2 ships in Tahiti at the same time

[susiesan]

Looking on the Windstar web site, they have 2 ships scheduled to be in Tahiti at the same time. Starting in September 2021 both Wind Spirit and Star Breeze will be cruising from Papeete. Wind Spirit is doing 7 day cruises, Breeze is doing 10-12 days cruise with the occasional 7 day cruise. On Oct. 28 both ships will do the 7 day Dreams of Tahiti itinerary, Breeze is $500 less than Sprit. Wind Spirit leaves FP Nov. 26 and Breeze takes over the 7 day sailings. Spirit comes back April 14, 2022 and Breeze leaves FP. Once Spirit is back prices for 2022 7 day cruises are substantially higher than 2021 prices.

 

It's highly likely none of this will even happen, but is there is enough demand for Tahiti cruises for Windstar to have 2 ships in the area for 2 months?

[Petoonya]

Well if the schedule stays this way at least we know Star Breeze could be offering nice prices. And the pent-up demand for cruising might be so that it makes it easy to fill both ships. My TA has been doing this for 25 years says and she's never been so busy since she started selling cruises.

Does anyone know if WS plans to resume cruising with ships half capacity?

[new_cruiser]

They have often had 2 ships (Wind Star and one of the motor yachts) doing the Panama Canal Costa Rica cruises at the same time. Some of those cruises get heavily discounted. They have been doing it for a long time so I assume that they are happy with the results. 

 

Some Tahiti cruises (often the close in ones) are often substantially cheaper than other dates so that's not unusual even when they have had only Wind Spirit there. 

I expect that Star Breeze will attract some passengers who haven't gone before because they don't like the smaller rooms on the sailing ships and/or the lack of elevators.  

 

Personally, I find pluses and minuses on either side of the "Wind" vs "Star" ship question and on balance like them about equally. I'd give a slight edge to Wind Surf over the other 5 ships, partly because I think it is the loveliest and has the best deck space. Also the lounge chairs that are sheltered by the overhang of the deck above remind me of images of lounging on a classic ocean liner. 

 

[minidonuts85]

On 3/23/2021 at 4:16 PM, Petoonya said:

Well if the schedule stays this way at least we know Star Breeze could be offering nice prices. And the pent-up demand for cruising might be so that it makes it easy to fill both ships. My TA has been doing this for 25 years says and she's never been so busy since she started selling cruises.

Does anyone know if WS plans to resume cruising with ships half capacity?

Just says “sail with reduced capacity”...

https://www.windstarcruises.com/health-safety/

 

[Petoonya]

@minidonuts85 Will you go in August if it's on?

[minidonuts85]

40 minutes ago, Petoonya said:

@minidonuts85 Will you go in August if it's on?

No and will be cancelling this week.  We won’t be sailing until tour restrictions are lifted. Instead we just spent 10 days on Jost Van Dyke, actually leaving the island tomorrow morning and had the best time with our friends here that we consider family. I couldn’t imagine not being able to move about freely and only restricted to certain places. 

[jumelle]

I agree with mini donuts. We are booked on July cruise and will cancel soon. We don’t want to be “guinea pigs” for Windstar. First sailing in Tahiti was June until last week, now it’s July. Too early for cruising and foresee many problems arising. France is a mess and they control what goes on in Tahiti. But, especially don’t want to have restrictions on excursions.

[dandee2]

We're going to PPT next July 2022 to attend the Heiva 2022 if it's on. We'll also cruise if the price is right.