sandydlc

We just completed our Wind Star cruise on Saturday and the latest departure was 8:45 am. Full breakfast was available after 6:30 am.

I called Windstar on this exact subject and they told me 8:00 am is the latest you can be on board. They need to turn the boat so they don't allow you to stay on after that time.

If you have the time and money to do it, why the hell wouldn't you?? Life is short, and is there any possible way to spend that time better? Plus, you're already there, so you don't have to pay the airfare separately for each cruise. If you don't go for it, I will be solely disappointed! YOLO!!!

I totally agree with this sentiment. You are lucky to have the means and to be in good health. i had a very dear family friend who waited far too long to retire, always promising his wife that they would travel to Europe when he was done working. Sadly she got sick and passed away. He made me promise that we would always live our life to the fullest and never delay plans. We are looking forward to hearing about your trip!

Sandy

When my oldest daughter graduated from high school we celebrated as a family and traveled to Europe for a 2 week Mediterranean cruise. I don't remember the cruise line but it was one of the larger ships. Since we were traveling with our 3 teenage kids it worked out just fine for us. We loved the combination of the stops as well as the days at sea and two weeks did not seem like too much to us. I think that if we were on a nicer ship like the Windstar appears to be, 3 weeks would be very enjoyable. Does Windstar provide any kind of discount for booking 3 trips in a row? It seems like they might? Whatever you do it sounds like a wonderful vacation!! We're currently in Santorini and then getting on the Windstar sailing out of Athens this Saturday and finishing our trip in Rome. I'm so excited about the cruise that I'm having trouble just enjoying where I am now. Now that's ridiculous!! Hope you have a great time whatever you choose.

Sandy

Sandydlc. I was on wind surf TA in April and used internet to stay in touch with work. Was not very fast and somedays it was frustrating. Keep the things you need to short messages and you should be fine. Try to exchange big files and it will work but take awhile. Recommend unlimited package so you are not worrying about time etc.

 

 

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Thank you! Still considering for a future trip. For now we are doing the Athens to Rome cruise leaving on October 7th. I already purchased the unlimited internet package and I know that I'll have to be very patient when using it. Thank you!

I realize that doing a long cruise is an opportunity to unplug however I'm a business owner and it's difficult to be completely disconnected from my company for extended periods of time. Does the wifi on the ship work for transatlantic cruises? I'm assuming it's satellite-based? Thank you!

In case you don't know, the wine waiters will label unfinished bottles of wine with your room number so that you can enjoy the rest of it the following evening. We're not big drinkers and find this system works well for us.

This is really good to know. So for wine it would seem it's more cost effective to buy bottles and then just drink what we can and drink the rest the following day.

I don't know who "they" is. It definitely can be used for excursions that you book on board, for drinks and for the laundry package. We used it for those on our sailing. I'm not sure about the drinks packages but I expect it can. There are two things that Windstar told me that it can't be used for:

• expenses that you book in advance - so if you want to book an excursion in MyWindstar in advance because it might sell out, then you can't use OBC.
  
• gratuities
  

The "They" I was referring to was Windstar customer support. The man I spoke with wasn't super clear with how I can use my onboard credit. Thank you for the clarification!

We recently returned from a cruise. All three of the packages were offered at check-in. We debated on just getting a wine package, but in the end, got the full beverage package. Overall, we were glad we did. Sure, maybe we're heavier drinkers than we thought. ;) But we were on vacation, and we easily drank more than the $52/day per person. Occasionally we had a mimosa for breakfast (order extra bubbly in the minibar the night before, and room service OJ...bars not open that early), and then whenever we came back to the ship we had a drink or two (either lunch or afternoon if we were gone all day). Then after a nap/rest/sunning/etc/, we typically had a few drinks sitting up on deck with the crowd waiting for Sail Away, then a couple/few glasses of wine at dinner (hard to keep track, because as others said, they just kept coming to refill us). Sometimes after dinner we'd go to a performance or to the casino/bar and have another drink....or maybe back to the room for a nightcap before bed.

 

For us, it was nice to just order whatever we wanted and not worry about prices or about always signing receipts (although sometimes we did need to for inventory purposes). We tried some new drinks that we might not typically order if we were paying for each drink. It was also nice not to get a gigantic bill of drinks when we checked out. :D I'd have to double check the bill, but I think that the 15% service charge on drinks was included in the $52/day package, so that helped cover the cost as well. As mentioned, after the first or second day, the crew seemed to know who had the package, so we didn't even need to say anything other than to order our drinks.

 

Obviously it's not for everyone, but for people who do enjoy their beverages on vacation, it could be a good option.

I believe they offer the packages for purchase the first two days. Maybe we'll gauge our consumption the first day and see how we do? My husband is the one who keeps insisting we don't need the package but how much do you want to bet that he'll cave? Ha ha!! I'll be sure to report back with our final decision!

Do check to see what the onboard credit can be used for. They told me that it can't be used to purchase a beverage package however it can be used to purchase wine. I believe they also said that the credit can't be use for excursions or in the casino. I'm guessing spa services? What else is there?

Windstar is running a sale on selected cruises:https://www.windstarcruises.com/specials/september-one-week-sale/

 

 

If you have not yet made final payment, it's worth checking to see if your cruise is one that is on sale. Mine was. I called them and got a price reduction of $600 per person, to match the sale price. Nice!

Did you receive a reduction of the total fare amount or did they offer you onboard credit? Just asking because we had a slight reduction in our fare before we paid the final amount and were given onboard credit in lieu of a reduction in fare.

Thanks!

Sandy

There is the "Voyager Wine Package," and the "Topmast Discovery Wine Package" that just include wine. The other beverage package is the "Captains Exclusive Beverage Package" which includes wine, cocktails, beer, minibar selections, etc. All packages offer a 30% savings on bottles of wine up to $100.

I think they are labeled pretty clearly. If one just wanted to drink wine, you may find the Voyager Wine Package worth the money if you liked the available selection.

I was referring to this document where the document describing the wine packages is named "beverage packages": https://d2xks5907lvzsh.cloudfront.net/media/plan_your_voyage/17-0230_bev_ackage_flyer_v11083117.pdf

The last cruise we went on we did do the alcohol package however this one is priced too high for the amount of alcohol we drink.

The beverage package. The other two are wine packages.

To add to the confusion, Winsdstar is calling the wine packages "beverage packages". All non-alcoholic beverages are free. If you want to order a wine package, there are 3 to choose from. They are offered per person (no longer per cabin) and range from $32 per person per day to $52 per person per day. We've decided to just purchase wine/cocktails as we go instead of doing a package since we do t drink that much.

Just got this coupon this morning from XCom:

Use the coupon code "NLFLSEP171"and get $7 OFF.

***ONLY VALID UNTIL9/15/2017

Thanks for the information on Cello Mobile. I checked the plan and athough they offer service in all of the countries we'll be visiting, they don't have the LTE option available like XCom Global offers for their mifi. We're paying $175 for the two weeks we're traveling though I opted not to include Dubai in my package since LTE is not available in that country.

Our October 7th cruise from Athens to Rome includes a signature event in Giardini Naxos. They are referring to our event as a "private event" so I wonder if that's where some of the confusion is coming from?

Do it. Buy the laundry package. You will not regret it.

We will have been on vacation for about 8 days prior to the cruise so the timing will be perfect and having laundry done on the ship will allow me to pack much less than I would have without having access to laundry services.

I booked our laundry (and internet) packages today!

The package that includes cocktails is 52 dollars per person per day and both in the stateroom have to take it. Break even is therefore around 5 drinks a day. That assumes cost of a drink averages $10.80 per day. The two wine packages cover wines up to $8.50 or $11.50 per glass so depending which wines one chose, break even might be higher. Also, if you purchase a bottle of wine, one pays 70% of the price (the package gives a 30% discount) so that could push break even farther out.

 

Break even for the wine only packages is 4 glasses per day if the wines are always at or close to the maximum per glass price allowed by the package.

 

I'd like to take a package to have the luxury of not signing for drinks, but being a light drinker they are priced too high to be worth it.

Yeah, we just don't drink that much and also don't want to feel obligated to "get our money's worth" by getting a beverage package. We do have to consider meals that we will have away from the ship and if it's really hot, we're even less likely to want to drink much at all (I tend to get headaches in really hot weather). I think we'll just purchase drinks as we go along. I really appreciate the advice!

Sounds like you drink about the same way we do. We've come out much better not buying beverage package. Also assume most days you will be off ship at lunchtime. Have a great trip!

 

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That is really helpful information! My husband was just saying that if we were to do the package that includes cocktails we would end up spending close to $700 just on drinks! This is our first Windstar cruise and we can't wait!

We're on the October 7th sailing from Athens to Rome and we were just discussing the beverage packages today. Although neither my husband or I drink much, when we're on vacation it would be very reasonable to drink a glass of wine at lunch, a cocktail in the afternoon, maybe a couple of glasses of wine at dinner...at that point does it make sense to get a beverage package or just pay a la carte? What is the break-even point or are there any hidden charges? We might purchase a bottle of wine at dinner once or twice but probably not every evening.

I would hate to just decide to pay as we go only to discover at the end of the trip that we overspent compared to the cost of a package. What do most guests do?

Has anyone tried using pocket WiFi while on a Windstar cruise in Italy? We are cruising the Amalfi Coast and Sicily next month and are considering that option.

Thanks in advance

Are you on the October 7th sailing? If so, that's the same trip we'll be on. I am a business owner and there are a couple of things that I need to do that week that will require a decent internet connection. In addition to the on-ship internet package I made arrangements to rent an XCom Global mifi and upgraded to LTE service. I am not confident that the xcom mifi will work while on the ship but it should work in both Greece and Italy while in port.

It's been about 3 years since I've been on a cruise and what I remember is that the internet service while at sea was almost unusable for anything more than maybe just checking emails. We've never done a Windstar cruise so I can't speak to the quality of their internet service but to be fair, most cruise ships are all using the same technology.

Thanks,

Sandy