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blueseas53

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With the current 2011 Med pricing, I think they are just too overpriced for what you get. Even the Surf itineraries are pricing out at about $500 per person per day.

 

From what I can see there are two choices: plan and book ahead and pay sticker price or wait until 3 or 4 months out and pay a tiny proportion of that.

 

I know Walt can't allow references to travel agents to remain but I hope it's ok to say that the first agent I checked today had half a dozen Med cruises for less than $1250. They're not 2011 but for anyone who has the flexibility to wait for a good deal probably won't be disappointed.

 

At least two of the invitation-only sale sites (which again can't be mentioned) have had deals in the last few months both with starting prices at or below the price I referenced above.

 

I mentioned that my last sailing was on a full ship. Over the course of the week it became clear that there were two clear categories of passengers on board: one group had booked through a private sale or similar, the other had paid brochure price. The difference between the two rates being a three-fold increase.

 

Booking early has its advantages such as locking in airfares and the joy of anticipation of a future cruise. But being able to wait and watch for bargains can mean a more budget friendly trip :)

 

Mands

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I am a long time lurker who has booked Wind Spirit's October 30 departure from Rome, and Windstar's Barcelona - Lisbon next Fall.

 

As a follower of Windstar's financial condition, it's clear to me that the owners have taken a number of steps in the right direction. They've cut away the dead wood (a ragtag fleet of river ships), secured long-term financing and have a new line of revolving credit. They've reduced overhead by consolidating to a smaller headquarters and terminating some high-paid execs left over from HAL. In spite of trying times, the owners are on top of maintenance and have not cut back on the quality of their offerings. Wind Spirit has just emerged from a $4million dollar refit, and the Wind Star (which looked great when I spent a week on her last Fall) will get her turn in the next few months.

 

While it's easy to state that Windstar has too much overhead, or is too small to compete, neither claim is true. The problem that did exist until this past year is that the current owners bought the ships from HAL/Carnival at the top of the market, became over-extended, and were too slow to cut overhead as the economy took its downward plunge. While Windstar's long term outlook depends on an uptick in bookings or prices, the same can be said for the rest of the cruise industry.

 

The cost of Windstar's cruises will always be higher---and should be. Most of the passengers who gladly pay more (including me) have sworn off the bigger ships. If someone wants to compare $/day figures, Windstar's prices are the lowest among the 5-star ships carrying fewer than 500 passengers. The romance of the sails and the unbeatable quality of the waitstaff are simply "icing on the cake."

 

Ignore the nay-saying travel agents (who may be working towards a booking bonus elsewhere) and protect yourself by paying with a credit card. Windstar is the type of luxury travel that should be enjoyed before you're too old.

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The cost of Windstar's cruises will always be higher---and should be. Most of the passengers who gladly pay more (including me) have sworn off the bigger ships. If someone wants to compare $/day figures, Windstar's prices are the lowest among the 5-star ships carrying fewer than 500 passengers. The romance of the sails and the unbeatable quality of the waitstaff are simply "icing on the cake."

 

On-a-roll, I agree completely that Windstar should and always will be priced above the mass market big ships. However, limiting your comparison to 500 passengers and under is just too constraining. If you compare Windstar to Oceania (about 700 passengers) you can get a 14 day cruise in a Ocean View cabin on O for under $5,000 per person. This is about $350 per day vs Windstar at about $500 per day. I have sailed on Windstar 5 times and a couple of times on Oceania. I believe the service, food and cabins are comparable - the only real difference being the sails and the somewhat larger ship.

 

Also, regarding overheads, every line has the same task of arranging ports, tours, marketing as well as management (accounting, reservations etc). If you only have 600 cabins (1,200 people max) to spread these "non-recurring" costs over, your cost per cabin will be much higher than a line that can spread similar costs over 2,000 or more cabins. That is where being part of a larger organization would help significantly.

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You are all right on in what you are saying.

 

The only correction is the older ships from the river cruising business they still owe monies on and can not find buyers for them. In 2012 a huge amount of money needs to be paid out by Windstar and here is were the issue lies. Evey ship needs to be full and profitable business must occur pricing wise as the financial notes state there is still a high risk on 2012 even with profits of not meeting the financial mark because of these outstanding owned monies on the old river boats and leases payments on the existing ships.

 

We now have the concern of safety traveling again with warnings of fundamentalist terrorism. Hope this does not effect overseas travel. There always seems to be new obstacles.

 

I guess we enjoy and help promote Windstar as much as we can and say are prayers.

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Compare Windstar Cruises to another small ship cruise line like SeaDream Yacht Club (we have sailed on both). SeaDream will cost double (it includes tips & Drinks), but for about half the cost you can get the small ship experience Windstar Cruises. Both cruises are 5 star and excellent. Note, Windstar offers more dining options and has sails.

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The cost of Windstar's cruises will always be higher---and should be. Most of the passengers who gladly pay more (including me) have sworn off the bigger ships. If someone wants to compare $/day figures, Windstar's prices are the lowest among the 5-star ships carrying fewer than 500 passengers. The romance of the sails and the unbeatable quality of the waitstaff are simply "icing on the cake."

 

 

Don't get me wrong - we love Windstar and have another one booked. BUT - we have recently sailed Silversea and are about to again (which is all inclusive ) for less than the price per day of the Windstar trip we have booked a year from now. I am pretty sure the fare will go down but we need to plan ahead more with both of us working and wanting to use frequent flyer miles for flights etc.

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On-a-roll, I agree completely that Windstar should and always will be priced above the mass market big ships. However, limiting your comparison to 500 passengers and under is just too constraining. If you compare Windstar to Oceania (about 700 passengers) you can get a 14 day cruise in a Ocean View cabin on O for under $5,000 per person. This is about $350 per day vs Windstar at about $500 per day. I have sailed on Windstar 5 times and a couple of times on Oceania. I believe the service, food and cabins are comparable - the only real difference being the sails and the somewhat larger ship.

 

Also, regarding overheads, every line has the same task of arranging ports, tours, marketing as well as management (accounting, reservations etc). If you only have 600 cabins (1,200 people max) to spread these "non-recurring" costs over, your cost per cabin will be much higher than a line that can spread similar costs over 2,000 or more cabins. That is where being part of a larger organization would help significantly.

 

I totally agree with all of this. We have sailed Oceania 3 times, Windstar 8 or 9 and Silversea 4 or 5. Right now Windstar is NOT the best value (except the few weeks out specials you see). Still love them, though!

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Silversea I hear is an excellent Line, but don't you need to dress more formally, One of the nice things about Windstar is the fact you don't need to wear a Jacket and tie to dinner. You are right about Windstar must remain competitive in its pricing.......that will all depend on supply v/s demand and the lines inventory control managers.

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We just booked a Wind Star cruise this morning in order to support this terrific cruise line in which we have a great deal of confidence. Of course, the fact that they were offering two-for-ones in the Caribbean this winter was a very compelling proposition. And we covered our bases by booking with our Visa card and by using a TA in a jurisdiction with full consumer protection for bankruptcies (a TICO-member agency in Ontario, Canada).

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Silversea I hear is an excellent Line, but don't you need to dress more formally, One of the nice things about Windstar is the fact you don't need to wear a Jacket and tie to dinner. You are right about Windstar must remain competitive in its pricing.......that will all depend on supply v/s demand and the lines inventory control managers.

 

It is more formal. We like both. Always nice to come back to Windstar!

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  • 3 months later...

alot of the concerns seem overblown, or are losing relevance with each passing day. Windstar parent has $6 million in cash $7 million restricted that is being freed up over 2011. [they can handle another tough quarter [Q4 2010] and not have to draw on their UNUSED $5 mill liquidity provision.

 

absent an environmental/political/military/terrorist event and assuming the 2011 forecast the CLIA just released, windstar should have a decent 2011 and be positioned for a strong 2012 and future if we continue to support the company and dispel rumours about its demise

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Windstar seems to be doing its great deals much earlier than in years past. Windstar had some great promotions for the Mediterrean in 2011 at the end of December 2010. Due to my own time off uncertainty, couldn't book then.

Now 1 month later, the promotional fares have increased a lot. So the ships must be fairly booked up for next summer and fall. Or fuel costs have increased so the promotional fare has as well?

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seabourn announced that they are raising prices and there is always a trickle down effect from the leader of the segment to other companies. also CLIA is forecasting record bookings and wave season for 2011 so it seems like price increases are sensible for all cruiselines throughout 11-12. travelweekly had a good article on the luxury segment and how it is hurting, seems like seabourn cut prices below intelligent-business levels and all of luxury had to follow and suffer the consequences. theyre shaking things up at seabourn as a result of poor financial performance.

 

windstar suffered a perfect storm as, on top of the problems in luxury cruising, it was a subsidiary of an overleveraged corporation that almost blew up which helped create the fears of windstars ability to survive. new management and ownership groups came in to sell off other divisions and focus on windstar. how it plays out is unknown but looking better day by day

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Windstar is a truly unique cruising experience. Over a number of years we have sailed on almost all of the quality cruise lines. Last year on Seaborn, before on SeaDrream and Chrystal and after comparing our enyoyment of each we willl return to Windstar. We are booked on a Lisbon to Barcelona in April. I hope it survives and will do my best to encourage other travelers to experience it. I cannot think of a cruise ship or line that is perfect for everyone---but Windstar is the right mix for us. I hope the nay sayers are wrong--as usual. However if you repeat negatives enough they come true. As cruisers we should share our experiences and leave market forecasting to real experts. I will call my stock broker momentarily and put some money where my hopes arre

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Loved the Windjammer ships and am looking forward to the March 13 sailing of the WindSurf our of Barbados. We also sailed on the Diamonte with Island Windjammers out of St. Lucia, which was wonderful. I prefer barefoot sailing, but will suffer through dresses and trousers for WindStar.

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  • 1 month later...

Time to bring this thread back to the top.

 

As has now been released, Windstar is being sold to an investment firm. It is my feeling that they will invest for the SHORT term and then try and resell the line.

 

A little over two weeks ago we booked one of the summer cruises on the Surf. Immediately took out cruise insurance and made sure that it included insolvency. Also paid with a CC so I have another avenue to get my money back if things go south before or during the cruise.

 

Bottom line, make sure you are covered with insurance because none of us know what the real future holds.

 

My wife and I do love Windstar and would hate to see it go out of business. We do hope that the new owners take pride in the ships and keep the service up to standard.

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Well, an investment company certainly has motivation to make sure the product stays viable; its not in their interest to let it suffer in any way, so I find this news quite positive.

 

The company I work for was taken over in similar fashion a few years ago by an investment company. Despite all the employees' fears at that time, we have not been sold off. And if we are in the future, we are certainly a better company / product in many ways than the one they took over.

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I agree that they need to keep the company viable. It is in their best interest to help improve things such that people want to go back to Windstar. I know for us, the price had just gotten too high so we waited to make the reservations until one of the online cruise agencies had a "special". We had even made our flight and hotel reservations before we made the cruise booking. We had to do this in order to secure award seats.

 

Again, let's all hope that Windstar stays the fantastic cruise line that it has been in the past.

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I booked a cruise onboard Windsurf just one day before Ambassador announced to sell Windstar... what good news for my first cruise with this company!!! I hope this situation will not affect companie's daily work neither to onboard's crew. I really appologize all inconveniences this situation can produce to people working for this company but I am really excited with this vacation and I hope to spend fantastic days onboard Windsurf.

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Darn! We were on the Windsurf last week, and we wondered if something was happening. The food and quality were clearly less than ever before, and it was hard to get straight answers from the crew. We booked a "phantom cruise" for the future -- I sure hope there is one for Windstar because we've loved every one of our cruises, including last week's, but we had some misgivings. Thanks for the info --

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