WINDSURF 6/20 - ANYONE ON BOARD????

[travelwide]

Our TA just emailed us today to say that the sailing time is "around" 11pm and we can embark from 4-5. I agree that this all has something to do with the soccer match that day.

[merryecho]

Finally called windstar as most of our party have still not received flight info. From the horses mouth,"The ship won't leave until around 11, but you will be able to board at the regular time, around 2 or 3. Also, they will have a hospitality room set up, so people will be brought there from the airport, then transferred to the ship."

Sounds fine if it all goes according to plan.

[ev8876]

Thanks everybody for all the information.

[wotec]

We were in Lisbon a few weeks ago on QE2 and saw WindSpirit I believe it was (NOT Surf, we've sailed her before. We were both in port for the day and she sailed out just before we did. If you are wondering what to do if you have a few hours before boarding or sailing, right along the wharf where we were docked were nice shops and restaurants - a great place to stroll and people watch as well. We passed in a taxi where Wind Spirit was - just a very short distance from QE2 and it looked like more of the same type of shops, restaurants on the wharf. Lisbon is a lovely city - the old city is especially nice for walking and we took a trolley tour arranged by Cunard to the top of the trolley line - the conducter (?) had us stand up when we got to the top, reverse our seats, he got out with a big tool and made an adjustment to the trolley and off we went in a downward direction. Enjoy!

[wotec]

Be prepared for possible rough seas on the Bay of Biscay. When we sailed on QE2 a few weeks ago from Lisbon to Southampton, we encountered Force 9 (on a scale of 12) storm - it was wicked - and that was on QE2!!! We love Wind Surf and enjoyed her last March Barbados to St. Thomas. Hopefully, we will sail her again late Dec! Would love to hear from all of you after your return, especially about the Normandy excursion. Thank you

[merryecho]

Thanks for the info wotec. What ports did you call in?

[mousemeat]

Wotec, you may have seen both the WindSpirit AND the WindSurf. We were on the Surf, coming in to Lisbon, and we passed in between the WindSpirit and the QE2 as they were leaving Lisbon. Quite an experience.

[wotec]

Mousemeat - so sorry we missed seeing WindSurf sail past us on QE2 in Lisbon. I got a nice photo of WindSpirit, the bridge and the Cross. We LOVE WindSurf - were you just coming in from the Trans Atlantic? Was there a crew member named Zar on board? Dining Rm Waiter et al. When we got on board last March in Barbados, the "reception committee" had disbanded as it was rather late, so we just sort of walked on. Zar remembered us by name (and called out to my companion by his nickname which was remarkable) and just like we were old friends, showed us to our suite - it was a great welcome from the heart! We met him on WindSong in 2001 fall. If you were on the crossing, would like to hear about the weather, seas, storms etc - thanks!

[wotec]

Merryecho - You asked about our ports visited on QE2: We flew to Beijing early March, then to Hong Kong where we boarded QE2 March 8. We did the segment of her annual World Cruise from Hong Kong to New York which included Bangkok, Singapore, Mombai (fomerly Bombay), Phuket, Colombo-SriLanka, Seychelles, Mauritius Isl, Durban and Cape Town-South Africa, Namibia, Canary Isl (Gran Canary), Lisbon (see my post from yesterday on this thread) then across that nasty Bay of Biscay (I commented on the storm in my post yesterday) to Southampton, then Trans Atlantic to NY (QE2 sailed 3 days behind new QM2) and both ships had two Force 9's during the TA crossing. A little more excitement than I care for but the ocean liner buffs on board (of which there were many as this was quite a historic crossing) loved having QE2 "do her stuff". We were on QE2 48 days and had very smooth seas except for the above. We sailed into NY Sunday morning, berthed next to QM2 and watched from a charter boat in the NY that night as both ships sailed past us, then the fireworks and then out the two Queens sailed. A really wonderful once in a life time two months for us! My 2 favorite ships are QE2 and WindSurf - how's that for opposite ends of the spectrum! Been on quite a few ships the last 5 years, had nice cruises, but those 2 ships are the ones I remember the most about.

Hope to hear from you after your voyage in June - enjoy!

[merryecho]

Sounds like a memorable trip wotec- and you must be people who go at life with a wonderful attitude if you can try two ships at opposite extremes of the cruise scale and enjoy both thoroughly.

[mousemeat]

Wotec, yes, we were on the WindSurf's transatlantic crossing recently. There may have been a dining room server named Zar, but I'm terrible with names, so I can't remember. We too were greeted by name (and nickname) by two servers who had been on the WindSpirit when we sailed on her in January. They are amazing people, aren't they? We had warm, tropical weather for the first 4-5 days, then it cooled and dried out a bit, enough to wear slacks. The last few days were cooler, we had a few cloudy days, and sprinkles once. We had two days of mild swells, just enough to let us know we really were on the ocean. Very uneventful, which is just what I wanted. I had never been that far from land before. I mentioned that to a young crew member who was drawing our position on the wall map. He said "Neither have I."

[travelwide]

Has anyone received their docs. for our cruise?

Just wondering.

[ev8876]

No - we haven't received our documents yet. We called the airlines we are traveling on and all of our seat assignments had been taken care of so that was good to find out. Only 6 weeks to go!

[merryecho]

No doc's here either- I always start to get impatient about this long before a cruise. Sure wish they would post some port info about La Rochelle, we are there until late that day and want to do a winery tour. You would think this was the first time Windstar had done this route, but I think it is at least the second or third.

[suz1607]

No docs here either!

[merryecho]

Looks like we may have lots of room on this cruise- checking with travelocity shows 11 cabins still open in each category, for a total of at least 33 empty cabins. I don't know if they only list the first 11 empty cabins, or if it is just coincidence that there are 11 suites, 11 A and 11 B cabins listed.

[ev8876]

Hi Merryecho - I noticed the same thing when I last checked. I bet there are even more open cabins than are posted on the travel booking sites. Looks like we all will be getting lots of good service if the ship sails half empty. Barbara

[merryecho]

Hi coolcruiser- my daughter and I will be in Boston shortly after the end of this cruise (cambridge really). Could you recommend any restaurants that a couple of teenagers might enjoy? Thanks

[travelwide]

Hi! No docs. yet. Starting to get a little concerned, but no panic has set in. We also saw the 11 rooms avaiable and also wondered if this was strange as these same rooms have been listed for over a month.

[suz1607]

No docs here yet either. I count 31 open cabins if all are listed. You are right. There have been very few changes in the rooms listed for over a month now. Think I will call my TA and see what she knows about the docs.

[ev8876]

No docs here either. Merryecho - I'll get a list of good restaurants in the Cambridge Boston area and post for you soon.

[mousemeat]

I've read that Windstar lowers prices if there are unsold cabins close to sailing date. If that's true, how does someone find out?

[suz1607]

I asked my TA to see what deals they were offering on suite upgrades. When we were in the Caribbean on Windsurf a couple of monthes ago they were offering suite upgrades after boarding for $500.00 a cabin. I talked to one man who said he was offered that prior to leaving home. My TA has not gotten back to me about this -- why don't some of the rest of you see what you can find out. I wish someone who booked directly with Windstar would check on this. I booked almost a year ago and have sailed with Windstar around 15 times. In addition we are doing a back to back that they are offering a discount for[we did not get the discount]. I am begining to wonder if this is my TA or Windstar! Thanks.

[wotec]

Re buying upgrade, when we sailed WSurf March 2003, I booked an "A" stateroom about a year before - it was a special occassion and we knew for certain we wanted that time, that itinerary etc. As it got closer to sailing time, the sale prices I was getting from Windsail email kept getting lower for all categories. About a month before we sailed, my TA called them, said we would like to buy a suite for the advertised price for that sailing(Windsurf has plenty of suites) and we would like to apply the price we had paid 10 months or so before against the special price for the suite and pay the difference right them (as in "here is my client's credit card number so let's do it"). I think it was close to but less than $1000 total difference. It was wonderful having 2 bathrooms and a sitting room and I thought that was a fair way for them to do it.

[mousemeat]

What is "Windsail e-mail"?