Our Gulf States – Inaugural Sailing – Star Legend – November 23, 2023 Cruise Just Got Cancelled – Remedies?

[3kidslater]

Glad to see you will be joining us. Looks like there aren't many cabins left on the March 31st leg of the trip (ending in Athens) I also see they raised the price on that itinerary.  Glad we jumped on it when we did.

[wrk2cruise]

Is there a way to see specific cabin open or are you just seeing categories not available.  New to Windstar.   We are doing Auckland to Tahiti in January as our first experience.

[Host Jazzbeau]

1 hour ago, wrk2cruise said:

Is there a way to see specific cabin open or are you just seeing categories not available.  New to Windstar.   We are doing Auckland to Tahiti in January as our first experience.

Not for a long time.  But if you use the chat function on Windstar's website, the rep will look up available cabins and give you the list.  [Which is actually easier than going through the fake booking process on some other cruise line websites, entering in all your passenger info just to get to the select cabin page.]

[oakridger]

10 hours ago, wrk2cruise said:

We are doing Auckland to Tahiti in January as our first experience.

 

I will be on Auckland to Tahiti for my first Windstar as well, but in 2025. Please come back here to Cruise Critic and give us a report of the experience if you want to!  I will keep an eye out for anything you want to share!!

 

Thanks,

~Nancy

[medskis]

As a past Windstar cruiser, I get their promotional emails.  We were on the Legend for 10 days Central America/Mexico this past April.  We jumped on the $1899 for any cabin (not suite) and got a Balcony 525 for the March 17 sailing.  The only reason this worked for us is because we are skiing in Switzerland for 2 weeks ending March 16 so perfect timing to fly Zurich to Rome for next day boarding.  The only problem is we’ll have suitcases with lots of ski wear in them! 

[Gkimball]

We just got a notice from Windstar that the 2025 Gulf States cruise replacing our 2024 gulf states cruise has also been cancelled. I don't disagree with cancelling the cruise but it is a bit hard to understand why our options are to take a Future Cruise Credit and apply it to another cruise or, if we want a full refund of our deposit we need to take a FCC and then once we get that we can apply to have the FCC converted into a cash refund.

Not sure why the extra step?

The capper is the letter we received from Windstar states their #1 priority is our trust and satisfaction! If so, just skip the FCC step and issue the full refund.

We have cruised Windstar 6 times so far and love the product but it is times like this that have us scratching our head as to what they are thinking. It does erode the trust they so emphatically state they want to maintain.

[Barrycat]

We are in the same situation and equally unhappy but the “why” is obvious. Windstar is now in possession of six months of deposits for the cancelled cruises and they want to maintain possession for as long as possible while accepting some customer displeasure such as ours.

[6rugrats]

I have been sailing on Windstar since 1988 and under several different owners.  Unless you happen to get a great agent when you call, they have always been terrible at customer service at their home office when these problems arise.  I'm not sure why.