Astalarasta

We were told the same thing after purchasing the "indulgence" package.

Strangely the same rep told us that we could use the onboard credit from the "experience" package we were gifted as an early booking bonus to book excursions in advance.  I remain confused by Azamara's communications overall.  

I guess we will just go with the flow and see what happens.

Good to know that Azamara will have a terminal of its it's own.  We are starting to get excited about this cruise and these tips will help to get it off to a great start!

Tiggertom,

We contacted Azamara to ask them to provide whatever documents were needed to enter the port and board the ship.  They emailed a " Guest Ticket Booklet", with all of the confusing details and boarding passes.

Hen302, 

It is a good thing that you did not follow the Azamara instructions!   We have cruised only a few prior times on smaller ships and the boarding time was less formal, no boarding groups and we boarded a little after 12PM, in time for lunch.

Thank you for the replies.  Gremlins indeed😂! 

Since our hotel checkout is at 11AM, that should give us time for a leisurely lunch and Uber to the port  by 2ish.

We have never sailed out of a large US port like Ft. Lauderdale, so we are not sure what to expect.  The port schedule shows several  large ships sailing the same day.  I was imagining long lines for checkin and security.

Hello experienced Azamara Cruisers,

We received our cruise documents directly from Azamara. This will be our first cruise with Azamara and are confused by the  information in our documents.

It notes that sailing time is 4:30PM. The time listed for our boarding group(Deck 6) is 3:30 to 4:30 PM and there is also a statement indicating that we will be denied boarding if not checked in at the pier at least 90 minutes before sailing.   

Any advice for when we should arrive at the port?  We are sailing from Port Everglades.    Looking forward to your thoughts!

I have not been on Cruise Critic in a long while, but have a 2023 cruise booked.  Check out South Beach Hotel in Rockley.  It is well located on Accra beach close to the cruise port.  It is across the street from the beach, but is walking distance from several restaurants. We stay before and after a cruise from Barbados and really enjoyed it.

Misty Morning,

Mgirvin has a good suggestion in the Holland House.  We bought a day pass there for out port visit.  Just an FYI you might want to check with Holland House on the shower/towel situation.  We were offered the use of an outdoor shower that was open to the bar/sidewalk... more for rinsing sand than cleaning up for a flight and our beach chair rental did not include towels.   Happy sailing

Hi Ridethetide,

That is a funny picture!  It  brings back fond memories.  It never crossed our mind to take a photo.   

The upper deck staterooms might give you a better view.  We were on the lower deck on our first cruise on MS Windstar.  We left the curtains open on a rough crossing and looking out those portholes reminded us of a frontload washing machine...which gave a  laugh.  When we arrived in port in Grenada, our portholes looked out to a concrete port wall.  We still had a great time and the movement was much less than last years deck six suite on Star Pride, that caused me a bit more motion sickness.     Happy sailing whatever deck you choose!

Strenz,

Thank you for the suggestions.  We will have to take a look at the schedule, as I might be worried about missing the  ship sailing with ferries and such and I don't like to worry on vacation.  I do like shopping, but don't love the big crowds, which was one of the reasons for selecting a Windstar cruise. 

6rugrats,

I was really surprised that we didn't hear from Windstar about the change.  We had this itinerary booked for last December and they were very good about letting us know about the changes after hurricane Maria.   Maybe because it was just one port, they don't feel it is necessary to notify us.

I'll try to keep an open mind about Charlotte Amalie.  If it's not a great port for exploring, we might take one of the excursions, if we can get some more information about them. 

We are just about a month out from our sailing and I logged on to Windstar's site to possibly book an excursion.  It looks like they have changed the first port from Vieques to Charlotte Amalie.  We have not yet received any notice from Windstar.

We are not disappointed since we like enjoy wandering around ports and exploring and Vieques looked like it would be either a snorkeling or beach day, without much to explore in town.  

I have a couple of questions:

Windstar's site show tour options for Charlotte Amalie, but no descriptions.  How do we get more information about the tours?

Does anyone who has been to Charlotte Amalie on a Windstar cruise(or other) have any suggestions for excursions or tips for exploring independently?

We sailed in 2016 and yes they do expect you disembark early.  I think that it was by 9:00AM back then. Since our bags had to be packed and outside the cabin the night before, it was enough time to get dressed and have breakfast, even to have coffee on deck and gaze at the other  huge cruise ships that had come in all around us from tiny Windstar.  We took a ship excursion/ island tour that left us at our hotel just in time to check in and we were on the road by 9:30.  

Hi Griller,

We have had the beverage package on both of our past cruises and I can say that Windstar has some very talented bartender/mixologists. Why not talk to them about mixing some tasty sugar free cocktails? If you like white rum...try a sugar free mojito. You just have them muddle the mint and lime with the sugar substitute of your choice. We like stevia or Splenda. We don't have diabetes, but try to watch our weight and can't justify the high calories in those sugary cocktails. I can think of some other options too SF margaritas, kamazee, you get the idea.

6rugrats, now I feel silly for posting a reply to what is perhaps a fictitious review and in retrospect it does seem quite melodramatic. If it is genuine, you have to feel a little sorry for a guy that admits to being a workaholic who suffers from sleep apnea, anxiety, migraines, claustrophobia, digestive illness and sensitive skin all in the course if less than two days.

It sounds like you had a terrible time and I am sorry to hear it. It is a pity that you only joined Cruise Critic after you sailed and didn't use it to help find the best vacation for your needs and expectation.

There is a lot of great information here from people who have been passengers before. I think that the reviews are most helpful, but I take them with a grain of salt and paying special attention to patterns of complaints about the things that we care about when we travel. Aside from the food, which is really subjective and the cleanliness issue in the bath which I think that Windstar would/should have addressed for you, most of your complaints wouldn't have been deal breakers for us.

I have only sailed twice, but from what I have read, it seems that quarantine of passengers with Norovirus-like symptoms is pretty much industry standard and prudent for preventing the possible spread of illness to other passengers. Inconvenient for the patient, yes, but in everyone's best interest.

Although researching on CC might not make our voyages perfect, they do help us to chose the best fit and travel with reasonable expectations, based upon what we have read and heard from other CC members. I hope that if you wait another five years for a vacation, that you take the time to research it first and it turns out to be everything you have hoped for.

Marble29- I think that they are pretty strict, since they searched our bags at embarkation and then our purses and backpacks every time that we returned to the ship on both of our Caribbean cruises.

We have always taken the beverage package and we just made our final payment for this year's trip and bought it again. For us it a good value...but we tend to enjoy our drinks on vacation.

Elklemi- I am surprised to hear that your sailing didn't have the caribbean beers. We sailed the Grenadines itinerary in Dec 2016 on the Windstar and a roundtrip from San Juan last year Dec, on the Star Pride and both had beers from at least some of the islands that we were visiting: Banks, Piton etc. and for some reason Red Stripe.

In my opinion your characterization of Windstar as a “predator” and implying thattheir contractual practices relative to tours are in some way nefarious, improper or ”anti- trust” is unfair.The business of selling group tours to a cruise line or resort hotel is a very different business model from selling individual tours to travelers. So, in my view, they are not competing for the same business.

Suggesting that Windstar may have limited competition, is not founded in fact, since we have no information about how many tour operators may bid for the cruise line contract.Only the parties to the contact are privy to the terms, however it would be foolish to believe that the terms are beneficial to only one of the parties.

Although Windstar passengers may pay a premium for the tours offered, should they choose to buy them, my experience has been that they were curated,well organized and interesting/fun. Taking their tours also gave us some peace of mind, since there was always a crew member on the tour (unless it was a tour after disembarkation)and we were assured of making it back to the ship before it’s departure.

I don’t understand why Windstar would have denied you any ofthe advertised discounts. Although this winter’scruise will only be our third on Windstar, our experience has been that they were fair and even generous with us. Wereceived the early booking bonus, the alumni discount, price adjustments according to their price assurance policy and even an unsolicited complimentarycabin upgrade that was offered about a month before our last cruise, which was an unexpected and very pleasant surprise.

6rugrats

It is no wonder there is a lot of confusion about drinks and beverage packages, since is seems like things vary so much from cruise to cruise. You said that you never had to sign. I was on Wind Star in December 2016 with my Mom and we had the beverage packages and were asked to sign a check until the bartenders were familiar with us and then they never asked. On our December cruise on the Star Pride in 2017, my husband and I were routinely asked to sign checks. Maybe it varies with the teams of bar staff. We didn't find it to be an inconvenience in any case.

We will see how it is in December 2018,we are booked for a "do over" the San Juan and the Virgin Islands itinerary on the Star Pride. Here's hoping that the hurricane season is kinder to the islands this year and we can sail the itinerary as planned.

I am convinced that most of this thread contains older information. According to what is stated on Windstar's web site, as of March 25,2018, included in their cruises are " All non-alcoholic beverages, including specialty tea and coffee drinks."

I wonder if the bills presented at the wine and cheese tasting were actually charged to the passengers accounts or just for inventory purposes? We had the beverage package on our cruise last December, but were routinely asked to sign checks for "inventory purposes", but not one of these appeared separately on our account.

It was made pretty clear, at least on our cruise, when the drinks were complimentary. When the Captain offered to buy drinks for happy hour by way of an apology due to a missed port, it was announced and it was the buzz of the ship.

Lucky you!

It depends on your interests and activity level. For active I recommend the Anse Mitan, South Discovery by Catamaran & Snorkel. It was a really fun day, with a little of everything, we were able to tour the village on foot, swim at the beach, snorkel with turtles, see a bat cave, see the sights from the sail boat and eat drink and be merry. Take care... the rum punch was very stong! For less active I recommend the Bridgetown: Barbados Island Tour with Transfer to Hotel or Airport, it was a very nice tour of the island, with beautiful views, visits to some interesting historical sights and a nice lunch at the plantation house. It was a nice way to end the trip if you have a later flight, or like us were staying on the island for a night.

Hi MIsty,

There were perhaps 25 to 30 passengers on the tour. All of them were on the Pride. There were enough so that they even extended the lunch hour a bit for us when we arrived backon the ship.

Hi,

I don't think that they offered a pure snorkeling excursion on our cruise on the Star Pride in December, so that might be why, you have not received any replies.

We took the catamaran trip, with snorkeling. The snorkeling was either off the beach, when the catamaran was anchored in a village for about an hour and there was snorkeling with turtles at another stop. We did not snorkel, since we chose to walk around the village and enjoy the beach, but everyone who snorkeled told us that they enjoyed it and most saw turtles. I would recommend the catamaran trip. Our excursion was on the Diamond Rock catamaran: beautiful/interesting sites(including a bat cave), friendly, English- speaking crew , tasty snacks prepared by their onboard cook and really potent rum punches made with the local rum. It was a fun day.

If you " went all the way up the food chain" and still don't have a resolution to your satisfaction, and you aren't willing to file an insurance claim or did not buy insurance, is seems that you have only one option left. Since you sailed, you accepted Windstar's Passage Contract. That leaves you with pursuing arbitration. There are two sides to every story and in arbitration both parties could tell their side and the arbitrator could decide the matter. If the arbitrator was to decide in your favor, you would likely get some reimbursement and the retribution that you have explained that you are seeking by posting on Social Media.

My mistake. From my limited experience with this board, people typically ask cruising questions and seek advice. I thought that you were seeking advice from other cruiser as to how to recoup your loss, since you couldn't get any help after posting on Facebook. Clearly, that was not your issue(s).

Thank you for sharing your experience. After hearing about it, I now will be sure to pack our carry-ons with a couple of changes of clothes , swimsuits and charging cords, in case our checked luggage is lost or delayed.

Yes, I do have a better understanding having read your explanation, which is more complex than your original posting implied. I don't think anyone could have gleaned all of that from your original post.

Why weren't you allowed to check into your cabin to charge your phone there?

It's a pity that you had a bad experience, it has to be a bad way to start a vacation when what you likely wanted to do is relax and enjoy.

Given how you have described the situation and Windstar's response, I still think you might have better luck making a claim with your travel insurance to recoup the expense of retrieving your lost luggage.

I read our policy for our upcoming trip which is fairly basic, but it seems like this kind of expense would be covered.

Good luck to you!