Star Pride - Caribbean - port questions

We're sailing in the Star Pride in the Caribbean this spring and having never cruised with Windstar before I have questions about the ports - mainly where exactly does this ship dock or tender you to shore? Are we tendering in zodiacs or something more like a life boat? Are there any wet landings or are they all dry landings with docks? Does Windstar have a private beach or beach area at any of these ports? I'm trying to figure out where I need to purchase excursions and where I don't.

Leaving from San Juan - where exactly does this ship leave from in San Juan? (We sailed many years ago out of San Juan on a Carnival ship that docked within easy walking distance to the old town fort areas - is that the same port? I know there are several places in San Juan where the ships sail from.)

For Martinique it is listed as Anse Mitan - are we tendering/docking at a beach or city? What is within walking distance at this port? (When we've been to Martininque before we've docked downtown in Fort de France, but wasn't with Windstar and people have water taxi over to the beach at Anse Mitan.)

For St. Lucia it is listed as Piegon Island - are we tendering/docking at a beach or city? What is within walking distance from where we dock/tender? (I believe I read someone else's review that Windstar does a beach party/picnic here - is that true?)

For Guadeloupe it is listed as Les Saintes - are we tendering/docking at a beach or city? What is within walking distance from where we dock or tender?

For Montserrat it is listed as Little Bay - are we tendering/docking at a beach of city? What is within walking distance from where we dock/tender? Has anyone taken a third party tour with Sun Lea on this island?

For St. Barts it is listed as Gustavia, so are we docked or tendering right to the city? What is within walking distance from where we dock/tender? I'm debating between taking the 1 hour island tour or 3 hour snorkel excursion - any suggestions of what is best since the hurricane hit in the fall?

Do I need to book my excursions before I board or do they fill up super fast and nothing is left when I get on? It seems that the excursions are very limited through their website to book, does Windstar have more excursion offerings if I wait to book something when I get on board?

Any other tips or suggestions you have for a Windstar newbie would be greatly appreciated!

(We're well traveled in the Caribbean, but all on the big box ships (Carnival, Princess, Royal, etc.). We have also traveled on small ships (Paul Gauguin, Silversea), but not in the Caribbean .)

Your itinerary should show each port, hours and whether you are docked or at anchor. Start there. Montserrat is anchor and if you can tour with Sunny grab him. Great guy and great guide. Pigeon Island and St Barths definite tender ports. The tenders on the Pride are nice boats. Not sure if they are also using Zodiacs now but didn't when we were on board a year ago.

I have heard that San Juan has main port open which is in town but again, look at your itinerary and Google is your friend.

The excursions that book up are the ones on catamarans or snorkeling. Go to the overview of ports first night. Enjoy and relax. No mob scenes. Lots of cabs in all the ports.

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Just got back.

We left San Juan from Pier 4 (the Carnival terminal in Old San Juan).

EVERY port is a dry tender stop. You are transported ashore in what amounts to a 24 pax boat that travels from an aft 'dock' off Windstar's port side to an modest pier ashore. There are no wet landings. Piegon Island is essentially a beach party with all the necessary supplies brought ashore by the crew.

You can do an excursion anywhere you want.

You should be aware that Montserrat is very much 'hit or miss'. We were not able to anchor safely and moved on to St. Kitts. Word onboard what that they are successful less than 50% of the time at that port.

For reference, we did island tours in Martinique and Guadeloupe simply because we had never been to either. We had a private tour set up with Sunny for Montserrat (that was refunded when we failed to anchor) and explored St. Barts and St. Kitts on our own because we were familiar with both.

We were on the Surf from 1/6-20. We could not get into Montserrat due to 7-10 feet swells. We were so looking to Sunny’s tour instead we went to Antique as well. Very nice.

Just got back.

 

We left San Juan from Pier 4 (the Carnival terminal in Old San Juan).

 

EVERY port is a dry tender stop. You are transported ashore in what amounts to a 24 pax boat that travels from an aft 'dock' off Windstar's port side to an modest pier ashore. There are no wet landings. Piegon Island is essentially a beach party with all the necessary supplies brought ashore by the crew.

 

You can do an excursion anywhere you want.

 

You should be aware that Montserrat is very much 'hit or miss'. We were not able to anchor safely and moved on to St. Kitts. Word onboard what that they are successful less than 50% of the time at that port.

Thank you! This is super helpful!

On Les Saintes, the Star Pride and Windsurf may be there on same day. I was on Windsurf last week. star Pride was there. Availability on some excursions were very limited since space was split between the 2 ships. We wanted to do the Catamarin trip. It was sold out ( 10 places) before we embarked. That also happened with one other excursion. We were disappointed. Book excursions asap or you may be disappointed.

Currently on Star Pride and Montserrat was cancelled the day before as they knew ahead of time that the wind would be from the NE and thus the swells would be to big for us to tender. We left Les Saintes at 10pm, bypassed Montserrat and went to Basseterre directly instead, arriving at 9AM and departing at 8PM.

Oh and by the way even though we will be in Basseterre, we are not at the dock and will also tender in