Windstar Wind Star - - just returned

We completed our first cruise on a "Star" ship cruising from Barbados and returning to Barbados. If you had asked us on Friday morning if we would cruise with Windstar again the answer would have been most definitely. Saturday morning we were not so sure. The seas were so rough the last night that three of our party of four were very seasick. In addition, a number of the other passengers we spoke with on Saturday morning had the same experience. One of the guests mentioned he had gone up to the bridge and the stabiliziers were turned off. I don't have personal knowledge of this since I did not leave my cabin that afternoon and night.

Now for the good impressions. . .the staff were incredible. Friendly, knew our names after the first day. Without a doubt the best service we have ever had on a cruise ship. We have sailed a with the large lines like Royal Caribbean and Celebrity. More recently, we have sailed a couple of times with Azamara and Silversea and gone on several Uniworld river cruises.

Since this sailing left on 12/26, there were a number of family groups traveling with some children ranging in age from mid-elementary to adult children. It was a great mix of ages. We are in our late 50's and our daughter and son-in-law were with us. The islands we visited were beautiful along with crystal blue water. Unfortunately, the beach bbq had to be cancelled since the captain determined it was unsafe to tender so we arrived in Bequia mid-day the day before we were scheduled. We actually enjoyed having the additional time in Bequia. On New Year's Eve, we were docked by Bequia and the party on deck was a lot fun and the island had a great fireworks show.

The pool is very small-- more of a plunge pool. Cabin space was perfectly fine. We tend to overpack and had plenty of room for everything. In addition, we purchased the laundry package and it is a great value.

The food in the dining room was not the quality of Silversea but better than our Azamara cruise this past summer.

The first night the casino was open there was no one in it but as the week progressed, the tables became more busy.

We only attended two of the port talks late in the cruise and wished we had gone earlier in the week. The information provided was good and not too long-winded as we have sometimes experience on river cruise presentations.

Needless to say, with the size of the ship check-in and out were efficient and painless. Both on embarkation and disembarkation days the captain along with senior staff were at the entrance of the ship.

Happy to know your Windstar cruise was so good/lots of positives,but that the weather needed a tune-up apparently. Sometimes, even with stabilizers on, a sailing ship will rock a lot. There is that pesky wind. Hopefully, Windstar actually had her stabilizers engaged. I was just in that area of the Caribbean on another sailing ship, and we, too, found some of that fiesty wind. I'll definitely sail again, but maybe not at this time of year.

That area between St. Vincent and Barbados is notorious for this. We had the same experience last year on the Wind Star. Must be the current and wind combination. But We will do this again anytime :-)

Dandee2

We were sailing the Leewards (on Star Clippers) Christmas week and there was quite a bit of wind/choppy water/swells. It was the roughest water I have been on, but it was a great experience too!

We were on the same cruise, our first on Windstar.

There was much to love - the size of the ship, uncrowded, the service wonderful and pleasant, the food almost uniformly tasty (I did have a pretty overcooked pork chop one night). New Year's Eve was lots of fun.

Our flight was late getting in - in fact, we had to buy last minute tickets to get there in time. (Yes, I know I should travel in the day before; we normally do, but we had Christmas plans and a nonstop early on the 26th...or so we thought!) I was in contact with Windstar repeatedly after I got the news via text from Delta (during Christmas dinner!) that we would be delayed. The person on call picked up instantly (no phone menu hell!), was pleasant, and contacted the ship to find out our options. Unfortunately, Delta kept pushing the flight back, beyond when WS said they could wait, so we had to jump to Jetblue (with scheduled later arrival). At least we had used miles (refunded) on Delta, so we didn't have to pay for duplicate flights. Airfare to Barbados is expensive! We found when we arrived that Windstar had arranged a private car instead of the van transfer because we were running late. Nice.

The seas in that part of the Caribbean are notoriously rough. I loved it during the day (and in the evening dark in the bow of the boat), but sleeping down close to the water (with the waves slapping across the porthole (we were on deck 1)) was a bit tough. At least I didn't need a pill the last night as I did on the first full day, after not sleeping all night between the roughness and the engine noise coupled with something slapping against our porthole all night (Cabin 120, room checkers). First time I was ever seasick in my life; it actually took me a while to figure out that's what it was. Windstar did find us another room slightly forward where the engine noise was moderately less and there was no slapping tender/stairs line (or whatever it was). My only other complaint was the lack of shore excursions. We even had 2 cancelled due to lack of enough people doing it. I guess most people were off on their own? (We did some of that, too.)

In sum, loved Windstar, not so sure I'd do the sailing ship again, though. Probably will try the motor yachts.

We're on this itinerary departing January 30. Are the rougher seas a winter thing or more obvious over the December/early January time frame? I don't generally get seasick, but perhaps I should pack some precautions this year. We were on the Surf a couple of years ago out of St. Maarten, but seas may be calmer there.

Also, what excursions got cancelled? The only one I'm considering is the St. Lucia hike...I'd like to get into the Pitons to hike and this seems like the most practical way to do it.

The seas are rough from Barbados to St Lucia and from Bequia to Barbados. In other words, across the stretch west-east and vice versa. Take Bonine; it's non-drowsy. They had the drowsy stuff they gave away for free at reception. (I didn't have Bonine because I'd never needed anything!)

I don't think Windstar has an excursion that does the Piton climb. We had arranged to hike Gros Piton with Spencer Tours, but they didn't meet up with us because they thought we were coming in to the main island instead of Pigeon Island. O.o As it turned out, I'd had no sleep and had been ill overnight, so it's probably a good thing, as it turned out, that we didn't set off to do Gros Piton. They did eventually show up at the dock (they come by boat), but we had gone looking by then for them down by the park entrance to see if that was more like the meetup location they had erroneously emailed us, and they left by the time we returned to the dock.) We did walk (and climb the small hills) on Pigeon Island. Then I slept all afternoon, back on the ship. (I presume Spencer Tours has learned the lesson about this (we emailed back and forth). If you go with them, make sure they know that you are anchoring off Pigeon Island. And give them your cell phone number - they don't answer their 'emergency' number when you call it 7 times from the dock wondering where they are.) We did sail right by the Pitons headed down to Grenada, and you could get your picture taken (with your own camera) on the bowsprint with the Pitons in the background.

The rest of our excursions were through Windstar.

Grenada - snorkel/catamaran ride. The snorkeling was meh....underwater sculpture garden and the water wasn't all that clear. The cat ride, on the other hand, was a hoot! There was also a lobster lunch (you could have chicken kabobs if you don't do lobster, as is the case for me.) Food was very good. We also walked around the city of St. George's, where we were docked.

Tobago Cays - snorkel trip again. Snorkeling was fabulous. Lots of fish out by the reef (warning: STRONG currents!); the second stop had few fish but sea turtles and sting rays. Catamaran, on the other hand, wasn't as nice as the other one. I later heard from other folks that they had good snorkeling just being taken by tender to the beach.

Mayreau - the private event day. The 'sailaway' excursion was cancelled due to not enough interest. This was the only excursion for this island. Of course, as was mentioned below, the entire island was missed due to strong swells that made tendering unsafe. Instead, we went right on to:

Bequia. Took the tender to town; walked around, including going to the wooden ship model builders. Walked over to the beach. Paddle boarded (they had the water sports equipment on the beach). Decent snorkeling by the rocks at the far end of the beach (St. Margaret's Bay, if I remember correctly). Warning - this (as is also the case for Lower Bay) is a public beach.

The next day was the scheduled full day in Bequia ("Beck-way"). Our snorkel excursion was cancelled due to lack of participants. We were able to add the Lower Bay excursion/lobster lunch. Food not as good, but still decent. They had grilled chicken if you didn't do lobster. Snorkeling out by the rocks, again. Nice beach; a bit less crowded. Probably should've skipped this one and just gone back to St. Margaret's. It was expensive mainly for lobster I didn't eat. (At least, hubs did.)

Barbados. We did the cave/plantation tour with transfer to the airport. Very nice. We'd been to the cave 20 or 25 years ago; the infrastructure has changed a lot since then. Do not believe the signs/forms at the airport that say you have to get there on departure day 3 hours early, btw. I was worried about being late, and we had plenty of time.

Sorry, I misspoke - I meant the Rainforest Hike. We generally don't do a lot of excursions, opting to just head to the beach. Thanks for the detailed info though - we're really looking forward to this.

We did the rainforest hike two years ago and enjoyed it. Be sure to wear your swimsuit for the dip in the rainforest pool at the end. That was fun. Changing facilities are provided. The beach at St Lucia where they anchor at Pidgeon Island is also nice, and the short walk up to the fort (15-20 mins) gives lovely views.

Hi all,

We are taking this same windstar cruise out of Barbados in 2017. Did anyone do a private tour (not a cruise ship tour) in any of the stops? Any recommendations? Thanks

Maria

We are also doing this itinerary in 2017 - again, we did it December 2015. This time we are taking friends for their first Windstar experience. We booked all of our excursions through Windstar (unlike other cruises we have done through the larger cruise lines) and were very satisfied. Will be doing the same this time as well. All were very well organized and reasonably priced.

Just noticed landtraveler you are on Windstar Feb 2017 - so are we! Which date?

Just noticed landtraveler you are on Windstar Feb 2017 - so are we! Which date?

We are on the Feb 4-11 out of Barbados.

Which were you favorite excursions? We are signed up for the lobster/catamaran/ snorkel in Grenada but haven't done anything else. Do you have recommendations for Tobago?

Thanks

Maria

Last year we did the Chocolate/Spice tour in Grenada, but plan to the Lobster/Catamaran snorkel tour this year, as we met friends who did that one and thoroughly enjoyed it. We also did the snorkel excursion in Tobago Cays - it was great, we drift snorkeled, it was quite choppy that day, and there is quite a current on the reef so you need to be comfortable with those conditions - but we saw a lot of great fish. Sorry we will miss you, we go later in the month. Enjoy!