Misty Morning

js2x, We were on the Star Pride in November and I had similar apprehensions having sailed on the pre stretch ships. Well I can tell you after one day, there was no difference, it was the same as before but just better with a much nicer, cleaner yacht. The extra and larger dining venues, the larger deck, gym, spa all help keep people all over the ship so it still feels small. Maybe you can feel the extra 100pax on a cold weather itinerary when everybody wants to be in the Yacht Club, but on a Caribbean one like we did, no issues

Funny because the Yellow Submarine is still showing as an excursion in St Barth on the Windstar website

It was open one night during recent cruise in November due to weather not being cooperative for Candles

I was on Pride in November and did not have the package and had to sign for the drinks. Those on package did not sign anything. However the bartenders did run tabs and you would only sign once at the end and we also drank a lot of wine by the bottle (better selection than drink packages) which minimized the signing

As an FYI, we were in Les Saintes 3 weeks ago and Pompierre Beach was being worked on by heavy equipment. Not sure if they have completed their work, but it was definitely not pretty when we were there. Sea weeds everywhere, restaurants all closed. Town was nice though. Maybe they are gearing up the beach for peak tourist season. Bequia: you can either take a taxi to beach or use a water taxi (more fun). Jack's bar is great

We just got of the Pride a few weeks ago following a 16 day cruise. We had brought 3 bottles of wine when we checked in (stopped at SuperMax on way to San Juan port) and brought 4 other ones on the ship on 3 occasions (San Juan, St Martin and Guadeloupe). Had 3 of them in the restaurants (corkage fee of $15). No issues whatsoever. As long as it's one or two, the crew don't mind. Hard liquor may be more problematic. As for the smoking, we saw some folks at the back of deck 8 once in a while, but never did we experience any smell of smoke

Definitively, we just did on our 16 day BTB cruise on the Star Pride. Never ran out of clothes and had no issue with the service

We are 4pts away from 4 star status. Do we get it on the next 7 day cruise (93pts) we are looking to book in Feb, or only after that cruise has been completed for any cruises thereafter?

Cuadro 44 opened at 6PM on our recent cruise and Candles at 6h30. We always went at 8PM and never had to wait except once because we wanted to be in specific section in Amphora.

Bear in mind this is laundry not dry cleaning

Definitely, these ships are more warm weather ships than cold weather ones

Just stayed in 409 on Pride. No major issues. Had a small problem with shower drain early on but was fixed and no issue afterwards. One nightstand had wobbly legs. You can also hear anchor in the AM when at a tender port but that's about it. I must say the rooms have very good soundproofing as we never heard our neighbors

I read somewhere that the stop in the non Euro zone had to be at least 9 hrs or more to make the cruise qualify for no VAT

Just posted a post of our cruise highlights. Cruise was fantastic.

Just got back from a wonderful 16 day back to back cruise on Star Pride. I had some hesitancy as to how it would be post covid (we were on the last Wind Surf cruise in March 2020) and would the 100 additional guest on post stretched ship have an impact on the overall experience. Well I can report that any doubts I had were gone in the first day. It's the same great Windstar experience. Highlights: Staff is amazing. There were 6 of us, and we all agreed that the level of service was excellent everywhere. Whether it was in the bars or dining rooms, staff is smiling and always looking to help. Our stateroom attendant was always on top of keeping our room clean and laundry services was top notch. Management was always around and responsive to our comments (i.e diming of Amphora dining room lights, thanks Merrick). Reception desk staff was responsive. One of our friend's luggage did not make it and although this was not Windstar's fault, they offered free laundry and a $100 OBC to spend at the shop Cuadro 44: Great experience, not to be missed (went 3 times). Sit at the counter and just watch the plates come to you all night. No need to look at the menu. Chef is extremely friendly and proud of what come out of his kitchen. Understand he was chef at the prestigious Queens Grill on the Queen Mary 2 so this is a good catch for Windstar. Don't miss this. Only 44 seats but we managed to get in 3 times during our 16 days and could have gone more often if we wanted Star Grill: mostly open for Grab n' go breakfast items and served burgers and daily special for lunch. Was open a few times at night. It's fine but we did not use much. But it is convenient Food: Still as good as it was. Yes there is no more lobster or lamb at the Deck BBQ but they now have lobster night at Amphora on the last night of the cruise. Candles no longer has the veal chop but the lamb and steaks were excellent (try the sides of onion rings and prosciutto parmesan potatoes, divine). Good choices for breakfast at Veranda. Sandwiches at Yacht Club just as tasty as they were and caffe lattes at Veranda are now as good as the ones in Yacht Club thanks to new espresso machine. Ice cream machine was there at the Star Grill but it was not running as they are missing some parts. They offered a large variety of hors d'oeuvres on deck at cocktail time on several evenings (more often that in previous cruises). We did not take the drink package this time as we were drinking wines by the bottle but approx 50% of the passengers did. Mostly the same selection of wines as pre covid with prices up slightly. Company continues to have supply issues with some products not always available (they ran out of French Rosé for a week and only got some back when in St Martin on last day of cruise). The ship: The ship looks very good. I read some earlier comments that the ships looked like rust buckets. Maybe pre stretch but this is no longer the case. The new bathrooms in the suites look great, there is now an additional 220v outlet on the dresser with 2 USB chargers on top the existing 110 and 220V outlets by the desk (none by the bed, no issue for us). Pool and Star Deck furniture has been replaced and looks very good. Pool and hot tub area have been redesigned nicely. Candles/Veranda area redone with additional room at the back and all new furniture. Spa area and gym have been completely redone and expanded and look inviting. Gym equipment is all new and top quality. All public bathrooms have also been redone. We had AC issues but this was fixed after a few days (they flew in a team from the US which stayed on the ship through the remainder of the cruise to make sure things were running properly) and got a $450 credit for the annoyance. New engines installed are much cleaner with much less soot on deck. Speaking of decks, all deck flooring (teak and vinyl) has been redone and looks very nice. Elevators have also all been redone with the new central one capable of holding at least 6 people. Despite having 260 people onboard on the first leg, it never felt crowded (it was one of my worries which quickly dissipated). There were always chairs available on pool deck even on a sea day and we never waited for a table for very long as there are now more options for dinners (additional space at Veranda and new Cuadro 44 and Star Grill options). The Star Bar has also been expanded . Tenders: With the stretch, the tenders were updated (this was overdue) and are much larger, cleaner and faster than the previous ones (although we did like the yacht style of the previous model). Also the new tender boarding area on Deck 3 Mid is much more accessible with elevator next to it which was not the case prior to stretch. This was our 10th Windstar cruise and this one was just as good as our previous ones. Should anyone have concerns or doubt about cruising with Windstar, do yourselves a favor and go. For 2 weeks it was pure pleasure, we did not hear about covid during the whole time (did not hear there were any on board or did not notice any people in the 300 level rooms used for quarantined passengers) and we totally disconnected from our daily lives. To me that is a sure sign of another perfect cruise. Don't hesitate to ask any questions Misty Morning

Just got off the ship. AC was out 2.5 days and people received anywhere from $150 to $225 credit per person. They also provided us with a fan for the 2 nights it was out which helped. The whole system was updated during recent drydock where they installed HEPA filters and new fans. On the cruise from Boston, it was the flow of air that was the problem with hot and cold air coming through ducts. It seems on the San Juan leg, there was some premature wear on the fans which they we trying to understand. The ship has 3 AC units, with only 2 required to cool the shole ship leaving an extra one in case one has issues or needs to be maintained. Unfortunately 2 of the 3 units went down which explains why only a portion of the ship was cool. They had engineering team flown in from the US and they were onboard for the remainder of the cruise to ensure the system was OK. It was unfortunate but was addressed and explained in detail by the captain and officers and was over after 2 days. You can imagine how hot it must have been in the staff quarters. Everyone was committed to getting the problem fixed because grumpy staff and customers is not good for business

Thanks for the info. That’s the answer I was hoping for as we are doing 16 day cruise on a carry-on only and did not want to have to pack a small beach bag if I didn’t need to.

We are back to cruising after 3 year hiatus and we were wondering if Windstar still provided a small beach bag in the room. They used to, just not sure if they still do.

We'll be on the Pride in November and was wondering if they are back to doing beach BBQ at Prickly Pear in the North Sound of Virgin Gorda after going to Fischer's Cove a few years post Irma/Maria hurricanes. I understand the Prickly Pear facilities are back up and running. Much nicer than Fischer's Cove.

Has anyone noticed that most of the pictures of the Star ships on the Windstar website are of the old pre-stretch version of these. I find it odd that on the one hand they tout the amount of money spent on the stretch and how beautiful the ships look but when it comes to show them, sorry no can do. Why??

We will be sailing in November and I was just curious to find out if there were regular instances of Covid cases aboard (which I assume are all quarantined in their rooms). Misty

Just booked a Guaranteed room for 16 day Caribbean cruise in November and got upgraded 2 categories from lowest port hole cabin without asking . Maybe there's someone upselling when we check in, we'll see but the ship looks pretty full with a lot of room categories no longer available, which I assume is good news for Windstar