milepig
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Posts posted by milepig
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Hi!
My husband and I have just booked the November Culinary and Wine cruise. Very excited about it and have never been to either Spain or Portugal. Took a small ship cruise on the Paul Gauguin in Sept 2012 and will never sail a large boat again!
Have a question or two. I am wondering what the 5% discount milepig was referring to? We have received a $200 shipboard credit but remain unaware of any other discount.
I was also wondering if anyone was considering the add on pre/post trip in either Barcelona or Lisbon. And if so, are you going with the hotels sponsored by the cruiseline? The price seems a bit high but include transfers to ship...which I don't know is of any significant value. Would really appreciate some feedback. Thanks![/QUOT
Let me have an email address if you'd like to chat offline. (I was going to send a PM, but can't figure out how to do it on this board??) We've been to both Barcelona and Lisbon and can recommend all sorts of options. I also have a lot of info on which WS tours are best from my TA - you get 2 of the culinary tours free if you hadn't already noticed. The 5% is automatic for Yacht Club members, which you are if you've used Windstar before. But, I've always had to "remind" them about it. In theory, you'll also entitled to a room "upgrade" pending availability, but that seems to mean a cabin in a slightly better part of the ship as most rooms are identical.
I agree that you can do better than the WS hotel prices if you shop around.
In terms of places to stay, we're in BCN for 3 nights before the cruise. I'd stay longer if it were our first time. We like the Barceloneta area which is close to the cruise port, and have booked an apartment via AirBnB, just be careful, many older buildings have no lift and the sixth floor in BCN is really about 8th as you have Ground, main, and another I'm blanking on the name of before you hit 1. We're paying $522 for three nights, total price, for a beautiful place with Mediterranean views from a terrace. Other good options would be Placa Catalunya since that's where the airport bus drops off, or toward the South end of Las Ramblas/Barri Gotic area for ease of getting to the ship. For Lisbon, we're only there 2 nights, but would recommend at least 3 for a first-time trip. A day trip to Sintra was a highlight, but pretty much ate up one complete day. We stayed at the Avenida Palace last time, and found it to be a great location, a grand old hotel with a breakfast that was well worth the price. In Lisbon, the ship will dock just a little to the west of the main part of the city, and getting a cab was not a problem.
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The negative for the April cruise is no boarding till 6 pm. And Windstar won't say why. No Gala dinner that night either. Hans will hear from us.
They better pay for a day room also.
The scheduled arrival time is 7am, but I'm guessing they're allowing leeway in case the arrival after the ocean crossing is delayed.
Do you have a link to the detailed day by day agenda for this one? I was able to find one for the November cruise, but only after much digging, but I can't find the one for April.
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Interesting advice. As you can see by my signature we have done quite a few of the more traditional big ship cruises. As for the ports that no one wants to go to, I don't think Santorini, Mykonos, Rhodes, and Kusadashi qualify in that category.
I am loving the fact that Windstar is the only ship in port at these places on our particular cruise. In Santorini there will be just the 148 of us instead of 6000. I can only think that is going to enhance our day in port to not have to fight the masses of tourists.
Rhodes was the highlight for us. Not sure if this always happens, but we were in port on our IST-ATH cruise the same day as the ATH-IST ship (in the opposite direction.) We both the sail away at dusk, and it was magical, with each ship circling the other a couple times before we each sailed off in opposite directions. Something for my bucket list, and totally unexpected.
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Update.
We completed our booking through our agent a couple days ago. When I went online to book the tours, both the regular and "culinary" tours were available to select, but there was no way to pick 2 as complimentary. Maybe they'd be comped at the checkout process, I didn't go that far.
But I just emailed our agent, and he booked them for us. The receipt he sent shows all the tours as billed, followed by a credit for the 2 we selected to be free (which were the most expensive options). So, your agent can do this no problem.
We also received the normal Yacht Club bennies - 5% discount and $100pp shipboard credit.
As a bit of a foodie and wino, I'm getting psyched by this cruise - seems like they have something special planned for every day.
I was somewhat amused that they were also offering the alcohol package. With all the free tours, wine tastings and wine dinners I doubt they'll have many takers!!
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I don't know what the original intent was, but in my experience the sails are there mostly for decoration. Many days they'd go up for sail away and then be immediately furled.
But, there was one glorious period where we were under full sail for hours and we we could actually feel the ship moving with the wind. Fabulous, but unfortunately it doesn't seem to happen often.
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I don't know how usual this is, but on our last cruise the physician was introduced as being a certified Emergency Room Doctor. My wife, who's in the medical field, whispered "perfect".
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Maybe things are more casual in the Caribbean than the Med, but shirts and flip flops would have been terribly out of place in the Med. Not a single person was attire that way during our deck parties.
Not true on the cruises I've been on in the Med. On the BBQ night everyone was very casually dressed.
Yes absolutely, just returned from a week on Windspirit, the Yacht Deck BBQ was AMAZING!!!!!Have a great time
This.
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My advice Lori (anonymousegirl) is to cancel your Windstar cruise ASAP and rebook with Princess or Royal Caribbean or anyone else - get a balcony cabin and enjoy. Windstars tenders are frightening - the food is just average - breakfast and lunch are less than average. Windstar may go to the small ports where the big ships can't go - the truth is the big ships don't want to go to these ports and you probably will not want to.
Windstar isn't for everyone. If you want to be in a floating hotel that goes to ports that are mobbed with thousands of other cruise-folk, book one of the big lines. If you want a more intimate experience book Windstar. In multiple cruises we've only been to one dud port, and note that they no longer stop there. Can't disagree with the food comment - ordinary at best, but any other non-luxury lines any better? At least you don't need to stand in an endless buffet line!
Yes, the cabins are small and don't have balconies, but a Windstar ship is small enough that you can easily find a secluded area on deck where you'll be by yourself enjoying the day.
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There is usually a $400 difference between Bs and BXs. Windstar used to price the lowest deck as all B and the next deck up as all A. This BX/B/AX/A is a real nuisance for those of us loyal Windstar sailors. :mad:
If you can snag a B right next to a BX, then you save $400 and are basically in the same area. Ask your TA to get specific cabin numbers that are available, and grab the one that is right next to the higher priced BX.
Be aware that the waves have a tendency to wash against the portholes on B Deck...but it adds to the excitement of a Windstar cruise. :p
This is one reason to book with a very experienced agent, and to book early. We went with a B cabin on his advice and he was able to grab for us what he considered to be the best cabin in that range. Add me to the list of disgruntled people about the splitting of the decks - seems like a petty way to get more money without raising prices of the cheapest options.
In general though...the lowest deck will be right at the waterline, and you'll get considerable splashing of water against the portholes in almost any weather. When docked, if you're on the pier side you're going to see nothing but the side of the pier, but then I don't spend much time in my cabin so I don't care. You're also down one more flight of steps, but that's hardly an issue if you're in normal health.
I've never had much problem with vibration on Windstar, but there is a real difference when you're undersail (Seldom, in my experience) and when they're motoring, with the ship being really quiet under sail, and when motoring you get a sort of gentle vibration that can make for a good sleep.
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We recently decided on the Fall Barcelona-Lisbon cruise on the Surf, and later realized that this is a special themed Wine and Culinary cruise. Is this something new for Windstar? A search didn't quickly pull up any existing thread.
Essentially, there are special culinary tours offered (2 of choices are complimentary), and also wine tastings on board each day, along with two dinners that include wine pairings (seemingly at no additional charge.) They claim to have a Spanish wine expert on board, and if they're pairing with Spanish wines this holds hope for both a more regional wine list and also some actual Spanish food!
From the agenda this all looks great, but I'm curious if anyone has done something similar.
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We've never had any trouble bringing reasonable amounts of wine on board. We've both stopped at a store and bought six or so bottles before embarkation and have also bought the odd bottle that caught our eye while shopping at mid-cruise destinations. We've never taken a bottle to the dining room, but have certainly taken one up on deck. As long as you don't make a point of it no one seems to care, we just generally leave the bottle in a carryon and top up as needed. When we forgot glasses in the cabin we've also gotten a couple from the bar, and the bartender happily gave them to us.
I think they're primarily trying to avoid huge groups of carousing people, if you behave responsibly no one seems to mind.
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Tips:
Don't buy the liquor package unless you're really lushes. On a cruise we tend to be wine in the afternoon and a bottle with dinner folk. They don't care if you bring wine on board with you - just not cases full, and you can easily find wine on shore before or during the cruise. For dinner, they have a good selection of wines, some expensive but some moderately priced.
Book the tours carefully. They tend to be expensive, and especially at smaller ports there will be taxis waiting who will gladly drive you around for the day for much less than a tour. In many cases, if you google you'll find agencies who make a living by picking up people on cruises and touring them for the day, often at less than half of what Windstar is charging.
Don't plan tours every day, it is also nice to relax on board while in port, walk into town (some of them are quite small) to do some browsing around and shopping.
Don't always eat on board because the meal is 'free". If you're in town have a local lunch at a real restaurant. My one complaint about Windstar, at least in the past we haven't cruised in 18 months or so, is that everything comes out of the freezer and is seldom "local" in any way. The food is "adequate banquet" not much more.
Sail away is fun, once or twice, but the same music gets old quickly. But, do try to be on deck when the ship is departing and arriving in ports. Especially in the smaller towns there will be people lined up onshore waving you off - one place they all brought lawn chairs - great fun.
Breakfast and Lunch is "seat yourself" but at dinner you'll be seated at a table. If you want company they'll seat you at a table with others, if you want to be alone just say "can we have a table by ourselves tonight?" They tend to match up people who they think will be compatible, and the decision seems to be based on age. We're at an, um, transitional age, and after two nights of being seated with people much older than us we politely asked, "can we have people a little younger tonight?" with no problem. The older couples were wonderful to chat with, but not anyone we'd want to spend the next day with.
Talk to people. On deck, at dinner, on the tours. We've met some good friends and some semi-good friends on Windstar. In one case we now vacation together, in another we've lost track but spend three full days together after a Windstar cruise in Lisbon when it turned out that my chance we were staying at the same hotel. Had a great time.
If you meet people you like, arrange to go to dinner together, you'll likely be seated at a four-top by yourselves.
Internet on Windstar
in Windstar Cruises
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We've also found it easy to find a coffee shop in Europe with free WIFI. Sometimes just open, but otherwise buy a cup of coffee and they'll give you the access code.