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How does Windstar food compare to other lines?


Professor Aronnax
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We are " foodies" , we think good cooks, tend to be organic, we like just about all foods with the exception of innards, I love food history, researching ingredients etc. We love the WS cruises'  food. I also abhorre  buffets. Breakfast you can order off the menu, they have a small fruit buffet, and some prepared foods laid out. Good espresso, great juices, terrific breads etc plus you can enjoy breakfast outside. Lunch a mix of local foods, there is a salad bar, side prepared foods, nice daily soup, breads and a menu with regular hamburgers and such and a special. Again eating outside. Dinner main dining room lovely space, menu with generally five choices of apps, salad choices,  soups cold and hot, main courses there is a meat, chicken, fish, vegetarian etc. The quality of meats is excellent as well as the preparation and presentation of all the menu items. The atmosphere is elegant and relaxing. Once a week there is an outside on deck barbecue and I am probably the only one  who does not love it it is a buffet. The crew is so fabulous that they will make a plate for me usually the lamb because their lamb is the best. Outside under the stars fabulous. We have been on 26 WS cruises and we are fans and loyal. We cruised on a river cruise once, lovely cruise the food was terrible, we once went to the  Arctic , great trip, horrid food. I am fussy but it is within me I do not complain simply I don't eat it. I think my issue is I know a lot about food so my standards are high. We love almost everything about WS cruises, 25 of the cruises have been under sail and one in the motor yacht, we are sailors. I hope you give it a try. Since you mentioned Spirit  I assume Tahiti and given the beauty of that sailing experience and that lagoon I would only go on a sailing ship, which we did on the Spirit with WS and it was magnificent. Happy Sailing.

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We have 18 Windstar cruises and have never had any issues with food. Compared to other cruise lines we have sailed on (Oceana , RCL, and Carnival) Windstar food and service is way above and beyond the other lines.

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We just went on our 14th cruise, and our first WIndstar cruise. Previously I would have told you Celebrity has the best food at sea, but I'm now giving that title to Windstar. If there was anything I didn't like, it is because I ordered wrong, not because the food wasn't good. Breakfast and lunch was downright excellent. My standards are incredibly high and they were exceeded throughout our trip. 

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Recently on the Star Breeze in Tahiti. We found the food to be good and always found something on the menu we liked. I'm not sure the quality was that much better than mainstream cruise lines that we have been on, that have good food as well(Celebrity for example). I was surmising that it may have something to do with sourcing higher quality foods(i.e. steaks, chops, etc) in Tahiti. Probably tough to do since sources are so far away. We were also not a fan of the on deck BBQ in the evening. If you are not early to the BBQ, you will have to sit on the upper deck where there was absolutely no lighting. We literally couldn't see what we were eating. We eventually moved forward to the Star Grill area so that we could see to eat. Of course, this may not be a problem certain times of the year when you are eating before sunset. We found that our expectations were really high based on many of the posts seen here and we were a bit underwhelmed with the food and the service. For example, I had a steak ordered medium at Candles, served quite rare(raw) in the middle. Sent it back for recooking and it looked virtually the same when returned. Even though I cut into it when the server was standing there, no further action was taken to make it right. The ship was beautiful and we really liked the small ship feel, just didn't feel the high levels of service and food quality that is often mentioned here.

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22 hours ago, deadzone1003 said:

How does the food on Windstar compare to Oceania?

We are sailing on Oceania for the very first time in January 2023. I have been told the food on Oceania is wonderful. I love the food on Windstar and from what I've heard, they should be comparable.

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On 5/3/2022 at 2:08 PM, Petoonya said:

The food on Oceania is very comparable to WS. You will be delighted.

 

Is that from personal experience?  We have sailed Oceania in the past.  We love their food.  However, we are always itinerary driven.  This will be our 1st time on Windstar next March because we wanted to cruise the Philippines.  

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4 hours ago, deadzone1003 said:

Is that from personal experience?  We have sailed Oceania in the past.  We love their food.  However, we are always itinerary driven.  This will be our 1st time on Windstar next March because we wanted to cruise the Philippines.  

I’ve sailed with Oceania since 2006, and approximately every two years hence. We love the food and experience on Oceania too. And Windstar dining is at the same level or slightly higher. 

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  • 2 weeks later...

My husband would say steak or beef in any form. I say Pasta Bolognese, goat cheese souffle, seafood jambalaya, mushroom pastry appetizer, chocolate mousse (just ever so slightly better than O's profiteroles.) I'm sure others can chime in with their favorites. It's a cumulative thing tho. My husband and I asked ourselves mid-cruise last WS which was superior and felt it was a dead heat. By the end of the cruise we both felt WS edged O out.

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9 minutes ago, Petoonya said:

Oh! Not to be forgotten- banana bread french toast for when I want to see the fat globules burst from the syringe next time I have my blood drawn.

That would be a close contest with Oceania's Humphry Slocombe icecream 'Elvis the Fat Years' [Banana ice cream with Bacon Peanut Brittle 😱

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It certainly varies by the chef. We've had some great ones. The worst was the ex british army chef who didn't salt anything saying "you can add your own salt". Um, it isn't the same. He also complained about how the crew smelled up his kitchen with their stinky soups, and spend most of his time on deck taking pictures. We never saw him again.

 

Breakfast is breakfast. On our itin in November the menu never changes. We'd sit down and say "oh look, french toast and classic eggs benedict" today, every day. The eggs on the buffet are horrid, but they'll make you fresh. THe coffee is much improved over previous years.

 

Lunch is sort of like they're phoning it is. The trip in November featured a cream soup of some sort EVERY DAY. Talk about calories!

 

Dinner we have no issues with. I probably send on entree back each itin and they'll happily replace it. On a longer itin you'll start to get the same menu twice, but there's still lot's to choose from. Candles has really expanded their menu, on this trip we felt like the meats have been downgraded and tended to the tough and stringy. Everything is fresh - no mixes, etc.

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8 minutes ago, milepig said:

Breakfast is breakfast. On our itin in November the menu never changes. We'd sit down and say "oh look, french toast and classic eggs benedict" today, every day.

This works for me, as those are the only two things I would order.  When they get creative with the breakfast menu, those classics can disappear...

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3 minutes ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

This works for me, as those are the only two things I would order.  When they get creative with the breakfast menu, those classics can disappear...

Those were just examples. The entire menu never changed. In the past there would be a different version each day.

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The lack of salt on our last cruise was  a real problem for me on our last cruise. They served a lot of potato croquets (Tater Tots!)  that desperately needed salt. All of the potatoes needed salt and adding it later doesn't do it. 

The strangest thing about the food was the night when I ordered the "Crisp Pork Roast". What I got was inedible. It was too hard to cut or bite through. When I gave it back to the waiter, I heard him say to another waiter something about pork belly so I think I got the wrong protein and it was improperly cooked. 

PXL_20220412_053800674.jpg

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  • 4 weeks later...
On 5/19/2022 at 11:15 AM, patty1955 said:

The lack of salt on our last cruise was  a real problem for me on our last cruise. They served a lot of potato croquets (Tater Tots!)  that desperately needed salt. All of the potatoes needed salt and adding it later doesn't do it. 

The strangest thing about the food was the night when I ordered the "Crisp Pork Roast". What I got was inedible. It was too hard to cut or bite through. When I gave it back to the waiter, I heard him say to another waiter something about pork belly so I think I got the wrong protein and it was improperly cooked. 

PXL_20220412_053800674.jpg

It appears to be perfectly cooked.  Problem is it appears to be perfectly cooked pork belly, not a pork roast - skin is very crispy (and can be hard) and to get that skin crispy, the meat is a little over-cooked so you have the firmer texture for that too.

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17 hours ago, deadzone1003 said:

It appears to be perfectly cooked.  Problem is it appears to be perfectly cooked pork belly, not a pork roast - skin is very crispy (and can be hard) and to get that skin crispy, the meat is a little over-cooked so you have the firmer texture for that too.

Unfortunately I was having some problems with my tummy and was trying to avoid grease. I don't usually have seasickness but this transpacific had me mildly nauseous for the first 4 or 5 days. 

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Nothing worse than being seasick. For some like myself, a life long sailor I have been seasick it is grim.  Glad it did not last the entire trans Pacific for you. We did the trans Pacific as well on the Spirit, we lucked out smooth as glass for all 19 days. I am also a very competent cook, organic but not nutty about it, but what really ruins great food is over salting and the type of salt used. It is better to under salt and folks can add their own amounts. Salt for example,  is a major part of the chemistry of cooking properly, too much salt adds to taste of salt not the way food should taste. I am a 225+ day cruiser ( I think they count by days now) on WS and I have always thought the quality, the choices  and the preparation of the food to be nearly perfect. One of the reasons we like WS so much. Happy Cruising

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19 hours ago, Strenz said:

Nothing worse than being seasick. For some like myself, a life long sailor I have been seasick it is grim.  Glad it did not last the entire trans Pacific for you. We did the trans Pacific as well on the Spirit, we lucked out smooth as glass for all 19 days. I am also a very competent cook, organic but not nutty about it, but what really ruins great food is over salting and the type of salt used. It is better to under salt and folks can add their own amounts. Salt for example,  is a major part of the chemistry of cooking properly, too much salt adds to taste of salt not the way food should taste. I am a 225+ day cruiser ( I think they count by days now) on WS and I have always thought the quality, the choices  and the preparation of the food to be nearly perfect. One of the reasons we like WS so much. Happy Cruising

I wasn't talking about something being lightly salted.  This chef's food had ZERO salt and when questioned he said "Meh, if you want salt you can add it yourself" in a very condescending tone of voice.

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17 minutes ago, milepig said:

I wasn't talking about something being lightly salted.  This chef's food had ZERO salt and when questioned he said "Meh, if you want salt you can add it yourself" in a very condescending tone of voice.

As someone who is extremely salt sensitive, I understand the reasons for using less salt on cruises but somethings need to be salted while they're cooking. Potatoes and eggs come to mind.

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Mr. Milepig, My reply did not pertain to you. I was  sympathizing with Patty1955 and her seasickness on crossing the Pacific and how grim seasickness can be then  commented on " salt"  and my knowledge of chemistry and cooking because on another post she also mentioned not enough salt. I try not to be negative especially when it comes to WS. This brand fits us to a T, if I have a gripe, which is never about the ship experience, for we truly appreciate all the efforts and good will onboard, I will write a private letter. We have never sent back a meal, my mention of buffets is my issue and I always preface that, not a breakfast eater, think the choices for lunch and dinner are varied, healthy choices, creative and well done. Unfortunately, great cookies at 4 daily, my weakness. We are always happy ship board customers therefore our loyalty since 1999. Happy Sailing to you. 

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