Help Please

[Verde]

My wife and I are thinking about a cruise in the Eastern Mediteranean next year. I am drawn to the Windstar cruises of that area. The problem is that we have always taken larger ships (Tahitian Princess, NCL Wind, etc.). My wife is concerned about the size and facilities on the Windstar ships. Our only experience with Windstar was observing the Tahitian Windstar from the Tahitian Princess. While the TP is generally considered to be a small ship, it literally towered over the Windstar Tahiti. Can anyone give me the benefit of your experiences on Windstar cruises and especially your comparisons to the larger liners? I'm sure we would enjoy Windstar, but I have to convice the bride. I'm sixty and my bride in a young 59. We've been married 35 years and enjoy cruising. We're both active and enjoy meeting other people, but we also enjoy our privacy and some book reading time.

 

I would appreciate any information or help that you can provide.

 

Dennis

[jsiegel]

While I've only been on one Windstar cruise, I've been on a few on larger ships. I think I prefer the Windstar small ship experience.

 

Some things I've noticed:

 

Since there are fewer passengers it takes a lot less time to tender everyone off, thereby giving you longer time in each port of call.

 

There is only one dining option for meals (in other words only one "restaurant") but the food is superb and plenty of choices to please every palate. Open seating allows you to meet more people if you choose.

 

The open bridge policy is fabulous. Many of the officers just love chatting with the passengers about sailing the ship and explaining all the equipment.

 

As mentioned on another thread, the Windstar ships tend to be more stable than larger cruise ships.

 

It is for active people in that there are no elevators. Beyond that you can choose to be as active or lazy as you desire.

 

If you cruise for the endless amount of food and trivia contests, then Windstar would probably not appeal to you, but if you enjoy cruising for the relaxation and visiting interesting places with friendly passengers and great staff, I'd choose Windstar.

 

Jackie

[CUTHAIR]

hi, lets chat more in detail about this. contact me at salonsydney@aol.com. you have many options out there and lots of great pricing.

[Verde]

Jackie,

 

Thanks for the response. While my wife and I aren't new to cruising, Windstar would be totally different from an of our prior experiences. The ships that we have been on were small compared to the huge cruise liners sailing out of Miami. We have enjoyed these ships because of the ease with which we could get to the tenders, the more intimate contact with fellow passengers and the fact that because of their size, we were able to find privacy and escape from some obnoxious passengers. Although we generally go to them, we are certainly not captivated by the song and dance show offerred by the typical cruise lines. On the last two cruises , (NCL & Princess) I became convinced that we were on a floating garage sale. The "art" sales were tasteless.

 

I guess the major problem that my wife sees with Windstar is the size of the cabins and lack of chairs in the cabin. Is it claustrophobic? What was your experience?

 

Thanks,

 

Dennis

[jsiegel]

Well, as I've always had inside cabins, having two port holes was a big step up for me. I thought the space was sufficient. All our stuff fit out of the way. There is a small chair. The TV is a flat screen attached to the wall so it is only viewable from the bed. My home bedroom and bathroom is huge, we were joking that we should spend a week to prepare for the cruise by moving our bed into our bathroom to get used to the small space. We didn't feel claustrophic.

 

It's true, no tacky art auctions. No pressure to buy soda cards (no cards available as far as I know) The cabin refrigerator is filled with honor bar stuff, that was a little annoying as it left very little room for other things. I suppose we could have asked for the items to be removed.

 

I don't enjoy the production numbers on the big cruise ships. Windstar (at least in Tahiti) did bring a couple of local dance groups onboard for pre-dinner entertainment. They were very good. They also had a lecture one night. After dinner most people just grab a DVD to watch in their cabin. We fell asleep within 10 minutes of starting a movie each night as we had such full days.

 

Jackie

[billteer]

We have been on four Windstar cruises and are booked on our fifth (Wind Spirit out of St. Thomas on December 28). On our first cruise we had three people in the cabin (my father-in-law) and we have never felt overly crowded.

 

We were on a Viking River cruise in Germany in October. Now those are little cabins! Twin beds, one is a sofa during the day and the other folds up into the wall. When they are down, there is not much room in between.

 

Of course, if you want a large suite and can afford it, go with Seabourn.

 

Bill