Windstar Food

[RMMariner]

Food was fantastic on our cruise in March. 

[Misty Morning]

Just got off the Spirit and food at dinner was as good as in the past but I must say that breakfast fruit buffet is underwhelming with melons and pineapple and canned peaches.  No more grapefruits, oranges, kiwis, mangos and berries. Same for lunch where the salad bar is a bit thin.  However this did not ruin our cruise but we will mention it in our survey

[mexicobob]

On 4/6/2024 at 8:39 PM, Host Jazzbeau said:

We are going on our first Windstar cruise in January 2025, and are really looking forward to the food.  We recently completed our first Silversea cruise, and were very disappointed in the food – as @AmateurGO said about Seabourn, it wasn't really bad but it wasn't flavorful or memorable.  We have been very happy with the food on Oceania (latest 2022), Scenic river (latest 2023), and Azamara (latest 2024) – those are our standards for cruise ship food.  I hope and expect that Windstar will equal or exceed them [and of course I will report back]

Looking forward to your report of your upcoming Windstar cruise. We are planning our first Windstar cruise in June 2025. Oceania will be hard to top, especially as far as food. 

[Host Jazzbeau]

1 hour ago, mexicobob said:

Looking forward to your report of your upcoming Windstar cruise. We are planning our first Windstar cruise in June 2025. Oceania will be hard to top, especially as far as food. 

I agree, based on past experience.  But Windstar has the James Beard Foundation link and reviews have remained positive.  Oceania seems to be feeling NCL's well-publicized push to cut costs and boost prices.  And Windstar is about to get two beautiful new small ships.  So I'm very hopeful!

[DENIE]

After 2 Oceania cruises (including the new Vista), with 2 more in the works, we decided we may try Windstar, on one of the sailing ships, on a Italy/Croatia cruise pushing out to 2026 or so.  We had friends who just did a Greece/Turkey cruise on Windstar and couldn't say enough good about it.  Looking forward to trying this experience, and the food.  Our food experience on Oceania was terrific (only a couple "misses"), but know food is so subjective.

[Host Jazzbeau]

1 hour ago, DENIE said:

After 2 Oceania cruises (including the new Vista), with 2 more in the works, we decided we may try Windstar, on one of the sailing ships, on a Italy/Croatia cruise pushing out to 2026 or so.  We had friends who just did a Greece/Turkey cruise on Windstar and couldn't say enough good about it.  Looking forward to trying this experience, and the food.  Our food experience on Oceania was terrific (only a couple "misses"), but know food is so subjective.

I'm not interested in sailing yachts, but everything I have read confirms that Windstar has the best food of all the sailing yachts.  Bon voyage!

[Redtravel]

I have been on many Windstar and Oceania cruises. They both have great food.  Aamphora is better than the grand dining room on Oceania. Candles is excellent.  Oceania specialty restaurants are also excellent. Red Ginger is my favorite.  Oceania Terrace buffet is the best buffet at sea.  Oceania ships are larger and often more choices.  I enjoy the variety of experiences.  I would be happy on either cruise line.  
WS room service is the best of any line. 24/7 call and request. If it’s on the ship, you can have it.  That doesn’t happen on Oceania. 

[ddpe]

Just back from the Wind Surf and I was in general pleased with the food.  Best dishes were the lamb chops and onion soup at Stella and the steak and sides at Candles.  We loved Stella and went twice. We had a wonderful server there as well.  Amphora to me was a chore to find something interesting and I did not enjoy the experience there. One big miss was the no cream spinach soup.  It honestly tasted like it was canned spinach that was just pureed with an immersion blender.  They also disappointed me when they ran out of souffles, something I was looking forward to as I had seen the menus online in advance.  When I said I would wait, the server became upset so I just ordered another dessert.  I felt the food definitely better than Celebrity(except maybe Blu), about the same as Azamara (except Azamara does have souffles - they ask you at the beginning of service so it is ready), but not as good as Oceania.  The breakfast to me was a bright spot with the made to order items and the special egg dish of the day.  I also thought the lunch salad bar was very good.  I found the servers, to be a little brisk, in Amphora, but great in Stella.  I am hoping for a better Amphora experience on the Breeze coming up.

[HaveDogWillTravel]

@ddpethanks for your assessment of Wind Surf. I like to read a lot of different points of view as I think what will happen for me will be some kind of average all those experiences.  Each sailing is so unique due to the specific crew you get, the officers, the executive chef, the supply chain, the other passengers and so many other always changing variables.