Seraya

My husband and I sailing with Windstar in Tahiti for our honeymoon in December. We're avid divers and were going to book through Windstar, but the dives seem expensive and short for the amount of time in port. Are there any dive operators that you'd recommend in particular?

Hi Scuboo,

My husband and I each did eight dives in total: two in Moorea, two in Raiatea, four in Bora Bora (over two days).

We saved quite a bit of money by buying a Te Moana Diving Pass, which includes 10 dives for 60,000 XFP. My husband and I shared the pass and paid extra for the additional six dives. I think the Pass includes all equipment, but we brought our own gear so it was irrelevant. I believe we also dived Nitrox without having to pay extra.

The dive operators we used were:

Moorea Blue Diving in Moorea - Diane, the manager, was very responsive to my e-mails and helpful in giving me info about the dives and pick-up locations. I told her we wanted to buy the Te Moana Pass and we completed the purchase at the shop.

Hemisphere Sub in Raiatea - This was the only dive operator in Raiatea that accepted the Te Moana Pass. It was also the operator Windstar used. They were initially not willing to take us on separately because they were worried that they'd get in trouble with Windstar and they tried to convince us to book the dives through Windstar. I told them I'd be using the Te Moana Pass and eventually they took us on. There were people from our ship that booked dive excursions with Windstar but they were on a separate diving boat. My husband and I ended up having a private dive boat and guide, which was great!

Bora Diving Center in Bora Bora - We used the last two dives included in the Pass for the first dive at Bora Diving Center. The manager was nice enough to let us pay the same per-dive price as the Pass for the additional six dives. The dive to see eagle rays was fantastic despite the really fast currents.

I have no complaints about any of the three shops we used and would recommend them in a heartbeat!

Hi! As ridethetide said, the scuba equipment will be provided by the dive operator, whether you choose to do the diving excursion through Windstar or independently.

My husband and I have our own gear so I don't have personal experience with the rental equipment, but I didn't hear anything negative from divers who rented gear on our Tahiti cruise.

Also, instead of going with WS excursions, I arranged all our diving myself by contacting the dive shops directly. It saved us a lot of money and I could choose operators that had good reviews.

The diving was amazing!

Regarding cell phone service, we bought a local SIM card that worked on all the islands and it helped us massively in terms of getting in touch with dive operators to confirm pick-up times and locations etc. The cell service was good enough that we could always get through while we're docked. (I mean we could be in our stateroom and not necessarily standing on land.) I posted about this (and purchasing wifi) in an answer to another thread. Perhaps you can click on my screen name and find that post.

While it was more work to arrange all the diving excursions ourselves, it saved us a lot of money. There was quite a bit of e-mail back and forth and it took a bit of time, but everything went smoothly for us in the end.

We ended up arranging all the diving ourselves and did not join any Windstar excursion.

On the two days that we didn't dive, we were docked at Taha'a and Huahine. At Taha'a, we spent the day on the private motu that Windstar had rented. At Huahine, we just took the tender ashore and walked along the beach and ended up spending a few lazy hours at a beachside bar.

Sorry I can't help you with excursions other than diving, but we saw quite a few people joining a snorkel tour at Bora Bora that's not organized by Windstar.

We were on the August 21 Dreams of Tahiti sailing. We arrived PPT very late and spent the night at the Tahiti Airport Motel. We checked out from the motel at 11 a.m. and reached the pier by 11:20 a.m. Windstar's security was already there and we were able to leave our luggage with them in their van just outside the gate to the pier. We then walked around the Papeete Market and had lunch. We returned around 2:30 p.m. to check in for the cruise. By then, they had already moved our bags into the secured area inside the pier.

Since the ship arrives back in port around 8 a.m. from the previous cruise, I think the security people will be there by then. You can probably do what we did and leave your bags with them.

By the way, we bought a local VINI SIM card (we needed to call dive operators to arrange pick-up times) and some wifi credit to use MANASPOT hotspots. Both worked great and the wifi hotspots operated by MANA were easy to find at post offices. Both worth considering!

Ooooh ... I can't wait! Thanks for the info!

Thanks! I have arranged diving in Moorea and Bora Bora.

Thanks for the review! We are super looking forward to our August 21 sailing.

Do you remember at which ports was the ship docked at the pier and at which ports was a tender required? If it's a tender, how early do they start running in the morning? I have arranged to be picked up by a couple of local diving operators and want to make sure that I can make it.

Thanks!!

I called and as expected was told that the sale fares apply only to new bookings, so we won't be able to enjoy the discounts. But we were offered shipboard credit. With the unprompted stateroom upgrade offered previously and the shipboard credit offered now, I'm more than pleasantly surprised! :)

With the deep discounts for the sailing, does it mean there is still a lot of vacancy? In your experience, how full are the Tahiti sailings?

Thanks again for all the help!

Oh no! I just checked and the sailing we've booked is now $500 less per person than what we've already fully paid. Is there anything I can do to get the lower rate? Thanks in advance for any tips!

The Internet - wired or Wifi - onboard is "sell your first born child" expensive. If you can get by with checking it a couple times a day, either chat up the crew who know where the free Wifi is at every port and/or just head for the closest coffee shop where you'll get access for the cost of a cup of coffee and they'll let you sit there as long as you want.

Thanks for the tip! I'm a freelancer and don't have back-up when I'm away. Even if I tell my clients I'll be on vacation, it's nice to have e-mail access from time to time. I think the port Internet cafes may be the way to go if the onboard quality doesn't justify the cost.

We really didn't find the internet too bad. In fact DH thought it was better than we have experienced on Seabourn. It really depends on time, place and weather. There was one morning when we couldn't connect at all but in the afternoon it was fine.

Good to know, thanks!

It has taken us 15 years to get back onboard Windstar. Our first cruise was on Holland America, too big, second one on Windstar, at the time too small, and then we settled on Seabourn. However when we decided on Tahiti as a destination, and after looking at all the options, we decided on Windstar. We were not disappointed.

We arrived in Papeete late in the evening. The transfer from the airport to the hotel went smoothly and we then had 2 nights in Le Meridien (ordinary in our opinion) before our cruise.

The transfer to the yacht went to plan, everyone was on time.

When we arrived at the dock our luggage was opened and inspected, no X-ray for scanning,so there was a bit of a delay but not too bad. We then headed towards the gangway. The Windspirit looked beautiful, and although this was the yacht we had been on previously, we could not remember it all. She is an old girl, but she was gleaming in the sunshine. We knew then that we had made the right decision.

At the top of the gangway we were greeted by the captain and hotel manager (it amazes me how they make you feel you are the only passengers they have ever had onboard even though you know they had seen off a boatload a few hours earlier). We then did the paperwork, had our photos taken, discussed the pros and cons with the various packages and were shown to our cabin. I will call it a cabin and not a stateroom because it is a cabin. It is small with 2 portholes and only just enough room to walk around the bed. The bathroom is definitely 1 person at a time but as we discovered later, the shower had the best water pressure we have had on any ship. The cabin has more than enough storage so although small there was no clutter.

Back to the packages. We looked at the drinks package and decided it was not good value for us. It is $116 per day - we ended up paying $30 - $40 per day!

As it was only 7 days onboard, we decided against the laundry package but we did take the unlimited internet. This was well worth while because the Internet is so unreliable it is easy to use up your time just trying to log on.

Sail away was beautiful, the Captain raised the sails and with classical music playing we were off on our wonderful voyage.

We signed up for snorkelling every day and were not disappointed. The weather was perfect, the water warm and crystal clear and the fish plentiful. We also did the 4x4 tour on Bora Bora which was fantastic. Another interesting tour was the pearl farm. I am now the proud owner of a Tahitian pearl pendent.

The food was consistently good, the dining room is lovely and has a relaxed atmosphere. We tried Candles and this was probably our only slightly disappointing meal. The deck BBQ was the best we have had and the beach lunch and dinner were also great. The amount of effort the crew put into these occasions is amazing.

The crew are fantastic. They genuinely seem to be happy and work such long hours just to keep us happy.

Fellow passengers were interesting and very freindly. The ages ranged from young honeymooners to elderly. A lovely mixture.

All too soon we were back in Papeete and I was being told I really DID have to leave the Windspirit.

No cruise is perfect in every way, but for us, this one was as close as you could get. We are very happy we rediscovered Windstar.

Thank you for sharing your experience! My husband and I will be on the Wind Spirit in August and I'm excited to read such positive reviews.

One question: Cost and reliability aside, is the Internet connection on the ship painfully slow, as I've read elsewhere?

We have stayed in 232, with friends in 234 on the Wind Star. Both cabins were excellent with minimal noise. I would always pay the extra to stay in the 200 level vs 100 level as the noise is greater the lower down you go, and particularly toward the aft of the ship. Wind Star and Wind Spirit have pretty much identical layouts. I' d be taking the free upgrade with much thanks to Windstar as that just gave you a better cabin location for no $$$.

Enjoy

Thanks! I'm sure we'll enjoy the upgrade! :-)

Thank you for your replies! It sounds like both 133 and 233 are essentially staterooms without any particular issues, in which case, I guess we'll enjoy our upgrade! I can't wait! :)

Hi Wind Spirit experts, I just got an e-mail from Windstar saying that we've been upgraded from 133 to 233 for our Tahiti sailing. I took a look at the deck plan and noticed that 233 is at the very end next to a blank area without any description. It is also right next to the stairwell. This made me think that perhaps the blank area is the engine room? What is you opinion? Am I better off with the original 133? Thank you in advance for any advice!

Thank you both! It's good to know that delays are not generally an issue. Now I can proceed with my dive bookings. And I'm hoping the seas will be calm ... :)

Hi! I am a cruise newbie and have a question that might be silly to many of you. :o

When Windstar says arrival at 6 a.m. in Moorea, what kind of delay window should I allow it? One hour? 30 minutes? 10 minutes? I am asking because I'm planning to go diving on an upcoming cruise and I hope to book independently with smaller dive operators instead of through Windstar as an excursion. Most dive operators can pick up from the dock where the tender drops me off, but obviously I have to be there on time.

I understand it's a boat and many factors affect the "punctuality" of its arrival into ports, but in general, have you experienced much delay?

And, if Windstar says "arrival at 6 a.m.," by what time will I be able to leave the ship?

Thanks in advance for any help and advice.

Hi! I'm a newbie in both cruising and CruiseCritic and am hoping to get some advice.

My husband and I are going on the August 21 Dreams of Tahiti sailing on Wind Spirit and we want to go diving wherever possible.

While Windstar offers diving shore excursions, it doesn't tell me which dive operator it uses. I'm therefore looking into arranging myself with dive operators that get good reviews. My questions:

- Has anyone done this and would you recommend it?

- Do you know if the dive operator would be able to pick us up directly from the ship?

- If not, do you know which docks Wind Spirit uses in each port of call so I can tell the dive operators where to pick us up.

Thank you in advance for any insight!