How popular are the Wind Star fleet these days?

[12B@C]

Have you noticed that the number of new threads is much smaller these days?

Does that mean that former and new participants, like us, are less interested? Or are we holding back, wondering about the new company and making commitments for more wonderful Windstar cruises to new destinations?

To be honest, despite the fact that we love all three of the Windstar ships, we have looked into others for European excursions.

How do you feel about the itineraries now offered and the future of this fleet of interesting ships? Can a coastal or river operator cover the world that we like to see aboard a sailing ship? Are you booking; are you sailing; are you happy????

[lovecruisingtoo]

Have you noticed that the number of new threads is much smaller these days?

Does that mean that former and new participants, like us, are less interested? Or are we holding back, wondering about the new company and making commitments for more wonderful Windstar cruises to new destinations?

To be honest, despite the fact that we love all three of the Windstar ships, we have looked into others for European excursions.

How do you feel about the itineraries now offered and the future of this fleet of interesting ships? Can a coastal or river operator cover the world that we like to see aboard a sailing ship? Are you booking; are you sailing; are you happy????

 

 

I don't think the problem is with the new owners of Windstar. I believe the problem is that there are no new ports or itineraries. My wife and I have been on the smaller ships 5 times and love them. Problem is that we do not see anything "new". In fact, they appear to be dropping the alternate Athens / Istanbul itinerary. On this basis, we are starting to look at some of the SeaDream and Oceania cruises. The SeaDream cruises are about 110 passengers and the Oceania ships are about 700 passengers. Both are "country club casual".

 

We would love to stay with Windstar but need different ports.

[chicagogal]

I agree with the previous poster about needing new itineraries. We have been on 5 prior Windstar cruises and have loved each one. Last holiday cruise we chose Star Clipper so we could go to Asia. It was fun but not as nice as Windstar. We checked Windstar first but they had 2 Caribbean choices (we've done both in 2003 and 2004) and Costa Rica (done that too in 2005 - and even better because ours was also through the Panama Canal)

 

We are doing Venice to Rome on Windsurf on Sept 2nd but after that nothing else looks "new" to us on Windstar. I think we have done most of their itineraies including Istanbul to Athens in 2002 and a repositioning in 2003 from Dover England to Lisbon. Also did Lisbon to Rome on Oceania in 2004 and enjoyed it very much. Did the Baltic in 2006 on Silverseas and LOVED it...more pricey, though, but we got a "bargain fare".

[irc2100]

We've never taken WindStar before and will be doing Windspirit from Athens to Istanbul as part of a Tauck Tour. Any comments by you experienced Wind Spirit travellers.

[kimrealestate]

I agree with all of you on the lack of new itineraries. We tried Oceania but did not like it very much. I did not know about the sale. Who is MAL?

 

For the new cruiser - the beauty of Windstar is you don't have to think or plan ahead too much. All the side trips are usually fun and we have had some fantastic guides. There is never a problem finding food or drink and lots of friendly people - guests and crew.

 

You might want to make any spa appointments as early as possible. Getting a massage time that suits me is the only thing I have ever been mildly annoyed about and I think we have been on 6 Windstars.

 

Have a fantastic time!

[12B@C]

We've never taken WindStar before and will be doing Windspirit from Athens to Istanbul as part of a Tauck Tour. Any comments by you experienced Wind Spirit travellers.

 

I am sure you will love that trip. We did it in reverse and thought it was the best one that Windstar has to offer in one week. If you are interested in some details with lots of pictures of that cruise go to http://www.*****.com/greekisles.htm

 

Note to all others: Thank you for your replies. I thought to same, that the ports we visited are great but we don't want to see the same thing too many times again. Our next cruise is to the Baltic with Oceania.

[irc2100]

have been to your site and thought your pix were great.

[winegirl]

We took a cruise on Windstar from Athens to Barcelona, hitting a good number of their ports. I would not hesitate to cruise on Windstar again: I loved it! But aside from cruising Spain and Portugal, we would have a hard time finding "something new" that interests us. Perhaps we'd try the St. Thomas to St. Thomas but we're not huge fans of the Carribean winter vacation. I'd love to see them stay in port overnight more often like they did in Monte Carlo, since it offers time for a better look. I'd love to see longer stays in Marseille (affording longer day trips into Provence,) Barcelona, Venice and Rome, not at the front or back of the cruise.

 

They could also consider cruises in Scandanavia/St. Petersburg, around the coast of Ireland, England/Scotland, Atlantic coast of France (Bordeaux, Brittany, Normandy,) New England and eastern Canada, South America, Alaska, depending on how well suited their ships are for those seas. Or how about coastal Australia or New Zealand? Galapagos Islands? Hawaiian Islands?

 

There are many loyal Windstar cruisers who may want to see new ports and sights.

[eh2zed]

Windstar must provide unique and varying itineraries to stay in business. They probably have that figured out but it will take time since itineraries are booked a few years in advance.