waited for passengers for 15 minutes on shore before returning to the ship.

One day they changed the lunch schedule to end an hour earlier without announcing it on the loud
speaker. True it was to accommodate a tour schedule change that involved about 30 people, and it
was buried in the daily log. The tenders backed up as usual causing more people than could fit on
one tender to collect and many people missed lunch. Room service was overwhelmed by orders
causing another hour wait, cold food and incorrect order filling.

In Palma the ship was docked far from where we were originally scheduled. The Cuise Director
faithfully promised us that we would not be stranded and that there would be two busses running
every half hour to town and back meaning 15 minutes waits. We waited in the hot sun more than an
hour that day. There was only one bus - yep, about 30 of us missed lunch again. And it is a LONG
time to dinner.

We were irate. We complained to the First Officer who said it wasn’t his area of responsibility. We
asked who did have the responsibility and were told it was the Hotel Manager. When we asked who
that was, we were told he had just signed on and they didn’t know his name.

On the last day, the Cruise Director announced that she was quitting on the next stop. This was a
good thing, because she seemed to have only incorrect information about ports, times, shopping,
markets, tenders, busses and public bathrooms.

Since this was a new itinerary for the Windstar, we felt someone should have been sent ahead and
learned about all these things. People plan for their vacations and look forward to them. According to
what we had heard about Windstar, we expected much better planning and attention to detail .

Because the ship was small, we met some very nice people. Quite a few had been on this same ship
previously. They were all disappointed that the Windstar was not the way they remembered it and
would not have rebooked had they known.

We are sorry we missed the ‘glory days’. We won’t be taking another Windstar cruise

Back to Windstar WindStar