commodoredave

My hubby and I have cruised on many "floating cities" over the years - but since we started sailing our own boat 5 years ago - the big boats just don't quite do it for us anymore. We often are gazing at charter sailboats at ports (even visiting the marinas to talk to fellow sailors) and wishing we were on them. We did try to get a few other sailing mates to charter out of the Grenadines this winter, but no one is able to afford it, and I don't fancy doing it on my own as I do enjoy the aspect of larger cruises, and the many people we met onboard and have made long lasting friendships with over the years we've cruised . So, now I'm looking at Windstar as a possible inbetween sailing option (won't have to cook <lol>). Tho' I doubt we'll have any heeling like we would with a sailboat. Correct me if I'm wrong <lol>.

 

So, reading this thread has made me feel more comfortable with perhaps going ahead with booking our trip. All depends on how our present search on land here goes for our next sailboat (upgrading, we have '2 footitize') and if we can afford a trip down south (I will find away - had no winter break last year - and felt cheated).

 

Just curious if there anyone here that also owns a sailboat like ourselves and enjoys the pampering of a larger sailboat with Windstar?

 

Anna from Montreal aka FatCatAnna - The Trials and Tribulations of a Diabetic

There will be no heeling like a sailboat on Windstar as the ship has computer controlled sails and ballast. It is more of motor yacht with sails (that power the ship alone about 10 - 20% of the time) than a sailboat. Star Clipper is another option and it is more of a sailing experience -- you even get to help pull up the sails.

As someone who has been sailing since 1981, has captained 8 bareboat charters in the BVI, and owns a 27-ft boat, I like both Windstar and Star Clipper. But Star Clipper will give you more of the feel of being on a sail boat, while Windstar will be more luxurious.

Thanks to you and Commodoredave for all your help. Yes, I believe I will move on to the Regent board after consulting a little more with my in-laws.

Best of luck to you and your in-laws. Whatever you choose, I'm sure it will be a wonderful and memorable trip.

Again, you do not have to bring a lot of luggage to have a suitable Seabourn wardrobe.One 50 LB bag per person will hold everything you need for a cruise

(except maybe a world cruise)including tux. So you can have you cake and eat it too. No need for either or. And yes, Lincslady, while alas not required a tie is a nice( and certainly no one can claim that takes up too much space in the luggage).

If one has to lug that luggage to half a dozen hotels and homes, up staircases, on to trains, and squeeze it into trunks of cars with the bags of friends, then a 50 lb bag is "weigh" too much. We started travelling light a long time ago have never looked back or bad.

I thought the luggage valet service was only available from/to the US. Besides, why should I pay a few hundred dollars to ship a tux to and from the ship when I will only be wearing it once or at the most twice. If I am going directly to the ship and then home, I bring my tux. But when I have other stops along the way, I leave it at home. However, I would be happy to borrow yours if we are on the same sailing.:)

Yes, I understand the economics of paying for excursions one does not use -- what I was asking was what made the excursions inferior (not "up to your standards") relative to other excursions you have done. If the excursions offered were simply not of interest to you, no explanation solicited.

 

As for the excursion experiences and preferences of my in-laws: they have not cruised enough to develop any.

 

Thanks for your help.

Good question. Regent offers some excursions that are free, and others than require a supplemental fee. Many of the former were not of interest to us and were inferior to what we could arrange locally. In some cases, the supplemental fee excursions were of interest to us but were far more expensive that we could arrange through local providers. As a example, on our cruise to New Zealand we found a good number of people who shared our disappointment with Regent's excursions and together we booked private tour mini-fans to take 8 or us to places we wanted to see at a fraction of the extra cost that Regent wanted.

I stand corrected - but please admit that you are in the minority - even among Seabourn clientele - who would have their suits custom made to these specifications. Too often I have seen this attempted with less custom designed suits and it look rather silly.

Yes, I have seen too many men wear pin-stripped or checked suit jackets as sports jackets and they do look terrible. As I travel a lot on business, I have learned to pack smart and do some mix and match where it makes sense. I still enjoy wearing a tux, but on our next Seabourn cruise we will be spending 2 weeks before and after the cruise travelling, including 5 days in London on business where I need my suit. So the tux will stay at home this time.

I keep hearing this "use the suit jacket with grey or beige slacks". Nothing looks dorkier than a jacket - designed to be part of a suit - worn as a blazer with contrasting slacks.

A tux is no more difficult to bring than a suit if you will only wear it once. What is a pain is the shirt - at least with a suit you can wear colored or striped shirts with different ties to give some variety so one suit can be worn several times. A tux needs a formal shirt and rarely can you re-wear a formal shirt without it being laudered, starched and pressed. .

I beg to differ. I had my solid navy blue suit specifically made so that the suit jacket could double as a sports jacket and I doubt you or anyone else could tell the difference. As I usually combine cruises with business travel, the suit is essential. It can be worn to meetings and out to dinner ashore, while the tux cannot. In contrast, the tux occupies more space than the suit (because of the shirt, extra tie, etc.) yet is used just once or twice. Simply not a good decision when one wants to travel light.

I know you posted this months ago, but my in-laws have recently started thinking about a Regent cruise, and have asked me to do a little research for them.

 

If you would share what has caused your disappointment with Regent excursions, I would appreciate it. Obviously this sort of info plays into the choice of cruiseline my in-laws will eventually make.

 

Thanks!

If your in-laws feel more comfortable taking all their shore excursions with a cruise line, then they will get value from Regent. Our problem is that we didn't find the excursions offered in every port were up to our standards and interests, so we ended up booking private tours in some ports. And if we had been somewhere before, we just wanted to walk around town. Since there are no rebates for not taking the ship's excursions, you end up paying for something you are not using. And if you take your own excursion, you end up paying twice. So for frequent cruisers like us (59 cruises to date), the Regent value proposition just doesn't work. However, having said that, we love Regent in every other way.

duplicate

But men do look so handsome in their tuxes and the atmosphere is more special on formal nights when everyone dresses up a bit more than every other night. I don't understand the reasoning that tuxes are heavier these days to pack; if so, go the black suit or jacket and dress pants route. Women still dress up; indulge us and do so too for one or two nights.

It's not that tuxes are heavier to pack, it's that it is an extra large item to pack that gets little use. I am much better off bringing a dark blue suit -- I can also use the suit jacket with grey or beige slacks on informal nights, and I can use the suit ashore.

So far the only one we are locking in on is the Canopy Tour. Hope it is like the canopy scenes in "Medicine Man".:eek::D We have enjoyed Zip Lines in the past but the last one we did in St. Martin was a SeaDream excursion and was what I imagine Seal Training might include.:eek: Lois was covered with bruises and we were both very dirty after the Survival course.:eek: Not interested in that experience again. Otherwise, show us a beach or the Pool Deck.:D

Thanks Jim. I'll have a look at the canopy tour. Don't think we'll be doing any zip lining as DW does not enjoy it as she usually spills her wine. :eek:

Does anyone have any advice, preferences or tips on the ship's shore excursions for Costa Rica? We will be 4 people sailing on the SD1 Dec 14 departure.

You would know.:p

Yes, and one of them was the captain.:eek:

Carnival Dream :)

No, on the Carnival Dream they don't wear shirts and sneak into the MDR at 4:30 pm. :rolleyes:

I'm sorry for your loss and the bad experience you had because of some selfish people. That's certainly not the way a cruise vacation should be.

DW and I have been on many wonderful cruises and met many wonderful people, including on the very same Golden Princess to Hawaii a few years ago. Based on our experience, the vast majority of cruisers are caring, considerate and interesting people who have enriched our vacation. It's really unfortunate that you did not meet these kind of people on your cruise as it would have made your last vacation together such a great memory. When the time is right, you may want to consider a cruise vacation again -- especially with some good friends.

[

"I think Viking lost WAY more money than they anticipated. All passengers on my 15 day cruise were offered a 75% credit, whether they completed the bus tour or not. I haven't heard that other companies did this. Tauck offered full refunds for those deciding to leave. As far as I know, they offered nothing to those who opted to stay. This I'm not sure of."

 

 

Tauck cancelled these cuises

• June 21 – The Black Sea to Budapest
  
• June 14 – Budapest to the Black Sea
  
• June 6 – The Blue Danube
  
• June 2 – Grand European Cruise
  
• June 2 – Amsterdam to Budapest by Riverboat
  
• May 30 – The Blue Danube
  

and offered full refunds to all their passengers, even those who had already started their trips. For trips sailing with an altered itinerary, Tauck offered their clients a choice of sailing the altered itinerary, or a full refund. No faux 75% credit. That's class. :D:D

Now that sounds like a cruise company with the right attitude and service. I will definitely consider sailing with Tauck before Viking.

Lisa1a, I can understand why you feel the compensation offer is not adequate. Viking fell woefully short in delivering what you paid for, and they need to make a more generous offer to people in your situation. Your story to date has certainly put me off ever wanting to do a river cruise with Viking.

Oh, to be a wine affecinato, with all that knowledge. I, for one would love to have the expertise palate. For me, the wine I am drinking is the right wine for me. Gris, Grigio, Noir, Merlot. It all ends up in the same place. For those with a presumed palate. Good luck in telling the difference between a $300.00 or more a bottle to one of a lesser value. If you can, then I need more advice on how!

There are only two things you need to know about wine:

1) What kind of wine you like; and,

2) Whether the wine they serve you is a good quality example of the wine you like.

Doesn't matter what it costs - just that it is a good wine that you like.

TC2, I just wanted to say thank you for the informative and helpful comparison of Regent and O. I've enjoyed and benefited from your posts over the years and hope to see many more. While we may have occasionally disagreed, it's always been interesting. And I have always enjoyed your frankness.

The Minister of Tourism for Russia was once asked how long summer was in his country. He replied: "July 22."

When we lived in Europe everyone went to the Greek Islands for a cheap holiday, the same way friends here go to the Caribbean for a cheap holiday. Hence my comparison. However smaller ships will show you a different side of either destination and probably make for a better trip.

 

If you are interested in the archaeological digs that is something very unique to the Greek Islands. We enjoyed viewing the digs, but I do remember them being very hot with little shade so I'd keep this in mind when picking dates.

 

We never got to sail on the Paul Gauguin but it has a great reputation. Sailing around Tahiti on honeymoon sounds pretty good to me!

We've done 2 French Polynesian cruises on the Paul Gauguin (one a 7-day to the Society Islands, the other a 12-day that included the Marquesa Islands). Both are at or near the top of our favorite distination list. Windstar has also announced they are returning to Tahiti next winter. So you have two good choices, and I can heartily recommend both.

This is a hard question to answer because it really depends on what you are looking for. Most luxury lines are more formal than mainstream lines. I like the suggestion of a Windstar Cruise. I can see that being very informal and romantic.

 

My husband and I did a Silverseas cruise around Seychelles. We were probably less than half the age of everyone else on the ship, but we had the most amazing time. For our Safety Drill all the passengers fit in a small room. Compare that with carnival and the multiple stations / loud announcements etc.. no comparison.

 

We took two cruises on Regent and personally do not feel they compare to the small ship we had on Silverseas. The food was fantastic, however they are still *big* ships and for us had a big ship atmosphere. To us luxury means smaller with customized service.

Also there were many people upset with their bill at the end of one of our Regent cruises. If you get a massage package, make sure they don't upsell you without knowing it. When some guests arrived they were asked if they wanted a special massage, but it wasn't made clear there was an extra cost for this. Then they saw it the last day of the cruise on their bill. Regent said the massage service was offered by a separate company so they couldn't do anything to help. This happened a few years ago so things have hopefully changed, but still not something you'd expect on a luxury line.

 

My 2 cents for what it's worth... You can visit the Greek islands on many major lines for a reasonable price. We found the Greek Islands interesting, but pretty much the Caribbean equivalent of Europe. If you're going to shell out the big bucks for a luxury line consider booking one of their more unique itineraries.

I also would second St. Barts as special port. Only small ships and very very small planes can travel there. We loved that island.

Agree with much of what you say. Windstar is romantic and casual -- one of our favorites despite many cruises on most luxury lines. Small islands or ports that big ships can't sail into are a special treat for a cruise. In that respect, I can highly recommend French Polynesia on the Paul Gauguin or Windstar. However, I must disagree with you on the Greek Islands being the European equivalent of the Caribbean. No comparsion. Many of the Greek Islands (e.g. Crete, Santorini, Delos) have wonderful history and archeological dig sites that are fantastic. Nothing like it in the Caribbean.

Dear Jim and Commodore: Have heard back from Juan Carlos. I wrote him back about the group thing and he is going to write again tomorrow with a possible cost reduction. Hope that is ok with you fellows. Maxine

Thanks for thinking of us, but we are on the next cruise departing Dec 14 (to the 21st), so can't join in on the shared transport. I just ask that you and Jim leave some alcohol on the ship. ;)

Glad to be of assistance.:)

Yes, I would like that info.

Thanks,

J.

Juan Carlos Ramos

International Sales Manager & Logistics

Coach Costa Rica

Tel: (506) 2229-4192

Cel: (506) 8858-5998

Fax: (506) 2229-9311

www.coachcostarica.com

juancarlos@coachcostarica.com