Canapes

[Traval]

When on our last cruise --Tenerife to Lisbon on the Legend in 2016 we rarely saw a canape served in the lounge before dinner.

On previous cruises we have always looked forward to these with our pre-dinner drink. Although I did mention it to someone in authority they still never appeared.Are they gone for good or were we just unlucky on that particular cruise?

We are on the Spanish Symphony later this year on the Surf and I will be disappointed not to have a little delicious something to nibble on with my G&T .

I also see that they have stopped the 'special event' trips. We had a wonderful dinner served by the beach in Tunisia in Bedouin tents with local entertainment when on that Legend cruise.It's such a shame they didn't continue with these.

[milepig]

Special events seem to be mostly gone.

 

Canapes - they were always hit or miss, and when they were present you'd see a server maybe once, or they'd go down the other side of the room and then disappear, never to return. It isn't something I count on.

[Misty Morning]

On our recent Wind Surf cruise, we saw the canapés 2 evenings at the Compass Rose (we never had pre dinner drinks at the Lounge). Milepig is right, sometimes they bring them, sometimes they don’t. In both cases for us, it was a one tray affair and there were no seconds. Take them while they’re hot, they go fast

[milepig]

Those of use who are WS veterans know the routine down pat, and there is certainly a lot of cost cutting going on. Prices keeping going up, bennies go down - all the way from canapes, to drink package dilution only 18 months after the new packages were announced, to fewer booking incentives - shore events, food choices reduced. On a recent cruise the pre-printed menus at breakfast always had dishes list as coming with sides of potatoes, but there weren't any on the entire cruise. On another the fruit selection got sparser and sparser with each day until we were down to canned stone fruit (apricots or peaches, can't recall which). Stupid things like the little glass jars of jams got down to one type, then ran out completely and were replaced with little peel off the top Denny's style. There are reports of the coffee machine in the Yacht Club on the Pride (and others?) being MIA and the food selection up there grim. Death by a thousand cuts.  I guess they have to pay for those upcoming lengthenings somehow, but after 15+ itins we're thinking of jumping ship (pun intended). So much is still great - the cabin crews superb, but now we have to sort of beg for a new bar of soap. One cruiser reported they ran out of kleenex.

[Traval]

Oh,Milepig, this sounds disappointing.This will be a sixth Windstar Cruise for us,three on the Surf,one on the Star and the last one on the Motor yacht Legend.This summer we'll be back on the Surf and have really been looking forward to this cruise especially as I shall be celebrating my birthday on the day we are in Malaga.I do hope we won't be finding many little things to gripe about as we have really enjoyed the sailing yachts in the past.My husband loves to be up on deck for breakfast and we have always enjoyed the dinners

We have had some wonderful land based trips over the last years including four trips to New Zealand,a country we can't get enough of, but thought it was time to return to a Mediterranean cruise.I do hope we don't regret it as with airfares and pre-cruise hotel,bar bill and excursions this is not a cheap summer holiday.

[Strenz]

Hi, We were on the Surf for two weeks in the Caribbean in January. I wrote a review. Admittedly we really like WS and depending how one counts this was either our 23 or 25. I have noticed cost cutting measures the ones I don’t care about are: luggage tags, no more little pouches, drink prices /packages ( We do not drink enough for a package ) the price of drinks and wines are very fair, we like the choices. I do think it is too bad they do not do the special events any more in Europe. We experienced some splendid ones. We still received the WS tote bags. We still received twice a week new bath products more than ample plus they are of high quality, the laundry service is great and continues to be reasonable. I agree the canapes are sparse my question is why serve them when there is not enough to go around and nibbles while in the lounge cocktail hour is a nice touch. OBC has also become harder to get, that is annoying. If you asked for a price reduction as advertised you lose that. Seattle office is still not consistent with first line service and information. But,we continue to love the onboard exoerience.

As  mentioned  in my review the food we had is the best we have ever had, I think the food gets better with time. I would also be annoyed with plactic inferior jams but we had them in the little jars, the English brand. I always feel badly about waste with those. Last year in Kotor they put out bowels of the luscious honey at breakfast that the chef bought there. I do not know if they can buy high quality jams and put them out in bowels. I do feel the  cruise prices have really risen. As time goes by the prices can really drop because I watch them like a hawk. By that time too late due to the crazyness of air prices. On some trips I think they are asking  far too much because WS is not like some of the very pricer lines with bulters etc. For that I am grateful. We do not need some poor guy serving us drinks in the water in a tux. We remain very happy with WS obviously. Our only annoyance is smoking for the most part people are very polite but those who are not it is sometimes very hard for the crew to engage with them. Rude is rude.   Great food, wonderful ports, great service, we love the sails, very informal, very civilized. So Traval don’t worry you should have a great time. Life is not perfect but we feel onboard the Surf it remains terrific. We think the Surf is made for the Caribbean and the Med. Happy Sailing. 

[milepig]

59 minutes ago, Strenz said:

Hi, We were on the Surf for two weeks in the Caribbean in January. I wrote a review. Admittedly we really like WS and depending how one counts this was either our 23 or 25. I have noticed cost cutting measures the ones I don’t care about are: luggage tags, no more little pouches, drink prices /packages ( We do not drink enough for a package ) the price of drinks and wines are very fair, we like the choices. I do think it is too bad they do not do the special events any more in Europe. We experienced some splendid ones. We still received the WS tote bags. We still received twice a week new bath products more than ample plus they are of high quality, the laundry service is great and continues to be reasonable. I agree the canapes are sparse my question is why serve them when there is not enough to go around and nibbles while in the lounge cocktail hour is a nice touch. OBC has also become harder to get, that is annoying. If you asked for a price reduction as advertised you lose that. Seattle office is still not consistent with first line service and information. But,we continue to love the onboard exoerience.

As  mentioned  in my review the food we had is the best we have ever had, I think the food gets better with time. I would also be annoyed with plactic inferior jams but we had them in the little jars, the English brand. I always feel badly about waste with those. Last year in Kotor they put out bowels of the luscious honey at breakfast that the chef bought there. I do not know if they can buy high quality jams and put them out in bowels. I do feel the  cruise prices have really risen. As time goes by the prices can really drop because I watch them like a hawk. By that time too late due to the crazyness of air prices. On some trips I think they are asking  far too much because WS is not like some of the very pricer lines with bulters etc. For that I am grateful. We do not need some poor guy serving us drinks in the water in a tux. We remain very happy with WS obviously. Our only annoyance is smoking for the most part people are very polite but those who are not it is sometimes very hard for the crew to engage with them. Rude is rude.   Great food, wonderful ports, great service, we love the sails, very informal, very civilized. So Traval don’t worry you should have a great time. Life is not perfect but we feel onboard the Surf it remains terrific. We think the Surf is made for the Caribbean and the Med. Happy Sailing. 

 

"Drinks in the water" by which I think you mean "by the pool"?? I'd hold out for serving me drinks while I'm in the tub. EEK!

 

Please, everyone, don't get me wrong, WS is still a great experience overall, but there are certainly signs of prices rising with fewer incentives at the same time as cost cutting is happening. I really meant that there may be cruise lines that offer better value for the money and maybe new itins that WS doesn't offer. We had a great time this fall in Tahiti, but were concerned when the Seattle Bean Counters boarded and attended the Motu BBQ with us - as we were leaving I heard one of them ask "wow, that was really lavish, what does this cost us?"

[Strenz]

Hi Milepig, 

I did mean in the water on a beach the man was dressed in a tux with shoes in an ad. I saw many ads on this very up scale cruise line which I can not mention here. I thought it was riduculous and deeming enough to put on my “ never go on “ list. 

I know what you mean cost cutting measures. What I do not understand that there is still a disconnect between Seattle and the onboard experience. It is getting better. Still needs lots of improvements. I warn friends when they call, inevitably they say I know  what you mean. For example they had a very nice lady selling cruises from Seattle on my most recent cruise and she told me without doubt,  positive etc. etc. The Surf  would not be going to Malta in 2020, I was seriously disappointed then yesterday voila there it was 9/28 /20 Malta. Seriously happy now  but for 10 days the price is out of this world. I am now on watch duty. Agree Tahiti was magnificient. I would not call the Motu experience lavish but simply wonderful. Well Happy Sailing to you. 

[Traval]

Right Strenz and Milepig,  I shall go with a positive outlook and enjoy myself.I'll try to ignore anything which doesn't quite come up to scratch and focus on all the lovely points about the Surf.

Although we travel quite a bit in Europe , apart from Lisbon,Palma and Barcelona all the other ports will be new to us and exciting to discover.

 I guess I'll have to start thinking soon about what shore excursions and activities will suit us given that I am sure in early July it will be baking hot and we won't want to exhaust ourselves.I think the plan will be mornings on shore and rest in the afternoon.

Fifty years ago I could lie out and happily bake in the hot sun but now of course we are so mindful of the risks involved in doing that and I just can't take the midday heat anymore.

[Bleu Azur]

Thank you Strenz and Milepig, this positions us to have realistic expectations, and putting the focus on

the goodffod, the service, and the extraordinary experience to be sailing and getting close to these remote locations.

Looking forward to the March 30th cruise from St.Maarten , last one before they head back TA to Europe. 

Suzanne  

[Misty Morning]

We just got back from the Wind Surf last Saturday.  While there are some cuts, the overall experience remains the same and this is what’s important.  Here are some thoughts, some positive, some negative.  Positive: Food choices at breakfast and lunch are still as good and varied.  Food quality excellent (eh! can’t beat raisin bread French toast with Canadian maple syrup)  Some negative:  the poor quality of the orange juice on this cruise.  We have been had freshly squeezed orange juice on prior cruises but the one being served on this one was some watered down (with too much ice) tasteless version of it.  And while we are on the subject of oranges, it seems the freshly peeled orange slices on buffet have disappeared totally whereas they were on almost every morning in the past (they did have grapefruit slices twice and they were delicious).  Negative: Changes to drink package changes as highlighted in another post of mine; Negative: the elimination of the Tender shore station which had water, iced tea, and cookies.  But finally contrary to Milepig’s comments, we ordered breakfast from menu and asked for whatever sides we wanted and it would be plated for us;  we did not experience the shortage of little glass jars of jam in any favors(we all had them) despite the boat being full; we used both coffee machines at Veranda and Yacht Club (all in working order… and yes the lattes are better at Yacht Club) and we felt food selection at Yacht Club was good although we only used once in afternoon (had sandwiches and cupcakes).  I will be posting an in-depth review shortly.

[Traval]

Oh, have they really got rid of the tender stations?This was always a welcome sight when returning from a hot tiring traipse around town. What is it like now?

[Misty Morning]

Traval,

 

yes, they are gone, the only things left are a few sofas under small tent and a place to distribute and collect towels. No drinks, no cookies, at least when we were there.

[Strenz]

I do not remember which had cookies but I remember most had water and ice tea. Happy Sailing.

[milepig]

2 hours ago, Misty Morning said:

Traval,

 

yes, they are gone, the only things left are a few sofas under small tent and a place to distribute and collect towels. No drinks, no cookies, at least when we were there.

My recent data point is the Spirit in French Polynesia. I’m not sure it was all ports but on at least a couple hit days we had water and iced tea, I don’t ever remember cookies. If you get off ship first and/or return late it will probably already be broken down as  it’s usually “last tender and the let’s go” mode. 

[minidonuts85]

We were on the 12/29 sailing of the Surf and had cookies, water and iced tea at the tender station on Jost Van Dyke (on 1/1/19). Didn't see cookies at any other tender stations but had water and iced tea and wet towel/clean towel boxes.

Edited February 14, 2019 by minidonuts85

[new_cruiser]

2 hours ago, milepig said:

My recent data point is the Spirit in French Polynesia. I’m not sure it was all ports but on at least a couple hit days we had water and iced tea, I don’t ever remember cookies. If you get off ship first and/or return late it will probably already be broken down as  it’s usually “last tender and the let’s go” mode. 

Perhaps it depends on whether the port allows it. Last summer in Alaska, I don't recall even seeing a tent. Certainly no drinks & water station there. But on the kayak expeditions, the safety boat distributed hot cocoa & cookies which was very nice.

 

This January, in Panama & Costa Rica, there was iced tea and cold water set up in most ports (sometimes in a shaded area with a table already there & sometimes under a Windstar tent).

[dandee2]

Yes, price have gone way up but to be fair

- Our first WS cruise (and first cruise) was in Nov. 2012. It was right after the new ownership. Price was around 1000$CA on the WindSurf in the Caribean. Canadian dollar was at par then.

Fast forward to 2019: Exchange rate is now close to 1.35$CA to 1$US.

No Med. cruise for us.

[new_cruiser]

On 2/13/2019 at 9:30 AM, Strenz said:

 OBC has also become harder to get, that is annoying. If you asked for a price reduction as advertised you lose that. Seattle office is still not consistent with first line service and information. . 

 

The price assurance policy has always, as far as I've seen, said that if you choose to get a price reduction, you lose any inclusions that went with the old price and receive any that go with the new price. That seems fair to me. The price reduction we took saved us far more than the OBC that we gave up to do it.

 

We do get a good amount of OBC from our travel agent on Windstar cruises - enough on the last couple that we didn't have much of a bill at the end. 

 

On 2/13/2019 at 9:30 AM, Strenz said:

 I do feel the  cruise prices have really risen. As time goes by the prices can really drop because I watch them like a hawk. By that time too late due to the crazyness of air prices. 

Prices seem to have shot up really high on some of their cruises (e.g. the European ones) while on others have stayed relatively reasonable (e.g. Caribbean and Panama Costa Rica).  I've booked a Star Clipper cruise for Thailand in April as I've wanted to try them for a long time. I also looked at them for the cruise we want to do next January in the Caribbean and they cost way more than Windstar there. On the other hand, for a Med cruise such as Greek Isles, Star Clipper fares are way less than Windstar.

 

I book if the price is something I'm willing to pay and then I watch for sales to get the price adjusted under the price adjustment policy. Then I don't have to wait to book air. On my Pacific crossing/Alaska cruise & our Panama/Costa Rica cruise, there were significant price drops that we received. On the latter, there was some further price reduction after the end of the price adjustment, but I didn't feel bad about missing those - the ship was already pretty full at that point so some categories were sold out and I expect not much room selection if you waited to book that late. The price on our 2017 Med cruise never went on sale. 

 

I was surprised to find that several people we talked to on our last cruise didn't know that there was a price assurance policy and didn't check for a price drop. 

[Strenz]

I also think for the most part the prices for Caribbean Cruises are fair. I just got a very fair price for 1/18/20 14 days and signed up, good thing now it is 300 more per person. We have cruised with far too much OBC ( we hardly drink more than 2 glasses of alcohol a day ) and we are not tour people in the Caribbean and we are not shoppers. Also, We have sailed with none. We are looking at the Surf going to Malta in 9/20, $5199 pp 10 days I think that is a lot. I did see the same one in 2019 go down, going to wait it out. It really is a game this pricing. Similar to airline miles and upgrades. Way of the world. Ugh! Happy Sailing

[Misty Morning]

The price of our most recent cruise was the lowest we ever paid for any one of our 7 Windstar cruises (all in the Caribbean).  When I see the current flash fare fares for Caribbean cruises in March at $1,299 for one week and $2,099 for 2 weeks, this is as low as you’ll ever see in for the Caribbean at peak time in March. At these prices your are more than 3 times lower than Seabourn.  I agree however that prices for Europe are steeper as the routes are more intensive thus require more fuel and port charges are much more expensive than in the Caribbean.

[new_cruiser]

5 hours ago, Strenz said:

I also think for the most part the prices for Caribbean Cruises are fair. I just got a very fair price for 1/18/20 14 days and signed up, good thing now it is 300 more per person. .... Happy Sailing

 

We might be on the same sailing! We booked Wind Surf 1/18/20 14 days. The price is up around $300 pp on that one from when we booked last month. Are you on that one or on Star Legend?

 

We booked right after we got back from Costa Rica to get the Welcome Back discount.  It's the first time we've been able to use that. I wonder if the extra 5% off is retained in a price adjustment.

[new_cruiser]

1 hour ago, Misty Morning said:

 I agree however that prices for Europe are steeper as the routes are more intensive thus require more fuel and port charges are much more expensive than in the Caribbean.

Neither of those suggested reasons make sense.

 

The port charges are part of "additional taxes" and aren't included in the cruise fares that I'm comparing. For the 7-day Treasures of the Greek Isles cruises, additional taxes are $196 and for the 7-day Windward Ways and Tabago Cays they are $150 - a pretty negligible difference. For Jewels of the Windward Islands, it is a bit lower - $112 but still a pretty small part of the whole cost.

 

Many of the European cruises don't cover much distance and would be similar to Caribbean cruises in distance covered. Treasures of the Greek Isles fares are some of the highest and that itinerary is pretty compact. Currently $4599 for Cat B. Windward Ways and Tabago Cays in the Caribbean covers a lot larger distance but the fare is less than half the Greek cruise - $2199 for Cat B. The 14-day Star Collector that includes Jewels of the Windward Islands and Windward Ways and Tabago Cays is $3499.

 

Also, Windstar has a greater percentage price difference between it's Caribbean cruises and it's European cruises than some other lines. Star Clippers for instance has much less of a difference which leads to the situation that I mentioned. Star Clipper fares in the Med are much lower than Windstar's, but in the Caribbean it is the reverse. Presumably, any difference in costs between the two regions would affect both of the cruise lines so that can't explain Windstar's pricing. 

 

I think the answer is more about what the market will bear. Several of the 2019 Greek Isles cruises say "Call for Availability" so they appear to be getting bookings at that price. On the other hand, the Caribbean cruises 

[Strenz]

Hi, new_cruiser,

We love the Surf in the Caribbean and the Med. for us it about the sails. We are on the Surf 1/18 for 14 days. We will have to introduce ourselves. My sister used to live in Auburn and she was a nurse manager at Sutter Hospital for years. She lives in Sequim WA now, less heat. Also, a big fan of WS.

My other sister wants to do the Spanish Coast cruise on 10/29/19 8 nights $ 2999 pp, I think that price is crazy and I do think it will go down. She is a Surf fan as well, all in the family. I told her to wait it out. Air in the late fall really  goes down. Good question, I do not know about the welcome back. Someone told me when you change prices you cancel pay $50 pp and reserve again. Never have done that. We got both welcome back alumni 5%. Pricing is a mystery. I know for the Caribbean in the winter from Boston we reserve early because airfares are out of this world the closer one gets. Happy Sailing.

[new_cruiser]

Yes, we are on for 14 days too. We will have to arrange to meet. That seemed to be one of the nicer parts of the 54-day Wind Surf journey. Now that we are retired, the 14-day length works out well for us. 

 

We got both the Yacht Club 5% off and the additional 5% off for Welcome Home (I recalled the wrong name when I called it Welcome Back - booked within 60 days of disembarking from a "qualifying"? cruise). 

 

I've done the repricing twice since they started the $50 re-booking fee. They charged us $50 per person, but they also added $50 of OBC per person so it doesn't really cost you $50 if you would have used the that amount on board anyway. We had $200 of OBC (2 people * 2 re-pricings * $50). If you do the repricing, be sure to check your room number afterwards. They accidentally changed our room assignment due to the cancel/re-book process. I didn't notice it until a month or so later and by that time, we couldn't get our original room back. They were able to change us to the room next to the one we had booked and our TA got them to throw in free laundry so that worked out okay for us. 

 

When we did Spanish Serenade on Star Legend, our cruise never had a price drop. It only went up. One of the Winds was doing Spanish Serenade departing 2 days before our departure and the price on that one did go down. (There was a Tauck tour group on our sailing so that may have helped it book up fully enough to never have a price drop.) I kept seeing the other departure on the sale page, but we had a time constraint so we couldn't make the start date for that cruise. I hope your sister is able to get a price decrease on it.