Wine List on the Wind Spriit

["Wandering Wino's&quo]

:confused: We will be sailing on the Wind Spirit in Sept. Istanbul to Athens. I have emailed customer service at WindStar twice asking for a list of the wines served on board, but sadly no answer to these emails. Can anyone that has sailed on this ship offer any information on their wine lists? I have heard from other posters that it's not great, but would like to know what to expect. Thanks for any help you can give us.

[parislady40]

Not sure how much this will help, but we preorder some of our wines before boarding. In the two bottle package, this can save you a bit of money. In any case this link will give you an idea of the prices. There are also other goodies you can preorder to make the trip just a bit more special. The link is as follows:http://www.windstarcruises.com/WindStarExtras/shopping.asp

As you can see we both love the Windsurf. No ship is without problems, and this is just the place where we can have quality downtime. We leave for a surprise 50th birthday on the March 12th sailing. He has no idea!! On another note, the Compass Rose is a perfect place for drinks on the memorable sailaways, and in the evenings after dinner when the captain tries his best to have the ship under sail. As many times as we have been, I still cannot wait. Have fun!

["Wandering Wino's&quo]

Not sure how much this will help, but we preorder some of our wines before boarding. In the two bottle package, this can save you a bit of money. In any case this link will give you an idea of the prices. There are also other goodies you can preorder to make the trip just a bit more special. The link is as follows:http://www.windstarcruises.com/WindStarExtras/shopping.asp

As you can see we both love the Windsurf. No ship is without problems, and this is just the place where we can have quality downtime. We leave for a surprise 50th birthday on the March 12th sailing. He has no idea!! On another note, the Compass Rose is a perfect place for drinks on the memorable sailaways, and in the evenings after dinner when the captain tries his best to have the ship under sail. As many times as we have been, I still cannot wait. Have fun!

 

Parislady, thank you so much for this helpful information. One more question, I was wondering since you sail often on The Wind Star Cruises, do you ever bring aboard your own wine? In the past we have always brought several bottles of our favorite California Wines with us when we cruise. The difference this time of course is that we will be leaving from a foreign port. Any suggestions in this area would be very much appreciated.

[marycang]

We cruised Istanbul to Athens on Wind Star and bought a couple of bottles of wine to take on the ship just to use in our cabin. Istanbul doesn't have a great choice of wine. The wine choice on the ship at dinner was always good and not expensive.

[parislady40]

Wandering Wino's, I love your user name. I am also known as Cosmo Girl. I just opened my travel pouch for hubby's surprise cruise in March. It states that bottles or containers of alcoholic beverages purchased prior to the cruise cannot be consumed with the exception of wine or champagne. All other are collected and held until the last day of the cruise. So the wine and champagne are all good. We always bring champagne even when we preorder, if not just to savor a special bottle. There is no limit as well as to the amount that you can take on board. They do charge a $10.00 fee to open the bottles for you. If the mood is just right, thats a small amount to pay.

Ruth

["Wandering Wino's&quo]

Wandering Wino's, I love your user name. I am also known as Cosmo Girl. I just opened my travel pouch for hubby's surprise cruise in March. It states that bottles or containers of alcoholic beverages purchased prior to the cruise cannot be consumed with the exception of wine or champagne. All other are collected and held until the last day of the cruise. So the wine and champagne are all good. We always bring champagne even when we preorder, if not just to savor a special bottle. There is no limit as well as to the amount that you can take on board. They do charge a $10.00 fee to open the bottles for you. If the mood is just right, thats a small amount to pay.

Ruth

 

Ruth, thanks for the heads up on bringing wine aboard. Last year we sailed with 5 other couples on HAL's Oosterdam out of San Diego to the Mexican Riviera. On that cruise each couple brought at least a case and half aboard. We each hosted one night of wine for the table and then we had one night that we did a wine tasting with each couple bringing their favorite wine to the table. As you can see we live in Southern California and driving to San Diego was no big thing. I guess my only concern is traveling internationally with wine. My DH doesn't think it will be a problem and he travels all over the world for our goverment, sadly that doesn't mean that he's right about the wine thing. This trip we will be sailing with one other couple so we won't be doing so much of the party thing, well at least we won't need as much wine. Please keep in touch, it sounds like you have a lot of good experience aboard the Wind Star's. Thanks again, Shirley

[parislady40]

Shirley,

To date, I have not seen a whole case be brought on board. For that much, it might be good to contact Windstar directly to see if they will have a problem with a case or more. The link is guestrelations@windstarcruises.com

They should be able to advise just how much you can bring, and then you have an email for verification if there is a problem with the amount you bring. I seem to spend so much time on their website that I am really getting better at finding where to get the info for my queries. Like you, I do lots of homework, and the cruise is then smooth sailing.

Ruth

[Leejnd4]

Shirley, I've brought wine (and other libations) aboard every cruise I've been on, including RCI, Celebrity and Radisson. I've carried wine bottles in my carry-ons all over the world. Last year we cruised out of Funchal, Madeira, and I did bring a couple bottles of CA wine with me, it was not a problem. I'll also be bringing wine aboard my cruise on the Wind Star out of Costa Rica that departs on Sunday.

 

As a fellow Californian, I too like to have my favorite wines along with me on vacation. My inlaws have vineyards down in Temecula's wine country, and produce a superior Syrah. I'll be bringing a couple bottles of that onboard.

 

I've read about the $10 corkage, but from what I've heard, they rarely charge it.

 

Enjoy your cruise!

 

LeeAnne

["Wandering Wino's&quo]

Shirley, I've brought wine (and other libations) aboard every cruise I've been on, including RCI, Celebrity and Radisson. I've carried wine bottles in my carry-ons all over the world. Last year we cruised out of Funchal, Madeira, and I did bring a couple bottles of CA wine with me, it was not a problem. I'll also be bringing wine aboard my cruise on the Wind Star out of Costa Rica that departs on Sunday.

 

As a fellow Californian, I too like to have my favorite wines along with me on vacation. My inlaws have vineyards down in Temecula's wine country, and produce a superior Syrah. I'll be bringing a couple bottles of that onboard.

 

I've read about the $10 corkage, but from what I've heard, they rarely charge it.

 

Enjoy your cruise!

 

LeeAnne

 

LeeAnne, thanks for the encouragement. I'm sure it's apparent that we love our wines. We recently returned from a Chef's Holiday at Yosemite and on the way up there spent a couple days in the Lodi area. In January we spent a long weekend up in Santa Barbara, all the time enjoying the local vintages. Of course Napa & Sonoma is at least a yearly trip for us, needless to say we bring back several cases each trip.

I found it interesting that your family has a winery in Temecula as we will be attending a Jazz festival there in a couple weeks. Very good friends of ours moved to Temecula a few years ago and I must say that we were shocked at what a happening place it has become, probably like the early days of some of our other wine areas here in California. Glad to hear that you haven't encountered any difficulties in taking wine with you when you travel outside of the States.