Star Breeze News

[dandee2]

 

 

[Barrycat]

FINALLY

Way behind schedule for a number of reasons but good news nevertheless. Now another 120 days of work until it’s first scheduled cruise on October 27. Seems like more than enough time to finish the job but it is the first one and with all that’s going on  there is no reason to rush.

The  Legend is at an adjacent dock and I’m sure, or hope, ready to go. It’s been there for months. For some reason, the Pride recently left Lisbon and is now docked the The Netherlands. I have not seen any news about what the next step for the Pride is. 

 

[minidonuts85]

Thanks for the update! We really want to book the PV to San Diego on the Breeze but it was already cancelled on us twice. I think we will wait until the Breeze is actively sailing with its first couple of itineraries.


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[r&rd]

We were also booked on the Breeze  going that way twice. But hey, third time's a charm - we booked it and we'll just hope for the best. So far six cancelled cruises. We were even booked on the Breeze for January thinking that should be safe but lo and behold that dreaded "sorry to inform you" email. The agents tell me I really know how to pick them but then everything's been cancelled. 

[sb44]

What was cancelled on the Breeze for January? We are SJU to SJU 1/9/21.

[r&rd]

3 hours ago, sb44 said:

What was cancelled on the Breeze for January? We are SJU to SJU 1/9/21.

Breeze was originally scheduled to go from Miami to Colon on 1/2/21 before they switched all the itineraries.

[sb44]

Thanks. Come sail with us. SJU good airport and nice itinerary. 

[SailingSteve77]

We just booked Star Breeze: Athens - Barcelona - Lisbon - San Juan departing 6 November (our fingers crossed) with another couple that we met on the Wind Surf last year.  We so look forward to it and to hear everyones stories  (fellow passengers/crew) as well.

 

Steve & Cindy

[O2B@Cagain]

This indicates they chartered flights from Lisbon and Amsterdam for crew repatriation: https://www.windstarcruises.com/blog/crew-repatriation/

Quite an operation to get everyone home!!

 

Sorry! This was for Barrycat about the Pride, not the Breeze.😉

Edited June 20, 2020 by O2B@Cagain

[vtgumby]

On 6/20/2020 at 4:59 PM, SailingSteve77 said:

We just booked Star Breeze: Athens - Barcelona - Lisbon - San Juan departing 6 November (our fingers crossed) with another couple that we met on the Wind Surf last year.  We so look forward to it and to hear everyones stories  (fellow passengers/crew) as well.

 

Steve & Cindy

We also booked STAR BREEZE from Barca to San Juan in November with a couple we met on Celebrity and subsequently did Galapagos and South America with..glad it will be a month post dry dock, shake out the last 1% that always seems to need doing.

It will be our first Windstar experience and looking forward to it after abandoning ship on our Azamara TA disembarking in Rio...not the time to visit Rio, unfortunately, and thinking this wonderfully small ship will be the best bet for cruising during these days.
Here’s to hoping!

 

See you onboard Steve and Cindy!

Betsy and Mark

[pebbles1102]

I am booked on the Breeze for SJU-SJU departing February 20th.  So looking forward to it!

 

[new_cruiser]

On 6/20/2020 at 1:59 PM, SailingSteve77 said:

We just booked Star Breeze: Athens - Barcelona - Lisbon - San Juan departing 6 November (our fingers crossed) with another couple that we met on the Wind Surf last year.  We so look forward to it and to hear everyones stories  (fellow passengers/crew) as well.

 

Steve & Cindy

Wow! that's 37 days. The prices are sure good now. 

 

I just booked but only for the first 7 days - Athens - Rome. I started a roll call for that segment. I hope things clear up enough that that cruise is able to go. My husband isn't ready to plan traveling again then, but there is no solo supplement and he's fine with me going.

 

[SailingSteve77]

16 hours ago, new_cruiser said:

Wow! that's 37 days. The prices are sure good now. 

 

I just booked but only for the first 7 days - Athens - Rome. I started a roll call for that segment. I hope things clear up enough that that cruise is able to go. My husband isn't ready to plan traveling again then, but there is no solo supplement and he's fine with me going.

 

Welcome aboard!  We'll hop on the roll call.

[FeliciaLee]

We are scheduled for April. Miami round-trip. First Windstar for us and excited to try it out!

Edited June 26, 2020 by FeliciaLee

[minidonuts85]

Some other plans for the Breeze. Just saw this posted on another site:

Just got this bad news for my Japan cruise in September 2021.

“We are sorry to inform you of the cancellation of your cruise aboard the Star Breeze in 2021/2022. Due to the ongoing disruption of the pandemic, we’ve made adjustments to our deployment and won’t be sailing in the destination you booked.

After a summer of cruising in Southeast Alaska, Star Breeze will now head south in September 2021 and pick up new itineraries along the West Coast of the U.S and Mexico before arriving in Tahiti where she will sail through March 2022. We will not be sailing in Asia, Australia or New Zealand during this time period. We welcome you to join us on one of these cruises or take a look at other options on our website.”


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[Host Jazzbeau]

I had just noticed that the Star Breeze cruises in New Zealand in January 2022 are missing from the website.  [Actually, all Star Breeze cruises for 2022 are missing.]  Thanks for the explanation.

[susiesan]

Why would Star Breeze cruise in Tahiti when Wind Spirit is already there? Is there that much demand for 2 ships from Windstar in one location? Is Wind Spirit going away from Tahiti in 2022?

17 hours ago, minidonuts85 said:

After a summer of cruising in Southeast Alaska, Star Breeze will now head south in September 2021 and pick up new itineraries along the West Coast of the U.S and Mexico before arriving in Tahiti where she will sail through March 2022. We will not be sailing in Asia, Australia or New Zealand during this time period. We welcome you to join us on one of these cruises or take a look at other options on our website.”

 

[Strenz]

My thinking is Tahiti is extremely popular for good reason and perhaps they need a longer time frame to stay away from Asia due to the virus. I think to stay in business these cruise lines have to try and do creative thinking taking in educational guessing and mixing it with true science. I think Tahiti might be a given and they are well positioned to go to Asia when it deems to be safe. Only my thoughts. Happy Sailing

[new_cruiser]

I was surprised they are making this decision so far out. It doesn't seem any more likely that Asia will be closed to cruising than the Americas in that time frame. Perhaps it is more that they feel their customers will prefer staying closer at home and avoiding long flights (and Asia) or when traveling farther going to a nature/resort destination rather than dense urban areas as things open back up. Their Asia itineraries also involve a wide diversity of ports - all pretty new to Windstar as they haven't been doing Asia for long. Perhaps it is hard for them to do the advance work for Asia under the current conditions.

 

There also might be some passengers who would do Tahiti on a motor yacht (rooms are larger and have large windows or french balconies; elevators) and haven't done it up to now because Wind Spirit is the only choice. Windstar has been doing Panama Canal with both Wind Star and one of the motor yachts. It will also give them more capacity for people who had to cancel a Tahiti trips in 2019 and want to re-book later.

 

Possibly also some charter companies might prefer a motor yacht and pick up all or part of a sailing.

[Strenz]

Hi, I think you have some very valid points. 
I think it must be extremely hard to plan with cruises with the world the way it is. A lot is at stake. The Breeze is going to cross the Pacific, we did that on the Spirit and magnificent is not a big enough world to describe how great that was. Personally, I would much prefer the sail boats which we also did on the Spirit right after the crossing, we stayed on.  It was glorious. Tahiti is fantastic it is simply a long flight from the East Coast. On that trip we only had to do one way which was even better. Highly recommend the crossing. If anyone has any questions ask away. We would do it again but we missed our Malta trip this year for obvious reasons and I have waited too long to go there.

Happy Sailing Susanne 

[Host Jazzbeau]

If they are reading the Paul Gauguin board here on Cruise Critic, they would be seeing so much disfavor toward the new (Ponant) ownership – maybe they sense a chance to pick up lots of Tahiti fans from them!

[Host Jazzbeau]

@minidonuts85 – the email you quoted talks about the new West Coast and Tahiti itineraries for Star Breeze in late 2021/early 2022.  Did they give you any details?  I can't find anything on their website [the August 10-21, 2021 cruise from Seward to Vancouver is the latest shown]

[Host Jazzbeau]

2 hours ago, susiesan said:

Why would Star Breeze cruise in Tahiti when Wind Spirit is already there? Is there that much demand for 2 ships from Windstar in one location? Is Wind Spirit going away from Tahiti in 2022?

 

The Windstar website shows a gap in sailings for Wind Spirit between the 11/4/21 cruise and 4/7/22.  But the new Star Breeze itineraries don't show up yet, so maybe they are reworking the ports to avoid duplication?

[susiesan]

Or maybe Wind Spirit will go in for refurbishment and Breeze will take over Tahiti sailings until Spirit is spruced up. There are limited ports here to rework.

[Strenz]

I think the  Spirit  just went in for refurbishment. I think they are figuring out a new schedule for both boats. These ships  now are truly working in a margin of we need to get this right because financially they are all in a muddle.

Happy Sailing. Susanne