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Review of Wind - Barbados to San Juan


Sunprince
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Hi all, I thought I woulda post my thoughts on our recent Wind cruise in March.  Here is the first instalment

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We recently completed our first SS cruise and I thought I’d share my thoughts on our experience. The was a short 7 day cruise from Barbados to San Juan, stopping in Bequia, St Lucia, Antigua, Les Saintes, St Bart’s and St Thomas.  

 

I’ll start with the worst part of the trip, which was our pre-cruise disaster.  We arrived in Barbados 2 days before the cruise.  The hotel we booked 10 months in advance informed us 24 hours prior to arrival that they over booked the room that we reserved and had to move us to a different category of room (that I did not really want).  This is despite a confirmed reservation 10 months in advance, and the fact that I had called the hotel directly only a few days earlier and received a positive confirmation from the reservations manager. 

 

This was nothing compared to our airline experience.  24 hours prior to the flight I tried to check in online to get our boarding passes but kept getting errors saying “ based on your destination and passport  information, cannot complete check in”.  So I called the airline, was assured everything was ok and that this was just a “random” passport check required at check in at the airport. I specifically asked if there was a problem and was assured not.  When we arrived at the airport, I found out that they bumped us out of our confirmed business class seats so that the crew could sit (in my seat that I paid for).  Apparently the pilots are “entitled” to sit in business class.  At one point we did not even know if we had a seat on the plane...very stressful. They finally gave us economy seats (after the flight had boarded), but the way we were treated and the stress caused was beyond anything I have ever seen.  Moral of the story...don’t trust the airline and don’t think that just because you have paid a premium for business class that you will actually get the seat that you paid for.  When we did arrive in Barbados we had (several) glasses of wine to celebrate our arrival!

 

With that disaster behind us, now on to the actual cruise!

 

 

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Embarkation

We embarked the Wind at approx 11:45am and was one of the first to arrive. The cruise terminal was a zoo with several large mass market ships in port. I was so happy to board the Wind as the crowd of people were some of the most stunned looking people I have ever seen.  We were handed our key cards and went to reception for pictures. We were going to go to La Terrazza for lunch but it did not open until 12:30, which I thought was odd, so we hung out in the Panorama deck until it opened. Suites were ready by 2pm.  Overall a smooth boarding experience. The only issue was that the paper work included with one of our key cards included the name of another guest with our suite number on it. Given our experience with the hotel and airline, I was now worried my cabin was overbooked. But as it turned out it was the guest’s name that was in our suite the previous sailing who was moving to another suite.  

 

 

Ship

The Wind was overall in good shape. I will post some photos of some of the common areas.  The carpet in the lobby and elevator areas had the odd shading, looking like it was wet, but it was not. Panorama was totally redone and looked good, La Terrazza had the soft goods replaced. The only noticeable areas needing attention was the metal work around the upper pool deck (really bad shape). I also noticed some of the blue seat cushions on the outside deck of the panorama had some minor rips at the seam. 

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Food and Wine

We found the food to be of decent quality and variety. We ate most dinners at La Terrazza and although the menu only changed once, we managed to find something to our taste each evening. I did order off the menu on a few nights and the crew were happy to accommodate it.  We only ate in the Grill by the pool one evening. I did not like the concept. I felt greasy afterwards, even while wearing the ever so attractive oversized bib.  The grease splatter was all over the table, our wines glasses.  I was worried it also got on my shirt and trousers but i made out ok.  The food was good but the whole messed “cook you own” concept was lost on us. We cancelled our second reservation.  

 

Wine variety was fine. We did have a bit of an issue with the Sommelier at La Terrazza who could not quite understand why we did not want the Italian wine choice each evening.  She was shocked that I wanted a Cotes de Rhone with a steak.  It took a while for her to realize that we were drinking the same rose wine and they always had to go get it for us either at lunch or dinner.   Finally I saw at lunch she put a post it note on the bottle with our suite number ( it was not the regular rose). 

 

Smoking

There were quite a few smokers on the cruise. Many of them used the enclosed room off the Panorama and the only time I smelled smoke inside was during the muster when they opened the doors to the smoking lounge.  I was also surprised that smoking was allowed on the entire outside deck off the Panorama. This included guests smoking cigars.  I also saw a guest smoking an e-cigarette on their balcony a few doors down from our suite.  And on departure from St Thomas, I also saw a senior officer on the wing of the bridge smoking while leaving the dock (he also had a glass in his hand that did not look like water or coffee inside)!

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Other Guests

Since this was a quick 7 day Caribbean cruise we were ready for anything. Unfortunately we got it.  There were several large family/friend groups on board.  The worst being a group of 60+ Canadian Italians.  To describe them, picture a slight step up from what you would see on the reality show The Real Housewives of NJ.  They were loud, obnoxious and showed no respect for others. They also surrounded our suite and we had to endure them leaving their suite doors open so they could “communicate” (yell) between their suites.  Three or four times a day they would commune in the hallway (breakfast, to/from excursions, dinner). With our door shut, we could hear every word they said including ( “insert name, open the ****** door”, is my dress too tight, can you see my underwear etc).  One evening when going to the laundry, I asked if they could have their private conversations in private. They said “we are just leaving”. My response was “ you have been just leaving for 45 mins and we can hear in our suite every word”. Their response: “ that’s not your suite anyway...that is my friends suite”.  Well, I would have liked to get in contact with their friend so that they could reimburse me the cruise fare that I paid to stay in “their suite”.  

 

There were some children on board but they were mostly well behaved.  It was the adults that I described above that were much more of an issue.

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Suite

We were in a regular balcony suite on deck 7.  Overall the suite was in good shape. It was nice to have a full sized sofa in the living area. It was too bad they they did not remove the dated brown woodwork. However, the air conditioning worked well and the plumbing was excellent, with never a smell of sewer. So the dry dock must have improved these areas.

 

We did find the bathroom too small as there was no space on either side of the sink to put anything. Also, the tissue box had to go under the counter where the garbage can is, and it was bothersome to have t bend down there.  The tub/shower combo was fine for us as we don’t have mobility issues.  We also found the balcony a bit small. The balcony chairs were the worst and most uncomfortable we have ever had on a cruise.

 

Overall we enjoyed the suite, but I would not want to b Erin it for more than 7 days as space was a bit small for us. 

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Service/Crew

We thought the service was very good. Many crew called us by name. The staff in La Terrazza were fantastic. Those that stood out were Emman, and Daniel. Our butler and steward was also very good, but the Italians  surrounding our suite had our poor butler run off his feet.  He was happy to see us as we didn’t ask much of him and we kept our suite tidy.  

 

Service by the pool during the day could have been improved.  If sitting on deck above the pool you frequently had to go downstairs and get your own drink.

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Other Observations

We have sailed Seabourn for the past several years, as well as Regent and Windstar.  We found the officers on SS to not be engaged very much with the guests, and not overly friendly. We did not care for the CD. He never introduced himself at the start of his announcements, and he really didn’t do much other than host the evening show.  We did a tour of the of the Spirit while in Antigua and we ran into our CD. I said hello but he did not acknowledge that we were on the Wind.  When disembarking he did not say goodbye or thank the guests, despite standing in the reception area (wearing causal street clothes...odd). The officers were absent on disembarkation and I found it strange that it was the Sommelier standing at the bottom of the stairs to say goodbye.  

 

The other notable difference for SS was that they did nothing special on the cruise. For example, there was no sail away entertainment, no entertainment by the pool side. also, no special event similar to Seabourn’s beach day, caviar in the surf or poolside epicurean event. 

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Tour of Spirit

As mentioned, we did a tour of the Spirit while in Antigua. She was docked right next to us.  It was good to get a look at the Spirit.  There were some things I liked (more outside deck space for example), and other things I did not like ( bad sewer smell outside Alantide, grey wood hallway decor looked dull and somewhat prison like).

Edited by Sunprince
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Thanks for posting your review.

 

Must ask you the name of the airline...... so I can make sure I never make a booking with them! I trust you have been given a refund of your fare? And like you, I would have not been impressed with the Hotel messing up. Upgrade? Compensation offered?

 

Glad the cruise itself went well. Hope you didn't drink all the booze! (3 more days before we fly off to meet the Wind.) Shame about the noisy passengers. I know I'd not have been happy about them. I wonder how much that SS make on these large group bookings. It sounds like it costs them a fair bit in compensation for complaints that it makes you wonder if its really worth their while doing so.

 

Was it easy to get on the Spirit? I guess it would have been. We managed to get on the Whisper in Saigon last April when we were on the Shadow.

 

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Echoing other comments here, thanks for sharing your review of the Wind.  It’s the only classic ship we haven’t been on, so it’s always nice to see pics.  

 

To: JollyJones, LesB, and ETUAL, I hope you all have a better experience.  I’ll let ol’ ET do a comparison/contrast between Canadian Italians and Italian Americans.  😉

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Thank you, Sunprince.  Should you decide to do another Silversea, you do not have to cook your own food at Hot Rocks!  In fact, I wouldn't even dream of it...that's one reason we love cruising...NO COOKING !  They will be happy to do it for you.  I'm sure others love to DIY but it's sort of like handing me a washboard & soap & saying, "here, why don't you do your own laundry."  uh...no thank you.  

 

So very sorry about your initial travel woes.  Seems like that's getting to be the norm now & what a shame.  I do hope both the hotel & the airline compensated you.  If not, please shame them everywhere & with everyone you can.  

 

Could you tell me about the electrical outlets in the cabin?  110? 220?  Is there one by the bedside?  Did you take a power strip?

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