Specialty coffee freak

[Petoonya]

I'm an Oceania regular where cappuccino and specialty coffees are complimentary and available any old time. Anything like that on Windstar?

[Strenz]

Yes, the Yacht Cub serves lovely espresso and capuccino all day. I only drink espresso coffee and it is good. Happy Sailing 

[Petoonya]

Thanks so much Strenz! One last question off topic. I'm on Wind Spirit next week 11/26. Know I can't check in until 1pm but is it possible to have our bags inspected and taken onboard earlier than that?

[Strenz]

You are in for a  great cruise. About the bags I do not think so. I think  you can  them off at one, go sign in and then leave the ship not forget sail away time. Happy Sailing. 

[CruiseOrLand]

The yacht club service counter (not, "the lounge") closes at 6PM. All the restaurants serve espresso/milk Italian style coffees, although I suspect that some of the machines are automated. I happened to notice on the Star Legend in October/November 2018 that the drip coffee was better in the Yacht Club than it was in the two big restaurants.

 

Another purpose of the Yacht Club is to provide continental breakfast an hour before The Veranda opens, and snacks like small sandwiches and yogurt parfaits throughout the afternoon. It's a special case, but our many immigration formalities made it convenient to go for continental breakfast several times, to get an early start. Another reason for the sandwiches is the occasional tour that gets back barely in time for lunch. (Not complaining, just talking about the Yacht Club.)

[minidonuts85]

Glad to hear this! I do enjoy a cappuccino instead of a dessert sometimes.

 

Have a great cruise Petoonya and would love to hear about it when you return! We are looking at Tahiti for 2021 once the dates are released.

[6rugrats]

There is no Yacht Club on the Windspirit.

[CruiseOrLand]

I should have mentioned in my previous post that the Yacht Club (on the Star Legend, anyway) has four bottles of flavored coffee syrups. They include Vanilla and Hazlenut. I mention this partly to stimulate affirmative demand. They aren't easy to spot, behind the counter. But watch for the possibility that your server isn't familiar with the concept of how to use the syrup!

[Strenz]

Yes there is on the Wind Spirit it is called The Yacht Club Cafe. I think it must be where the casino used to be. Happy Sailing

[milepig]

17 hours ago, Petoonya said:

Thanks so much Strenz! One last question off topic. I'm on Wind Spirit next week 11/26. Know I can't check in until 1pm but is it possible to have our bags inspected and taken onboard earlier than that?

On the Spirit right now. They’ll take your bags at least by a little after 12. The issue is that there isn’t really very much to do very close and they line you up in the run outside a gate. At 1 they let you through a Long area lines with benches and then you reach checkin. Why they can’t set up the first check s little later and let you into the bench area to wait  remains a mystery. 

[milepig]

Just now, Strenz said:

Yes there is on the Wind Spirit it is called The Yacht Club Cafe. I think it must be where the casino used to be. Happy Sailing

 

The Spirit still has the casino. And there is no “Yacht Club Cafe”. Just the early morning set up by the pool bar with bulk coffee. I’m sitting there right now. 

[Petoonya]

Thanks Milepig! Hope that you're enjoying your cruise! How is the weather? And that means no cappuccino etc available?

If time permits let us know your impressions. Thanks for posting.

[milepig]

1 hour ago, Petoonya said:

Thanks Milepig! Hope that you're enjoying your cruise! How is the weather? And that means no cappuccino etc available?

If time permits let us know your impressions. Thanks for posting.

The Spirit is looking good. Service mostly top notch with bad breakfast service this morning. (It happens). I think book the ship tours ahead of time. They fill up and WS seems to be using most of the available operators so choice on your own  is slim. The 

smaller islands don’t even really have taxis. 

 

The weather has been amazing for “rainy season”. The deck has been wet most mornings, but other than a passing shower daytime had been dry. 

 

They serve specialty coffee in the dining rooms and I think when the bar is open, but I’m not sure about that. 

 

All in all, I’ve never been this relaxed in my life. 

Edited November 21, 2018 by milepig

[Strenz]

Sorry, on the Wind Spirit  deck  plan it shows the The Yacht Club Cafe, obviously then it has not been converted yet. When I was on the  Spirit  for WS first back to Tahiti cruise we could get capuccino because I do not drink regular coffee and I remember it being good. Milepig hope you are enjoying the cruise we adored it. Beaitiful part of the world.I loved that we could speak French there, simply great. Happy Sailing

[ohioelk]

Was on Spirit in September.  I always my morning pastry at the pool service area.  I could always get espresso. You just need to ask one of the servers setting up in Veranda and they will bring you one.  Sometimes it might take a few minutes, but it was never a problem.

[milepig]

9 hours ago, Strenz said:

Sorry, on the Wind Spirit  deck  plan it shows the The Yacht Club Cafe, obviously then it has not been converted yet. When I was on the  Spirit  for WS first back to Tahiti cruise we could get capuccino because I do not drink regular coffee and I remember it being good. Milepig hope you are enjoying the cruise we adored it. Beaitiful part of the world.I loved that we could speak French there, simply great. Happy Sailing

 

So it does. I think they use the same plan for the a Spirit and Star, and I think I read that the Star Casino is gone?  In any case it is still very much in place on the Spirit. 

[Petoonya]

So weird Milepig. You probably got a notice too but a  few months ago Windstar sent me notification that the casino would not be in use during our cruise. No loss, Guess at least in the short term they changed their minds. Please keep the updates coming if you have the time particularly the pesky weather. Don't use up all the good days OK? 17 days November and December we're tempting fate. We did most of out tours independently with the exception of Fakarava (not enough people for Ato to commit) Did Tahaa, Huahine, Bora Bora and Moorea on our own. Most islands we do twice. How about you what have you done? I'm not able to look at your itinerary. If you did Tahiti Wifi is it working ok?

Thanks for all your time! Have a blast!

[milepig]

2 hours ago, Petoonya said:

So weird Milepig. You probably got a notice too but a  few months ago Windstar sent me notification that the casino would not be in use during our cruise. No loss, Guess at least in the short term they changed their minds. Please keep the updates coming if you have the time particularly the pesky weather. Don't use up all the good days OK? 17 days November and December we're tempting fate. We did most of out tours independently with the exception of Fakarava (not enough people for Ato to commit) Did Tahaa, Huahine, Bora Bora and Moorea on our own. Most islands we do twice. How about you what have you done? I'm not able to look at your itinerary. If you did Tahiti Wifi is it working ok?

Thanks for all your time! Have a blast!

 

casino absolutely open 

 

We’re on day 1 of Bora Bota. The 4x4 tour was great. We are on the 11 day. Fakarava Blue Lagoon was wonderful. Rangiroa we just did the glass bottom boat and actually had a good time. Tahaa was the vanilla and pearl farm, very nice. Raitea we did squat. Only three days left. Weather is still amazing. 

 

If i were more relaxed I’d be a puddle. 

[Petoonya]

Thrilled about your weather Milepig! What a nice break in terms of enjoyment/relaxation.

[milepig]

Still in Bora Bora. Beach BBQ dinner day. We were joined by the Paul Gauguin this morning. First ship, passenger, freight or ferry, that we’ve seen since leaving Papeete over a week ago. 

[milepig]

Full thanksgiving dinner last night. There was also pumpkin pie. 

[avalong]

Milepeg,  I'm VERY surprised that you saw the Paul Gauguin. Windstar and PG usually manage to completely avoid each other. Goodness knows there are enough islands that they could easily do so.

[milepig]

1 hour ago, avalong said:

Milepeg,  I'm VERY surprised that you saw the Paul Gauguin. Windstar and PG usually manage to completely avoid each other. Goodness knows there are enough islands that they could easily do so.

Yeah. She wasn’t on the one cruise ship locater I checked, but we saw her outside the reef about 10 last night and she was anchored this morning. 

[Petoonya]

I’m a-comin’ Milepig! At LAX now waiting for flight to Papeete this afternoon. Have read so many of your posts would love to meet but alas. Thanks for all the good words about Wind Spirit and keep the skies clear for us. What cabin are you in and are you pleased with it?

[milepig]

We’re in 210. Ending tomorrow. Have a safe trip. I am about to post a thread about bad service at the end of the journey casting a cloud over the trip. This is not the first time this has happened to us. It’s like half the staff has disappeared. Still very hot here. Much more so that he beginning of the trip.