First Star Legend Alaska cruise live-ish.

[stromer]

Thanks for your review. We have never been on Windstar but are considering a July or Aug Alaska cruise. I would like to ask,a few questions about the general cruise experience as compared to the larger cruise ships.

1. Do you know what the Internet fees are?

2. Is there a buffet dining area for lunch and dinner? We sometimes like to save time and not spend 2 hours in the main dining room. Is the buffet in the Veranda/Candles?

3. Is there a laundry onboard?

4. What are the evening shows like?

5. Windstar advertises a water sports platform where various things can be done at no cost. Does that include kayaks or zodiacs in the fiords to get close to the glaciers like you described or are those items excursions?

6. Does the fitness center have much equipment?

Thanks, Rick

[racer8790]

Thanks for your review. We have never been on Windstar but are considering a July or Aug Alaska cruise. I would like to ask,a few questions about the general cruise experience as compared to the larger cruise ships.

 

1. Do you know what the Internet fees are?

 

2. Is there a buffet dining area for lunch and dinner? We sometimes like to save time and not spend 2 hours in the main dining room. Is the buffet in the Veranda/Candles?

 

3. Is there a laundry onboard?

 

4. What are the evening shows like?

 

5. Windstar advertises a water sports platform where various things can be done at no cost. Does that include kayaks or zodiacs in the fiords to get close to the glaciers like you described or are those items excursions?

 

6. Does the fitness center have much equipment?

 

Thanks, Rick

 

 

We are sailing in June Wonders of Alaska and Canada

 

1. Haven’t found any info in this. Going to use my phone in port.

2. In past cruises(on sailing ships). The deck BBQ was buffet all others were in AmphorA .

Lunch in the veranda is buffet or order from a menu

Dinner in Candles is full service as well.

3. Package includes laundry service for both cabin occupants.

6-day cruise package $93.43

7-day cruise package. $109.00

8-day cruise package. $124.57

There is no price for longer then 8 days, don’t know if you double the 7 day price. Must be added first day of cruise

4. In general Windstar doesn’t have the big productions like the larger ships. Again we haven’t been on the Star legend yet. Hopefully someone who is on now can answer.

5. There is a cost for the kayaks and the zodiacs. The kayaks zodiacs are part of the Signature Expeditions in Alaska shore excursions.

6. Not sure about the fitness center equipment as I haven’t been on the Star Legend.

 

We have done larger ships but prefer the smaller ones. We have always had excellent service on Windstar. I hope I have answered some of your questions.

 

 

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[ridethetide]

Thanks for your review. We have never been on Windstar but are considering a July or Aug Alaska cruise. I would like to ask,a few questions about the general cruise experience as compared to the larger cruise ships.

1. Do you know what the Internet fees are?

2. Is there a buffet dining area for lunch and dinner? We sometimes like to save time and not spend 2 hours in the main dining room. Is the buffet in the Veranda/Candles?

3. Is there a laundry onboard?

4. What are the evening shows like?

5. Windstar advertises a water sports platform where various things can be done at no cost. Does that include kayaks or zodiacs in the fiords to get close to the glaciers like you described or are those items excursions?

6. Does the fitness center have much equipment?

Thanks, Rick

 

The following is on their website:

What type of Internet Usage Plans are available?

The Email Plan $60

This plan gives you 200 MB of data to use during your cruise. This plan is recommended for people who will be checking email and doing very limited browsing. The estimated minutes range from 15 to 60.

The Surfing Plan $120

This plan gives you 500 MB of data to use for additional browsing and small file transfers (such as posting pictures to a social media site). The estimated minutes range from 90 to 360 (approximately 5 hours).

 

The Unlimited Plan - MUST BE PURCHASED PRIOR TO SAILING TO QUALIFY

 

Unlimited Internet Pre-Purchase Package

-7 Day Cost $250

-8 Day Cost $280

-9 Day Cost $315

-10 Day Cost $350

-11 Day Cost $385

-14 Day Cost $490

-15 Day Cost $525

-2 devices

-1 ticket issued onboard valid for two devices*

 

Unlimited Internet Purchased Onboard

-7 Day Cost $250

-8 Day Cost $280

-9 Day Cost $315

-10 Day Cost $350

-11 Day Cost $385

-14 Day Cost $490

-15 Day Cost $525

-1 device

-1 ticket issued onboard valid for one device

 

This plan gives you unlimited internet access. You have no worries about how much time you spend on the internet.

How can I get internet access on board?

Guests can purchase Internet Usage Plans prior to their cruise through a Vacation Planner or on board at Reception. These plans can be used on personal laptops or smart devises that are Wi-Fi enabled.

Computers for public use are available on board.

 

* Please note: if you want to purchase an internet package for two devices you must purchase the package at least 7 days PRIOR to boarding. Once you are on board internet packages are only available for one device. Please contact a Vacation Planner if you have questions.

 

If you do not want to spend two hours eating dinner in the dining room, you can get room service.

 

The laundry service is fantastic, and I highly recommend using it.

 

There are usually two duos to provide entertainment. Other than the staff talent show, there are no shows, just music by the duos with dancing.

 

I was told that the sports platform will not be used in Alaska since the water is too cold to have passengers going out unsupervised. You can purchase guided excursions that use the kayaks and zodiacs.

 

The fitness center is perfectly adequate for a ship of 200 passengers. There are free weights, some weight machines, bicycles and treadmills.

 

You will never go back to the big ships after sailing with Windstar.

[O2B@Cagain]

Is there a buffet dining area for lunch and dinner? We sometimes like to save time and not spend 2 hours in the main dining room. Is the buffet in the Veranda/Candles?....

What are the evening shows like?

 

Thanks, Rick

 

If you don't want to spend time dining, this may not be the right ship for you. No dinner buffet except for the deck BBQ. There are no fancy-schmancy shows like on the big boats. There is some music, as people have mentioned, but it starts after dinner. I think Wind Star is a "slow down and enjoy" kind of experience.

[new_cruiser]

1. Ridethetide gave the prices. I didn't get a package. Those who have say it is pretty slow.

 

2. As others have replied, there is no dinner buffet. There is room service & at dinner time, you can order anything on the dinner menu. I did that on the day we were in Endicott Arm as I wanted to watch the scenery. Someone else was just getting sandwiches in the Yacht Club for an early light dinner.

 

Usually, only the Veranda (buffet plus some items you order table service) is open for breakfast & dinner. Because it has been too cold for most to be willing to eat outside, they have also had Amphora open for breakfast & lunch on this cruise.

 

There have been some issues with service on this cruise - perhaps because they are getting adjusted to that change.

 

3. There is no self service laundry. We get the laundry package. The price is per day (length of your cruise - you can't take it for just part) ~15.57 per day per double occupancy cabin. Half that for solo.

 

 

 

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[7continentKaren]

We did not buy the laundry package and traveled with a 24 in bag each. There is a drying line in the shower so I did hand laundry for small stuff every other day. There are no formal nights so your casual clothes are fine all day long.

 

It took a while for us to find some of the amenities but the Yacht Club has a continental breakfast every day, small sandwiches and desserts at noon until 6 pm. We snagged a couple of sandwiches occasionally to take ashore for long excursions. We were on for 10 days in the Canaries. The Yacht Club is a jewel. You can get drinks there also, including Coke.

 

All non-alcoholic beverages are included. Generally you get them either at a meal or at one of the bars. We did not buy the booze package as we are both on meds that limit how much alcohol we can have. We just bought wine from time to time. We did not bring any on board though we could have, as it turns out. Honestly, with all the other stuff you are carrying, taking wine just seemed like too much trouble.

 

Frankly, I doubt you will be so busy that you want to skip sit down dinner. You can choose whether you want to sit with others or alone. Really, sitting with others is your only entertainment for the evening so I recommend it. On Breeze, the head waiter kept forgetting our request for him to seat people at our table. I don't know the solution to that but it was annoying.

 

In our case, the port talk before dinner was so short that it was nearly worthless. I really was disappointed that we had NO info on the ports.

 

If you bring a lanyard, staff will punch a hole in your cruise card so you can wear it on shore or in house. You do not need a drivers license for id to come and go.

 

I did not use their wifi. There were a number of places at each port for free wifi. For our up coming cruise from Alaska to Japan, I may just have to buy a package as I dread coming home to a week's worth of unread emails.

 

We brought books and magazines (trying to read them and ditch them) but the ship has a nice library where they have books of theirs to check out and shelves for trading paperbacks. They also have puzzles though no one on our ship did one.

[milepig]

I can’t imagine that the dinner crew wouldn’t accommodate a request for a quick dinner. Just ask and I’m sure they’ve bring food quickly.

 

The other option is always room service whoch, as others have said includes the dinner menu. You need to have it delivered to your cabin but there’s nothing against talking in up top of the weather is nice. Or the Yacht Club has sandwiches. However, even if tired we go down to dinner and enjoy being served.

[sb44]

1. Ridethetide gave the prices. I didn't get a package. Those who have say it is pretty slow.

 

2. As others have replied, there is no dinner buffet. There is room service & at dinner time, you can order anything on the dinner menu. I did that on the day we were in Endicott Arm as I wanted to watch the scenery. Someone else was just getting sandwiches in the Yacht Club for an early light dinner.

 

Usually, only the Veranda (buffet plus some items you order table service) is open for breakfast & dinner. Because it has been too cold for most to be willing to eat outside, they have also had Amphora open for breakfast & lunch on this cruise.

 

There have been some issues with service on this cruise - perhaps because they are getting adjusted to that change.

 

3. There is no self service laundry. We get the laundry package. The price is per day (length of your cruise - you can't take it for just part) ~15.57 per day per double occupancy cabin. Half that for solo.

 

 

 

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This has all gotten a little off topic. Would love to hear abou zodiaks, excursions, general impressions of the itinerary. Looks like the weather was pretty chilly.

 

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[new_cruiser]

The weather has been pretty cool/cold, overcast and often rainy. Juneau was our only sunny day and the sun came out for a bit in Endicott Arm. With proper clothing, the weather hasn't interfered with my enjoyment of Alaska. Some miss the sun.

 

Wildlife sitings have been great.

Yesterday, in Misty Fjord, all the excursions saw a brown bear. One of them was visible from the ship though far away if you didn't have binoculars.

 

There was also a whale in the fjord - we saw it on the zodiac returning from kayaking and one was around the ship for a while.

 

Enjoying the unusual itinerary - especially the smaller ports. The Stikine jet boat out of Wrangell and the river excursion out of Haines had good wildlife too. (I wasn't on those, but heard from others.)

 

I'm traveling solo & the maitre d has been good about filling sharing tables.

 

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[new_cruiser]

There are no evening "shows" other than the crew shows but there are some evening activities. There was liar's club one evening and music trivia another.

 

There is one duo on board. On our Med cruise, there were two - one playing in Star Bar & on in Compass Rose. I guess there is only one because with the cold weather, it doesn't make sense to have a group outside in the Star Bar.

 

The expedition staff gives late afternoon or before dinner talks most days, usually giving more info about what we saw that day or will see the next. Those have been very good.

 

The sports platform hasn't been open. They use the side docks in the marina area for tendering and loading zodiacs. There is probably too much liability in letting people do independent activity at Alaska sea temperatures.

 

The fitness center has treadmills, two bikes, free weights and some weight machines. I used it on the crossing.

 

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[new_cruiser]

We had a Tlingit dance group that came on board to perform and we have a indigenous speaker later today.

 

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[sb44]

We had a Tlingit dance group that came on board to perform and we have a indigenous speaker later today.

 

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Thanks so much for the updates and info. I've been following the itinerary and weather so knew it was cold. Would never think they could use sports deck there. Way too cold year round. The excursions sound great. I was curious since they are the most expensive I've seen. What did you do in Sitka? Still trying to decide that one. Again, thanks so much for taking the time to pass on your experience.

 

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[new_cruiser]

It's hard to make excursion recommendations because the experiences will change as the season progresses.

 

People saw a lot of wildlife on the Haines river excursion & on the Stikine River excursion out of Wrangell. The river float trip out of Haines was cancelled due to too much wind; the powered boat trip went & the guide was able to dwell in a spot for wildlife so that sounds better. People I spoke to who took glacier flights were happy with them. That didn't interest me.

 

For a culture experience, the one in Metlakatla was very good. The one in Haines less so - the Sheldon museum in town gave more of a feel for native culture. One couple who went to the culture excursions in Metlakatla & Prince Rupert felt the Prince Rupert one was the best of the trip. Another preferred the Metlakatla one. I don't think you would go wrong with either one.

 

I went on the rain forest hike in Prince Rupert (Butze Rapids) and thoroughly enjoyed it. The guide and environment there were great. If you are up to a 2 mile hike with some up and down, I recommend it.

 

I went on all the kayak trips and enjoyed all of them. It is hard to recommend one over the others because wildlife sightings will vary.

 

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[new_cruiser]

In Sitka, I didn't do an excursion. I went to the National Park to do the totem trail, then the visitor's center, then Sheldon Jackson museum. Then I called Sunset taxi for a ride to Fortress of the Bears (~$17). He waited for me because it takes about 30 minutes or less. Then he took me to the Raptor Center and we agreed when he would pick me up. I was the only visitor there at the time so one of the staff gave me a personal tour. Then the taxi took me back to the ship in time to see a dance performance by the local tribe.

 

The dock is some miles from town; a free shuttle takes you to the center of town. A pleasant walk along the water front brings you to Sheldon Jackson Museum and the the Visitor Center & start of the totem trail. It is then a short walk to the Raptor Center. That would be a more efficient order than what I did, but it was raining a bit and I wanted to do the trail before the rain got heavier.

 

Fortress of the Bears is out of town so you would want a taxi there. The driver was great. Very informative. On the way back, we saw a whale spout. There was no traffic going are way so he waited a few minutes for the whale to dive so we could see more. It was probably a grey whale.

 

 

 

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[sb44]

Thank you so much for all of this great information. It's a great help. We leave home a week from today and are more than ready!

 

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[7continentKaren]

I thought I read a report that there were exhaust fumes in the cabins on Legend during some rocky weather. Can anyone verify that? We are booked for the Sept 10, crossing by the Aleutians from Anchorage to Japan. 7 days at sea. We had exhaust in our cabin on Breeze recently and the captain said it happened all the time when seas were bouncy. That was more annoying than the bounce.

 

Thanks for any info on that. I am surprised to hear that windows were leaking. My impression of Breeze is that the $18 mil Windstar spent on the 3 sisters was mostly cosmetic.

 

Our food was only mediocre. How about Legend? And did you have many lecturers?

 

Thanks!

[new_cruiser]

I didn't smell any exhaust and I'm pretty sensitive to that sort of thing. I was in a cabin on deck 4 (lowest cabin deck) not the aft most but not far from it. I didn't hear anyone else complaining of it either. We had one pretty rough sea day in Alaska. Some bouncy days on the crossing, but not as rough.

 

Food was great. Service was great on the crossing. There were some issues with service at meals at times in Alaska - mostly that was fine but not perfect. It was a full ship, but we didn't have that issue when Star Legend was full on our cruise last spring. It might be due partly to adjusting to running Amphora for breakfast & lunch in parallel with the Veranda.

 

There were two lectures a sea day on the crossing by the lecturer they had on for the whole Asia season and short presentation s to longer ones by the expedition team most days in Alaska. The last sea day, they did two. I don't recall if they did 2 on the other sea day.

 

There were some balcony cabins that had an issue with water coming in on a day with heavy rain. No idea whether it was a weather stripping issue or user error. We had a lot of rain last spring in the Med & didn't hear of a leakage issue. We were in a balcony that cruise.

 

 

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[sb44]

I didn't smell any exhaust and I'm pretty sensitive to that sort of thing. I was in a cabin on deck 4 (lowest cabin deck) not the aft most but not far from it. I didn't hear anyone else complaining of it either. We had one pretty rough sea day in Alaska. Some bouncy days on the crossing, but not as rough.

 

Food was great. Service was great on the crossing. There were some issues with service at meals at times in Alaska - mostly that was fine but not perfect. It was a full ship, but we didn't have that issue when Star Legend was full on our cruise last spring. It might be due partly to adjusting to running Amphora for breakfast & lunch in parallel with the Veranda.

 

There were two lectures a sea day on the crossing by the lecturer they had on for the whole Asia season and short presentation s to longer ones by the expedition team most days in Alaska. The last sea day, they did two. I don't recall if they did 2 on the other sea day.

 

There were some balcony cabins that had an issue with water coming in on a day with heavy rain. No idea whether it was a weather stripping issue or user error. We had a lot of rain last spring in the Med & didn't hear of a leakage issue. We were in a balcony that cruise.

 

 

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New_cruiser, your posts have been so welcome and informative. We are in packing stages and just saw the Windstar Alaska album on Facebook so a couple of questions. Looks like zodiak and kayakers had on foul weather gear. Was this provided or did everyone bring their own? We are Floridians! Dinner dress- was it pretty much same as daytime dress, warm and casual? Evening was always a little dressier on other Windstar cruises but wondering if need to bother with sport coat or dressy tops. Trying to pack as little as possible for 3 weeks in cold! We are in the 90's here.

😎 Again, thanks. You have been a gem!

 

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[new_cruiser]

Windstar provided rain pants to wear over over your pants during the kayak & zodiac expeditions. They also provided waterproof lined gloves. They didn't provide anything else.

 

The shop had waterproof jackets with hoods that you could buy. They had the yellow lined ones like the expedition team wore and some others.

 

I wore an unlined waterproof shell with hood. Under that, I had a wool flannel shirt, a wool stocking cap and a warm scarf. For kayaking, I wore a t-shirt Under that and, for zodiac, a turtle-neck. That was plenty warm enough for me.

 

Because you are wearing a life jacket, you can't adjust your torso layers much. With what I wore, I could adjust the scarf putting it over my face when the zodiac was going fast, I could adjust how much the fleece was buttoned or take off the hat and stow it in my pocket.

 

My fingers are short so I didn't wear their gloves. I've never found waterproof gloves that fit me well - there is always a lot of extra finger hanging pas my finger tips. I wore wool fingerless gloves that have a mitten end to flip over the fingers. That way, I could expose my finger tips to operate my compact camera and flip the mitten top over them the rest of the time. They got wet on the outside but still kept my hands warm enough.

 

 

 

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[new_cruiser]

The gloves are like this:

https://www.amazon.com/LETHMIK-Knitted-Fingerless-Texting-Mittens/dp/B01MATFZAB

 

 

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[new_cruiser]

Most people wore the gloves that Windstar provided and seemed fine wit them.

 

The waterproof rain shell that I wore was the same thing I'd wear some place warm like Florida for rain. I just adjusting what I layer under it for warmth. The shell is a waterproof breathable fabric, e.g. Gortex.

 

In addition to what I mentioned above, I had a full zipper fleece jacket (Columbia, less than $40) which could be worn alone or layered under the rain shell.

 

I had wool socks (not super thick ones) and waterproof low-top hiking shoes. There's a thread on the Alaska board about waterproof shoes.

 

That's it for what I took for weather protection.

 

 

 

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[new_cruiser]

People varied in what they wore for dinner. Some did wear dressy stuff. Some more casual.

 

Windstar says no jeans or t-shirts for dinner. On board they also said no tennis shoes, but the on-line FAQ doesn't say that.

 

Some nights, I wore my black jeans and saw others doing so. Most nights I wore slacks or khakis. (I've never understood why, in the pants hierarchy, khakis rate as more dressy than jeans but I try to comply.) I wore a turtle-neck, polo shirt or a collar-less shirt a bit nicer than a t-shirt - usually the same thing I wore during the day.

 

I only had brought the hiking shoes, Brooks Ghost running shoes I wear for the gym and New Balance running shoes that I wear for most other things. I generally didn't feel like wearing the hiking shoes in the evening after wearing them all day in port so I sometimes wore the New Balance shoes to dinner. After all, they aren't "tennis" shoes, they are running shoes. (And I don't think they should announce a more restricted dress code on board than on the Windstar website.)

 

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[sb44]

People varied in what they wore for dinner. Some did wear dressy stuff. Some more casual.

 

Windstar says no jeans or t-shirts for dinner. On board they also said no tennis shoes, but the on-line FAQ doesn't say that.

 

Some nights, I wore my black jeans and saw others doing so. Most nights I wore slacks or khakis. (I've never understood why, in the pants hierarchy, khakis rate as more dressy than jeans but I try to comply.) I wore a turtle-neck, polo shirt or a collar-less shirt a bit nicer than a t-shirt - usually the same thing I wore during the day.

 

I only had brought the hiking shoes, Brooks Ghost running shoes I wear for the gym and New Balance running shoes that I wear for most other things. I generally didn't feel like wearing the hiking shoes in the evening after wearing them all day in port so I sometimes wore the New Balance shoes to dinner. After all, they aren't "tennis" shoes, they are running shoes. (And I don't think they should announce a more restricted dress code on board than on the Windstar website.)

 

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Again, thank you so much for all the detail. I am a serial overpacker so this will help cut it down to manageable.

 

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[racer8790]

People varied in what they wore for dinner. Some did wear dressy stuff. Some more casual.

 

Windstar says no jeans or t-shirts for dinner. On board they also said no tennis shoes, but the on-line FAQ doesn't say that.

 

Some nights, I wore my black jeans and saw others doing so. Most nights I wore slacks or khakis. (I've never understood why, in the pants hierarchy, khakis rate as more dressy than jeans but I try to comply.) I wore a turtle-neck, polo shirt or a collar-less shirt a bit nicer than a t-shirt - usually the same thing I wore during the day.

 

I only had brought the hiking shoes, Brooks Ghost running shoes I wear for the gym and New Balance running shoes that I wear for most other things. I generally didn't feel like wearing the hiking shoes in the evening after wearing them all day in port so I sometimes wore the New Balance shoes to dinner. After all, they aren't "tennis" shoes, they are running shoes. (And I don't think they should announce a more restricted dress code on board than on the Windstar website.)

 

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Thank you, we are in the packing mode as well and wondering what the evening dress would be like.

 

 

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[kimiata]

We are just off the Legend after 38 days (Osaka to Vancouver) and if there were exhaust fumes I would have definitely noticed. We were aft on deck 4.

 

To the poster who asked about Kenai Fjords: We have done the Kenai Fjords day trip in the past, and in my opinion you don’t need to do it if you do this cruise. We woke up in front of Aialik Glacier and spent the whole day there, as opposed to the (maybe) half hour we spent on the day cruise, much of it jostling for position to try to get pictures.