Kiwifruit

[turtlemichael]

Hi Kiwifruit

In doing a search I came across several of your postings. I'd be most interested in your reflections as a fellow Antipodean (I was going to say Aussie but your nick may indicate you hail from the other side of the Tasman) on Seabourn and Windstar (and any of the other luxury lines). Particularly interested in gay friendliness, any homophobia, service standards, value for money etc.

Partner and I have only so far done a Galaxy cruise this northern summer in the Med and loved it. Looking forward to more cruises but can't say we are totally adicted as there are some great land based vacations to be had as well.

Thanks in anticipation.
Michael

[Kiwifruit]

Hi Michael,

Just returned from the windstar cruise and once again we had a great time. You are right in guessing that I originally hail from the other side of the Tasman but Melbourne has been home for a number of years now and it is good to see a fellow antipodean lurking on these boards.

We loved both Windstar and Seabourn but they both fill slightly different markets with Seabourn being the epitome of luxury and Windstar being a little more casual and not quite so sophisticated.

Cabins on Seabourn are great as they are all suites with decent size windows allowing good view of the world as it passes by and the bathrooms and closets are very large (complete with marble bath), but the cabins on the Windstar are still quite good and make good use of space. The Windstar cabins also have plasma TV and a great DVD library if you spend time in your cabin although my partner and I didn't really make much use of this.

So far as service standards are concerned bot are very good though again Seabourn would have the edge. On Seabourn nothing is too much trouble and he sevice is more personalised with most staff being able to address you by name within first couple of days. With only 208 passengers and 196 staff you are totally pampered all of the time with out it being intrusive. Whereas the crew on Windstar are predominatly Philipino or Indonesian, Seabourn use mostly Europeans.

Seabourn generally have a couple of formal nights where tuxedo for guys is the norm so if you are not into that sort of thing you may prefer Windstar (my partner and I while not generally into the formal dress thouroughly enjoyed these nights and while the dress migh be formal didn't find the people at all stuffy).

Both cruise lines we totally gayfriendly and we never experienced the slightest inkling of homophobia on either and we were treated exactly the same as any straight couple. Passengers too at this end of the market tend to be more sophisticated and well travelled and accepting of alternative lifestyles. We were surprised by the number of gay and lesbian couples on the Seabourn cruise but as far as I could tell we we the only gay couple on the Windstar cruise (not that that was a problem).

So far price is concerned Seabourn is more expensive but it includes all drinks (as much french champagne as one can drink and a fully stocked minibar in your cabin) , all gratuities, a free shore excursion and little extras like shoulder massages on deck etc so I still rate it as good value for money particularly if you like the odd cocktail.

Feel free to ask any other questions.

Cheers, Kiwifruit

[turtlemichael]

Thats great! And so fast! I actually do like the odd cocktail (or spirit, wine or beer) but only on days ending with "y".
I'll think of some more questions for you as wel get closer to a plan. Many thanks again.

[Kiwifruit]

Purely coincidental that I happened to be on line when you posted your question hence the quick response. Just one other thing I would add is that on these smaller ships they don't have the Las Vegas type entertainment you get on the larger cruise ships (in fact Windstar have no shows of any type) so if you consider this a negative then you may prefer the larger cruise ships.

Personally we prefer the smaller ships which can get into ports not able to be visited by larger vessels and where the sevice is more personal as opposed to larger ships where we felt a bit like sheep (being herded around at times) and we always find the smaller ships to be more social and friendly both in terms of staff and passengers (or maybe such congeniality is a product of the free flowing champagne).

Certainly if you enjoy the odd drink Seabourn is marvelous, they even send you a form to fill in ahead of your cruise asking how you want your bar fridge stocked (though in truth we never really drank in our suite as all drinks are included throughout the ship).

Another advantage of both Seabourn and Windstar is that neither really cater for children so it is rare to find them on board. Probably because of this fact the crowd on both cruise lines tend to be a bit older than the larger ships with young families on board. I'm not sure of your age group but my partner and I are both in our late 30s and enjoyed being towards the younger end of the spectrum of fellow passengers. All in all both based on our experience both cruise lines offer a good mix of passenegers both in terms of age and nationality of passengers. We will probably look at doing another Med cruise next October, we have heard Silverseas is also very good but given our experience we will find it hard to look past Seabourn next time.

We too like landbased vacations as well and tend to combine the two spending some time in the area before and/or after the cruise if time allows.

OK this has turned into quite an epistle so i'll sign off but let me know if you have any specific questions.

Cheers, Kiwifruit

PS Does your nick indicate that you come from that cove of sisterly hospitality south of Port Douglas?

[turtlemichael]

Sprung! I was GM there up until a couple of years ago. Now doing more less stressful things. :D

Partner and I have left the 30's behind though we still think of ourselves as about 25!! Only thing is that we don't look it!

Over the years we have travelled very widely and tended to prefer softly adventurous land based vacations. Next Wednesday we are off to Vietnam for 4 weeks. Our first cruise earlier this year was a great success and we want to do more in due course. I like the thougt of the Seabourn cruises out of Australia to Asia next year - no damn massive airfares.

Your point of getting to interesting but smaller places whichg you would be unlikley to otherwise visit is a good one. Thanks Again.

[Kiwifruit]

Hmmmm, we may have crossed paths at some stage I stayed at TC a couple of times but its been quite a while since I was there, the only name I remember is "Bert" can't recall his position but remember him being bit of a character.

Also heard good reports on the Seabourn Asia cruises and always a bonus not to spend 24 hours on a plane to join the cruise. We also like to include a bit of soft adventure in our holidays and enjoy the water platform offered on both Seabourn and Windstar (included in price) from where u can do some sea kayaking, windsurfing, water skiing etc. We also tend to do our own thing in ports and often rent a mountain bike or the like and have a look around.

[turtlemichael]

Hey

Small world. If ya like drop me an email : mccwilliams @ ozemaildotcomdotau