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Satisfactory skim of coastal Iceland

Ketchikan

Just got off Wind Star legend  Mediterranean cruise.  What a total disappointment although the rooms were spacious and the ship was very clean. Everything else lacked luster. Absolutely mediocre food and the main dining room felt like you were eating in the cafeteria. The pool was extremely small and the same five people had the space the whole time. Although the staff was excellent, you could never get a drink and waited online at the bar for drinks. This boat is just a small version of a big boat without the amenities. Windstar prided  themselves on going to small ports were no big ships could go . Every port had 4 or more large ships in port shopping and eating extremely difficult. Save your money for the price that you’re paying you could go to a five-star resort. Excursions were horrible and overpriced. The buses were broken down with poor  air-conditioning not working and they were boring. We were in the Mediterranean and had zero beach time !never again.

Wind star has lost its sparkle 

Rarotonga

It’s not the purpose of this newsboard to compare cruising with independent land travel. But there was little overlap between our 4-nights with a car rental in Eastern Iceland, and our 7-nights “Around Iceland.” I’m saying that the excellent sights of the Southern Coast and the Golden Circle were completely out of reach of our ports. Our last port, Grundarfjordur, did provide excellent access to the popular Snaefellsnes Peninsula “loop”. Because we’d been there by car already, we used Hopp rental scooters to re-visit a waterfall 1.2 miles from the ship, in that port.

In that sense, taking a long ship Excursion was useful in showing you how uninhabited most of the country is. But most of the best waterfalls, and the un-missable Thingvellir National Park are unreachable from the ports. I feel that the Tahiti and Canary Islands gave you a good sense of the whole destination. I’m not suggesting that a French Riviera cruise pretends to show you (all of) France!

Spring came late to Iceland in 2023. Check weather reports just before you pack your bags. We had rather poor weather until the last two days. But we heard that the weather had been worse on the previous cruise. Snowing in one mountain pass during ship Excursion. Locals were surprised, they said there'd been no snow since May 15.

Life Jackets were not required to be worn during the safety drill. Facial masking 2% or less of passengers. It ended up not affecting anything else, but divers were inspecting the ship when we boarded. They were unable to leave until after dinner, so we missed one Sail Away. Heard rumors of a loss of propulsion during the previous cruise, no facts to offer.

The port talks were often at odd times, and poorly attended. The Destination leader was perfectly competent, but the presentations were boilerplate information. She was unable to make the leap to “having our backs”, by adding things like (As I raised my hand and did: [Grundarfjordur] “Neither of these excellent, level-walk from the ship, waterfalls have toilets.” Several of the Eastern ports were nice towns with less than 1,000 residents. So they had no taxis, and limited tour companies.

Like everything in Iceland, the ship excursions were expensive, averaging $210 p/p. The best ship Excursion we took was (Seydisfjordur) “Hike To Hengifoss Waterfall (Strenuous)”. The worst Excursion was “Panoramic Reykjavik & Transfer to Airport 5.5 hours.” We arrived at the famous cathedral (the only downtown stop) during Sunday services (no entry), and the Viking World “museum” (mostly replicas) was not worth the time. The “Viking soup” and bread lunch there was fine. We did get to the airport in plenty of time for our flight. The following towns would be nice enough days on your own, if you don’t have big ambitions: Heimaey Island, Akeureyri, Grundarfjordur.

Our ship Embarked and Disembarked at two different cruise ports in Reykjavik. This is part of the reason I rented a car from Avis, because their Downtown office was exactly one mile from the ship’s Embarcation. Most of the (many) discounters don’t have a second office location. I dropped my wife off with the luggage and walked back from the Avis return. (I should have dropped a map pin on the check-in lounge!)

We hadn’t cruised in three years. The food was noticeably better, and Cuadro 44 is especially good, if you don’t mind seasonings. There is some European Seating in Cuadro 44; I mean two facing-deuces at the same rectangular table. (Not complaining.) Portions were smaller, but that’s fine with us. There were often two Amphora vegetarian entrees, as well as vegetable sides. Cold weather and light rain had a big effect on outdoor seating options. They did have a Special hot cocktail every day, which was nice – if less alcoholic from time in the Soup Pot.

No captain's dinner seen on our 7-night cruise. (But I brought a tie.) The Yacht Club reception was in the Lounge, not Compass Rose. But it segued right into the Port Talk after a ½ hour private reception. We were the longest-cruisers, with 8 cruises and 74 points. Deck Barbecue was Wednesday LUNCH, had to be moved to Amphora because of Iceland rain. Perfectly nice there. (They had to hold BBQ lunch for us because one person slipped and fell on the strenuous ship-excursion hike. Not hurt, but 1/2 hour late returning.) Bread Pudding was never served for lunch dessert, not once. Big difference: Amphora is open for plated breakfast almost every day. This did seem to reduce crowding in Veranda, especially with the outdoors too cold or wet to use in the morning.

The Fitness Center was clean and light, if not much bigger than in the past. One rower, four ellipticals, three treadmills. Several cable machines. One “bench”, plenty of hand bells. All weights I saw were Imperial measure, not metric weights. Plenty of ice water and disinfecting wipes. Note that there are weighted balls and squeeze rings across the hall in the Movement room. Never shared the space with more than one person.

Bags to be put in hallway at 6:30AM on arrival day. First Disembarcations listed for 8:00AM. Ours was delayed a bit for completion of our 8:15 group’s bag movement to the pier. Captain went on vacation after our Disembarcation.

We previously cruised with Windstar on their "Dreams of Tahiti" itinerary and loved the entire experience. Both ships on our cruises were Star Class ships meaning all of the rooms were suites and everything is in a larger scale than their sailing ships. This second time around we were less than impressed. It all started with the help line dedicated to the cruise line. No one could verify if we needed a Covid test prior to our sailing due to the itinerary (which included Greece). The Greek website said that they no longer required a Covid test since April, however Windstar's website was updated to say the cruise line didn't require testing but Greece MIGHT. No one on the phone could confirm or deny. We ended up getting a test prior to departure in a foreign country that we did not need.

They no longer print out the daily itinerary or activities and deliver them to your stateroom, you need to request a form at the front desk. Not great. Also on our prior sailing we never once saw housekeeping items in the hallways throughout the day and after the afternoon. This was not the case on our most recent sailing in which we noticed housekeeping items in the halls from the morning until we came back from dinner. We had several rooms on our ship flooded due to sprinklers going off. We were invited to the Captains hour and subsequently charged for wine because it was delivered minutes after the event ended! DO NOT purchase Wi-fi on their ships, I can tell you it does not work. Do not waste your money, it does not work unless you are in port and even then you are 50/50. The ships are old, and you can tell. At this point it is certainly wonderful having a large stateroom however, I had to request a bath mat and the ship RAN OUT OF TOWELS on the first sea day. I have never experienced something like this, with a scheduled sea day. Ridiculous. Both sailings we had great crew, however this time around the ship seemed to be slightly understaffed due to being at almost full capacity.

The food was good, however there were some nights we were underwhelmed. We chose to dine at the included specialty restaurant Candles, and not at Cuadro 44 because we had dined there on our last sailing and the food was severely underwhelming. This time around both restaurants were open every night however they were not allowing guests to make reservations as they went on during the cruise.

One thing that we found really terrible was the fact that when we booked, the itinerary included a day where the ship would anchor and watersports were offered. None of the guests were notified AT ALL, and when we arrived at the port the day of, we were told there were no watersports and we would be docking in the bay instead of offering this luxury perk. Being that we had cruised with Windstar before we were very excited for this day and we had inquired about the offering in advance but we were dismissed saying that "we may be offering it, however they are still waiting for permission to do so" and another crewmember saying "we will not be doing watersports, where did you see that they were being offered?" all in the same day. Really poor on Windstar's part not informing their guests of a scheduled change that they knew of in advance. So disappointing. The port (Itea) that day was completely desolate, if you did not have a booked tour you were SOL.

Entertainment is a joke. I know the crew is trying really hard but it is god awful. There is no comparison to any other cruise line. This is the worst by far and we have been on many. It is almost a deterrent to have lunch on the deck because the music is so bad and there are only two acts to supplement an entire sailing daily. I would rather watch reruns of food network from 2009 than go watch these duos play nightly. Sorry, not sorry.

I would say the ports were really lacking and it seemed that they chose the ones they did because they were cheaper, and there was not much offered. Windstar offered "complimentary" shuttles at ports where the walk was longer however they were poorly marked and not easy to find! Terrible. After cruising with Windstar again this time I would say I am in no rush to join as a guest on an itinerary again, we got bad vibes.

Sub par

Tortola

We have just returned from a wonderful 10 days sailing on Star Legend. The ship is in great shape and incredibly comfortable after an upgrade and refit. Our cabin was spacious with fabulous doors leading onto a small balcony, the bed was as comfortable as home which I have never experienced before. So some people may not enjoy the windstar experience, although I have no idea why ( I did hear one miserable soul complaining about utter nonsense). The crew go above and beyond to make the experience truly personal and I cannot state enough how wonderful they all are.

The main dining room is a delight and the menus were fantastic, breakfast is outstanding. We were looked after all day, and if you want a chilled, luxury environment without noisy shows this is truly the holiday for you.

Shout outs to Daniella the Maitre de in Amphora, the chef for his amazing menus, JeeBee and Jackie for always looking after us on deck, Ronnie who kept our room beautifully, Apple for being fabulous and everyone else.

Incredible trip with fantastic crew

Nadi

This cruise was thrust upon us. We had booked a mid-Feb cruise on the stretched Star Breeze from BCN to MIA but construction delays cancelled that a few days before Christmas. Since we were within 60 days of sailing, and Windstar had all my vacation money, switching to another line was not possible. So I scrambled and came up with this cruise.

With a 20% cruise credit plus the price guarantee, this eastbound (I swore I'd never do another EB T-Atl!) from SJU to LIS was an excellent value. The Star Legend was heading into dry-dock for its stretching so this was its last sailing with passengers in this configuration. There were ~107 of us, so the ship was half empty. 

The Deluxe Suite I had booked on the Breeze wasn't available on the old layout ships, but we were approved for the mid-ship deck six cabin. It turned out to be the best cabin on the ship (and I'm sad I will never have an opportunity to book it again, after the stretching it will be way too big and expensive for me.) The WS agent had warned me about the obstructed views and she was right. But they didn't matter at all to me. I choose to cruise on small ships because I want to be on a ship, not a floating resort. The constant view of equipment out my window reminded me I was on a ship and actually made me happy. And the lifeboat hanging over top of us when we were on the balcony sheltered us from the view of people on the pool deck above us. The suite was gold. Large, comfortable, luxurious. 

I will never again book a suite this large again but boy was it fun to have it for one cruise!

The cruise itself was delightfully perfect. We had 15 days of glorious, sunny and warm weather accompanied by 13 days of calm seas. This wasn't just luck, the Captain worked hard to keep us away from the bad weather all around us and that meant an extra day in Madeira! 

The service was what we expected. The food was much better than we expected. The lack of entertainment was not an issue (that is a personal issue for people, but I've discovered that not only do I love sea days, I love sea days without lectures and formal activities even more.) We could hook our laptop up to the TV and watch downloaded movies from Netflix as well as movies from the library (and our collection from home of things we'd 'never got around to.') And there was reading. And simply doing nothing. The only thing I participated in was trivia. I had a wonderful time. 

As I said before, being on the ship and ship stuff is what is important to me. Windstar ticked every box in that regard especially with the open bridge policy. 

The majority of my days at sea have been on Silversea and Crystal but we settled into the more casual social life on Windstar just fine. There were a few things we missed but those things come with at a cost, both financial, but also time spent dressing for dinner, or spending an hour at afternoon tea each day. Afternoon tea was the only thing I really missed on this cruise from the other lines. 

I booked my next cruise while on board. And have 2 more (before then) that I've added to my calendar although I won't book since I feel the cruise industry is a bit unsettled and I'd rather wait until I'm sure the additional cruises won't be changed. 

***Wait! There's more***

I can't believe I almost forgot to write about this part of my cruise. We always judge how companies handle things when things go wrong. I did mention that I was pleased with how Windstar treated me when they cancelled my original cruise. But something else went wrong....

Day 3 of the cruise the main water supply to our bathroom broke, flooding the bedroom. When I say flooding, I mean the water spread through the bathroom wall, under the carpet, pooling ~12' away under the window. Help was slightly delayed but to be honest given the speed at which the water was coming in (this wasn't just a leaky toilet), the extra 5 minutes were just more panic time for me, rather than adding significantly to the damage. 

I got the drapes up so saved them which my cabin steward appreciated since she didn't have an extra set of those. The bolsters (under the bed because it was morning) were soaked so disappeared for the remainder of the cruise (good riddance) and the bed skirt was replaced. I got my own items off the floor so nothing of mine was damaged. 

In the series of panicked phone calls ("send plumber", "send more towels", "flooding is now across the room", "send wet vac", "send another wet vac, the one here can't keep up") I also asked for the head of housekeeping to come. He and the guest services manager showed up. The ship was only half full so they were prepared to move me to the other suite in our category but that was in the bow and I didn't want it. What I wanted was to get dressed, eat breakfast, and then figure out what would happen. So a key to a suite down the hall was handed to me. 

We stayed in that suite for 4 nights but had the use of our balcony and (after the blowers were removed) living room, each day. We were compensated for the inconvenience. All staff worked very hard to get us settled again. It was so well handled that on the last day when my husband was telling the hotel director about how much we had enjoyed the cruise, and the hotel manager said, "despite the flood", my husband had to admit he'd forgotten about the flood! 

The blessing of the flood was it give us a chance to experience what a regular cabin is like. On Silversea and Crystal we had always picked ocean view, lower, mid-ship, cabins. So suddenly we were comparing apples to apples, rather than lowest category to the best suite. Crystal still wins for best designed cabin but the standard cabin on the Star motor yachts is very comparable. My only complaint was the proximity of the bathroom door to the bed and that is solved with the new Star Suites on the stretched ships (the bed will be by the window.) So, in future, we will not be in a suite on Windstar's motor yachts but in an SS1 category suite.

First Windstar Cruise, A T-Atl 

Two years ago Windstar announced the plan to stretch the Star ships increasing the guest capacity from 210 guests to 310 guests.  We love the small size and hope that the increase in size doesn’t change the friendly atmosphere on the ship. We looked forward to another small ship experience before the scheduled stretch.

Ship is still beautiful. The gorgeous woodwork, marble bathrooms, and spacious suites are exquisite.  There are some signs of wear.  Most annoying was the missing sun umbrellas on decks 7 and 8.  On previous cruises, there were lots of umbrellas to provide shade. This cruise had only one.  We were told that the umbrellas blew away or broke.  They are to be replaced. Certainly hope that there will be more shade areas on the stretched ship.  

Service was superb. Food was delicious. We chose to sit at same table each night for dinner. Our waiter,  Melkih, remembered us from previous cruises on the Breeze. He was excellent. We enjoyed the BBQs, beach parties, music by the duos, excursions, etc.  we enjoyed the yacht club.  Still wish that the yacht club would serve coffee/tea after dinner. 

The ports were mostly small islands where the big ships don’t go. There wasn’t any big shows.  The crew show was fun. Cruise was relaxing. We had a great time.

Once more before the stretch

Windstar has only 6 ships so and they are small ships focused on going to areas the bigger ships cannot get to.  While the ship itself is a little dated, it is slated for a big makeover this summer which is explained here:  https://www.windstarcruises.com/starplus/.  The cabins are suites with a sofa, chairs, a desk, a full bathtub and a walk-in closet – plenty of room for the 2 of us.  There is a spa which we did not use and a decent fitness room, which I admit, I intended to use, but did not.  I had too much fun doing the excursions.  The best part about Windstar is the service.  All the staff are friendly and really try to make the passengers have a good experience.  There was a challenge with the first port so as we were boarding we learned we would not be going to an island off Puerto Rico but to St. Thomas instead.  We were given new excursions to pick from.  The last two days we were feeling the effects of a storm, so we couldn’t tender to Virgin Gorda.  I was extremely bummed as I wanted to go back to The Baths,  but the captain and team rallied and took us to Tortola where they quickly assembled 2 excursions for us.  The food is decent.  You have 3 choices for dinner – either the big dining room, the area where you have breakfast & lunch that they convert to a ‘romantic dining experience’ or room service. We did all 3 options.  Yes, we got a little bored with the food selections but at least we didn’t overeat too much.  We also bought the Package which included a full liquor selection, WiFi and Laundry Service.   If you are looking for nightlife, this is NOT the ship for you.  On our ship, they had 2 different 2-person bands playing during sunset and after dinner and I saw they had a small casino set up at night but we never went to see it. There was a show put on by the crew Thursday evening but we skipped it.   Also, the only child we saw was the captain’s daughter.

Our first Windstar cruise & would absolutely do another one. Smaller ship a plus

This is basically a wonderful ship, with a few glitches. It was recently bought by Windstar and is due to a major renovation/refit in 2020, so these comments might not apply to later sailings. 

This is a small ship with huge cabins. The staff and officers are very competent and caring. Food was somewhat variable, ranging from OK to very good. Prices were affordable considering the size and staffing ratio. (We got a last-minute cruise for $999 each in the lowest cabin category, which was just fine for us.)

The ship was surprisingly stable and quiet, given how small it is.

Embarcation and debarcation were flawless and fast. 

Passengers were almost all English-speaker, mostly from the US and Canada. Their ages ran from 30's to 70's. None of them seemed like serious party animals.

There were a few glitches:

1. There was very little ability to sit on deck in the shade. We understand that some umbrellas had been washed overboard during a previous storm. However, the crew should have explained to passengers that they should not put a book on one of the few available chaise lounges and then walk away--this is unfair to other passengers.

A related issue is that this ship would be at a disadvantage in bad weather, such as what one might encounter in their Alaska cruises.

2. Water was an issue: no hot water for a few hours, and then a couple of days later, no water at all. None of these were major issues.

3. Linens were a bit tired.

4. Bar prices were high, though not ridiculously so. We recommend buying wine at the CVS across from the San Juan dock and paying the $15/bottle corkage fee. They don't allow you to carry on hard liquor, although I doubt a few miniatures would cause problems. 

5. The all-inclusive bar-WiFi-laundry package is ridiculously overpriced. Anybody other than a really serious drinker would have a very hard time making it worthwhile.

6. This ship is not handicapped accessible. Nobody who needs anything more than a cane should be on this ship. It is not suitable for children as there's nothing for them to do (the only child on board was the Captain's daughter, who was a delight.)

7. The base price ($999 in our case) is a bit misleading, as you must add port taxes, basically-mandatory service charge, and bar bills. Our total came to a bit over $3,000 after all these items, plus air fare to San Juan.

8. WiFi is slow and not totally reliable. I appreciate that they warn up-front not to expect too much. We got the unlimited plan ($240) which, however, doesn't allow more than one device per cabin to be logged on. Consider one of the individual plans.

9. Shore excursions were very mixed. Because of their cost and the lack of interest in most of the ports, we only took two of them:

9a. Historic Tastes and Treasures of Fort Napoleon (Les Saintes): well worth the money. We learned a lot about the history of the French Caribbean, and saw a really good little museum at the fort. The tour ended with a tasting of various Caribbean finger-foods and 5 types of rum, which was a good way to end the tour. Our leader, Jean (I believe) was very well informed and fluent in English.

9b: Clear Bottom Kayaking (St Georges,Grenada): eminently forgettable. After paddling a mile to where we should have seen lots of fishes, there were absolutely none to be found ... until one minnow literally landed in our kayak. (I threw it back.) Basically, clear bottom kayaks are no substitute for snorkeling or scuba diving--the view was very poor. The rum punch at the end was pretty awful. 

9c: The company wanted entirely too much money for pre- and post-cruise accommodations and transportation. My suggestion is to take a cab (regular cab or Uber) to the Sheraton hotel across the street from the cruise terminal, for a fraction of the cost of what Windstar wanted. The Sheraton was a rather nice, modern, business-class hotel, and not terribly overpriced. 

10. Some people have complained about being pressured to spend additional money. This complaint is basically correct. The evening "shows" were mostly commercials for shore excursions and repeat cruises. I could have done with less of that stuff.

11. No real "shows" in such a small ship, through the crew put on an evening program that was a lot of fun. 

12. The "swimming pool" was basically a large hot tub with underwater jets to supposedly allow one to swim up-current. Too small to be useful.

13. The sports platform was open a lot less than promised because the slightest wave action caused it to be closed.

14. The food was never less than good and sometimes excellent. One common complaint was that red meats tended to be over salted. A couple of their pork roasts were mostly fat. 

Finally: YES, we look forward to another Windstar cruise.

Wonderful cruise, with a few glitches

Great Back-to-Back Caribbean Cruise

Brisbane

The Star Legend will be in dry dock soon to completely refurbish it and add 100 staterooms. And it need it. Everything was from gently to quite worn. Seals were broken on three large windows in the Yacht Club lounge, obscuring the view. 

That said, the staterooms were quite comfortable and the house staff attentive.

Excursions are extremely expensive. Choose wisely. It’s much more fun to explore charming towns like Wrangell and Sitka on The zodiac tour of Tracey’s Arm glacier was worth it in every way. 

Food was hit and miss. The hits were lunch and breakfast, and dinner had some poor choices, like a seafood bisque with uncooked seafood in it. The Indian dishes, including a curry bar, were beautifully seasoned. Candles featured fresh salads and fish and meats grilled to order. 

Overall, for a luxury cruise, we thought Windstar could have done better with the condition of the ship furnishings, and attention to detail at Amphora Restaurant. 

The staff was gracious and the naturalists knowledgeable.

Ship needs refurbishing

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