Live from Star Pride

Hi. We're on Star Pride this week cruising along the coasts of Panama and Costa Rica. What a fabulous itinerary. You sort of expect it to be all about the Panama Canal (which we transited Sunday) but it's so much more than that. It's like the Caribbean before it got so crowded. Great beaches, rain forests, fantastic cities (we especially fell in love with Panama City -- don't miss its old town, which is undergoing a huge renovation).

And oh, yes, about the ship. It's great! This is the President's Cruise and yesterday the new executive team held a Q&A for anyone who wanted to attend, and I was surprised at how positive and open past passengers were about some of the changes that were discussed.

Making the changes will take about seven months to see an impact, but check out this report we published today about the conversation: http://www.cruisecritic.com/news/news.cfm?ID=7576

Another cool tidbit is that John Delaney's just about finished assembling his executive team and 100 percent of them have worked either onboard what he calls Windstar's Wind ships (the sailing trio) or worked for Seabourn when it operated the trio of yachts that are now Windstar's Star Pride, Legend and Breeze.

Another really important insight shared with us is that the line is paying key, critical attention to infrastructure, from plumbing and other below-decks stuff to investing in an entirely new technology network, which will extend to onboard Wi-Fi and entertainment and such.

We were at Isla Parida today for a "beach" day and Delaney told me that there are all sorts of new water toys; Chris Prelog, the new hotel ops honcho (fresh from Seabourn) had gone to visit Wind Spirit in Tahiti and thought it had better floats and such than the rest of the fleet. That's not in the story but look for more great toys for watersports marinas on all the ships.

Here's the story: http://www.cruisecritic.com/news/news.cfm?ID=7576

We're publishing some photos on Cruise Critic's Instagram page (handle: CruiseCritic) and I'm publishing a bunch on my own Insta handle (CarolynSpencerBrown), feel free to check 'em both out.

Happy to answer any questions you might have on the itinerary or the ships' -- will do the best I can to give you insights.

Carolyn

Carolyn Spencer Brown

Editor in Chief

Cruise Critic

Thanks, Carolyn and best to you. Enjoy. We have sailed Windstar 10 or 11 times (lost count) and have loved every cruise, the ships and the crews. Sounds as if you all are having a great time.

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Both links go to the two-year-old story about the Pride running aground. Here's the story on today's conversation:

http://www.cruisecritic.com/news/news.cfm?ID=7576

Good catch. Thanks. We were on Pride in November and she was in fine shape.

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We were on Pride in November and she was in fine shape.

Does that mean no more plumbing issues on the Pride... as well as on the other two ships acquired from Seabourn?

We had no issues on Pride this year or Legend last.

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Just off the Star Breeze -same (or similar) itinerary. Phenomenal cruise with some areas for improvement.

Oh, crap marinaro44. Thanks so much for the heads up, will see if I can get that fixed. Obviously I was looking at the old news story because someone bumped up the thread on that yesterday and I wanted to refute it!

Carolyn

Both links go to the two-year-old story about the Pride running aground. Here's the story on today's conversation:

 

http://www.cruisecritic.com/news/news.cfm?ID=7576

Glad it was a good cruise, floridaag. Are you planning to write a review? Would love to read it!

Carolyn

Just off the Star Breeze -same (or similar) itinerary. Phenomenal cruise with some areas for improvement.

We were very interested in this cruise, but were having a difficult time finding flights that didn't take forever to get there. We would be coming from the West Coast. Anyone have any insight on this?

It is good to hear about the planned improvements. Particularly as the sailing ships seem irreplaceable, ongoing updates and maintenance seem like a great way to keep sailing.

Despite initial reservations due to really liking the sailing ships, we loved our first non-sailing Windstar voyage last summer in Norway. I'm also very interested in the new itineraries.

Thanks for locking that bumped thread from two years ago.

Just off the Star Breeze -same (or similar) itinerary. Phenomenal cruise with some areas for improvement.

We will be on the star breeze next month

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Both links go to the two-year-old story about the Pride running aground. Here's the story on today's conversation:

 

http://www.cruisecritic.com/news/news.cfm?ID=7576

It doesn't really matter, but for the record the accident was in December 2015, just over a year ago, not two. The postings went on through much of 2016, as people were still trying to get closure from WS on various issues, including belongings not returned.

Hi, Texasstar. I've met quite a few passengers who flew in from California and other places along the Pacific and most of them came in through Dallas. I don't think the layover times are hugely efficient (I came from the east coast and spent more time in MIA than on either of my flights), but nobody seemed too bothered. I would recommend you come in a day early, regardless....

Carolyn

We were very interested in this cruise, but were having a difficult time finding flights that didn't take forever to get there. We would be coming from the West Coast. Anyone have any insight on this?

I have a friend on this cruise and followings his FB page pics and post. Would love to see yours too!

We are going to book the Colon to Puerto Caldera on WindStar for 2018!! We originally wanted to do Tahiti next year but will be a budget buster for us so maybe 2019.

I lived in Panama for 6 years and was the absolute best time of my life! We will go in a few days early so I can visit my childhood home, schools, etc...all converted now from military to commercial properties.

We were very interested in this cruise, but were having a difficult time finding flights that didn't take forever to get there. We would be coming from the West Coast. Anyone have any insight on this?

We've found some good flights from LAX on Avianca that have a short layover in San Salvador. United/TACA also connects through Houston on a decent schedule. Other airlines want to go all the way to Miami to connect and no way I'm doing that.

Many people on our cruise from the West Coast, flew cross country to Miami and then to Panama City - sounded crazy to me. Others flew through Dallas or Houston

Thanks Minidonuts, that looks better. We will put this trip on our "to do list".

Sounds like a great cruise. I loved my Panama Canal cruise 2 years ago. I'd do it again!