Windstar vs Silversea vs Seabourn

[bahrain_not_dubai!]

Hello everyone!

 

Okay, so after a year's hiatus sailing Seabourn, after pledging to not return back to the mass market lines, I ended up having to cancel my Seabourn cruise scheduled for July last year as commitments took me to the States, so did a trans-USA tour over there with two cruises.

 

Now I am planning on returning to Seabourn ( the P&O cruise below is a sailing with a few friends), yet have been strongly considering two alternatives, Silversea and Windstar.

 

I have been thinking a lot so I thought I'd come back to Cruise Critic for your opinions, and what you'd do in my position.

 

Why? My Seabourn cruise was faultless- in all of my travels far and wide, only one establishment had even come close to what Seabourn offered. I am still in contact with some of the staff, and my cruise was only 7 days ! It was really a replenishing experience, one that I will surly repeat with God's will many times in the future. The food was stupendous, itinerary great, entertainment refined, the ship was absolutely beautiful... yet my curiosity has been veering me elsewhere.

 

Silversea's voyage (btw all these cruises are in the Med) has a great itinerary, but I really do feel that Windstar's, cruising similar waters, has a much nicer one- that to me already discredits the Silversea voyage. Second, I like value- for the price of a Silversea Vista Suite I can be in solid, mid-range Veranda on the 7 nighter aboard Seabourn Quest. Also, I could do 10 nights on the Legend for less than 7 on the Silver Spirit- I am seemingly debunking this cruise myself, but I do still want to ask if there is something that I, perhaps, should change my view? Although more expensive, the Silver Spirit is still within my price range and I could book her- what reasons, if any, should push me forward to do this ?

 

Lastly, Windstar's Wind Spirit- the brand new interiors she is going to receive look fabulous, as does her itinerary, at 8 nights it is a balanced cocktail between ports only a 5,000 ton ship can enter, as well as a few major cities strewn in along the way, giving the guest a good prospective of Greece, Croatia and Italy. Love the idea of sailing, but have heard it is a rather 'down-scale' experience... I'm not excepting Seabourn quality in terms of hardware, or even cuisine, etc. but would like it to be quite close and not a 3 star experience. The best thing about Windstar is... the voyage I've penciled out happens to be 50%... yes, 50% cheaper than the Seabourn voyage. I understand alcohol is not included but the price does include 2 nights stay at a 5 star hotel in Athens- none of us drink, so that isn't an issue and all non alcoholic beverages are now included- soft drinks, coffee, cappachino, etc. If Windstar can deliver the goods, this a fantastic deal. If they can't, I'd rather spend the asking price for SB and make the best use of my vacation time, but nonetheless my heart tells me to jump on Windstar because they have been a line I have wanted to try for a long time, and things seem to have never been better for them financially speaking.

 

Alright, thats a lot of waffling on my part, half thinking to myself, as well as asking your kind selves... should I go with my head and stick to the best, Seabourn, should I gamble with Silversea or go where the heart goes with Windstar?

 

Thanks ! :p

[NEOPHYTUS]

 

should I go with my head and stick to the best, Seabourn, should I gamble with Silversea or go where the heart goes with Windstar?

 

Thanks ! :p

 

a "no brainer", IMO, follow your heart and be kind to your balance sheet....Windstar. Seabourn is not worth double :eek: the cost.

[wripro]

Try Windstar for half the price. If you don't like it you don't have to return. It's only a cruise.

["Wandering Wino's&quo]

Hello everyone!

 

Okay, so after a year's hiatus sailing Seabourn, after pledging to not return back to the mass market lines, I ended up having to cancel my Seabourn cruise scheduled for July last year as commitments took me to the States, so did a trans-USA tour over there with two cruises.

 

Now I am planning on returning to Seabourn ( the P&O cruise below is a sailing with a few friends), yet have been strongly considering two alternatives, Silversea and Windstar.

 

I have been thinking a lot so I thought I'd come back to Cruise Critic for your opinions, and what you'd do in my position.

 

Why? My Seabourn cruise was faultless- in all of my travels far and wide, only one establishment had even come close to what Seabourn offered. I am still in contact with some of the staff, and my cruise was only 7 days ! It was really a replenishing experience, one that I will surly repeat with God's will many times in the future. The food was stupendous, itinerary great, entertainment refined, the ship was absolutely beautiful... yet my curiosity has been veering me elsewhere.

 

Silversea's voyage (btw all these cruises are in the Med) has a great itinerary, but I really do feel that Windstar's, cruising similar waters, has a much nicer one- that to me already discredits the Silversea voyage. Second, I like value- for the price of a Silversea Vista Suite I can be in solid, mid-range Veranda on the 7 nighter aboard Seabourn Quest. Also, I could do 10 nights on the Legend for less than 7 on the Silver Spirit- I am seemingly debunking this cruise myself, but I do still want to ask if there is something that I, perhaps, should change my view? Although more expensive, the Silver Spirit is still within my price range and I could book her- what reasons, if any, should push me forward to do this ?

 

Lastly, Windstar's Wind Spirit- the brand new interiors she is going to receive look fabulous, as does her itinerary, at 8 nights it is a balanced cocktail between ports only a 5,000 ton ship can enter, as well as a few major cities strewn in along the way, giving the guest a good prospective of Greece, Croatia and Italy. Love the idea of sailing, but have heard it is a rather 'down-scale' experience... I'm not excepting Seabourn quality in terms of hardware, or even cuisine, etc. but would like it to be quite close and not a 3 star experience. The best thing about Windstar is... the voyage I've penciled out happens to be 50%... yes, 50% cheaper than the Seabourn voyage. I understand alcohol is not included but the price does include 2 nights stay at a 5 star hotel in Athens- none of us drink, so that isn't an issue and all non alcoholic beverages are now included- soft drinks, coffee, cappachino, etc. If Windstar can deliver the goods, this a fantastic deal. If they can't, I'd rather spend the asking price for SB and make the best use of my vacation time, but nonetheless my heart tells me to jump on Windstar because they have been a line I have wanted to try for a long time, and things seem to have never been better for them financially speaking.

 

Alright, thats a lot of waffling on my part, half thinking to myself, as well as asking your kind selves... should I go with my head and stick to the best, Seabourn, should I gamble with Silversea or go where the heart goes with Windstar?

 

Thanks ! :p

 

Loved Windstar. We sailed out of Barcelona to Lisbon on Windsurf a few years ago. Now I'm sure you know that the sails are only up for a very limited duration and that the engines are really what powers the ship. We truly were ready to book another cruise on WS but at the time they were experiencing pretty severe financial problems and that is when I discovered Seabourn. Under normal situations I would cruise on a Windstar ship again but my heart remains with Seabourn.

[Caroldoll]

perfect and you are right, the ports are where other larger ships can not go. They have very good food. There are no elevators and the demographics are on the younger side, but we loved it.

 

We have had two perfect Silversea cruises. Their pick up at the airport is not that good, but the cruises were wonderful.

 

We had a horrific cruise on Seabourn just a month ago. I am hoping it was just because it had just left drydock.

 

Given what I have said above, I think I would do Windstar. I would do more, but their cruises are way too short.

[foxland]

We sailed Barcelona to Barbados on the Wind Surf and Fort Lauderdale to Malaga on the Seabourn Legend .. and quite frankly they are in a different class.

 

The Seabourn levels of service and quality being significantly higher than that found on Wind Surf.

[Corony]

I think I would try Windstar. We have done. 2 Seabourn cruises and loved both of them (one on the Legend and one on the Quest). We have booked another on the Quest but if a new itinerary really caught our eye, we would try a different line for the experience and to see exactly the ports we wanted to. As previously posted, it's only one cruise. Good luck with your decision.