Pudgesmom

Do you know if that Webcam is at Holland House?

My guess is that the ship is relocating to the Caribbean at the end of hurricane season and that Windstar will be very interested in getting the ship south.

Don’t forget the back of your legs above the knee. I made that mistake once. My SPF shirt did great, but I missed the memo on my thighs. Ouch!

I will do that. 🙂

I’m for anything which attracts a continued audience for Windstar. If this is how they get the NextGen travelers, I’m all for it. I know my married children in their 30’s are not scouring message boards for travel ideas.

On a side note, you may have quite a few more children on the Orlando cruise. Schools in the South tend to get out about a month earlier than East Coast. Here in our Texas area, this year’s classes will end in the third week of May vs mid-June around NY/NJ. While people travel to cruises from all over, my guess is that the New York cruise will have fewer kids at that time of year. Of course this may not be important to you.

I vote for Seabourn too. I’ll also encourage you to take a look at Windstar line for a romantic trip.

I’ve had many great massages on Windsurf. Usually I just get deep tissue, but they have had a wonderful bamboo roller massage too, as well as several other choices. Prices have been comparable to other lines (Ponant, Regent) on which we have traveled. sorry I don’t have a menu. Be sure to visit the spa on boarding day when they have a raffle for a variety of treatments. It’s also a good time to sign up for treatments on busy sea days, or the times of your preference.

Not sure exactly where your start and end are, but having looked at train travel many times between Lisbon and Madrid, we have always chosen a flight. I don’t know why, but that train uses up way too much time for us.

They usually have green apples in a bowl at reception when seas get rough.

We will be on in the spring for the return to Europe- I think our fifth crossing on the Windsurf. We also love when the ship is not very full! Enjoy!

Just to add that the "connectiveness" comes if two parties want to close the big hallway door and then leave their individual cabin doors open to create a joint foyer. We used to travel this way when our children were in their teens. Individual doors can still be closed for sleeping or privacy.

@Petoonya I'm very sorry to hear about your sudden loss. Surely you have had a difficult time, but I hope your memories will be a blessing to you. I can't add to the solo sailing experience, other than we have met many solo travelers over the years on Windstar and enjoyed their company. You already know how friendly all of the staff and the guests are. Safe travels and welcome back.

The better shopping is in town, less than a mile from the ship. You can take a 2 minute cab or a bit of a walk. There are also places on the beach there who will rent you a couple of chairs and an umbrella for a couple of hours if you want a beach break before sailing.

We have just finished our Ponant cruise last week, and almost all of the snorkelers borrowed mask and snorkel. It was offered to all during the equipment distribution.

Other cruise lines have been discussed here, despite the fact that OP asked about NCL specifically. At that point, I thought it was ok to talk about my experiences. And yes, I made a mistake in using the word “all,” which I have now apologized for twice! If we are only to talk about how mass market lines work, then much is missed, including the nomenclature of types of sailings. I now feel I can see that it is not my place to post here, because I might make another error. Majority rules. Thank you for your help. And yes, I have traveled many times on mass market lines and have experienced how the large ships handle port calls.

As I said, your milage may vary. To the OP, and to correct my error, all of MY 7 transatlantic cruises have had either one or no stops. And they were called “transatlantic,” not “repositioning,” by the cruise line. They each lasted 13-14 days. They were on small ship cruise lines. Quite a few singles seemed to be enjoying themselves among the other passengers. I would like to ask how many crossings would require someone to get past the point of “limited” experience? Is this forum only open to people with a certain number? And possibly my main point of fewer stops on a large ship was completely missed. Thank you so very much for correcting my mistakes. Feel free to correct any of this as needed. I had hoped my experiences would add to the body of information for the OP. Perhaps they may be interested in a VARIETY of choices.

You milage may vary. I was sharing my experience, which is factual for 7 crossings over two lines. So yes, it IS FACTUAL for some lines. Thank you for sharing YOUR knowledge . 🙂

We often do Transatlantics. On the Windsurf, that's either 13 or 14 sea days in a row. If you're not reading a book or writing one, you probably won't like it. 😉

There are usually no port stops on a trans -Atlantic cruise, sometimes there is only one. The disadvantages of a large ship in a small port is negated here.

As far as the boards being quiet, it’s important to remember that on any given day, Windstar will have no more than about 1500 passengers sailing. In comparison, Princess, the world’s FIFTH largest cruise line, can carry 46,000 each day! That’s 16,800,000 passenger days in a year! There are so many fewer people to post. I also totally agree with the captain’s comment about people reluctant to share their secret, lol.

It must depend on the configuration of each ship. I don’t know about the other ships, but we booked the master suite on the Splendor for two people. On that ship, it would not be possible to close off the second bedroom and we had use of it for the cruise, along with bathroom and closet, for the two of us.

And tape it down in the event you want to plug it in across the room! I’ve been told most ships make distilled water for use in the engine room.

We had a group of six doing the Black Sea loop from Istanbul when the Ukraine war started. The cruise included stops in both Russia and the Ukraine. We actually called Windstar and rebooked to a completely separate cruise and date before the war started. They transferred all of our monies to the new ship/itinerary. Only one couple had purchased air, and it was transferable. Windstar was excellent about the whole thing.

Have a wonderful time! We sure did. We are working our way home to Texas with many many fond memories of our first trip with Ponant.