Just returned... Windsurf

[kootz]

Went on Windstar Windsurf...Have been on many cruises. We decided to try Windsurf because of the Grand Prix.

I'll start by saying that the crew was wonderful and can't do enough for you. The evening meals were some of the best I have ever had on any cruises. Other meals were good as well. Our cabin was great, we had a suite, it was a treat with two bathrooms. The one thing I did not like was the TV in the bedroom area could not play the DVD's, only the TV in the sitting area. I like to watch TV in bed and the couch in the sitting room along with the chairs were very uncomfortable.

I was quite disappointed in the shape of the boat. There was rust and paint peeling everywhere. It was not kept up at all. Many bad smells were in different areas of the ship at different times, especially in the Compass Bar area where we liked to sit. They had a water problem one night and had to be turned off for a couple of hours but never found out the problem.

The not so great parts of the cruise were:

We took their business air package and transfers. Arrived at the ship after 36 hours of flying at 9:00am. We were told we could not board the ship until 2pm. We were exhausted and they did not have a "holding area" for anyone. The only thing they had was a tent for the luggage and they told us to go and enjoy the sights of Nice. We were tired, cranky, had carry on luggage and the last thing we wanted to do was to walk around for 5 hours. Too bad they replied. Other cruises we have taken, they always has a holding area with refreshments and air conditioning to let us rest if we could not the ship.

Thom, the host was piss poor. Never had a answer for any of the questions we asked nor other cruisers. We were not the only people who were unhappy.

We were extremely disappointed in the way they handled the ports. We like to do things on our own and most cruise lines had much info for us. Windstar could not and did not help anyone. We all worked together, the passengers, to get by.

The worst was the Grand Prix which is what we came for. We paid close to $1000.00 a ticket for the Windstar event which was suppose to be:

a restaurant overlooking the start/finish line, a wonderful meal, flowing wines. and a finale of champagne toast to the Grand Prix winner. It turned out to be a restaurant so far away from the finish line we could not even see it and the balcony overlooking the race was so small and so far away it did not help. The meal was decent except they did not have enough help and things were certainly not flowing. Everyone was extremely angry to no avail. What was interesting was the people that had a great time were the Thom, the host, the Windstar chef, the nurse, and the Captain to name a few. We know they did not pay the kind of money we did to attend this event. What was also interesting was that we were sailing home that night and I could not believe the amount of liquor the Captain was consuming in his civilian clothes.

I know I sound very bitter but coming from Florida we spent a lot of money for this cruise and it was not was we expected. We had talked to many people on board who were just as unhappy. Many frequent Windstar people are never going on again and others will continue to sail Windstar but never Windsurf.

My hubby and I will maybe try Windstar again but never on Windsurf, we will stick with the smaller Holland ships.

Sorry for the rambling but returned last night, our luggage is still in Germany sonewhere and I just had to get this off my chest...

[lovecruisingtoo]

I can understand your frustration after flying 36 hours. My wife and I have been on Celebrity and they never had any check-in sitting area - just a long line to check-in. With Windstar being a small line you can understand that they can not have a large reception area for people who arrive early.

 

On the Windstar cruises that we have taken, the host was more than happy to make suggestions for those who did not want to take the formal excursions. As with anything, it depends on the personalities of the people involved.

 

I hope you have contacted Windstar corp. office to let them know of your experience.

[lisaandrich]

Dear Kootz:

 

I know that we spoke to you several times on the cruise. We are the couple from Chicago.

As for pluses, the lobster buffet at lunch ($28.00 per pound according to the chef), sevruga caviar served several times ($105 per ounce) and real fois gras avec truffe ($10 per serving) far surpassed the food on Radisson and any other cruise line that we have been on. As for the "hosts"- Windstar needs a real cruise director. Most windstar cruisers have been to these ports before. We were basically on our own to find new things, such as the fanastic cliffside paved trail that my wife and I discovered that ran from Cap D'Ail next to Monaco all the way to Mala beach. Another cool thing that we discovered was a paved hiking trail in Portofino that led to the beach in Peraggi. These things should have been pointed out to us by the "hosts" when we inquired about other things to do. The tours were basic humdrum same old same old. Been there done that. If you can afford Windstar, you have already been to whatever port they go to, so you need more information.

 

When we complained about the view at the race, Thom basically told us stop complaining and enjoy the race. The promotional materials specifically said that we would be able to see both the start and finish line, and made it appear that we would be able to toast the winners at the finish line. The restaurant was nowhere near the finish line. The food was good and they did have Taitinger Champagne for a short while. But the rest of the time they served cheap Cote d' Provence wines that were worth about $5.00 per bottle. People were actually paying 9 euros for mixed drinks rather than drink the wine. In all fairness, others that we spoke to paid double what we paid for a balcony at a rented apartment with less drinks and food. But you would have expected the cruise line to negotiate a better deal. Lisa's biggest complaint was that we were misled about the location/ view in all of the literature furnished by windstar. In fact one of our fellow passengers, after checking out the view the night before, cancelled his ticket without a refund and purchased a spot on a boat for $700 euros. He was really upset because he gave up his original tickets in the pit for the windstar ticket because of the misleading ad.

 

One other complaint. The suite was wonderful, but we missed having a balcony as on other ships.

 

Would we travel on Windstar again? Probably not at their rack rates. However if you could get a good deal on the price (which we did booking only 6 weeks before), then we probably would, just because of the food and service.

[suz1607]

Is Thom new? I think Walt told me that the host coming on after he left had never worked for Windstar before -- just larger ships. If this is true it may account for his lack of knowledge -- not that that is any excuse!

[Pincus]

Thank you for posting this review and your comments. Your points are quite valid, and all of us will have better Wind Star experiences in the future if you send your comments to Wind Star management.

 

It sounds as if last fall's refurbishing did not solve all of the Surf's problems.

[kootz]

Sorry that I had seem rather angry but I am. Letters will go out to corporate although that will never help our situation as the race is over.

The thing that I like about this board is to post good and bad for others for the future.

 

I do not know if Thom is new or not but I did not like him and others did not also. This is not just my opinion of the cruise it is with talking to others as it was a small ship. I saw many situations that he did nothing to help a passenger.

 

As far as a holding area, I would think a smaller group would be easier to help the passengers. On cruises starting in Barcelona, Australia and Copenhagen I remember the cruise lines getting us from the airport and bringing us to a small room in a hotel to wait for boarding. That is not hard to do, just a little comfort. It was not Celebrity but was Holland and Princess.

Lisa and Rich...Thanks for helping me out here as I know I was not the only one with the same views as yours. Sorry I did not remember the both of you but I am sure we met. My hubby and I always hung out at the Compass Bar as we are both smokers, he cigars, big man. Yes, the lobster was wonderful and again all the food was great but it was not the experience we had hoped. We missed the balconies also as I don't allow smoking in the room. It is nice to have the balcony for that and morning coffee.

Again I would think twice about another Windstar cruise unless the price was right but it would not be on Windsurf.

I will be interested to see what others have to say after their Windsurf cruise.

[merryecho]

Kootz- I undertand your disappointment about the grand prix. For many of us this would be a once in a lifetime event, and at $1,000 one would expect to have a memorable experience.

 

Sounds like windstar is really dropping the ball when it comes to cruise directors. I still can't believe that for 2 of the ports on our lisbon-london cruise, the website still lists "nothing" under port tips and shore excursions. They could at least tell us if car rental or taxi's are available.

(Just an aside for those who like car races- we have gone to the historic grand prix a couple of times, which I find much more fun. You can go in the pits and see all the old bugatti's, etc, I had my picture taken with Stirling Moss, and the HOtel de Paris gave us a room with a balcony overlooking the hill road.)

[mousemeat]

Lisa and Rich, how did you find out about reduced rates six weeks before sailing?

[travelwide]

Sorry to hear of your somewhat unpleasant experience. We have been on Seabourn and I must say they, along with other cruise lines, are not very helpful when you want to "do your own thing"! I can't believe the ship is not in perfect shape since it was just refurbished. I am glad to hear that the food was excellent....that is, to me, more important that getting help for the ports..that we do prior to traveling. We have some ports already mapped out and we don't board until June 20th. We are flying from Ft. Lauderdale to New York toFrankfurt on to Lisbon and then returning from London to Atlanta to Ft. Lauderdale. What was your routing from Lady Lake? Windstar does not appear to be dumping our cruise. I have no idea how much less it is now than it was a year ago. I also am interested in finding out how to get those deeply discounted rates! Anyone, feel free to e-mail me direct. Did any of you on our cruise get your docs yet?

What happened to your luggage - did it miss the planes?? I hope you bought travel insurance. Looking forward to hearing from all of you.

[lovecruisingtoo]

From what I have read, WindStar has had many complaints when they have had significant price reductions prior to a cruise. Because of this, I think they are trying to hold the line on price and not do any significant dumping of cabins. I have also noticed that they are not giving the significant discounts to alumni members that they did a few years ago. Now the alumni discount is only a hundred or so dollars per person.

 

Just my opinion.

[lisaandrich]

Dear Mousemeat:

 

We learned about the reduced rate from an e mail that we received from an internet cruise agency touting a 64% discount on the sailing. The price was way less than what he had just paid in full the day before. Thankfully our travel agent was able to work some magic. We must say that Windstar was very good about making the situation right. We could have easily cancelled and gotten 100% of our money back because of Windstar's gold plan. We really did not want to cancel but at the same time felt sick to our stomache realizing that we had overpaid. It would not have been so bad if we had overpaid a year ago, as we would have had satisfaction knowing that we were guaranteed a place on what we would have thought would have been an early sellout. But apparently people did not like the itinerary and paying $2000 per couple for the race. But Windstar made some adjustment, although they did not quite match the internet agency price . But all in all we got a great price for what we received.

 

The internet agency was a cruise clearing house. All you have to do to find your last minute VACATIONS, is TO GO to their website.

[kootz]

Our luggage returned today...at 3am. United called us at midnight saying they were on their way to deliver. Everything was untouched. Luck for us that we were in a suite so most of our clothes had been laundered prior to leaving the ship. Our luggage did not make it as when we left the ship, in plenty of time, Nice Airport was having some sort of strike. We had to sit on the plane for over an hour while other passengers came on board. When we got to Frankfurt it was a zoo going thru securities to catch our next flight to Dulles. We got to the plane just as the walkway was being removed. Talking pleasantly to them, they brought the walkway back and let us board. A very nice part of the trip as I could not believe they did that for us. We made our arrangements thru Windstar with the upgraded business. Our connections were tight all the way there and back but no clitches. We went Orlando to Miami (which we paid extra for) Miami to Chicago, Chicago to Frankfurt, Frankfurt to Nice. Our return trip was Nice to Frankfurt, Frankfurt to Wash/Dulles, Dulles to Orlando.

My husband has been in contact with Amex/Plat as we made our arrangements thru them. They also booked another couple for the same cruise and we had met them on the ship who were not happy either. He has asked my husband to email all the details of what happened during the trip and is asking the same of Bob and Joan. They will be sending it to Holland to see what they have to say.

Another thing to mention is if you book with Amex/Plat, one of the things you get is a Romance Package which is Champagne, Caviar, Chocolate Covered Strawberries and a photo album. Be warned that they did not tell us when we would be receiving it. We came back to our cabin late one afternoon and the cabin reeked of onions. They had left the covered caviar plate on the table for who knows how long without ice and the onions stunk up the room. We had it removed and replaced.

[lisaandrich]

Dear Kootz:

 

We were in a suite also. Did they do your laundry for free since you were in a suite? If so we weren't aware of it.

[kootz]

Yes, the laundry was free. We were not aware of it also and it was never written anywhere. Another couple made a comment about it and we had asked at the desk, and they said it was free. We then had them launder our clothes. Again, we not pleased that we were not told this and found out by accident.

[merryecho]

Thank you koontz, for the info about free laundry in suites- I had no idea. As we are traveling for a week prior to the cruise, you just saved us enough for a couple of good bottles of wine!

[kootz]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by merryecho:

Thank you koontz, for the info about free laundry in suites- I had no idea. As we are traveling for a week prior to the cruise, you just saved us enough for a couple of good bottles of wine!<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

 

You are welcome...Another thing to think about...We bought wines while in ports. We did bring them into the dining room and tipped "Ronald" our wine steward $5.00 each time he opened a bottle for us. He never charged us a corkage fee.

Had Dani for our dining room steward every night which we always asked for him. He was wonderful...If you see him, tell him Big Larry, Karen and the white puppies sat hello.

[merryecho]

Re tipping Ronald the wine steward- Sounds like a great idea, but would you mind sharing how you went about this? Find him as you left the table (could be hard), or just slip him the money as he opened the bottle?

[kootz]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by merryecho:

Re tipping Ronald the wine steward- Sounds like a great idea, but would you mind sharing how you went about this? Find him as you left the table (could be hard), or just slip him the money as he opened the bottle?<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Our first night at dinner we were asked our room number. We were then placed in an quiet area to the left by the windows. We were guessing that that was where the put the "suite people" as the week went on it was the same people in the area and got to know them. The wine steward came over "Ronald", there might have been more than one. We had their wine that night and told him we had brought a bottle from home (which we did) and can we bring it into the dining room next night. He said fine and did not say anything about a corkage fee. The next night we brought the wine and he came over to open it. While he was opening it my husband slipped the money to him. He never came with a slip to sign for corkage. Just about every night after that we brought wine and slipped him the money. We also had gotten a bottle of champagne from Amex and brought that in one night and asked him to chill it for the next night which he did. We have learned that if you treat them kindly, joke with them, and asked about their family they warm up to you and treat you extra special. We have been on many cruises and even if the cruise wasn't great such as this one, the stewards have always been special to us and we have not had many problems with them.

[jhcrossfield]

Be thankful you did not have Kimberly as your cruise director. If you think Thom was bad...you have no idea just how "bad" a cruise director can be until you've had Kimberly. She used to be on the Windsurf.

[Dory]

This is the first time that I have visited this site and I have to say that I am incredibly disappointed in the messages that I see logged on here. I signed in after hearing about this from mutual friends after my cruise on the msy Wind Surf - so excited and ready to share what a wonderful experience that I have had with this company. The service, the smiles, the atmosphere were absolutely incredible. Not once was anything too much for anyone.

 

The issues that I see on this site do not seem to be very applicable to Windstar Cruises as a line at all with the exception of free laundry in the suites!

** It is not the lines fault that luggage is lost.

** Perhaps Thom was not able to help in all aspects of the questions that were asked, but whenever I asked him something he tried his best to find out. Is there much else that you can ask of someone? Other than demeaning his character?

** In regards to the corkage. I would never think to enter a restaurant at home with a bottle of wine in my hand and I used the same philosophy on board the msy Wind Surf. If I did have a bottle that I desperately wanted to drink with my dinner, it is just a matter of respect to pay the paltry corkage fee. To try and finangle my way out of it by using a poor wine steward by asking about his family and tipping him cash is cheap and really really sad.

 

Whatever happened to the integrity of a traveller to go and have a good holiday and to enjoy the services that are offered on board and to recognize those people on the line as working incredibly hard and doing the best that they can? The service and experience that I received with the msy Wind Surf was outstanding. And I will be writing Corporate personally to thank them for making it the cruise of my dreams. Cannes and the Grand Prix! What a trip of a life time. Reading these messages has almost ruined the wonderful memories that I was hopeful of sharing.

To be honest I am a little glad that I didn't meet any of you on board.

[merryecho]

Ouch! From other messages on this site it seemed that bringing one's own bottle is quite accepted on windstar, especially in spain and france, where I look forward to finding some local treasures that haven't spent too much time rocking and rolling shipboard.

Is that not the case? I have seen several people mention that they were not charged a corkage fee- so tipping the steward just seemed a nice extra, not an attempt to stiff anyone. What is the corkage fee by the way?

[Dory]

Actually Windstar had quite an extensive local wine list themselves that was pretty reasonably priced (less expensive than their regular wine list) so I sampled wines from that list of the region. I suppose it is accepted to bring a bottle of wine with you (I did not do this) and it is listed that the corkage fee is only $10. A cup of coffee at starbucks for my wife and I!!! I found the fee quite reasonable.

[grayvelvet]

I'm with you, Dory! We had a great time!! Don't let these people take away from the trip for you - one of the best things for us was the wonderful people we met on the ship.. Also, we were with a small group at the Grand Prix event and we all had a blast. It was a bummer that it didn't overlook the start/finish line (which it did say it would) but everything else was great! The flyer we saw specifically said a champagne toast TO the winner not with the winner.. Anyway, I suppose we don't have enough money to be as jaded about this kind of stuff so we loved it! Also, we took local wines with us several times to dinner and were never asked to sign for a corkage fee, either.

[lovecruisingtoo]

Glad to hear others had a great time on the WindSurf. As I mentioned on a different post, when we embarked at Nice a few years ago there was just the tent to leave your luggage. We left our luggage at the tent and went to a restaurant for a drink or two and watched the people go by. Very enjoyable and relaxing. No one ever promised a sitting area at checkin. I know other cruises I have been on did not have any sitting area. Just a long line to check in.

 

I know that a long flight does tire people out but my first question was how they had a 36 hour flight to Nice and why anyone would have that long a flight and come in just hours before the cruise. Airlines can have problems and it would be very easy to miss the ship.

 

Overall, I think the cruise must have gotten off to a bad start with the long flight and theexpectation of a "sitting area" that was not promised.

 

As for the corkage fee, when my wife and I have been on WindStar we have, on the first night, ordered wine from their list. The following nights we brought local wine with us to dinner. The first night the steward charged us the corkage fee and did not charge us from then on. Of course we gave him a good tip at the end of the cruise. If he had charged me the corkage every night I would not have had a problem with it.

[lisaandrich]

We had no problem with the corkage fee. We did order champagne three of the nights and brought in our own local french wines. We were always charged a corkage fee. But that is standard for a cruise lines.

 

The cruisers that were glad that they did not meet any of the posters with negative comments shouldn't be so harsh on us. We raved about the food and the service. But we were misled about the location and view for the race. If we were talking about a few hundred dollars, it wouldn't have mattered. But for $2000.00, it does matter. However we did not complain at the event or on the ship as we still enjoyed ourselves, and did not want to have a negative impact on others having a good time. However we do have the right to inform others that they should ask a lot of questions about any expensive cruise events offered by Windstar, because they may want to investigate independent arrangements before commiting to the Windstar sponsored event. One passenger gave up his seats in the pit after reading the Windstar literature. Windstar should have been a little more careful in their promotional materials. In fact, a story in the Chicago Tribune which was a Windstar press release, promoting the location as being on the start and finish line, is what caught our attention.