Wind Surf 09/10/06

["Wandering Wino's&quo]

:p Sorry about the first post showing 10/10/06. Our cruise on the WindSurf leaves Barcelona on 09/10/06. Hopefully I will have that all figured out before we are due to leave. I was just checking in to see if anyone else from CC will be joining us on this fun cruise. Shirley

[cielolama]

Hi Shirley,

 

Was there any particular reason about the cruise that caused you to switch destinations? We're booked on the 8/26 Istanbul to Athens which we're looking forward to very much.

 

Chris

["Wandering Wino's&quo]

Hi Shirley,

 

Was there any particular reason about the cruise that caused you to switch destinations? We're booked on the 8/26 Istanbul to Athens which we're looking forward to very much.

 

Chris

 

Chris, last month there was a State Department Advisory regarding Istanbul. My husband works for the Federal Goverment and travels all over the world and never seems very concerned about things like this, but he felt that I tend to be so :eek: "chicken" that he didn't want me to be afraid to go out in public. The couple that will be traveling with us also seemed like they wanted to make the change. Now before you get too excitied, the week that we made the change the State Department retired the warning regarding Istanbul and issued one for either Italy or Spain I can't remember. This will be our first WindStar Cruise so we have really been feeling our way through the planning. Hope this answers your question. Have a great trip and please share your experiences when you return. Shirley

["Wandering Wino's&quo]

Any one else sailing with us on this wonderful cruise? As we are getting closer to Sept. the more excitied we are getting. Let us know if you will be part of the adventure.

["Wandering Wino's&quo]

Any one else sailing with us on this wonderful cruise? As we are getting closer to Sept. the more excitied we are getting. Let us know if you will be part of the adventure.

 

Looks like we have almost a full ship' date=' hopefully we will be joined by more CC members. I have read several good threads on CC relating to Barcelona, dinning, buying wine and security precautions. Would love to hear from anyone else that will be joining us on this great cruise and any hints that might make it even better. Shirley[/color']

["Wandering Wino's&quo]

Any one else sailing with us on this wonderful cruise? As we are getting closer to Sept. the more excitied we are getting. Let us know if you will be part of the adventure.

 

Travel doc's arrived today. Anyone else sailing with us on this wonderful and exciting cruise?:)

[cielolama]

Hi Shirley,

 

We aren't on this cruise with you, but while you're in Barcelona, a must see is La Sagrada Familia, a church that is an architetural marvel by Antoni Gaudi. If you have only a short amount of time in Barcelona, I would suggest that.

 

Have a great cruise!:)

["Wandering Wino's&quo]

Hi Shirley,

 

We aren't on this cruise with you, but while you're in Barcelona, a must see is La Sagrada Familia, a church that is an architetural marvel by Antoni Gaudi. If you have only a short amount of time in Barcelona, I would suggest that.

 

Have a great cruise!:)

 

Thanks for the great suggestion. We were in Barcelona for the Summer Olympics several years ago, because of the hectic schedule of getting from event to event we really didn't get a chance to see the sights of this beautiful city. We will be arriving in the evening on Friday and not sailing until Sunday so hopefully we can see a bit more this time.

[bagheera]

Hi Shirley, My husband and I just booked for the same cruise. We changed our mind so many times about our vacation but decided on this. We are very excited. We are also arriving on the 8th to Barcelona. We are in our mid fourties and love wine too. Have you done a Windstar before. If so I could use some info on what to take to wear.

["Wandering Wino's&quo]

Hi Shirley, My husband and I just booked for the same cruise. We changed our mind so many times about our vacation but decided on this. We are very excited. We are also arriving on the 8th to Barcelona. We are in our mid fourties and love wine too. Have you done a Windstar before. If so I could use some info on what to take to wear.

 

Welcome Aboard!

So happy to hear from you, I thought we might be the only CC's on this trip. We also have changed our minds since we started planing this exciting trip. First we booked Holland America's Noordam for a 10 night cruise out of Rome. Last October the four of us along with 3 other couples sailed on Hal's Oosterdam to the Mexican Riviera and had soooo much fun, it was a party in one of our suites everynight. After thinking about it we decided that we could probably never duplicate that trip and it might be more fun to try something new, that lead us to book The Wind Spirit out of Istanbul. Without going into too much detail, we ended up changing that to The Wind Surf leaving from Barcelona.

We always bring wine with us when we sail and of course when we sailed out of San Diego that was an easy thing to do, not so easy when we are traveling to Europe. There have been great suggestions from CC's as to where to shop for wine when we are in Barcelona and we have also been doing some wine tasting of Spainish wines here locally. As a fellow Californian we are spoiled by all the great wines available here at home. We will be traveling with another couple from Savanna, Georgia, we have traveled to Europe together in the past, but this is the first time for a European Cruise and our first time aboard a Wind Star Ship. :p Please don't hold this against us, but we have had a few more years of legal wine drinking then you and your husband. Both of our husbands are pilots, my husband is a test pilot for the Faa so he travels all over the world for his job. After years of working as an event planner I stay at home and plan our next adventure. Let me know if I can share any information with you that I have found online. Shirley

[bagheera]

Glad to hear from you. I will certainly look forward to meeting you all. It will be a really fun cruise. we were suppose to go last year with our best friends but somehow they ended up pregnant! We have gone on several big ships and only one small one (75 passengers) in Figi. That was great fun but I am sure this ship is way nicer. My husband is an anesthesiologist here in HOT Fresno and I am a nurse, but I haven't worked in a few years. I ususally plan the trips but he did this time. The hardest part is leaving my 4 cats! I don't know if we'll try to bring wine,it might be too much of a hassle. tracey

["Wandering Wino's&quo]

Glad to hear from you. I will certainly look forward to meeting you all. It will be a really fun cruise. we were suppose to go last year with our best friends but somehow they ended up pregnant! We have gone on several big ships and only one small one (75 passengers) in Figi. That was great fun but I am sure this ship is way nicer. My husband is an anesthesiologist here in HOT Fresno and I am a nurse, but I haven't worked in a few years. I ususally plan the trips but he did this time. The hardest part is leaving my 4 cats! I don't know if we'll try to bring wine,it might be too much of a hassle. tracey

 

Tracey, I know what you mean about leaving pets at home. Lilly our wonderful new puppy goes to a B&B in Newport Beach so she really doesn't have too much to complain about. But I'm sure by the time we return she may not speak to us as we are going on to Tuscany after our cruise so she will need to stay at her 5 star resort for almost 3 weeks.

I have read that there are several great places to purchase wine in Barcelona and also at several of the ports that we will be visiting. The wine list on the Wind Surf isn't that impressive and it might be fun to have a few bottles to bring to dinner. Looking forward to meeting you aboard. And by the way it's not only hot in Fresno, but the beach is experiencing some really hot weather. We live a block from the ocean so we don't have air conditioning, most of the time it's no problem, but I went to the movies today just to get cool. Shirley

[cruiseroo]

:p Sorry about the first post showing 10/10/06. Our cruise on the WindSurf leaves Barcelona on 09/10/06. Hopefully I will have that all figured out before we are due to leave. I was just checking in to see if anyone else from CC will be joining us on this fun cruise. Shirley

 

Just saw your post Shirley and you're probably embarking as I write this! I hope you have a great cruise and that you'll introduce yourself to Victoria (my daughter) and her partner, Andrew, who entertain in the Compass Rose Lounge. I'll be telling them to watch out for you. So please say "Hello" and tell them mom sent you!:)

 

Looking forward to reading your comments on the Windsurf when you get back! Wish I were there....

["Wandering Wino's&quo]

Just saw your post Shirley and you're probably embarking as I write this! I hope you have a great cruise and that you'll introduce yourself to Victoria (my daughter) and her partner, Andrew, who entertain in the Compass Rose Lounge. I'll be telling them to watch out for you. So please say "Hello" and tell them mom sent you!:)

 

Looking forward to reading your comments on the Windsurf when you get back! Wish I were there....

 

Hi just saw your post about your beautiful and talented daughter Victoria. Yes we had already started our travels for the trip to Barcelona when you posted, I wish we had known about Victoria & Andrew as we certainly would have said hello to them for you. We were a party of four and we spent every evening after dinner at the Compass Rose enjoying the wonderful talents of both Victoria & Andrew. My husband and I took the opportunity to have a couple dances to their music while having the time of our lives. The night that "Mother Nature" provided a light and sound show for us while sitting outside the Compass Rose goes in our memory book as one of our favorites, sitting there listening to two very talented young people and enjoying "Mother Nature", now that's almost perfect!

Please tell them both how very much they added to our cruise and I'm sure the cruise of all that were around us every evening during that way too short cruise. Shirley

[cruiseroo]

Hi just saw your post about your beautiful and talented daughter Victoria. Yes we had already started our travels for the trip to Barcelona when you posted' date=' I wish we had known about Victoria & Andrew as we certainly would have said hello to them for you. We were a party of four and we spent every evening after dinner at the Compass Rose enjoying the wonderful talents of both Victoria & Andrew. My husband and I took the opportunity to have a couple dances to their music while having the time of our lives. The night that "Mother Nature" provided a light and sound show for us while sitting outside the Compass Rose goes in our memory book as one of our favorites, sitting there listening to two very talented young people and enjoying "Mother Nature", now that's almost perfect![/color']

Please tell them both how very much they added to our cruise and I'm sure the cruise of all that were around us every evening during that way too short cruise. Shirley

 

Hi Shirley

 

Thanks for those lovely words and I will most certainly pass them on to Victoria and Andrew. They were somewhat taken aback by comments on one of the other threads here so they've been delighted that not everyone felt as that poster did.

 

I kept asking them if they've found a "Shirley" on board but they said no. Perhaps they didn't know your name. BUT, they did mention a foursome who came in every night and seemed to really enjoy their music. I bet that was you guys! I'll have to tell them. I'll jog their memories about that lightning show night. They had mentioned that night too. I'll also tell them about your renewal of vows with the captain presiding. I don't know if they were aware of that, but let me at least extend our best wishes for many more happy years together ;) :)

["Wandering Wino's&quo]

Hi Shirley

 

Thanks for those lovely words and I will most certainly pass them on to Victoria and Andrew. They were somewhat taken aback by comments on one of the other threads here so they've been delighted that not everyone felt as that poster did.

 

I kept asking them if they've found a "Shirley" on board but they said no. Perhaps they didn't know your name. BUT, they did mention a foursome who came in every night and seemed to really enjoy their music. I bet that was you guys! I'll have to tell them. I'll jog their memories about that lightning show night. They had mentioned that night too. I'll also tell them about your renewal of vows with the captain presiding. I don't know if they were aware of that, but let me at least extend our best wishes for many more happy years together ;) :)

 

Thank you so much for your wishes. I also read the post detailing some issues with the Compass Rose and I'm sorry, for the life of me I don't know why they felt that way. And as far as attendance every evening when we arrived the place was very crowded with happy people. We probably didn't arrived much before 9:30 or 10:00 so maybe we were the late crowd, really not sure. I spoke to one of our traveling companions yesterday after reading the negitive posts and she was as puzzled as I was. Oh well, believe me our evenings in the Compass Rose were some of the highlights of our cruise. Shirley & Guy

[golfergal]

Cruiseroo,

I posted on the other post too, but I wanted to pass on some comments more directly to you. My husband and I just returned from the WindSurf. We're on the younger side of the pax on our cruise. We are among the few people who didn't rave about Victoria and Andrew, but there certainly were a ton of people who enjoyed them many nights. We might have stopped by at the wrong times, but never found the song selection to our liking. But that certainly isn't a comment on their talents. Victoria is beautiful young woman and was very personable. She has a wonderful voice and seems to love entertaining. It seemed to us that the Compass Rose wasn't the best venue to showcase Andrew's guitar skills. I think he needs a bit more freedom and room to rock it out.

 

We were up at the terrace one evening, I think Ibiza, and Victoria was chatting with some of the female crew including one of our favorite people on the ship, Shirley. She seems to be having some fun traveling the islands and shopping. You might want to bring an extra bag or two and plan a shopping day with her. She was a little sad that with packing all their equipment, there wasn't much room left over for all the great shoes, purses, and clothes she has seen. LOL! She's discovered some great stores for sales, so a special mother-daughter shopping trip would probably be welcomed. I could be wrong, but I know how much I love shopping trips with my mom.

 

Have a great time when you cruise with her and Andrew!

 

Sheila

["Wandering Wino's&quo]

Cruiseroo,

I posted on the other post too, but I wanted to pass on some comments more directly to you. My husband and I just returned from the WindSurf. We're on the younger side of the pax on our cruise. We are among the few people who didn't rave about Victoria and Andrew, but there certainly were a ton of people who enjoyed them many nights. We might have stopped by at the wrong times, but never found the song selection to our liking. But that certainly isn't a comment on their talents. Victoria is beautiful young woman and was very personable. She has a wonderful voice and seems to love entertaining. It seemed to us that the Compass Rose wasn't the best venue to showcase Andrew's guitar skills. I think he needs a bit more freedom and room to rock it out.

 

We were up at the terrace one evening, I think Ibiza, and Victoria was chatting with some of the female crew including one of our favorite people on the ship, Shirley. She seems to be having some fun traveling the islands and shopping. You might want to bring an extra bag or two and plan a shopping day with her. She was a little sad that with packing all their equipment, there wasn't much room left over for all the great shoes, purses, and clothes she has seen. LOL! She's discovered some great stores for sales, so a special mother-daughter shopping trip would probably be welcomed. I could be wrong, but I know how much I love shopping trips with my mom.

 

Have a great time when you cruise with her and Andrew!

 

Sheila

 

I know there were at least two Shirley's on this cruise, and while it would be nice to be someones favorite person on the cruise, who Sheila is refering to it was not this Shirley. I'm still not really sure why there is so much controvery regarding the entertainment at the Compass Rose. The tables were full of people who were enjoying themselves and had made the choice to be there, I'm sure there were people that chose to be somewhere else and hopefully they also were enjoying themselves. I really do think we have beat this horse to death. This was the best cruise I have ever taken and that is what I want to share on this board.

[golfergal]

Shirley;

We were on the cruise after yours. The Shirley I was referring to works on the ship. Though I am sure you are a wonderful person too!

 

Sheila

["Wandering Wino's&quo]

Shirley;

We were on the cruise after yours. The Shirley I was referring to works on the ship. Though I am sure you are a wonderful person too!

 

Sheila

 

:) Hi Shelia we too had the opportunity to meet Shirley and she was delightful, what a wonderful smile she always had on her beautiful face. I thought since this thread has so many of my posts with my name that I wanted to be sure that there was no confusion as to who you were refering to in your posts. Thanks for clearing that up. Shirley

["Wandering Wino's&quo]

Shirley;

We were on the cruise after yours. The Shirley I was referring to works on the ship. Though I am sure you are a wonderful person too!

 

Sheila

 

:) Hi Sheila, thanks for clearing that up. We thought that Shirley was delightful and what a wonderful smile she always had on her beautiful face. Since I have posted several times on this thread with my name appearing at the bottom of the post I thought someone might be confused. You must have boarded in Lisbon the day we arrived. At dinner that evening we were looking out at the harbor and the bridge that the Windsurf would sail under and so wished that we were still aboard. I believe in all the years that we have cruised this is the first time that I really felt that way. Can't wait until the next time aboard a WindStar Ship. Shirley

[little britain]

Sorry we never got to meet up on board - I bumped into Bagheera and Jeff Goldblum-lookalike every day and they said they would point you out to us but never got the opportunity to!!! Good you had a great cruise. Compass Rose subject is closed!!! Pictures are in my signoff so you can see what we looked like and if you ever saw us!

Now counting down the days to my RCL cruise to Bermuda!

["Wandering Wino's&quo]

Sorry we never got to meet up on board - I bumped into Bagheera and Jeff Goldblum-lookalike every day and they said they would point you out to us but never got the opportunity to!!! Good you had a great cruise. Compass Rose subject is closed!!! Pictures are in my signoff so you can see what we looked like and if you ever saw us!

Now counting down the days to my RCL cruise to Bermuda!

 

Thanks for sharing your great pictures. Looks like you were on some of the same tours that we went on. You gave me a great idea about sharing pictures so I signed up on Webshots. Hopefully this will work the first time I try, here goes.

These are some of our pictures of that great cruise. Shirley

http://community.webshots.com/user/wanderingwinos

[little britain]

So that is what you looked like!!! Great pictures and webshots is a very easy way to share them!