new_cruiser

Your comment isn't helpful and doesn't apply to the question the OP is asking. It isn't whether a luxury good is worth the extra price. Where the break point is that makes it cheaper to get the drink package than buy individual drinks is a reasonable question. It doesn't have an exact answer because the drink prices vary but one can give a ballpark number - if one is a 2 or 3 drinks a day person, the drink package doesn't pay. Break even is somewhere around 5 or 6 drinks a day.

I've never had the package, but I've often been at dinner or in the lounges/bars with others who did have it and find your experience is unusual. The people with the package were well attended to, got ample wine refills at dinner and attentive bar service. If I drank enough to make the package worth it, I wouldn't hesitate to get it.

Most drinks are much less than that. Most of the wines are between $8 and $11 a glass (our most recent trip was August so inflation may make some changes in that, but presumably not up to $15). Cocktail of the day is something in the single digits - can't remember exactly at the moment - maybe $8. Most other cocktails are $12 or less. When I've calculated the trade off, it takes more than 5 drinks per person per day to break even on the drink package. And that's if the drinks are at the more expensive end of the range so really that probably applies to the all inclusive package as well. (I've only personally calculated for the drink package as I'm 4 star so get internet free and my husband does fine without the internet package, so the All-Inclusive would never benefit us. After our next trip, he will be 4-star too.) If I have more than 2 drinks a day, I don't feel well - not a hangover, just feel sort of uncomfortable right away, and at sea, my tolerance goes down. Usually there are a few occasions during the cruise with free drinks - something when you board while you check in, wine at the captain's welcome (usually the second night), Yacht Club cocktail party for anyone past their first Windstar cruise (servers go around with wine but you can also get a cocktail if you ask for one), sometimes as a welcome to the Beach BBQ. So my usual bar bill for a cruise is less than a few days of the beverage package.

Many doorways on the ship have a lower ledge that you will have to lift the rollator over.

Actually, before the pandemic the 7-for-7s varied in how much of a deal. Sometimes they were a great deal and sometimes very little was knocked off the price. I've seen more than $1000 and I've seen where the price wasn't really any lower. It really depends on how well cruises are booking up. I've had a couple of cruises where the price never went below where we initially booked - the price just went up. The ones where that happened were itineraries that they do less frequently. I think it is less likely on the itineraries that they do over and over during a season. I've even seen times when the price went up - usually because they base price on the cruise was going up so after the 7-for-7 it was higher then it had been before. With inflation, possibly the base prices are being adjusted. And I've seen times when the 7-for-7 price was down from where it had been but then the price was still down after the 7-for-7 was over - in those cases, it was getting close to last minute so I guess the cruise had lots of space and they lowered price to fill vacancies. My best score was post pandemic - spring this year when they lowered the price on my crossing Cruise Collector just before the price assurance window closed. They lowered it so much that I decided to upgrade to a balcony suite at a lower price than my window suite and still saved a bunch. After that week the price went back up and my fare for was less than the fare for the non-crossing segment of the collector.

To clarify, it is the OBC that you get from Windstar that is not useable for gratuities - that's the OBC that comes from Windstar promotions, Yacht Club, etc. The OBC that I get from my agent is a different category (I forget how it appears on the statement at the beginning of the cruise but it has a different name) - it's refundable if not used and can be used for gratuities.

They don't have an app. There is a webpage that you can access when on board the ship to get menus, daily programs, opening times, etc.

I have had success with receiving and making calls with the package. Note that the internet service isn't fantastic - we had one day on a 10 day cruise where it didn't work much of the day. The data rate can be slow at times. When I bought unlimited internet on a cruise (January 2020) they didn't require buying it for both people in the cabin. I bought just one package. I haven't bought it since then because since then I get it for free as a 4-star Yacht Club member.

I've been on two ocean crossings with Windstar: Pre-stretch Star Legend Pacific crossing from Tokyo to Seward Post-stretch Star Legend Atlantic crossing from Saint Martin to Lisbon Both crossings were surprisingly smooth. In the Atlantic crossing, there were some very high seas forecast for our original path but the Captain altered the course and changed the one stop to avoid the high seas. Both were Star Collectors with a crossing followed by another segment and in both cases, the heaviest seas I encountered were during the non-crossing segment. On the Alaska cruise, we happened to hit a rough day on the Gulf of Alaska so it was pretty rough for a half day getting from Seward to the Inside Passage. In the round trip out of Lisbon after the crossing, we hit rough seas going from Portimao to the Canary Islands. I guess that a multi-day ocean crossing allows more options for adjusting the course based on sea conditions than getting from point A to point B in 24 hours or less.

We were luckier on our Windstar Cruise in August, Neither Santorini nor Mykonos had mega ships in. As far as I recall, none of the ports other than Athens had a mega ship in.

I think the number of people getting free laundry from Cruise Collectors and other B2B is why. At the time they dropped the laundry package from All-in, they also dropped the All-in price by $10 which is more than the laundry package cost so people didn't lose by the change even if they are buying the laundry package. People who have free laundry due to yacht club status (4 star status) also have free WiFi. In that case, buying the beverage package plus the paying the gratuity costs less than the All-In: Beverage package $58.50 (10% discount from $65 - apparently that price has also gone up recently) + Hotel service charge $16 = $74.50. So the All-in at $89 or even the old price of $79 doesn't make sense for a 4-star.

I wonder if this is a new policy. I got a fantastic price reduction on my solo trip in May and still got all the 4 star benefits. I got the fare adjusted to in a 7-for-7 shortly before the 90 day cut-off for the Price Assurance Policy. My price for solo on the 23-day Cruise Collector was less than the per person double occupancy price after the sale ended for the 10-day segment of the Cruise Collector (the other segment was a 13-day ocean crossing which had a lower price than the 10-day segment). I wondered for a while shortly after I got the price reduction if Windstar would come back and say they had made a pricing mistake.

Yes, the hair dryer is in the desk/vanity.

I'm not a diver, but like to snorkel. I found it helpful to bring a dozen magnetic hooks along. I'd leave my mask, snorkel, etc in the shower to dry enough to stop dripping, then move them to hang from the hooks on the cabin wall so they would get more air circulation to finish drying. The magnets won't stick on areas of wall covered with mirror or paneling but there are wall areas where they work.

The comment about "almost always denied" is excessive. It is best to check with your medical insurance. We have Kaiser and the provide emergency care coverage world wide. We have had significant medical expenses twice while traveling and had no issues getting them to cover it. Tne was international and included surgery and a 3-day hospital stay so the bill was 5 figures. I submtted the package from the hospital documenting the care and costs. Kaiser promptly sent us the entire amount minus the same hospital copay that I'd have paid for the care at home.

My husband noticed this at the bottom of the requirements for pre-cruise testing: Except from https://www.windstarcruises.com/health-safety/overview/ "Guests who show up at embarkation without a negative test result in hand will be administered an antigen test by Windstar and charged a $69 fee."

I don't know that anyone would have experience with the Petra extension yet. I think that itineraries with that are fairly recent. In January 2020, we booked a cruise for later in that year that had a Petra excursion during 2 days port in Haifa. That may have been the first time they were going to Israel - I don't recall earlier itineraries. Of course that cruise never happened due to the pandemic shut down of cruising. We were booked on a similar itinerary for October 2021. The cruise happened but Israel and Egypt ports were cancelled and replaced with Greek ports due to Covid. I've never noticed any noise from the deck above or from stair wells/elevator. My last cruise I had a cabin by the fore elevator and stairwell and there were no noise issues. There is a pinned thread for cabin reviews. https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2758328-staterooms-on-renovated-motor-yachts/?do=getNewComment The most forward cabins may have vibration from the anchor operating when arriving and departing port. Generally, I haven't found much variation. Other than a handful of larger suites, all the suites are nearly identical in size and furnishings. The Star Suites were added in the stretch and have a bed by the window, living area by the door configuration. The original Suites are living area by the window, bed by the door. The balcony suites have French balconies - a bit over 1 foot of balcony depth; fine for opening the door and sitting by in the living area enjoying the fresh air and view. Only the Owner's suites and Classic suite have a regular balcony. We've never felt a need for a balcony on Windstar - there are always plenty of loungers available on deck and it's never crowded or felt like we needed to our own retreat to get peace. The deck 3 cabins were added in the stretch and have portholes. The rest of the non-balcony cabins have a large ocean view window. I've always felt as a general principle that it is better to get cruise insurance independent from the cruise line or tour provider. I want to buy insurance from someone who specializes in providing it.

They are card keys - chip, not magnetic. They will fit your holder from earlier trips.

Condolences on your loss. I think that most (all?) cruise lines that run a World cruise will have some kind of social gathering for the world cruise passengers. In some cases they repeat that every segment. That will give you a chance to meet and talk with people who will be familiar faces for the 4 months.

Has anyone bought a proctored COVID test kit recently. One small but annoying downside of the eMed COVID test is that the packaging is larger than it needs to be - the box I had last fall for one test kit was larger than the boxes for 2 or even 4 packs of non-proctored tests even though materials for one test are the same size - just a lot of empty space in the box. We will be leaving for our cruise in just over a week so it would need to arrive promptly to take with us. I found this Onsite which appears to proctor testing with any home test kit: https://onpoint-testing.com/ Has anyone here used them?

The same way you would do it in the US. I used an eMed test last fall that I had bought in the US and brought with me to Europe. I used the test's app and initiated the test. Received the email shortly after.

Not Rob, but here are answers to your questions. Candles and Quadro have fixed menus. An exception at Candles is the vegetarian entree which changes daily (and I think is the same as the vegetarian entree for Amphora). The fish may also change (I can't recall). Quadro has a couple of signature cocktails. I particularly enjoyed the Gran Espanola which is rum, honey, lime and cava with a mint garnish. The other one is good too. There is usually someone at check-in taking reservations for Candles and Quadro so we usually do it then. You can reserve once per cruise (per segment if you are on a Cruise Collector or other B2B) initially. We find once about right since the menus are fixed, but you can make another reservation later in the cruise if space is available. The mini-bar starts out stocked and is restocked as items are used. If you prefer it to be stocked differently (regardless of whether you have the package or are paying ala carte), just ask your room steward and they will make the adjustments. E.g. I generally only drink ginger ale or sparkling water - colas and lemon-lime sodas are too sweet for me so I'll ask the steward to modify the mini-frig for that. (The soft drinks are free for everyone - only the alcoholic bevereges in the mini-frig have a charge if not on the package.)

Nice review! One note based on my Windstar sailing experience: Amphora is usually not open for breakfast. The only time I've seen it open for breakfast was a May trans-Pacific which was also a cool/cold weather cruise. Some days of that cruise, it was open for lunch as well which is also very unusual. It may have been open for breakfast on your cruise due to the weather. We also had the "deck" BBQ in Amphora. On my two post-COVID cruises (both on Star Legend), I've felt that the deck BBQ wasn't quite as lavish as on the pre-COVID ones. Possibly that is because they cut back for the lower passenger load or for some staffing limitations. It was still nice but a bit scaled back. Star Grille was open for dinner on some nights of my cruise this spring and it was quite a nice option for dinner on deck.

Laundry used to be included in the All-In package which is why you have read conflicting information. They reduced the All-In package price by $10 and removed laundry. Probably removed because many passengers get the laundry package for free so the old system made the All-In package less attractive to those who were already getting free laundry. The laundry package is $8 per day per passenger - you have to take it for the whole cruise if you prefer that to per piece prices. The laundry package is free for passengers on Star Collectors (and possibly those on the rare non-Star Collector cruises over 13 days). 4-star Yacht Club passengers also get it for free and there is a discount on the package of 5% or 10% depending on Yacht Club level. Per piece prices are reasonable compared to hotel rates, but we take the package. It's so nice to not have to think about it and send in whatever we want. Also, we usually travel to the cruise a few days ahead so we arrive on board with several days of laundry to send in. They do sometimes offer a per bag special mid-cruise but since I usually have the package, I haven't paid much attention. The one time I noticed it I was on an early season Alaska cruise that was part of a Star Collector. Out of curiosity, I compared per piece prices of what I was putting in the bag to the bag price (academic since I had the laundry package). With cool weather clothes, one would have to stuff hard to get value from the per bag price - but it probably works out better on warm weather cruise.

On my most recent cruise (May 2022), there was an offer when we were boarding to upgrade to a Star Suite for some amount per night. I think that's because they are trying to market the Star Suites - falls on deaf ears in our case because we prefer the original configuration. Other than that, the upgrades I've seen from Windstar have been free upgrades. Yacht Club members used to be entitled to a free one category upgrade on boarding based on availability. I don't see that mentioned on the Yacht Club page anymore - which is okay - a one class upgrade is often pretty uninteresting.