Howellmc

It really was unfathomable. When the on-board oceanographer estimated that A23-A was 750 times bigger than the huge one we went around yesterday, that just blew my mind.

19 hours ago, shepherd really said:

I haven't seen him but a staff member strongly implied he was.  If he is, he is keeping a low profile.

 

I did see him Thursday night in Martini's with another couple. He was in the alcove way in the back. Only noticed because his butler was hovering around. 

1 hour ago, ORV said:

There is a Mexico Mo, California Mo, Texas Mo, Kansas City Mo and I’m sure many others. Not sure about IA though. 

And don't forget Indiana, PA. 

ORV - I have enjoyed your musings and I do appreciate you bringing the boat around for us. I hope we get some of the good weather you got for our trip.

CnV - So sorry to see that happen to you, especially since we are leaving for the same pre-cruise trip in about 2 weeks. I haven't heard anything from Windstar yet, so I hope it is still a go.

We did have this cruise cancelled last year. We did not have the land portion for that sailing, as it was going from Colon to Puerto Caldera. I put together something for us post cruise on my own. We were going to go to Tabacon resort for 2 days and then to the Peace Lodge at the La Paz waterfalls for 2 more days. Then we were spending a night in San Jose. I had us getting around using private transfers, as I had no interest in driving. If anything happens with our trip, I'll probably re-create that. 

I wonder what caused them to make the late change for you? I had noticed last month that this cruise tour combo is no longer advertised. I did call to ask why and Windstar customer service said they were sold out. Also surprised that they didn't at least offer you something extra for the inconvenience. I'm not big on folks who want cruise lines to give them everything for a small problem, but cancelling this late in the game is a huge headache. Something simple like an upgrade or OBC would be good customer relations.

Take care and good luck on your trip

Hi Claudia - It was very nice to meet you and Sam on the cruise. Sorry we didn't get to hang together more but time just seem to drift away, especially when back on the ship after an excursion.

As I suspected, you did a wonderful job on this review. So very thorough and detailed. You did capture the essence of this really wonderful cruise. It is interesting how different our paths were. Your pictures of the dinners at the World Cafe looked great. We wanted to try one dinner there but we kept finding too many interesting items on the main dining room menu. Plus some of the tours you did looked remarkable. And yet I loved the ones we did. Just too many choices. I guess the only solutions is to cruise again on Viking 😃 - which we'll actually do in 2024. Couldn't resist the deal for a South American trip ending in Buenos Aires, were I lived for 4 years as a youngster.

Take care and very nice meeting you two

Howell and Kelly

I wore slacks and Hawaiian shirts to dinner while my wife mixed and matched skirts and tops. Most in the restaurant were dressed the same.

As an option, there is a luggage storage place at the Papeete airport. When we went, we left a suitcase there for a couple of days while we did so pre-cruise sightseeing. By having one suitcase for what we needed before the cruise made it easier to get around. There is also luggage storage near the cruise terminal. 

Found this in my old papers. I suspect that whatever they come up with these days, it will be a little bit more than what I needed back in the early sixties to travel to Argentina

Yes - definitely the second night. It was fascinating watching the crew both setup and then pack up the event in basically a span of 7 hours. I watched from the deck as they loaded stuff on to the zodiacs. They had to load large crates by crane from the crew deck to a bobbing zodiac trying to hold position against the current. Once loaded they whisked off to the island and started the setup. Then, while the show is going on, the crew hustles packing it all back up (luckily saving the bar for last). Very efficiently done.

We did this last July. The dinner is the second night. We had a nice full day in Bora Bora and the next day we spent over on the island where they have the dinner while they set up for the evening. We went back to the boat to change in the afternoon and returned for the dinner and show. 

On our trip in July, we had a few nice touches. The boat docked in Raiatea, which featured the evening on-deck BBQ. But before the dinner, some locals were brought on board. They showed how to make the floral headband, parea tying and some of the dance steps. The stop at Tahaa was the private motu day, which included an on island lunch. And on the second day at Bora Bora, we had access to a private motu for the day with a dinner and a show in the evening. We lucked out for the evening meals but got a little rain during the lunch. Luckily they had some covered pavilions to hang out in.

We certainly enjoyed the trip and hope you have a great time.

OK - I've not attached photos before so I hope this works. In researching my cruise, I never found copies of menus. So I took a sample Veranda breakfast menu and Amphora dinner one. Thought they might be helpful to some.

https://howellmc.shutterfly.com/pictures/13#12

https://howellmc.shutterfly.com/pictures/13#11

https://howellmc.shutterfly.com/pictures/13#10

https://howellmc.shutterfly.com/pictures/13#9

While on the Wind Spirit, I asked the captain about the lack of transatlantic offerings in November of 2019. He thought for sure I was wrong and ran back to the bridge to check. When he came back, he told us that one of the motorized yachts was going to stay in the Med longer. Also the Wind Surf and Wind Star would be coming back without passengers while they did upgrades on the insides of the ships. They would they drydock once they got offer to work on the larger items. No details on what was being done though.

My wife took a light sweater the first night but never used it. So it stayed in the cabin the rest of the trip. She did use it on the flights however, so no big deal to bring it.

Just got off the Wind Spirit last Thursday. What a great trip. I'll try to put a review together soon but for now I can answer some questions. As for dining wear, my wife wore slacks and a nice top with sandals. I wore khakis and golf/aloha shirts with a pair of boat shoes. Certainly that was fine. I didn't even pack any jeans as I was only in long pants for dinner. As for active footwear, we did fine with sneakers but definitely bring water shoes. Very helpful for getting in and out of the water.

Surprisingly, we didn't use too much suntan lotion. The sunproof rashguards helped there. We brought 2 types. Regular stuff for walking around and the reef safe for when we were snorkeling. We also brought insect repellent. In fact, the stuff that comes as a towelete was handy. Most spots we didn't need it but having it in the back pocket came in useful a couple of times. Also, on the motus they take you to, they had cans of Off around.

As for tipping, we just added an extra amount at the end. If we went around to everyone of the crew who good to us, we would have been there still :D The whole crew was extremely pleasant and helpful.

As for currency, we got XPFs from the ATM at the airport and a bank across from the ship pier. But it was really not much of a problem as most spots took USD or credit cards.

I tell you to have a great time but I already know you will ;)

Boston - I can only echo the sentiments of the rest of the repliers. My wife and I were definitely tiring of the big ship experience and would have given cruising up all together had we not gone on a river boat cruise on the American Queen. With just over 200 passengers, it was a refreshing change from 2000+. It was a much more intimate experience. So I made it my goal to find a similar ocean cruise. When I came across Windstar's offerings, we decide to try a Mediterranean cruise on the Wind Surf. That really hit the sweet spot. I can further rave about how nice the crew was, but I think the real difference was in the other passengers. Just a whole different vibe than the hustle and bustle of the larger ships.

So it wasn't too long after that trip we started planning our Wind Spirit Tahiti trip. Headed out in July so I'll be happy to share my experiences once I return. Also, if you look in the roll calls on the Wind Spirit for the July 12th trip, you'll see some of my pre-planning thoughts.

Dan - I'm interested in what you find out as well. Ideally they'll have something on the 19th as we have the day to wait for our flight

Sent from my Venue 8 7840 using Forums mobile app

We were in cabin 146 last May. We were very happy with it. No noises or strange smells.

We didn't do any ship excursions at those ports. In Sanary-su-mer, it was market day. So we wandered through the stalls and tents, looking at the items for sale. After that, we wandered through town and found a spot for lunch. There is a public beach up the way but we never got there. Portofino was really beautiful. We walked up to Castello Brown, which is right near where the tenders come in. We toured those grounds, also toured the church on the way back down. After that, we went through town and had some wine overlooking the harbor. That was also the day of the trip to Santa Margerita for the discovery event so it was a full day. Portoferrao was also very easy to do on our own. The ship docked at the pier there. We wandered around the harbor. At the tip of the harbor was a historical site which included an old Roman ruin. From there, we walked up to the top of the hill to find a fort, which we toured with some gorgeous views. From there we walked to Napoleon's exile home. From there, we wandered to another big castle/fort. Winding our way the hill in the fort took us to the pier area close to the ship. Some great views.

So I'm not sure what you want to see or how much walking you want to do, but it was very easy to find interesting places to see easily with in where the ship lets off.

Daniel - Meant to thank you for the heads up on the Heiva on the other thread. I had heard about it and it was on my radar but it has definitely moved to "can't miss" status for our trip next July. I'll be keeping an eye for the 2018 schedule

Dandee2 - I definitely am looking in to those events. We are getting to Tahiti 7/9 with the cruise leaving on the 12th plus we'll have a day after we get off the Wind Spirit. That will leave us time to see some of those events. From what I've seen on the web, it really looks wonderful.

Another site had the headline like this.

Windstar Appoints Howell as Senior Director of Guest Services

I thought I had gotten a promotion :D

1 - We went out of WTC North but I did confirm online before we left the hotel

2 - We stayed 2 nights in Barcelona. It was a beautiful city and great to explore. We stayed at the Ayre Hotel Rosellon , which was right across from the Sagrada Familia. It is a little bit away from the other tourist spots but we found the subway was very easy to use.

3 - We went in May. They open the water platform when they could. A few people used kayaks but only one brave soul did go swimming.

4 - We weren't going to use it, but my brother-in-law was having health issues so we signed up for the package and it worked pretty well.

5 - The laundry package is great. We left stuff out in the morning and it was back in the afternoon. Very convenient.

Thanks to both of you for the helpful information! I thought I had read about a couple of the smaller ports that there wasn't much to do in the immediate area, so I hadn't really considered just wandering around. But now maybe I will. :-)

 

As for the full day in Monaco (we depart that night at 11:59), do you happen to remember if most people came back before dinner, or if they stayed out and spent the evening in the city? I'm trying to decide if I want to make dinner reservations on shore, or just stay on the ship in the evening. On the one hand, it seems like a waste of money to dine at a nice restaurant in Monte Carlo when it's free on the ship....but it also seems like a waste to not to take advantage of the one night of the whole cruise when we're departing late.

 

Thanks!

The night in Monaco for us was the deck BBQ. It was really a beautiful spread and great food. A lovely meal on deck overlooking Monaco was a really quite special in itself. I would not have passed that up for a meal on land. We did get off the ship after dinner to go to the casino, but that turned in to quite a disappointment. Not at all what I expected and expensive to get in. A good alternative might be a nice lunch somewhere. We did that in Sanary and Nice ( we travelled there from Cannes ).

No problem. I don't have any problem reminiscing about that trip. It really was a great experience. As for the special event, I do not remember the exact time but it was late afternoon / evening. If your excursion is through the ship, I'm sure they make sure you get there on time.

1. Were there any ports you remember that were ideal for just walking around vs. ports that were really best for a planned excursion (b/c there's nothing to do in the area)?

We did our own thing at all the ports of calls. They were all very interesting ports and fun to explore on foot. The only one we travel away from was Cannes. We visit with a friend of ours up in Nice

2. Any excursions you particularly recommend? - Didn't take any

3. We are anchoring in Portofino & Sanary-Sur-Mer. How was the system for getting everyone onto shore? Chaotic or relaxed? Lol. I'm wondering how much time we need to allow. For example, the itinerary says we are in Portofino beginning at 9:00, but realistically, what time do you think we will actually be on land?

It was very relaxed. In fact the whole cruise was very relaxed so we just sauntered down to the tenders and took off for the shore. OF course, we didn't have any set time we needed to be off but I never saw a line. I take that back - I did see a line to get on a tender to go back but that was for the NCL ship that was in Cannes at the same time :D

4. Also in Portofino, did you happen to hear any feedback from other guests about the boat ride excursion (to a couple nearby villages) or the lunch excursion to the fancy hotel....if they had those same ones when you went?

That was the same ferry system. Besides St Margerite there was another villages you could get a ferry to. Never looked in to it. Loved Portofino - hiked up to Castello Brown with a beautiful view over the town and out to the Mediterranean

Let me know if you have any other questions

My wife and I went on that trip on the Wind Surf last May. It was a fantastic trip which we thoroughly enjoyed. I'd be happy to answer any questions you have. Since you asked about the private event, it was really well done. It was while we were in Portofino. We had plenty of time to explore the town in the morning, then we gathered at the pier in the afternoon. We got on a ferry to St Margarite - about a 10 -15 minute trip. From there we walked to the Villa Darazo. They provided a van for people with mobility issues but the walk was pretty easy. There was a very nice spread laid out on the huge patio with spots to get food and wine. You could tour the estate and gardens and watch a pesto making demonstration. It was a lovely afternoon.