"Wandering Wino's&quo

I signed up for the Connection Party on my upcoming cruise. I have received an email from X everyday since I signed up 2 weeks ago congratulating me for signing up. Literally everyday. Anybody else getting the same thing? 😁

Thanks for posting this issue as it has happened to me also. At first I found it nearly impossible to sign up and than when I did I have received emails nearly everyday confirming my attendance and welcoming me to the Connection Party.

Thanks. That is helpful to know. It looked interesting, but didn't really want to carry it around as it did seem bulky and I had doubts it would "sit" comfortably and stay in place. Thanks again.

I would like to add that the Air Tahiti flight proved to be a great nighttime flight. I'm someone that almost never goes to sleep while flying (just incase the pilot needs my help)! I boarded Air Tahiti around midnight at LAX and after a short time with the help of meds slept almost until we landed. I even missed the beverage cart! Loved the layout of the plane with only two seats on each side and screens on the back of the seats. On the return flight home I enjoyed the music and movies without the help of meds! All in all Air Tahiti Rocks!:)

Which pillow did you get that wasn't great and which seat cushion? Trying to figure out what I need for the long overnight flights.

Therm-A-Rest Travel Cushion worked well, while the J Pillow proved not to be that comfortable for me. On the flight going to Tahiti it fell on the floor while I was sleeping on the way back I just couldn't get it in a position that worked for me. Also the J Pillow took up a fair amount of room in my carry on. Probably wouldn't purchase it again.

Hope this is helpful.

Shirley

How did your travel pillow work out???

 

Jill

Ok but not great. Afraid the meds worked better. I had also bought a seat cushion and that really worked well. Not sure I would travel with the pillow again as it takes up a lot of room in your carry on and really was difficult to adjust and make comfortable.

I have come to this board a lot to get information for our upcoming cruise in January.

A cruise friend is on the Pacific Princess for six b2b's in French Polynesia, and

she has a blog that I have gotten so much information from already. She is a regular poster to Cruise Critic, so I thought some of you might like to follow along.

 

Here is the link:http://www.pescadoamarillo.blogspot.com/

 

Reading all their adventures makes me so excited for our own!

We recently returned from our Windspirit cruise in Tahiti and enjoyed every minute of the adventure. I was surprised by your post that a friend was doing SIX back to back cruises in French Polynesia. While our cruise was as wonderful as we had hoped for I can't imagine doing 6 in the same area especially FP. Please fill us in as I think I must have misunderstood. Oh I did check out the blog and loved it, saw many of the areas that we cruised in September.

Wow, my heart just sunk when read this. I just booked the Wind Star to Barbados for next March - cabin 119. I'm wondering if 119 on Wind Star is the same as the Wind Spirit?

I'm not certain if they are twin ships or not. Guess after my recent experience I would select another cabin. Please know in all my cruising I have never complained about my cabin noise and the fact that again our friends were across the hall way in 118 and never experienced any noise seems to indicate there is something about the location of 119 probably equipment that creates the problem.

Happy sailing on your Windstar cruise everything else was wonderful aboard the Windspirit (I think I read that the Windstar ship has undergone cabin rehab so that little issue I mentioned about the Windspirit won't be an issue for you.

Shirley

The word on the Paul Gauguin board is that the Windstar motu has mosquitos. I'm not sure if they were referring to the one at Tahaa or Bora Bora. Did you find this to be the case? If so, on Tahaa or Bora Bora (or both)?

:DThat's so funny Just thinking about the mosquitos all agreeing to only live on the motu's that are used by Windstar. On the serious side while I took precaution by applying mosquito repellent prior to going over to the motus in Tahaa and Bora Bora not sure if it was really necessary. No one at our table mentioned any issues with mosquitos either times. In fact we didn't have any encounters with bugs during our entire 12 day stay in the FP Islands.

Hope this helps.

Shirley

Not sure but I think you might be referring to the Windsurf and not the Windspirit. Cabin 121 seems to be the cabin in the very middle of the ship and 119 our cabin was right next door to that cabin. Let me know.

Checking the deck plan of the Spirit I see that 121/122 appear to be mid-ship with cabin 119 next to 121. The reason we always book mid-ship is incase of rough seas' date=' that was not an issue on this cruise. We did have rock and roll the 1st night but I kind of like being rocked to sleep.

My guess is that the gang plank used for passengers to board the tenders was right outside our port hole and maybe when they stored it after use that is what caused the vibration and rolling sounds.

On these boards people are always asking for suggestions regarding cabin choices and I thought it important that I shared this 1st hand experience regarding cabin 119 on the Windspirit with everyone as that's what CC is all about, gaining useful information on cruising from other members. Our traveling companions in 118 experienced no vibration so the location on the ship didn't seem to play into the issue only something near our cabin probably was the issue.

Hope this information is helpful to those planning a cruise and picking a cabin on the Windspirit.

Shirley

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The true midship cabins are actually 131 and 132. 119 is just in the middle of the cabins. There is much more bow ahead of the cabins than there is stern behind. We always stay in 131 or 132 and have never been bothered by the noises that you experienced. Next time, try to book a bit closer to the bow. Maybe it will be quieter. Thanks for the heads up, however.

 

We were on the last Panama/Costa Rica cruise before the Wind Spirit embarked for Tahiti. The interior of our cabin was a bit ragged as well. The staff, however, was truly incredible, as always!

Not sure but I think you might be referring to the Windsurf and not the Windspirit. Cabin 121 seems to be the cabin in the very middle of the ship and 119 our cabin was right next door to that cabin. Let me know.

After more then a year of some of us sharing and planning for the return of a Windstar ship to Tahiti here on cc, my husband and I completed our dream cruise last week aboard the Windspirit with 3 days prior at the Hilton on Moorea OWB.

Tahiti is everything that I had read about this beautiful area of the world. We had a wonderful time both on land and on the ship. Someone on our roll call yesterday asked for a review from us on the cruise. I posted some thoughts on the Roll Call area and thought I would share them with you on this thread.

The cruise of course was wonderful, made that way because of the staff and of course the beauty of Tahiti.

We had many great adventures. Some of the standouts were the the beach party on Tahaa and the celebration on Bora Bora.

Without taking away from those fun memories I will share a few things that were somewhat of a disappointment.

1.The cabins looked tired and in need of a complete re-due.

2. The Yacht Club Benefits were a joke. Upgrades at check in were only made available after sail-away. Come on after you have unpacked and put everything away you are going to repack and move to another cabin, don't think so. I should mention that on check in I inquired to the fullness of the ship and was told it was certainly not full. When we asked about an upgrade we were given the run around, told to ask someone else who in turn told us to ask someone else, finally finding someone that told us after sail away they would let us know if there was any available upgrades. Never heard from anyone. Dining with an officer. Told that only 2 officers were available each evening for guest to dine with. Of course that limited that benefit to a very few people. We did dine with the captain but only because our friends that were traveling with us had made a special contact with the reception desk about another issue and they had been invited to the Captain Table. Since we were traveling together they were able to secure an invitation for us. Keep in mind we have sailed on the Windstar ship more than our friends, so the excuse that the invitations were sent to those who had sailed the most didn't hold much water.

4. Stay away from cabin 119. We had picked this cabin because it was mid-ship. If you don't like vibration don't pick this cabin. All night and some of the day the cabin vibrated, it sounded like a bowling ball rolling across the deck and then a short silence and then it rolled again and again.

5. Glass bottom boat tour, waste of time and money.

Please don't for one minute think that we didn't enjoy this cruise because there were so many outstanding moments that were wonderful, unfortunately there were also some experiences that were not up to what we expect from Windstar Cruises.

Warning don't select cabin 119 on the Windspirit if vibration bothers you. We picked that cabin for our cruise last week in Tahiti because it was mid-ship. All night and sometimes during the day the cabin vibrated, it sounded like a bowling ball was rolling across the floor with moments of silence then it rolled and rolled again all night long. Paying more for mid-ship and having this vibration issue was certainly a disappointment. [/size][/size]

Just returned from the Tahiti cruise last week and this is our take on the value of the beverage package.

Before I compare prices let me say several things.

1. We brought 2 bottles of California wines aboard

2. We love having cocktails during the day and even in the evening.

3. We purchased a bottle of red wine with our dinner each night (except for the two nights that we brought our own wine). Also we purchased a glass of white wine each to start our meal each evening.

4. After much discussion we did not buy the beverage package.

As a side note WE LOVED THE LAUNDRY PACKAGE, or at least I did as I only had one load of washing to do with we returned home!

Also WE LOVED EVERYTHING ABOUT THE CRUISE. THANK YOU WINDSTAR CRUISES.

Our final bar charges = $679.00

Beverage package for 2 = $870.00

Hope this helps.

I haven't had any luck emailing them, but a quick response when I called requesting cruise tour itinerary - still somewhat vague as it didn't sound like it was all scheduled out yet.

Maybe with all that is going on in the world today the cruiselines are having to rethink some of their itineraries.

Does anyone know why Princess no longer has the glassbottom boat tour offered?...Can we pick this up at the pier or know what company still offers this in Rangiroa?

Not sure if this is any help but last week on the Windspirit in Tahiti we did the glass bottom boat and it not anything to write home about. Very limited for the $75.00 we paid.

WanderingWinos-did you ever purchase a travel pillow? What did you end up with?

 

Jill

Jill, I bought the J Pillow from the UK and also the Therm A Rest Cushion. I've not used either since we don't leave until Monday night. But I have tried them both out here at home. I'm hoping that it will help make that "red eye" flight to Tahiti more comfortable.

A month or so ago I was looking at the Land's of the Midnight Sun cruise on the Star Legend (August 2015). At the time the price was $5,500 (Balcony Suite) for the 11 night cruise (which I considered expensive at the time). Now they have deleted the Copenhagen to Reykjavik cruise (assume it was chartered) and upped the price of the Reykjavik to Copenhagen cruise to $6,400 for the BS cabin. Even the Ocean View Suite is $5,100. When I called WS a month ago they said that there were NO BS cabins booked on the Reykjavik to Copenhagen cruise.

 

Considering the reviews we have seen on the Star Pride, there is no way we are paying about $600 per night per person for the Legend. WindStar will survive with that type of pricing - especially considering that WS is not all inclusive. We have sailed on WS about 6 or 7 times and will never pay this type of price for WS.

Are these pp or cabin prices? Having sailed several times on the Legend when Seabourn owned it we were paying around $2,400 to $2,800 pp for 7 night cruises and of course that was all inclusive. Watch for large discounts as they need to fill the ships. One last thing we loved the Legend and everything about it as we love the Windstar ships. Time will tell how the triplets will fare under the management of WS.

Exactly as you describe, over in a few minutes. We did the same when we went this past March/April, monitoring all the forecasts...It can slightly muddy the trails if you plan on an off road excursion (Albert's ATV on Moorea is a blast). It can bring out the mosquitoes if you are going inland so bring bug repellent. You will absolutely love the Hilton. Have a great trip.

Click here if you need more info

Thank you. I do have bug repellent and we are ready for a great time.

We are leaving next week for 3 nights at the Hilton in Moorea and then a 7 night cruise aboard the WindSpirit. I have been following the weather for that area and have seen that it's been raining almost everyday. Now being from the West Coast we travel to Hawaii regularly and know about island rain there and it's almost never an issue. My question how does the rain in Tahiti affect your holiday or is like Hawaii rains a little then gone and almost forgotten?

We were on the Tahiti cruise and purchased the beverage package. They do put a small sticker on your ID card, but after the first few hours they amazingly seem to know who you are and you don't have to show your card anymore. You do have to sign a paper, but you do not get a slip back that you have to hold onto. It was very easy and I was glad that we purchased it. There was a great selection on cocktails and frozen drinks - they make an excellent mojito! It seemed that you could get just about anything that you would want. Definitely recommend it!

Thank you for sharing this information about the beverage package. It's very helpful to me as of course we too will be sailing Windspirit in Tahiti in a couple weeks. Really the main reason for us to even consider the package is because of the difficulties of either taking wine with us on the cruise along with the lack of "new world wines" at any of the ports. Another consideration is of course price with everything on these island very pricey.

Again reading cc continues to be such a good way to prepare for a cruise both on shore and onboard.

Shirley

I'm not sure how current this is, but here's a relatively recent room service beverage list that given you an idea of the Windstar pricing:

 

http://media.windstarcruises.com/media/plan_your_voyage/cruise-documents/gift_order_form.pdf

 

At the daily price for the package, if you drink a cocktail in the afternoon, have a bottle of wine with dinner and maybe an after dinner drink you're better off buying as you go. If, like us, you buy wine on shore for later afternoon drinking your absolutely better off buying a bottle of wine at dinner.

Not sure but I didn't see a room service menu only a menu for bottles and special events etc.

The reason we are thinking of taking the Bev.Pac is because the ports in and around Tahiti will in all likelyhood not offer the opportunity to purchase wines at a reasonable price or selection. If our ports were in Europe of course that would be different. When we sailed out of Barcellona we found a wonderful upscale wine shop before we boarded and bought a case of outstanding Spanish wines to take aboard.

So, my husband and I are booked on Dec 13 Windstar out of Barbados. Very excited! Our last couple of cruises have been on Seabourn and we have already become accustomed/spoiled by the included open bar and the atomshere it creates (no upselling of drinks, being able to imbibe in something new, and most importantly no chits to sign with every purchase)

 

For those of you who have actually purchased/experience the beverage package;

 

1) Did you find that the service lacked at all? I assume since gratuity is already included that wouldn't be a problem?

 

2) How did the crew know you purchased this? Is there a sticker on your Boarding card? Did you have to show it each time?

 

3) The main reason we would purchase it is for convenience. Do you still have to sign something each time you order? I'm not sure how else they would do this for bookkeeping purposes.

 

4) I know we have the chance to look at the menus prior to purchasing to see if it fits our needs, but was there anything not included that you wish was? (Other than wines by the bottle which I assume would be finer vintages) I am curious if most top shelf liquors are included and maybe your favored brand wasn't.

 

Thank you in advance for your time.

Great question. We too have enjoyed cruising on Seabourn and the all inclusive wine and liquor package that comes included with the price of the cruise. We will be sailing on Windspirit in Tahiti next month and have been talking about taking the beverage package this time, our past Windsurf cruises we didn't feel we should since we always brought a case of our own wines aboard the ship. But the restrictions in Tahiti regarding taking wines into the country makes that very difficult so on this trip we will be drinking the wines that the Windspirit provides.

Would love to hear the answers to any of your questions.

:confused:Not sure if I'm the only one but I am having problems with the Windstar website. Our Tahiti cruise is coming up in a couple weeks and last night I tried to book a tour online. I was able to get all the way through giving my credit card number along with all the information needed to book the tour but after I clicked on purchase I was sent back to the log in page to start all over. This morning I was able to handle the booking by calling the their 800 #. Later today I tried again to book addition tours and once again the same problem with the site happened.

Nope.

 

Motion sickness is caused by the crystals in your inner ear and your eyesight not coordinating with each other. Vomiting will not relieve motion sickness. In some cases an empty stomach make make it worse as it will cause a build up of stomach acids.

Thanks for clarifying that information regarding motion sickness. I was fearful that during rough weather we would be seeing people sticking their fingers down their throats trying to throw up. :rolleyes:

Have you found a pillow? I'd like to see a picture. Will be looking for one myself at some point next year.

I did a fair amount of research on Amazon and bought the J Pillow. It was the winner of British invention of the year in 2013. I haven't received it yet but will let you know more in a day or so. I also ordered the Thermarest travel cushion to hopefully help my bottom that goes numb after hours of sitting in an airplane seat. I'm trying the cushion out in my desk chair and it seems to do the job.

Shirley

We just got off the Wind Surf and we brought on a case of wine but also bought wine by the glass and bottle. The corkage fee is still $15. Many times while in the Compose Rose or Main Lounge I would go back to my cabin and refill my glass. Other times I would just buy a glass of wine. Their Rutherford Ranch Cab, Zaco Tempranillo, and Eberle Zin are good every day wines. Cocktails run in the $8-12 range. Remember they add a 15% fee to the base price.

Thanks for the information regarding the wines aboard. We also usually bring a case of wines aboard when we sail even when we sailed out of Barcelona we were able to find a outstanding wine shop and purchase wines for our cruise. Next month on our Tahiti cruise that will probably not work for a couple reasons. 1st there is a limit of 2 liters pp that can be brought into the county + the fact that high prices in Tahiti make buying wine there not a good idea. That's the reason that we are considering the drink package for this trip.