Transatlantic Cruises Star Legend and Star Breeze

[LewiLewi]

We are thinking about booking two TA cruises. Star Legend from San Juan to Lisbon end of Jan. 2020, and Star Breeze from Lisbon to Miami end of Feb. 2020. We have heard that both ships are headed for refurbishment around that time. Does anyone know when these refurbishments will take place and how they may impact these two cruises? 

 

[ridethetide]

1 hour ago, LewiLewi said:

We are thinking about booking two TA cruises. Star Legend from San Juan to Lisbon end of Jan. 2020, and Star Breeze from Lisbon to Miami end of Feb. 2020. We have heard that both ships are headed for refurbishment around that time. Does anyone know when these refurbishments will take place and how they may impact these two cruises? 

 

The Legend will be going into drydock in February 2020 so that transatlantic will be her last before the change. The Breeze comes out of drydock in February 2020 so that transatlantic will be her first after the stretch.

[LewiLewi]

Thanks so much for your quick response.

[msears101]

In addition, a fair amount of work is done to the ship during a Transatlantic crossing.  It will mostly not impact guests, but you will see an hear a lot more activity especially if you are going into dry dock.

 

Overall the Transatlantic trip is a wonderful trip if you like peace and quiet.

[Misty Morning]

Just beware that both crossings are in the middle of winter which is not the traditional time for crossings (Oct/Nov and April).  Expect the seas to be rough during this time

[wripro]

And expect work to begin on the crossing prior to dry dock and to continue on the crossing after dry dock. 

[LewiLewi]

Thank you all for your replies.

Have you cruised across the Atlantic on either of these ships, and if so, did you enjoy the  trip. Was there much in the way of activities, movies, etc. We are low key and are looking forward to relaxing and a casual atmosphere.

[new_cruiser]

1 hour ago, LewiLewi said:

Thank you all for your replies.

Have you cruised across the Atlantic on either of these ships, and if so, did you enjoy the  trip. Was there much in the way of activities, movies, etc. We are low key and are looking forward to relaxing and a casual atmosphere.

 

It has been a few years since Star Legend has done a trans-Atlantic crossing as the last couple of years it has wintered in Asia and summered in Alaska. I did a trans-Pacific on it and thoroughly enjoyed it. Very relaxing and casual.

 

There were more crew aboard than passengers for the crossing. We had a lecturer who had also been on the Asian cruises. He gave two lectures per day most days on Asian history, culture and art (starting with Japan because we started in Japan and had 3 port calls there before the crossing). We also had some of the expedition naturalists on board getting ready for the Alaska cruises so they looked for wild life and gave some talks. There was trivia each day with prizes for the best teams at the end of the cruise. 

 

There is a library of DVDs you can check out for viewing in your cabin. 

 

The crossing was in May and fairly far to the North compared to the Atlantic crossings - so the weather was mostly cloudy and cool. I'd been warned ahead of time that the seas might be rough, but we lucked out and had really smooth sailing.

 

I stayed on for the first Alaska cruise. There were around 30 people who did the crossing plus that cruise and it was particularly nice to have that base of friends from the crossing on the Alaska cruise. 

[msears101]

3 hours ago, LewiLewi said:

Thank you all for your replies.

Have you cruised across the Atlantic on either of these ships, and if so, did you enjoy the  trip. Was there much in the way of activities, movies, etc. We are low key and are looking forward to relaxing and a casual atmosphere.

 

I have gone across on the smaller Windstar ship.  The activities are pretty slim. You will have very personal service. I only had 30 passengers when I crossed. The activities were pretty slim.  Mostly just nightly entertainment. We went in March and it started off in the 80s and ended up in the 60s.  

 

I loved the trip.  It is a great to way to unplug from everything.  We mostly, stared out at the sea, read, chatted with some very interesting people.  The highlight of each day is the noon time announcement as to where you are, and what that status of the trip is.  We saw some wildlife, dolphins, flying fish, and Portuguese man of war jellyfish.

[Strenz]

We have only done the trans ocean cruises under sail and we crossed the Pacific  on the Spirit. We love it. You need to like being with yourself and you need to be able yo keep yourself entertained. We loved the tranquility, we love gazing out over the water. There are some games during the day. My husband loves to watch movies I love reading. Crossing the Pacific ( 19 days ) we created some art work. We too love the noon announcement. Totally peaceful, cut off  from the world, quiet, relaxing. People are very nice, nice conversations etc. Very different experience not for everyone. Happy Sailing.

[O2B@Cagain]

We were on the Breeze in April. We didn't need/want entertainment, but there were movies, trivia games, lectures on photography, some other low key stuff. Mostly it was looking at the sea, visiting the bridge and talking nautical to the crew, sitting in the hot tub, taking naps, doing sudoku, reading, and like that. 😉  Enjoyed visiting with the other passengers during cocktail hour and over dinner; very interesting people! Mostly disconnected from the "real" world and enjoyed each other's company...

[LewiLewi]

Thank you all for your replies. We are looking forward to sailing on the Legend and the Breeze.

[CanadianKate]

I'll be with you on the Breeze. 

 

We live for sea days, we are social and look forward to meeting new people, and we are also looking forward to catching up on reading (and writing in my case) as well as watching movies (downloaded to our laptops or from the ship's collection.) 

 

The comment about continued work on the ship has me concerned. I am taking the cruise to get a break from continual construction noise in my apartment building. It doesn't matter where the work is being done, it reverberates through the concrete.  I was looking for a vacation that did not involve me having to wear noise cancelling headphones. 

Have I chosen the wrong cruise? 

[Host Jazzbeau]

5 hours ago, CanadianKate said:

I'll be with you on the Breeze. 

 

We live for sea days, we are social and look forward to meeting new people, and we are also looking forward to catching up on reading (and writing in my case) as well as watching movies (downloaded to our laptops or from the ship's collection.) 

 

The comment about continued work on the ship has me concerned. I am taking the cruise to get a break from continual construction noise in my apartment building. It doesn't matter where the work is being done, it reverberates through the concrete.  I was looking for a vacation that did not involve me having to wear noise cancelling headphones. 

Have I chosen the wrong cruise? 

 

Across many cruise lines and many major dry-docks, there are many threads on Cruise Critic about:

•  work begins on the last cruise prior to dry-dock, to get a headstart

•  work continues after the dry-dock because projects always tend to run late.

 

Hopefully Windstar has planned these projects well, but they are MAJOR:  cutting the ships in half, removing the engines and replacing them with all-new technology, then splicing in a new 84' midsection with 50 new cabins, and replacing the bathrooms in all existing cabins.

 

"The new sections will be built in Trieste and then will be transported south by barge to the Fincantieri yard in Palermo, Sicily, to be inserted into the Windstar ships, along with new engines. The new sections must be fabricated from April through September, shipped in October, and then put into Star Breeze so that it can be finished in time for its arrival for re-inaugural activities at the port of Miami on March 19, 2020."

https://www.travelagentcentral.com/cruises/windstar-cuts-first-steel-new-ship-250-million-star-plus-initiative

[LewiLewi]

We are aware that both ships are being remodeled. We will have the opportunity to sail before and after the improvements at a price that we consider to be a very good value.

We have sailed on other ships pre and post refurbishment and have not been impacted to any real degree. 

We are looking forward to a small group of interesting people to converse with and lots of excellent dining on board as well as wonderful sea days.