NEVER AGAIN! Windstar Administration is impossible

[msears101]

HI Zanzibar,

 

I am not piling on here, but wanted to give you another opinion.  I use TAs - and my TA would NEVER tell me to call windstar.  I might call Windstar on my own fruition, but they would never expect it.

 

I  would ditch you TA and find a new one.  Your TA makes a good commission on a windstar booking, they should be prepared put some hours in.

 

All The best.

 

[Newleno]

On 2/15/2019 at 10:48 PM, Zanzibar948 said:

Despite offering wonderful cruises, it is a nightmare trying to deal with Windstar administration - and has been since our first booking 3 years ago. Their booking system was so fraught with errors that my husband swore he would never book with Windstar again....but here we are again on our 4th cruise, and unfortunately we have found it is still riddled with faults.     It is impossible to get a reply from Windstar via email - we live in Australia so phoning them, as our travel agent suggested, is impractical.

 

 The other reason we have lost faith in Windstar is their lack of research when they add new ports/new cruises to their collection. From our experiences, when they try new ports they encounter logistic issues to the detriment of the passengers.

 

Wind Spirit - Tahiti, March 2016      On this occasion their system could not set up our account which meant we were unable to book shore excursions, despite Windstar repeatedly notifying us they had fixed the IT problem.

 

Star Legend - Athens to Dubai, October 2017     This was Windstar's first cruise through Arabia for 3 years. Many logistical problems arose due to poorly organised and incorrectly advertised tours. We know these were out of the control of the Destination Manger who did a superb job dealing with them, even so we felt we had paid an expensive fare to be guinea pigs on a trial cruise. At a passenger forum the endless glitches were recorded to enable Windstar to refine the shore experiences on their future cruises. No compensation was offered by Windstar for being on their learning curve!   One port was so uninteresting the DM said "We're never coming here again!"  For this reason we decided we would never feel confident cruising with Windstar on its first voyage to new ports.

 

Wind Star - Panama and Costa Rica, 2 March 2019     When we booked this cruise we didn't realise the current program of Panama cruises included newly added ports. This concept has proved yet again to be a disaster for Windstar, and more so for its passengers as they have had to cancel one of the highlight ports - the Pearl Islands. On 29 January, Windstar wrote: "While we pride ourselves on finding new and small ports ..... we have made the decision to cancel our call there." Obviously they don't do their homework carefully enough to discern if a port is interesting and practical.

We chose this particular cruise ESPECIALLY FOR THIS NOW CANCELLED PORT, and although extremely unhappy, I totally understand Windstar's reason for the cancellation. Despite my stating this, they sent a very patronising response with repeated references to their T&Cs re itinerary changes, and totally evaded the issue of the expanded shore excursion program which they said they had set up:   

"As a result of our additional time in Balboa, we have expanded our shore excursion program"    

The ongoing problem now is that for the last 3 weeks, both our Travel Consultant and us, have sent endless emails asking Windstar to provide details regarding the new excursions. Like ourselves, most passengers will have flown into Panama City to join the cruise, so will have have no need for any more time there! So we need to see what Windstar has to offer. And we need to know NOW, as we are starting our trip in 2 weeks. WINDSTAR REFUSE TO SEND THESE DETAILS. THEY HAVE NOT ONCE REPLIED TO MY EMAILS. THEY ARE SO ARROGANT THEY WILL ONLY RESPOND WHEN MY TRAVEL COUNSELOR WRITES, and mostly they also ignore him.    

I am both annoyed, frustrated and most of all, disappointed in Windstar's total lack of custom service. Recent Wind Star reviews on Cruise Critic list several complaints regarding itinerary changes and other matters. It looks like Windstar is losing the plot! 
 

I have been trying unsuccessfully for over a week (1 call, 2 emails), trying to get confirmation of a disembarkment time,  "if you dont know, just call the ship" 

[Del Rio]

Zanzibar948;

Every TA that is registered with Windstar to sell their cruises can log into a TA only book/sell/reservation update site.  They can then go to that site and send you a full itinerary which shows the embarkation and disembarkation spots and times.  I suppose this tool for TA's might only work for North American TA's.  But I know it works for its intended purposes.  And it works 24/7.

If your TA will not call Windstar directly to address your issues; the problem may not be Windstar.  It sounds like it is your TA.

 

I have two questions for you:

1.   Why if your first experience was so bad, have you returned for two more?

2.   If you have been an unhappy cruise passenger since at least 2016, why did it take you this long to join Cruise Critic and post here?  (I personally am rather suspect of people who post long tirades, as their first introduction to this community.)

[Zanzibar948]

1 hour ago, Del Rio said:

Zanzibar948;

Every TA that is registered with Windstar to sell their cruises can log into a TA only book/sell/reservation update site.  They can then go to that site and send you a full itinerary which shows the embarkation and disembarkation spots and times.  I suppose this tool for TA's might only work for North American TA's.  But I know it works for its intended purposes.  And it works 24/7.

If your TA will not call Windstar directly to address your issues; the problem may not be Windstar.  It sounds like it is your TA.

 

I have two questions for you:

1.   Why if your first experience was so bad, have you returned for two more?

2.   If you have been an unhappy cruise passenger since at least 2016, why did it take you this long to join Cruise Critic and post here?  (I personally am rather suspect of people who post long tirades, as their first introduction to this community.)

If you read the thread you will understand it is Mocamps, not me, who is seeking a full and detailed itinerary.    

Response to your questions:

1.   The Arabia cruise was full of great promises.   We returned to Tahiti where Windstar excels - once you get past administration glitches after one has booked - through a TA.

2.  The disorganisation with this current Panama cruise was the last straw, after 2 prior frustrating experiences, either in the booking process, or the logistics of shore excursions. 

Hence the "long tirade" - total exasperation with Windstar.

[milepig]

4 hours ago, Newleno said:

I have been trying unsuccessfully for over a week (1 call, 2 emails), trying to get confirmation of a disembarkment time,  "if you dont know, just call the ship" 

 

Newleno - I think this is your first posting on that thread, so we don't know what itin you're on. With that information we could take a stab at answering your question based on scheduled arrival into port.

 

With that information along with whether you're disembarking on your own, are using a WS transfer, and booked into a hotel with them, what time your flight (if any), we can probably provide an estimate of when you'll be allowed to disembark, but you'll find out the exact time when onboard. At some point you'll receive a form to fill out - it will be placed in your cabin. It was ask abot your plans along the lines of the categories I outlined above. You will then receive colored luggage tags along with a schedule - something like "Orange tag - 9"15 disembarkation."  They will then call the groups and you're welcome to leave. If you're really in a hurry just write on the form "First possible departure" and they'll likely accommodate you. When I'm not in a real rush but need to schedule a pickup I generally plan to pickup for an hour after arrival, and that's always worked. The general order I've seen usually begins with the "on their own" pax, then people with early flights, then the WS transfer groups, then later flights, and that process begins as soon as they can - believe me, on this day they're all in "get their butts of the ship ASAP" mode since the next group is soon to arrive. The wild card is how long the immigration check will take - I've seen it be very fast and not so fast. If you don't travel heavy, you can also speed up the process by just keeping your bags with you, there is nothing requiring you to turn them over.

 

The entire process doesn't take as long as you'd think - this isn't a 7,000 passenger mega ship. There have been times when we had nowhere special to be and just hung out - it wasn't long before they cut off coffee then began to vacuum under our feet and then we were politely told "time to go now."

 

If you need to know sooner than mid-cruise, I suspect that reception could show you the schedule at any point, I've just never asked. While they can't work miracles, the sooner they know you have some special need the more time they'll have to try to find a solution.

 

If you let them know you're in a hurry they will try to help. Due to a change in flight schedule we had a short connection to KEF, which is a long way away from port. My TA let WS know and they matched us up with one other couple making the same connection. After we checked in we let reception know, they put us in contact with the other couple and suggested when we should have a cab ready. I'd prebooked the cab, so I contacted them to change the pickup time and that there would be 4 of us. During the cruise, reception left a note in our cabins to not surrender our bags but keep them with us, to be at a certain place a few minutes before disembarkation was scheduled to begin and with that we confirm our cab to also arrive then. The time came, crew came to us and swept away our bags, someone (I think the Purser) walked us off, If Iceland is a port where they clear the ship before you get your passports (I think it is) the Purser had our passports in her hand, the cab was waiting, the crew had already loaded them in the back, off we went and we got to KEF in plenty of time. None of this was WS's fault, but they bent over to make it work for us. WS has it's problems, but this is why we keep booking them.

Edited February 19, 2019 by milepig

[Newleno]

On 2/19/2019 at 5:43 PM, milepig said:

 

Newleno - I think this is your first posting on that thread, so we don't know what itin you're on. With that information we could take a stab at answering your question based on scheduled arrival into port.

 

With that information along with whether you're disembarking on your own, are using a WS transfer, and booked into a hotel with them, what time your flight (if any), we can probably provide an estimate of when you'll be allowed to disembark, but you'll find out the exact time when onboard. At some point you'll receive a form to fill out - it will be placed in your cabin. It was ask abot your plans along the lines of the categories I outlined above. You will then receive colored luggage tags along with a schedule - something like "Orange tag - 9"15 disembarkation."  They will then call the groups and you're welcome to leave. If you're really in a hurry just write on the form "First possible departure" and they'll likely accommodate you. When I'm not in a real rush but need to schedule a pickup I generally plan to pickup for an hour after arrival, and that's always worked. The general order I've seen usually begins with the "on their own" pax, then people with early flights, then the WS transfer groups, then later flights, and that process begins as soon as they can - believe me, on this day they're all in "get their butts of the ship ASAP" mode since the next group is soon to arrive. The wild card is how long the immigration check will take - I've seen it be very fast and not so fast. If you don't travel heavy, you can also speed up the process by just keeping your bags with you, there is nothing requiring you to turn them over.

 

The entire process doesn't take as long as you'd think - this isn't a 7,000 passenger mega ship. There have been times when we had nowhere special to be and just hung out - it wasn't long before they cut off coffee then began to vacuum under our feet and then we were politely told "time to go now."

 

If you need to know sooner than mid-cruise, I suspect that reception could show you the schedule at any point, I've just never asked. While they can't work miracles, the sooner they know you have some special need the more time they'll have to try to find a solution.

 

If you let them know you're in a hurry they will try to help. Due to a change in flight schedule we had a short connection to KEF, which is a long way away from port. My TA let WS know and they matched us up with one other couple making the same connection. After we checked in we let reception know, they put us in contact with the other couple and suggested when we should have a cab ready. I'd prebooked the cab, so I contacted them to change the pickup time and that there would be 4 of us. During the cruise, reception left a note in our cabins to not surrender our bags but keep them with us, to be at a certain place a few minutes before disembarkation was scheduled to begin and with that we confirm our cab to also arrive then. The time came, crew came to us and swept away our bags, someone (I think the Purser) walked us off, If Iceland is a port where they clear the ship before you get your passports (I think it is) the Purser had our passports in her hand, the cab was waiting, the crew had already loaded them in the back, off we went and we got to KEF in plenty of time. None of this was WS's fault, but they bent over to make it work for us. WS has it's problems, but this is why we keep booking them.

thanks, some Tahiti cruises list disembarkment at 12:01 am,  I have been trying unsuccessfully dealing directly with windstar to see if this information is accurate.  I would like to catch a flight at 7am this would save me over $1000, I cant get a straight answer from windstar, we are frugal travelers, if I cant get a good deal on air fare than I cant book the cruise.  I literally have called windstar directly and emailed twice, cant get a straight answer.  I suggested to windstar by email to call the ship if they dont know the correct answer.

[milepig]

OK. Our Tahiti itinerary was the 10/11 day version. Our direction had us with Moorea as the last port before returning to Papeete. The ship sailed from Moorea to Papeete in the late afternoon/early evening and then overnighted in Papeete before a normal sort of early morning disembarkation.

 

Those 12:01am times always indicate something is going on - they use that when you're overnighting, and also for a day at sea.

 

On our itinerary:

 

some people disembarked in Moorea and took the very short ferry ride to Papeete in time to catch the evening flights - this avoided a sort of worthless night at port in Papeete and then for many an extra nights since there was no flight the day of our arrival. The ferry terminal is right next to the cruise port and short taxi ride to the airport.

 

some people disembarked upon arrival in Papeete the night we arrived.

 

some people got off at the crack of dawn the night morning. Possibly to catch a flight, but maybe for other reasons.

 

In any case - if you're coming from Moorea, WS will work with people on board to make this happen. I inquired during our cruise and they said it would be fine, but in the end we didn't do it as the flight we hoped to change to wasn't available.

 

I don't know what would happen if you come from the other direction. 

 

There's a long thread about this hanging around somewhere as well.

 

Again - if the send us the departure date of your cruise, there are ways to look this up. With that, we're only speculating.

 

Milepig.

 

 

[Newleno]

21 hours ago, milepig said:

OK. Our Tahiti itinerary was the 10/11 day version. Our direction had us with Moorea as the last port before returning to Papeete. The ship sailed from Moorea to Papeete in the late afternoon/early evening and then overnighted in Papeete before a normal sort of early morning disembarkation.

 

Those 12:01am times always indicate something is going on - they use that when you're overnighting, and also for a day at sea.

 

On our itinerary:

 

some people disembarked in Moorea and took the very short ferry ride to Papeete in time to catch the evening flights - this avoided a sort of worthless night at port in Papeete and then for many an extra nights since there was no flight the day of our arrival. The ferry terminal is right next to the cruise port and short taxi ride to the airport.

 

some people disembarked upon arrival in Papeete the night we arrived.

 

some people got off at the crack of dawn the night morning. Possibly to catch a flight, but maybe for other reasons.

 

In any case - if you're coming from Moorea, WS will work with people on board to make this happen. I inquired during our cruise and they said it would be fine, but in the end we didn't do it as the flight we hoped to change to wasn't available.

 

I don't know what would happen if you come from the other direction. 

 

There's a long thread about this hanging around somewhere as well.

 

Again - if the send us the departure date of your cruise, there are ways to look this up. With that, we're only speculating.

 

Milepig.

 

 

Thanks for your info, I have posted a few times about the issue on other threads.  I just dont know why Windstar corporate wont give me an answer, (all they have to do is email the ship and ask their policy, ask them are you really planning to dock at 12:01am, if so then by practice when are passengers usually able to disembark, seems so simple to me) I literally can get a flight back from ppt on certain days for $301 (or less)  if I can leave in the morning, otherwise the cost is way to high for us (we travel a lot but on the frugal)  The only way this would work for us is if we can take an early morning flight out of PPT.  There are other options for cruises through Tahiti but we really like the immersion experience that would be provided by Windstar for the Polynesia itinerary .  We have traveled on  Windstar once before.

[dandee2]

Be careful about disembarquing in Moorea and catch a ferry back to Papeete. Make sure you don't catch the last one just in case it is cancelled. Heavy seas have been know to cancel some trips. Go on their FB page or their App. for more detail.

 

 

[Mocamps]

OK - so we leave home in a couple of days and STILL no documentation from Windstar. Though thanks to Zanzibar I did at least know where to go and when so I haven't been panicking!!  But I phoned my TA yet again and she phoned Windstar yet again and finally I  have the required e-tickets with all the info on them!! In fact I now have FOUR copies of the same document - 2 from Windstar and 2 from the TA!! But better too many than too few.

 

Now to pack!!...........

[Newleno]

34 minutes ago, dandee2 said:

Be careful about disembarquing in Moorea and catch a ferry back to Papeete. Make sure you don't catch the last one just in case it is cancelled. Heavy seas have been know to cancel some trips. Go on their FB page or their App. for more detail.

 

 

thanks very important information that i did not think of,  i just emailed windstar again for the third time,  (I actually called them and did not get a straight answer), hopefully they will just give me a straight answer, cant understand why this is so complicated.  I only took windstar once,  they have such a great tahiti itinerary otherwise i would just give up. 

[msears101]

2 hours ago, Mocamps said:

OK - so we leave home in a couple of days and STILL no documentation from Windstar. Though thanks to Zanzibar I did at least know where to go and when so I haven't been panicking!!  But I phoned my TA yet again and she phoned Windstar yet again and finally I  have the required e-tickets with all the info on them!! In fact I now have FOUR copies of the same document - 2 from Windstar and 2 from the TA!! But better too many than too few.

 

Now to pack!!...........

MOcamps ... Do not worry about windstar documentation, bag tags, etc.  It is easy and breezy on windstar.   I have done 6 windstar cruises, they are nothing like the big ship.   As long as you are wear clothes and have a passport you will get on the boat.  This is a very relaxed, personal experience.  The big ships are a city.  Windstar is a small village in Yorkshire.  The crew will know you by face and name within a day.  You will know half half guests without even trying.

 

If everyone on the ship showed up at the same time, everyone would be on the boat and a drink in hand in 20 mins.  It is not everyone's cup a tea, but if you like personalized service you will be right at home.

 

Enjoy!

[Mocamps]

43 minutes ago, msears101 said:

MOcamps ... Do not worry about windstar documentation, bag tags, etc.  It is easy and breezy on windstar.   I have done 6 windstar cruises, they are nothing like the big ship.   As long as you are wear clothes and have a passport you will get on the boat.  This is a very relaxed, personal experience.  The big ships are a city.  Windstar is a small village in Yorkshire.  The crew will know you by face and name within a day.  You will know half half guests without even trying.

 

If everyone on the ship showed up at the same time, everyone would be on the boat and a drink in hand in 20 mins.  It is not everyone's cup a tea, but if you like personalized service you will be right at home.

 

Enjoy!

Thank you. We're really looking forward to it.....we've been on expedition boats and on Star Clippers so we know this is the size we like. Just pleased that we have at least SOME relevant paperwork!!

[Redtravel]

Just got 2 emails from WS with my documentation for my April cruise.  Windstar doesn't fuss over a ticket or precruise stuff.  Just show up at the ship at 1 pn embarkation. There will be crew waiting to tag luggage. If you are on the list, you will checkin, get your seapass, hand in your passport, and go to your cabin.  Just relax. Nobody looks at the documents. 

[Del Rio]

I have found the "where are my docs?" commentary (this one and others earlier) fascinating.  We have over-conditioned ourselves to need a ton of paper to feel like all is well.  If you got a chance to meet the Queen of England; which would make you feel more honored?

1.  Welcome Mr & Mrs Jones, the Queen is expecting you.

2.  Hello do you have your "papers"?  We must see your papers before you can meet the Queen.

 

Number 1 makes me feel more special.  And I do not understand why so many people want to (or expect they most) carry a whole folder of papers or no one will welcome them aboard Windstar. 

[CruiseOrLand]

Aside from the Internet truism (paraphrasing Tolstoy) that "Every 5-star review is alike, every 1-star Flame is angry in its own way", cruising is a product that is ALWAYS subject to change. There are a lot of things that are not under Windstar's control, and even with all the paperwork in the world, a country (as China did on our Tianjin-Hong Kong Windstar cruise in 2018) can cancel a port at the last minute. People who had Single-Entry visas (which cost the same as unlimited 10-year China visas!) had serious effects on their 11 night cruise.

 

Travel always has its tentative aspects. It's probably true that Windstar could have stroked a nervous client with an inadequate TA (who maybe hasn't cruised as much as someone selling cruises should have ... ... .) better. But not that means Windstar has to employ more and better staff. That's called overhead, and it costs money. Our money!

[Petoonya]

Don’t forget that in Tahiti there are no luggage scanners so you have a few seconds extra wait time to board. They hand inspect your luggage and it is very cursory. I think they spent 20 seconds looking at our bags although I saw some bottles of booze they’d confiscated in a trash heap behind them. But all in all it was a very quick check in no paperwork required. We were able to board at 12:30pm, get sea passes, Candles reservations and off to lunch in the Veranda.

[O2B@Cagain]

I wonder if people are accustomed to being a number on a piece of paper with the big ships and don't understand that they will be a human being on Windstar....

[msears101]

9 hours ago, O2B@Cagain said:

I wonder if people are accustomed to being a number on a piece of paper with the big ships and don't understand that they will be a human being on Windstar....

 

Aah.   Being treated like a human being.  Remember that?  Some  people do not like that.  I was on a cruise in Costa Rica, and someone one was freaked out that the bartenders knew her name.   She thought it was intrusive and freaked her out.  I like that call me by my first name.  

[Redtravel]

Booked a cruise on Monday for 2020. On wed noticed a new lower price for same cruise. Sent my TA a note. He got back stating that Windstar would take up to 72 hours to decide if they would drop my price. TA called 2 days later to tell me that Windstar would drop the price this time without a processing fee. However, they said that going forward any changes would have a fee.  What happened to the Price Assurance Policy? My cruise is booked for almost a year in advance.  Has anyone else been told about change fee?

[surmy555]

2 minutes ago, Redtravel said:

Booked a cruise on Monday for 2020. On wed noticed a new lower price for same cruise. Sent my TA a note. He got back stating that Windstar would take up to 72 hours to decide if they would drop my price. TA called 2 days later to tell me that Windstar would drop the price this time without a processing fee. However, they said that going forward any changes would have a fee.  What happened to the Price Assurance Policy? My cruise is booked for almost a year in advance.  Has anyone else been told about change fee?

 

After I booked they had a sale, When my TA called them they said their was a $50 per person change fee but they would give us an offsetting OBC so I was satisfied. Without the offsetting OBC I would have escalated the issue up the chain as their Price assurance Policy does NOT indicate any change fee

[minidonuts85]

I had this happen twice on our last WS cruise so we ended up with $200 OBC.

I was told the "rebooking" due to a price drop was considered a cancellation and fell under the cancellation clause of the T&Cs. Its confusing and was to me until it was explained since most people would think to look under the Price Assurance language.

 

Cancellation Policy

Each booking cancelled before 120 days prior to travel will be subject to a $50 per person cancellation fee. A full refund (except for the amounts paid for air, a Cancellation Protection Plan and the $50 per person fee) will be made for written cancellations received by Windstar Cruises at least 121 days prior to the date on which you are to commence travel by any mode of transportation booked through Windstar Cruises (sea or land, air travel is non-refundable once purchased). Guests who cancel after that date for any reason, including medical or family reasons, are subject to the following cancellation schedule: