ridethetide

8 hours ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

 

Do you feel the French balcony adds value?  [$1,200 per person on an 8 day cruise]

We have done Alaska twice on the Legend and were so pleased that we had the French balcony.  Some of my best photographs were taken from the balcony.

6 hours ago, SailingSteve77 said:

We haven't booked our flights yet.  But, as of right now American and it's One World partner Iberia has good pricing .  DFW - Madrid - Athens.   Flying San Juan - DFW is easy at cruise end on American.  Yes, it's always good to double check the fine print on the ticket, but most carriers are very forgiving right now to try and get people flying again.   We look forward to meet you on board (hopefully) in Athens.

 

Steve & Cindy

Of course, you have to assume that the EU will allow Americans to travel there by then.

1 hour ago, vtgumby said:

Hi Windstar cruisers!

We are considering doing a transatlantic cruise on the Wind Spirit and wonder if anyone else has done one of these cruises? We love our sea days and do mostly repositioning cruises but not sure if 15 days with absolutely no stops is the right way to go on a small sailing ship and looking for any input if they’ve done these before.
Most of our transatlantic‘s are on larger ships in the 2000 to 4000 person size and indeed we had one crossing with 45 to 60 foot waves for two days, the captain said he hadn’t had seas like that since his fishing days, so that was a fun couple of days (it really was!) but I don’t think it would be as much fun on a sailing ship, just saying.
So anyone’s thoughts who have done the sailing TA’s are greatly appreciated!
Thanks!

You must be referring to the Wind Star or the Wind Surf.  The Wind Spirit is in Tahiti.

3 hours ago, Petoonya said:

The most we drink is two cocktails a day and two glasses wine with dinner. And that's pushing it. Is the beverage package worth it for us? Is the wine that is included decent?

You generally need to have at least 6 drinks a day for it to make sense.

3 hours ago, Petoonya said:

Last time I cruised WS I had little OBC. Next time, tons. I know some cruise lines don't permit OBC to be used for gratuities. Does WS?

No.

2 hours ago, 2LoveToTravel said:

You would think that they would all cross to Europe. The Pride may go into dry dock sooner?? once that resumes....but the Surf and Star don't come back to the caribbean until November. Thats a long time  to be sitting in Panama....and totally missing Europe when it opens?

I doubt there will be a European season this year. Let's hope that cruises will resume by November...

53 minutes ago, sb44 said:

Panama? Interesting.  We so want to be on one soon!

Panama is a safe place to hang out during hurricane season.

1 hour ago, RemPuck said:

An interesting addendum....

 

When we booked our trip in August 2019, we initially included the Denali "cruise tour" at the advice of our TA.  She recommended that we add the cruise-tour at the start so that we could take our time and figure out if we wanted/could do the pre-cruise portion independently.  During the fall, I did my own research and created my own itinerary.  In January, I formally cancelled the pre-cruise portion via Windstar and asked that any additional deposit I'd paid for the cruise tour just be added to my overall account.

 

At the same time, I pre-booked three Windstar excursions: Zodiac rides on each of the 3 glacier days on the itinerary.  From what I'd read of the 2019 season, these were often over booked and we really wanted to do them.  As such, I paid over $1300 for the three excursions.

 

Now with the trip being cancelled, my FCC is based on "all monies paid" to Windstar.  This includes the additional deposit for the original cruise tour as well as the three excursions.  My FCC is nearly the cost of a single full fare on the cruise!

 

At this point, we're rolling this forward and do hope to do the trip in 2021.  I've not yet figured out what I may be out with flight costs; even with waived fees, I will not be able to roll my 2020 tickets to 2021 given the airline restrictions.  Windstar is very clear that they are not covering any non-Windstar costs.  We hadn't taken insurance (and at this point, the cost of the insurance would have been beyond what we may be out).

 

Will Windstar still be around in summer 2021?

 

 

I sure hope so.  We are booked for Alaska the summer of 2021.

10 hours ago, RemPuck said:

Thanks ridethetide. 
 

It’s interesting that you were able to roll your FCC to a summer 2021 cruise. I specifically asked my TA about this and she confirmed with Windstar that even if I waited until the last minute, I couldn’t use an FCC on an Alaska cruise in August 2021. 
 

We’ve got some thinking to do over the next 6 weeks. 
 

 

The 2021 Alaska cruise was already booked as a replacement for the cancelled July 2020 Star Breeze cruise.  Maybe they allowed us to transfer the FCC because it was an existing reservation.

3 hours ago, RemPuck said:

To follow up....I'd asked my TA for clarification around cancellation, use of FCCs (time limit), the Canadian restrictions and the overall state of Star Breeze's renovation.  Below is pasted from an email reply from her:

 

"If you want to cancel now, you will get a $50.00 per person FCC and the remaining amount would be issued as a refund to the original method of payment used.

 

Once the Final Payment has been made and if you want to cancel later, you can do so, up to 15 days prior to sailing to cancel. The total amount paid will be issued as an FCC. This would include the deposit, which would normally fall under regular penalties of not being refunded, but instead Windstar will take the penalty amount and issue an FCC. Nothing will be refunded to a credit card.

 

With this being said, you are correct, there are some cruise lines that are issuing FCC’s that you can book in one year and sail within two years. Windstar has advised us this is not the case with the FCC’s they will reissue. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause you.

 

We did inquire about the Ship being behind in schedule and in dry dock. We were not able to obtain any information, and there has not been an notification or announcement regarding the matter.

 

We further inquired about the maximum occupancy of 500 and if it can sail due to the Canadian restrictions of more than 500. We have been advised the ships maximum occupancy is 300 has been approved and able to sail with the new guidelines in place."

 

 

So if nothing else, we may have learned that the Canadian regulation is around passenger occupancy rather than ship occupancy.  I hope that the "approval" above is really from the Canadian authorities and not an assumption by Windstar.

 

I know now that if I wait another 6 weeks (to final payment date) to cancel, the most I am will be "out" is my deposit which will be rolled into an FCC but I'll need to use that by actually sailing within a year.  The one thing I'm concerned about is making final payment and then waiting (and waiting) through the summer with big question marks over everything.  Most of my pre-paid expenses are refundable (flexible policies put in place since booking) and the airlines are being flexible with changes (and the flights were booked with miles and the reinstatement fees are not much).

 

While I think it's likely we won't make final payment, I think we're leaning towards waiting through April to see how things progress.

We were booked and fully paid up for a Wind Star cruise out of Colon a couple of weeks ago. We cancelled due to Coronavirus, three days before WS cancelled the cruise.  They gave us 100% FCC toward our Summer 2021 Alaska cruise.  Had we waited three more days, it would have been 125% FCC.  We stand to lose our airfare since it is unlikely we will be flying anywhere before one year from purchase of the airline tickets.  Trip insurance, of course, was not helpful since we were not sick.

1 hour ago, LewiLewi said:

After three months of submitting documents, etc. to Windstar and being told that they were "working" on it, I finally asked my Travel Agent to intervene. They told her that we would not get reimbursed for our airfare because they had returned our money for the TA on the Star Breeze. However, because of the cancellation of the Star Breeze, we were stuck in Lisbon, after taking the Star Legend across. The only way we could get home was by air. They refuse to reimburse us for that. I don't know what else to do.

So disappointed in Windstar; we are thinking of cancelling our next cruise with them.

Our TA got her senior management involved with WS senior management and all was resolved very quickly and fairly for us. Don't give up,,,,

14 hours ago, nkcbkc said:

So after serious consideration of risks of quarantine, we decided going thru with our March 14 11 day Wind Star cruise.   A 2 night stay in Panama prior had been arranged and flights to Panama City with a return home from St Marteen was booked.   I had questioned our travel agent a few days before departure if ports of calls were still accepting the Wind Star passengers onto their shores and given assurance that at that date they were.     Low and behold , shortly after flying into and checking into our hotel in Panama City Thursday evening March 12, I opened the email from Windstar informing me that all their cruises had been suspended effective on our sail away date of March 14.    So we arranged for return home flights Friday on the next day that we had anticipated a sail away out of Colon on the Wind Star.   The upcharge for next day flights for 2 cost us more than $800.  Is it reasonable to expect Windstar to reimburse for our extra transportation home costs?  Also, is it with in reason to expect coverage for the hotel stay prior to our cancel cruise?  

We were to be on that same itinerary but had canceled earlier in the week out of fears of being stranded somewhere.  It is my understanding that they are providing FCC.  I have not heard anything about reimbursing for travel expenses.  Unlike the Sea Breeze cancellations due to delay in the stretching project, this was not their fault or under their control. Unfortunately, our trip insurance will also not cover the travel expenses since they only cover diagnosed illness, not fear of illness.

8 minutes ago, minidonuts85 said:

Canada just announced a ban on cruise ships to be re-evaluated in July.


Sent from my iPhone using Forums

That will affect the Alaska itineraries.

It's going from bad to worst...

36 minutes ago, Doh15 said:

It seems to me if you read both the State Dept advisory and the Windstar policy to their letter then WS ships will not visit any non-US ports and will not allow anyone on board who has been outside the US in the previous 30 days. 

Windstar's policy does not forbid anyone who has been outside the US in the past 30 days to board unless they traveled from or through a country that is at “Level 3” as determined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). It is currently limited to a few countries.

8 minutes ago, Mr Astro said:

It looks like Windstar is going to cancel this trip.

So much for that bucket list......

Did they say why it was being cancelled?

My TA was informed this afternoon that the Travel Assurance Policy will now apply up to 48 hours before sailing.  This is wonderful news for us since my husband's doctor recommended today that we cancel our cruise set to embark on Saturday. Windstar is applying the FCC to a cruise we have booked for 2021 (which was the result of the Alaskan Star Breeze cancellation in Alaska in July 2020.)  I am so tired of cancellations. Wishing a quick resolution to the pandemic and a seamless stretching for the remaining sisters.

2 hours ago, ducklite said:

I tried to make choices for things and like the idea of adding in WiFi or laundry packages as additional choices.

 

Does Windstar will offer free laundry on cruises over a certain length?

I believe that cruises 14 days or longer provide free laundry.

32 minutes ago, nkcbkc said:

Sailing on Wind Star next month.  Anyone know if ship can provide beach chairs for day trips?

 

I have never heard of them providing beach chairs.  They will pack a lunch for you, however, and they provide beach towels.

8 hours ago, patty1955 said:

Sorry, I have another question. One of our hotels had a non-refundable price so we've lost the money we paid for it. Do you think Windstar will reimburse us? Will it slow down the airfare refunds if I include the hotel in our claim?

Windstar has refunded us for both the airfare and the hotel, all non-refundable.

2 minutes ago, minidonuts85 said:

Wow...thanks for posting as I had not seen this. We are on the Star Breeze June 9 from PV to San Diego (we live here) and the date didnt really work for us but we went ahead and rebooked anyway since its our homeport. I wonder if they'll bring her back down the west coast again from Alaska. If they do I'd definitely move my June cruise.

Star Breeze will now have an extended season in 2020 Alaska and then the ship will sail south along the West Coast of the United States, followed by a transit to French Polynesia (Tahiti) and then the ship will enter its normal scheduled 2020 Australia / New Zealand inaugural season. The new itineraries are in the process of being deployed, and we will update our website as soon as the new itineraries are available.

The buried city on Montserrat was such a fascinating place.  I would definitely opt for an itinerary that includes Montserrat.

1 hour ago, 6rugrats said:

The pool is not really big enough for swimming.

It is big enough if you turn the jets on and swim against the current.  You stay in place as you swim.  I have done this many times on the motor yachts.

3 hours ago, Chipshot from Michigan said:

Colon is interesting because of all the activity (nothing quite like having an enormous container ship pass within feet of your vessel) but not exactly the most charismatic port.  That's the reality of the canal.  I'd like to pass through one of the new locks (no mules) someday.  Tugs are used now.

It is my understanding that only the mega-ships can transit the new canal.  I believe that is for huge container ships, not passenger cruise ships. 

I eat more than I normally do and run on the treadmills daily and have never gained any weight on WS cruises.