AmateurGO

Agree completely with Strenz We are also long time sailors, although mostly small sailboats, and the Wind* ships are just something special. We are not crazy though, and doing Iceland on a motor yacht (Star Pride) seemed like a good idea. I tend to look at the itinerary and timing first, rather than the ship. But, if there are two cruises with equally likeable itineraries, I would take a sailing ship in the Caribbean or the probably in the Med. Sailing on the Wind Spirit in French Polynesia was really special, but, sadly, I guess a Wind* ship is not an option there for the near future.

I guess we were lucky as the seas were reasonably calm on both "crossings", and I don't think anyone got upset. Yes, the small ships do move quite a bit, even the Star* class ships. We were on Star Pride around Iceland last Sept. and hit some rough weather. Let's just say that the Amphora was almost deserted that evening..... Biking around those islands would be great... didn't realize you could take bikes on board. Will have to remember that.

When we did FP in 2017, the night we were at Bora Bora was the night for the island/motu dinner so we were not on the ship (Wind Spirit) to watch the sunset and I cannot report on that. But, if you have a "free" night at Bora Bora and you decide to be off the ship for the evening/sunset, I'd suggest heading to Bloody Mary's (the source and namesake of the drink). You should have an excellent view of the sunset from the dock in front of Bloody Mary's and I can't think of a more iconic place to watch a sunset in Bora Bora. Take a good look at the "guest List" boards at the entrance to the restaurant/bar: the list of former guests is amazing.

We did the 11 day cruise with the Tuamotu islands about 6 years ago. We also did a couple of days pre-cruise in Tahiti. If it comes down to a choice between Tuamotu Islands or Tahiti, definitely go for the Tuamotu Islands. Tahiti was nice, but the Tuamotu islands were special: the water, the coral, sea life and the remoteness of them are memorable. If it would help any, I did a rather complete "Trip report" with a lot of photos of that trip and it is available at my personal (non-commercial) web page: http://hammocktree.us/Tahiti17/Tahiti17.htm Take a look, especially at the Tuamotu Islands part.

10 days into an 11 day cruise on Oceania Sirena. The food is good... slightly better than on Seabourn, but to my taste, still not as good as Windstar. If all food on Oceania was as good as in Red Ginger and Tuscan Steak restaurants, it would be a very close match with WIndstar, but I think WIndstar main restaurant (Amphora) consistently beats the Oceania main restaurant. Now, I like somewhat spicy or strongly flavored food, so someone with a more mild taste preference might well feel the other way: I just think the Windstar food has more taste.

in a word (well, three words): "It wasn't easy" We had planned for this opportunity well before our flight to Bonaire and our friends boarding the ship. They apparently talked to the right people and were told that they (the officers) could make it happen. We (wife & I) did have to provide our passport info (numbers, dates, etc.) at least 3 days prior to the port call so they could be checked/researched. When time came to board the ship, the security (dock worker security) guy wouldn't let us onto the dock because we were not on a list he had of visitors. (So I assume this kind of thing is not that unusual.) Someone had not done their paperwork and that was soon straightened out, but we did have to surrender our passports during our stay on Sirena (about 2 hours). I do suspect that their "status" in the Vista Suite probably helped grease the process a bit. So, it can be done, but must be planned well in advance and I think it helped that they were persistent.

Oh, and cayman09, we were also briefly on Sirena in January. We were on our favorite island, Bonaire, when some good friends on Sirena stopped there. We gave them a tour of Bonaire and they gave us a tour of Sirena and their Vista suite. It is purely a coincidence that we are now about to board Sirena for our own cruise.

Hey Mrose11, we will also be boarding Sirena on 4/22 for the British Isles cruise. Also, we are born and raised Floridians, although we did move "up north" to Atlanta area a long time ago. See you on board.

Would you believe I even looked up how to properly spell the name of the ship on my cruise confirmation paperwork, and then still typed it in wrong!? 🙂

Funny you should mention Oceania, Jazzbeau.... We have a cruise on their Sirenia in about 2 weeks, based largely on some friend's experience back in January.

r&rd's description of that Sept/Oct cruise "around" Iceland is spot on... we were there also. We scheduled our trip with a couple of days in Reykjavik after the cruise for the Golden Circle and a south coast tour. I understand that WS will discontinue Iceland cruises a week or two earlier now. In addition to the missed ports and not a real circumnavigation of Iceland, I have to point out the other potential issue related to weather. Those high waves and wind will toss the ship around a bit and we did have a couple of days of that kind of weather. We could feel the effects, but were not significantly affected by the motion, but many people were. The last night (after the roughest day) Amphora only had about 1/3 to 1/2 as many people dining as normal. Motion sickness remedies were quietly being provided, but if you are at all susceptible to motion sickness, I'd suggest you bring your own medications. I do rather complete trip reports of our trips: if you want to read/view the report of this trip, check my personal (non-commercial) web page: http://hammocktree.us/Iceland23//Iceland-23.htm There is a video from the last day of the cruise that will give you an idea of the movement.

For quick background, we have done 7 WS cruises (all but the most recent on Wind* ships) and several non-WS cruises. In late April - Early May 2023 we did 2 week Greek islands cruise on Seabourn. (I liked their itinerary better than the WS cruises) and we were not impressed by the food. It was not really bad, just lacking in significant flavor and non-memorable. In September (2023) we did a WS cruise around Iceland (well, it was supposed to be "around" Iceland, but the cruise itinerary underwent multiple major modifications). The first evening (in Amphora) I had an appetizer that was more flavorful and interesting than anything I had in two weeks on Seabourn. The rest of the cruise was just as good. In 2022 we did a cruise in Celebrity's Retreat section and I felt the Luminae and Amphora were very close in selection and quality.

I suspect that I know the answer to this question, but wanted to make sure..... If we upgrade to the optional ($30 per day) package, does that have any impact on the availability or cost of wines by the bottle during dinner (or other times)? I would not expect to get three-figure bottles of wine "free", but it would be nice to be able to get $50 - $70 bottles included or perhaps get a discount (30%??) on bottles. I would like to take advantage of the wider selection of wine by the bottle, without paying the (full) high price. I realize that I could skip the optional package and then just apply the savings to the bottles(s), but then I also lose the availability outside of meal-times and I do enjoy a glass (or two) cognac after dinner.

Thanks alcpa1.... sounds like they probably have the issue resolved and cleaned up.

Since we are on that same sailing, I'd be very interested also!

We have a month before we get on Sirena in Southampton, Apr. 22 so I certainly hope this is well cleared up by then! 🤞 (fingers crossed)

On our two week cruise back in May, the hard copy Herald was not provided/available until the last day when it mysteriously appeared, so the app was essentially mandatory, as inaccurate as it was.

We recently (5 weeks ago) sailed on the Star Pride on a Iceland cruise. (After sailing on only the Wind * sailing yachts for 6 cruises.) Some of the areas did seem a bit crowded, but not terribly so. The Yacht Club lounge was full (no good seats left) a couple of times and the Compass Rose did get full a couple of evenings. However, this was a cruise on which the outside/exterior spaces were essentially unusable (temps 40 - 50F, wind 15 - 25 mph, frequent light rain) so everyone was "compressed": into the available/usable spaces more so than usual. The restaurants were not overly busy/full (although the Veranda was a bit "close" because the outside tables were not usable). I did not get an exact passenger count, but I believe the ship was very close to capacity. Hmmm, I see that r&rd had a similar reaction, although I don't think we could have been on the same cruise, since the Captain's reception and farewell were both held in the lounge because of the poor weather. We cruised Sept 2 - 9.

(Not Strenz, but.....) Early in our cruise, not many people had "discovered" the Yacht Club yet, so it was not crowded. Late in the week, when we were on board and not much was going on, it did get a bit crowded. We were always able to find seats, but not the preferred seats with a good view. The very last day, when waves were biggest and ship moving quite a bit, not so many in the YC: I think a lot of people were trying to minimize the movement they saw/felt.

I'm very glad your cruise worked out well. A lot of the officers changed between the two cruises and our Captain Rowden did a good job with the weather we were dealt. Of the 6 ports we were supposed to stop at (if you include Reykjavik), we actually got to 3 of them and had a couple of days of rough weather. Our last evening, the Amphora was only about 1/3 full and Compass Rose was practically deserted. I suspect a lot of people were not feelin well. Our biggest regret was that, mostly because of the pretty solid overcast, we never got a glimpse of the Northern Lights. Yes, we have sailed Windstar 6 times previously, all on the Wind* ships. There is something magical about a sailing ship in places like the Caribbean and especially French Polynesia.

Two things.... First, Strenz... How was your Greenland cruise? Any weather problems? We were on the Iceland cruise immediately prior to Pride heading to Greenland and there were a number of weather related changes ("overhauls") of the itinerary. Afterwards, I watched the various storms heading toward the Canadian Maritimes and was afraid that you might be hitting a lot of bad weather. Second, the "Sailing" ships. We are sailors, although mostly small Hobie-Cat size, also certified for renting up to 50 ft sailboats, so some background in actually sailing. The Windstar Wind* ships are actually rather poor as "sailing ships". They all have flat bottoms, suggesting they were not originally intended to be sail-powered, but were "re-designed" during the construction process. With no keel, the ships are very limited as to how effective the sails are. As I tell people, "The sails are for show, not for go." On the other hand, they are beautiful and there just something about being on a ship with the sails up, even if they are not really doing much good. Generally speaking, according to one of the captains, the best they expect to do on sails is a net benefit of about 1 - 2 knots. The best I experienced was on the Wind Surf in the Med (from the Adriatic, rounding the boot of Italy, heading for Sicily. We had perfect conditions with a 20 knot wind from behind so we were on a broad reach. Captain shut off the engines and reported that we were making 5 knots on sails alone. Then again, if you are wanting to get somewhere in a hurry, you shouldn't be on a sail boat anyway.

OK, here they are (attached). Hopefully you can read them....

I have rather mediocre photos of the wine list (complimentary and optional) from the April/May timeframe, if that is recent enough, or of you don't get a better offer.

We've done 6 cruises on the "traditional" Windstar sailing ships, then a Cruise in the "Retreat" on the Celebrity Beyond last Fall and the Seabourn Encore this spring. We are now about to head off on one of the previous Seabourn ships under the Windstar flag (the Pride) so we will soon have had experiences on about all variations of the "small ship" theme. Oh yes, we also did a one week cruise in the Galapagos on the 100 passenger Celebrity Flora last year, which was special in its own way. For pure luxury and service level, I thought the Retreat in the Beyond was a set above the Seabourn Encore. The main problem with the Beyound is that it is a very large ship, with all those implications. But, there were some advantages because of the size of the ship, such as the quality of the evening entertainment and the variety of dining options available. But, as mentioned above, Celebrity has apparently figured out that they have a good thing in the Retreat and have priced it accordingly. We've always preferred the friendly and social atmosphere on the Windstar sailing ships and will soon find out if that holds true on their motor yachts.

Things have calmed down at the Club Meds in the past few years. They have mellowed along with the aging of the typical guest (GM). (My screen name refers to my status as a Amateur GO, having been to CM so many times.) Oh, the many stories we have to tell.......