Just back from 3/16 barbados cruise

[bl413]

All I can say is it's not the Windstar I loved on our first cruise. Granted we were on the Windstar a more intimate ship--but the best I can say about the

Windsurf is --it was clean and the cabin was very nice.

 

I'm not a big complainer -- I was happy to just be on vacation.

But here goes -

We stayed at the Accra Hotel (Windstar recommended) Our room was dirty,

the staff not overly helpful, the beach and pool were very nice. For a night it was OK. We got the best price on http://www.wiol.com

We hired a cab from the airport to hotel $ 20 . Arrived 1 day early, on SAt. we hired a cab "David's" The concierge at the hotel arranged this. He took 4 of us on a tour of the island for 2 hours, then to the boat for somewhere around $20-30 per couple. I really don't remember -- but he was great. We arranged

for him to pick us up at the ship terminal when we came back and he charged us $30 to the airport. A lot cheaper than Windstar's transfer.

If you're leaving on an early flight -- the cabbies can get a special pass to come into the port.

Getting aboard - smooth and easy.

Cabin - good storage, always kept clean. Great shower!

Food - Breakfast was fine, good selection and the staff would always bring you extras if they had them and you asked ie blueberries.

Lunch was sometimes ok sometimes not.

Dinner was a 4 on a scale of 10.

Overall, the food quality was poor. I wasn't expecting gourmet-- but except for 1 night it was barely eatable. I'm not sure if the people who said it was good-- had any taste buds!

There really isn't much difference between the regular dining room and Degrees-- they just describe the dinners a little differently.

We didn't care for the atmosphere of the regular dining room and ate each night in Degrees.

The islands were typical and I advise you to get a cabbie when you get off the ship.

We had some great cabbies for a fraction of the cost and they took us wherever we wanted to go.

 

The staff was helpful and we saw some of our old friends from the Windstar,

However, we felt much more pampered and cared for on the smaller ship.

 

The Spa was a disappointment and very expensive.

 

The entertainment - we knew there really wasn't any, but the Band in the lounge was terrible -- sorry guys, but you were.

The husband and wife in the Compass Rose was very talented and provided

some relief. If you're looking for things to do in the evening you'd better choose another ship, if you can't entertain yourself!

 

Because of the bad seas we missed St. Bart's and spent another day at sea, weren't able to pull into some ports ie Phillipsburg instead of Marigot in St. Martins, and Castries instead of Pigeon Island in St. Lucia. We arrived on Sat. in St Lucia which is when they have their market -- and it's something to experience-- fruits, veggies, lots of touristy stuff, but well worth the cab fare. We then found a cabbie who took us to Pigeon Island, the beach, then picked us up and took us back to the boat all for $50.

 

All the cabbies were very knowledgeable and reasonable.

 

We thought it would be a show of good will had Windstar offered us even a free drink because of the above. But they didn't and we never felt that good will was important to them. The "special" Alumni social was open to all.

 

All in All -- they still need another 180 degrees .

 

I really hated to write a negative review, since our 1st experience on the smaller Windstar was so wonderful. Many onboard felt the same.

 

Some people thought the food was great, the service etc. I guess you need to decide for yourselves. I have.

[schmidlapp]

Well that kind of deflated my hopes, (which were on the way up)

May 18th and the Monaco GP cruise is coming up soon, We'll probably spend a bit more and eat ashore....

[schmidlapp]

one more ? was the ship full?

[blackfoot]

I see that nothing has changed on Windsurf in the 2 months since we were on board for 2 weeks!They just don't get it and are not reading this board;they still haven't contacted us after completing (2) surveys and writing them. They Just Take the $ and run!

[commander courageous]

So interested to read your review.

 

We posted a similar critique after our Barbados cruise in January

and were roundly castigated as too opinionated and poor judges

of service and cuisine.

 

Well, having done trans-atlantic crossings in the Queens Grille aboard

QE2, and four SeaDream cruises, among many, we believe we do know

of what we speak.

 

We were not trying to be argumentative, simply to make the point that

compared to our sail in 2007 aboard the Windspirit, the service and

quality of the food had drastically deteriorated. Some of this may have

been attributed to a change of ownership of the ship line, or the size of

Windsurf versus Windspirit. Either way, it was "not up to snuff"!

 

Just returned from a Caribbean vacation aboard SeaDreamI and let me

tell you, that while the cruise was more expensive, it was worth every

penny. As I said in my post the folks at SeaDream "work at it, and it shows".

 

Glad others saw it the way we did. We feel somewhat vindicated.