Since I spent hours of (mainly at work) time reading these threads before my cruise, I figured I should contribute as well! Just off September 29th Wind Spirit 7 Day Tahiti cruise. My wife and I have sailed Carnival and Princess each once the past few years, no other cruising.
Of course Windstar is a HUGE improvement from the big ships, except for rough sea crossing. We had one day with 10-12' swells when it appeared at least half the guests hardly left their cabins. We kept remarking "where is everyone?". Port call at Huahine was cancelled and it took us the entire day to sail from Bora Bora back to Papeete. I got sea-sick even with the medication, first time ever. I would be quite hesitant to book a cruise that involved several days of open-ocean travel. Curious how folks deal with that.
- Food is much better than the bigger ships
- Great experience getting to know people since only 120 pax were on this cruise
- Beach day at Tahaa motu was perfect; sunny and dry
- The on-deck BBQ one evening was significantly better than I expected. Several people on these threads have been unimpressed with this BBQ. We disagree, I've never seen so many food choices at a BBQ. Good quality food. Other couple traveling with us thought so too.
- Polynesian show 2nd night at Bora Bora was fun and food was good. Not much different than a Hawaiian luau though.
- So many friendly workers, and captain Belinda was great too.
- A smaller ship means very easy to get anywhere quickly
- We almost never heard anyone in the hallways, maybe due to angled design of entry to rooms?
One of the few things we didn't like was that dinner seems quite late for such an older and active (morning) crowd. 7-9pm in Amphora and Candles dining spots. I'd make it 5-8pm or 6-8pm. We were generally all asleep by 10pm at the latest, even coming from just the West Coast.
We'd love to cruise Windstar again and our friends (first time on ANY cruise) are sold on cruising...loved it.
One more note. We arrived at airport 4:45am and paid about $65 for day pass (reserve ahead of time) at Intercontinental Tahiti (IHG) near airport. That included massive continental breakfast and access to pools. Relaxing start to vacation. We also stayed one night at this resort AFTER the cruise. Expensive food/drinks, but nice hotel
