Recently spent 14 nights on Wind Surf, our first time on that ship. I’ve cruised with 8 different cruise lines, although only 149 nights on Wind Star, having previously sailed on Breeze, Spirit and Legend.
It occurred to me on this Caribbean sailing that availability of local produce and proteins (especially fish/seafood) wasn’t great in the ports of call and was reflected in the menus. Without a doubt the most memorable food was on the Legend last year ( 47 nights,Portugal, Spain, France primarily) where there were fresh items fairly consistently and locally inspired dishes and menus. Quadro 44 was our favorite dinner spot, with the best lamb chops I’ve ever eaten outside of my own kitchen. Repetitions are to be expected (I think the menus in Amphora are on a 14 day rotation) but with so many items on offer I have never been bored. Someone else is procuring, preparing, serving and cleaning up and that someone isn’t ME, so maybe I’m less critical and more appreciative than some 😉.
I personally do not miss the lobster at the Deck BBQ or the Beach BBQ. Frozen “rock lobster” tails doused in butter isn’t anything special. But that suckling pig and the paella are perennial favorites of ours.
Desserts tend to be better at lunch, and the fruit tarts at Yacht Club are positively addictive, as are the fresh scones every afternoon.
Not certain why, but the brewed coffee at Verandah was better on Spirit than on the other ships we’ve been on. I’m such a coffee snob that I brought my own French Press and ground coffee with me on Legend. I wouldn’t bother on a two week cruise, but 47 days…I had to have it 😆 Macchiato on all ships 👍👍
The biggest disappointments IMO are the plant based offerings, which, with the notable exception of the black pepper tofu and vegetables in Candles, are uniformly under/unseasoned and uninteresting. I say this as someone who prepares and eats a 50% plant based diet at home. It’s not impossible to make appealing and tasty plant based dishes, but it seems that on WS they are doing double duty as no salt/fat/sugar for those who have dietary restrictions. Herbs/spices and extracts go a long way towards adding flavors but apparently WS recipes are lacking these well known techniques. Siracha or Sambal should be available in all venues but sadly are not. Midway thru our cruise I bought sambal at a local supermarket and brought it with me to Verandah and Candles.
Finally, I would put Windstar’s staff up against any of the ultra-luxury, super expensive cruise lines and feel comfortable that they’d score highly. Windstar corporate management? Well, let’s just say the product excels in spite of them.