WindSurf Cozumel 3/20 - 3/27 Trip Report

As promised my thoughts/musings on this wonderful trip. Kudos to Windstar for providing the backdrop for a fantastic adventure.

Overall: The attention to detail was great. The people who take care of your cabin must watch to see when you leave. There was one time that Bonnie and I left for breakfast. I forgot my camera and went back to retrieve. Our cabin was already cleaned and ready for our return!!

Service and food were second to none. The service staff for food and drinks goes out of their way to provide the utmost in personnel service and pride themselves in remembering you name throughout the trip.

Laundry: If you didn't pack enough for a full week and need to "freshen-up" your clothes, WindSurf provides a laundry service. Just stuff your dirties in the provided terry-cloth bag, mark up the tally sheet and place on your bed prior to breakfast and you will have pressed/clean clothes prior to getting ready for dinner!

Daily adventures:

1st Day:

Non-Diver Signups: Decide what you want prior to boarding and signup early to avoid disappointment. Some excursions fill up early so book right after you sign in. Note: tomorrow is a "day at sea" so it's a good day to book a "Spa Day". Again book early to avoid disappointment.

For diver's, the 7:30 pm Diver Meeting in the Library is mandatory. Position yourself by the signup sheets, as it's a free-for-all after the meeting for signups. Again, decide what you want prior to the meeting so you know what to sign up for, as it's a feeding frenzy worthy of blood in the water with sharks circling...

Negatives:

Who looks their best in 90 degrees/90% humidity for the required photo shot when you enter the ship? Ham it up, as the photos will be on display for all to see today and tomorrow...

Windstar should provide you with a list of activities you signed up for. It's hard to remember due to fatigue and rum punches et/al what you signed up for... Either that or write down and keep track yourself what you signed up for.

Day 2 "A Relaxing Day at Sea"...

Divers: Don't miss the Certified diver pool checkout at 9 am. If you have done any diving at all, this will be a cake-walk...

Art Auction: Unless you are a surly gentlemen with loads of cash to bid on overpriced works of art, pass on this unless you want lots of free cheap champagne. OK I'm being a bit harsh. If you stick it out, you'll get a choice of 5 pieces of art which you will only have to pay shipping ($35). I did this and hopefully I'll get it within the next decade. Actually it was entertaining as the woman started the auction by "pretending" to sell a priceless piece of art (forgot the artist as I was tipsy on the aforementioned cheap champers) in which everyone present had $1,000,000. As my spouse entered the room after this announcement, I had a wonderful time watching her face as I upped the bid to 60K, 100K, 500K, 750K...

Checkout the Signature Shop "Fortune Wheel"! You spin and can get discounts from 5-50%. I was "lucky?" and got a 35% discount good for shopping from 9am - 1pm. As my wife informed me that "Tommy Bahama never goes on sale", we would be crazy to not purchase $350 so that we could save $125. How could I dispute logic like that???

Chocoholics: Don't miss the Chocolate Buffet & Special Coffees after dinner. It's to die for...

Day 3: "Isla de Utila, Honduras"

Went Horseback Riding to Aladdin's Cave. Don't expect riding like you saw in Hidalgo, this is a mellow meander at best. The caves reminded me of something out of "Tom Sawyer" but don't go if you are claustrophobic. The 2nd cave required climbing about 30+ feet but was worth it as you saw cool interiors. Make sure you bring a camera with a good flash. Wear jeans even though you get curious stares from the locals prior to the ride ("Why are those stupid gringos wearing jeans in 95 degree weather???")

Day 4: "Puerto Cortes & Omoa"

From this website, I heard the Copan trek was on the "Road to Nowhere" and was reaffirmed by people that were unfortunate enough to sign up for this. It was many hours up and many hours back and I didn't hear anyone who said that it was worth it.

We went on the Humya River Rafting and though we didn't see much of white water, it was an enjoyable respite to the heat/humidity and the water fights with the other rafts where very entertaining...

If you enjoy a cigar and a fine port, stop by the Terrace Cigar Bar after dinner (9pmish)...

Day 5: "Roatan, Honduras"

My favorite day on the trip! In the morning we did a great reef dive followed by a dolphin dive. We got to meet the 2 dolphin boys up close and personnel above water and below while diving. Bart, our WindSurf master diver got a bit more "up close and personnel" with one of the dolphins than he would have liked to. Please ask him to elaborate!!!

After the dive, we were treated to a fantastic beach BBQ with a live Reggae Band and all the trimmings. DO NOT MISS THIS!! This was a ton-o-fun with great food and great times with all of your buddies that you have met on the ship!!!

Music Trivia at the Compass Rose should not be missed especially with Thom as the MC! See if you can beat Team Lemon-Drop's score of 33!!!

Day 6: Belize City

This was a tough choice between the Cave Tubing and the Aerial Trek; we chose the Aerial Trek and were not disappointed. Swinging 70 ft up in the air between trees on a cable was a trip! DO NOT FORGET A MOVIE CAMERA!! Even though you can't film while you're zipping through the trees playing Tarzan, make sure someone else is filming your comings and goings. This was another highlight of the trip!

Do not book a dinner at the Bistro tonight, as this is the Caribbean Buffet Dinner. DO NOT MISS THIS!!! Seafood lovers will think they've died and gone to heaven with all of the shrimp and lobster dishes!!! The dessert chefs outdid themselves as well…

Afterwards there is the Indonesian/Filipino Crew Show. I won't spoil the show but you won't want to miss it...

Day 7: "Costa Maya, Mexico"

This was supposed to be a dive-day for us but this was the only day that the sea was a bit rough so we decided that this would be a "sea-day". As this was our 7th wedding anniversary and we renewed our vows at sunset with the captain accompanied by special cake, champagne (Iron Horse, yum!!) and 8 of our new best'est friends, we didn't mind a relaxing day..

There you have it. 7 days was just too short. Next time we sail on any of the Windstar ships, it will be 10-14 days at least!!!:D :D :D

Thank you so much for your review. I enjoyed all the details about the different activities.

We'll be traveling on the Windstar in December. My husband and I are certified divers, but haven't dived in over 20 years. Our two children have done resort course type diving. I was going to sign them up for Discover SCUBA. Would we be more likely to dive together if we all signed up for the discover program? It sounds like it might be complicated for all of us to dive together.

Beth

You might ask the diveteam if you can dive with the kids at their Discover Scuba sites. Then again, since it's been 20-years for you, you might either think of a PADI Tune-Up class, or actually doing the discoaver Scuba class with the kids. That in itself (maybe with a camera) could be worth the cost of the class. Either way, don't miss the reef dives down there.

GREAT reef, where they don't let the people actually WALK on it. I wish Thom or somebody from the excursion office would have made a bigger deal about caring for the reef. In a few places it was gray, dead and laying in the sand.

Roatan was the best stop for us, too. We did the Monkeys, Macaws (and something else) tour. The beach BBQ, and the beach/reef itself, was the highlight of our week. If you snorkle there, make SURE you go out far enough to see the sand channel and mini-wall. It's maybe 300 feet out and a bit left of the place they serve the food. And the food? The 7-layer cookies would have been to die for, if they weren't already gone by the time I came back to get one (or maybe more).