jims01

I'm getting conflicting info on what the latest time to embark is, and hoping someone can clear up the confusion.

The itinerary says "Embarkation begins at 1:00 pm. All aboard will take place one hour before scheduled departure." The scheduled departure time is 10pm.

Since departure is at 10pm, I was originally planning to to spend most of the day in San Juan and board around 7 or 8pm. But on a recent call with Windstar, the rep told me that I'd need to be on board by 2 or 3pm, even though departure is at 10pm. She said something about the port not being open that late, but didn't really give details, and I didn't think to inquire further at the time.

So if boarding begins at 1pm but scheduled departure is at 10pm, does anyone know what the (approx) latest boarding time is?

It seems like booking early is a good move for more popular sailings but less so for lower-demand itineraries (e.g., some of the early December Carribean ones). Prices for the popular ones tend to increase (duh) as the date comes closer but for the latter, price drops are more likely as the sailing date approaches and they try to fill cabins.

If you booked early on one of the lower-demand sailings, it can be hard to get price concessions after they start discounting, even with WS's "Price Assurance" policy. For example, WS today started offering an additional $200/pp OBC for one of their December Carribean departures. Since it's a an OBC as opposed to a price discount, they argue that the Price Assurance policy doesn't apply, and declined my request to match. Legally, they're probably on firm ground, but it still leaves a bad taste in the mouth regardless. Lesson for me at least is to never book early for a December Carribean cruise again, and next time use price predictor sites out there to get a sense of whether a future cruise is likely to be high or low demand and time my booking accordingly.

We know people who bring bottles of wine. If you want to bring it to dinner, you will be charged corkage fee. On a recent trip, Glitter and Glam, we met guests in a local wine shop doing tastings. The ship's wine steward was there. It was a fun time. Everyone bought wine back to the ship. As long as you only bring a few bottles, nobody will stop you.

Has anyone tried (or know if it's OK) to bring a bottle of spirit on board in lieu of wine? Not a big wine drinker and would like to bring a bottle of whiskey from my private stash on board if possible.

I called Windstar on this exact subject and they told me 8:00 am is the latest you can be on board. They need to turn the boat so they don't allow you to stay on after that time.

Did they mention if they even serve breakfast that morning, or are we on our own?

Perfect. Thank you both!

Apologies if this has already been asked, but didn't see anything from a quick keyword search. Also couldn't find anything on Windstar's FAQ's and wondering if any Windstar veterans can help:

My ship returns to port (San Juan) at 7:00am on Saturday, 12/16. My flight is at 4:00pm, and I'm wondering how much time I'll need to kill after disembarking. If they're going to kick me off early in the morning, shortly after getting into the port at 7am, I'll try to plan something for a half day before heading to the airport. On the other hand, if I can stay on the boat till late morning or even lunch, I might just head to the airport a little early.

So generally speaking, does anyone know when's the latest time they're going to kick me off after the cruise is over?

The replacemnts ports are small: Pigeon Islsnd St. Lucia tiny, away from the main port and huge crowds. I have been here three times WS was the only ship there, Ils des Saints tiny, no room for big ships, again been there three times never another ship, beautiful French town, walk to a great beach with the cows and goats, great views, Montserrst has a population of 4,000 people that is it, spoke to a lady there today she said they can only handle one small ship at a time, never been there, Martinique Anse Mitan, you anchor off a beach, not Port de France, never been there, looks lovely and interesting, large ships do not go into St. Barts been there 3 times, once saw a Seabourn when we were there. All my trips have bern with WS.

We get our insurance from a compsny we researched to make sure it covers everything, less than $500 for the two of us. We have a b2b on 1/6. Guaranteed never lines on WS. Embark/Disembark never an issue. We have never been disppointed in WS.

I'm pretty happy with the changes too, largely because these do seem like smaller ports that are a little off the beaten track (I hope it recovers quickly from the hurricane but my original reaction to Phillipsburg as a tourist going there was <shrug>).

Has anyone on here been to the new ports in the past and able to suggest cool/unusual things to do? Took a quick look on Tripadvisor but the suggestions for our specific areas (e.g., Anse Mitan, as opposed to Martinique in general) are limited. For example, Anse Mitan is described as a great beach, but there's not much else on Tripadvisor about it.

My overall concern is that all 3 new locations seem to be beaches or nature-focused islands, and generally distant from the towns where there's (I assume) better food, shopping, attractions. Nature is great, but 3 in a row (+ Monserrat, also nature-y) might be a little repetitive after a while.

I logged into my account on Windstar's website today and there was an updated itinerary posted. Nothing was announced on the public facing website, but I think this is probably what the new ports will look like. Very surprised to see that St. Barts is still on apparently. This is for the San Juan sailing on December 9 on Star Pride:

Saturday, December 9

Sailing

Departure San Juan, Puerto Rico 10:00 PM

Sunday, December 10

Sailing

At Sea

Monday, December 11

Sailing

Arrival Anse Mitan, Martinique 9:00 AM

Sailing

Departure Anse Mitan, Martinique 10:00 PM

Tuesday, December 12

Sailing

Arrival Pigeon Island, Saint Lucia 8:00 AM

Sailing

Departure Pigeon Island, Saint Lucia 5:00 PM

Wednesday, December 13

Sailing

Arrival Les Saintes Terre-De-Hau, Guadeloupe 8:00 AM

Sailing

Departure Les Saintes Terre-De-Hau, Guadeloupe 10:00 PM

Thursday, December 14

Sailing

Arrival Little Bay, Montserrat 8:00 AM

Sailing

Departure Little Bay, Montserrat 4:00 PM

Friday, December 15

Sailing

Arrival Gustavia, St. Barthelemy 7:00 AM

Sailing

Departure Gustavia, St. Barthelemy 1:30 PM

Saturday, December 16

Sailing

Arrival San Juan, Puerto Rico 7:00 AM

Does Windstar still have a Destination Discovery excursion on each sailing?

Not on all of them. For example, there's not one on the Dec. 9 San Juan - Virgin Islands sailing.

https://www.windstarcruises.com/cruise/caribbean/san-juan-and-the-virgin-islands/?id=176&sid=1412

Has anyone had experience with bringing spirits (whiskey, vodka) onboard at embarkation? I'm aware of the policy that allows 2 bottles of wine or champagne per cabin, but my dad isn't a wine fan and I was hoping to bring on a nice bottle of scotch if that's allowed.