Wind Star Costa Rica March 4-11 - Review

GENERAL COMMENTS:

 

WARNING -- This may be the longest cruise review you've ever read -- and this is only the first half! ;) I have separated my cruise review into the ship experience, and the port experiences, as this ship cruises in different regions, and some readers may be more interested in learning about one vs. the other.

 

About me: I am a 46-yr-old freelance writer and cruise lover who has taken several cruises on a few different lines, including Royal Caribbean, Celebrity, Radisson Seven Seas (now Regent), and now Windstar. I have enjoyed every one of my cruises, although each cruise line has its strengths and weaknesses. I will attempt to describe my cruise experience from the perspective of offering a comparison between this line and the others I have cruised. However, I should mention that a Windstar experience is truly not like any other cruise, so some things are just not going to be comparable. Also, know that while I was on the cruise itself, I probably spent a grand total of a nanosecond actually thinking about comparing this cruise with any other – I was too busy enjoying myself!

 

I will try to write an honest and balanced review. There were great things, and not so great things. I want to stress, however, that there wasn’t a single not-so-great thing that, to me, was worth openly complaining about. For example, even when I had one really horrible entrée, all I did was laugh because, well, it was the last night and I was so stuffed full of rich foods that it was actually a relief! I just set it aside and saved myself for dessert – which turned out to be one of the best.

 

SHIP:

 

We were on Windstar Cruise Line’s Wind Star ship, one of the smaller of their three ships, carrying a maximum of about 140 passengers. The Wind Star is a motor sailing vessel, sporting four tall masts with enormous sails that they leave unfurled most of the time we’re at sea. I’ve read criticisms that these are more for show than anything else, but on our cruise that was not the case – they do in fact USE these sails for power whenever possible, and we were fortunate that the winds were in our favor quite a lot on this cruise, allowing the captain to shut down the engines and sail exclusively under wind power. I must admit that there is something stirring about the huge sails unfurling in the breeze on this majestic ship.

 

The ship is truly magnificent – lots of wood, very understated and classy, with a strictly nautical décor. Those who prefer their cruise ships to look like Las Vegas will probably not like this ship, as there isn’t a spec of neon or a flashing light to be found. In fact, the casino is one of the smallest rooms on the ship, consisting of no more than a couple gaming tables and slot machines. There are only four decks – two for passenger cabins, the main deck with the lobby, lounge and dinner restaurant, and the pool deck with the pool aft, and the bridge and Veranda restaurant for breakfast/lunch at the fore. There is also a fly bridge with a few tables and chairs, where I really didn’t spend much time as it got kind of windy up there. I won’t go into much more description of the ship, as details such as these can be found on Windstar’s website.

 

This was our first small ship experience, and we truly enjoyed it. It was definitely a different kind of cruise vacation from larger ships. By halfway through the cruise, you are on a first-name basis with most of the other passengers, as well as the crew. This has its pros and cons – mostly pros as far as I’m concerned, but a couple of us commented that you really lose all opportunity for anonymity on this ship. If you want to go hang by the pool and quietly read, you probably won’t make it far in your book before you end up in conversation with the folks around you, who all know you by this time. This wasn’t a problem for me, as I’m a social person. But my husband is much more introverted, and while he enjoys social interactions, he needs occasional time to recharge his batteries alone. He spent more time in the cabin than I did.

 

One major pro was the lack of lines anywhere. Even at the busiest times at the buffets, you could just walk up to what you wanted and take some. It wasn’t a linear buffet, and you never stood behind anyone.

 

The only lines I ever saw were at Tortuga Island, when we got there later than expected and it seemed to take a while to get everyone to shore on the zodiacs for the beach bbq, and on the last morning at the reception desk, when I had a question about my statement and there were a few people waiting ahead of me. That’s it. Welcome to the world of small ship cruising!

 

EMBARKATION/DEBARKATION

 

Not much to say about this. We had private transportation, who drove us directly to the ship and literally dropped us off at the bottom of the gangplank. We left our luggage there and walked on board at about 2:30 pm. That definitely ranks as the easiest embarkation of any cruise I’ve ever been on.

 

The check-in process was a little more complex than I’ve dealt with in the past – we had to fill out a bunch of forms, and visit two desks – but it didn’t take long and soon we were in our cabin.

 

The muster drill was relatively painless, other than the clunky and rather low-tech life jackets. The two muster stations are in the lounge, and you only spend about ten or fifteen minutes there before you are released to head back to your cabin to get ready for dinner.

 

Debarkation was equally painless. You were issued colored luggage tags based on what time your flight was and which airport transfer you were on, or if you had private transportation, in which case you got an orange tag. Unlike other cruise lines, you do NOT put luggage out in the hallway the night before. Rather, your cabin attendant came by at around 6:30 in the morning to collect your luggage, which I REALLY liked. First of all, it made sure we got our behinds out of bed early enough to get off the ship by the time they demand (9:00 am). Second, it always seemed a hazard to me to see all that luggage piled up out in the hallways, and I was never really comfortable just leaving it out there where any schmoe passing by could unzip and pull something out if no crew members happened to be around. Not that I would worry too much about this with this passenger load, but the fact is that you are in a crowd of strangers that may very well include some immoral, unethical scuzbag who would have no compunction against swiping something given the opportunity. Bad apples exist among all demographics. Frankly I worried more about this on the RCI “party ships” I’ve cruised on, where I saw some unfettered alcohol consumption, and I wouldn’t put it past some of the wilder ones who might be weaving down the hallway on the last night and succumb to a sudden criminal urge. Anyway, not to belabor this – let’s just say it seems far more civilized to do it the Windstar way.

 

Another great thing was that if you had an orange tag, you could leave the ship whenever you wished. This was WONDERFUL, and a huge advantage over RSSC, where those who don’t have to get off the ship early basically aren’t ALLOWED to leave the ship until everyone else is off. I never understood this – I mean, if they don’t have to deal with our transportation, why can’t we leave when we want? As it was, we got to have a leisurely breakfast in the Veranda, and then we sat on the pool deck and watched for Sandy & Bill’s truck. The moment we saw it, we waved to them and just walked off the ship.

 

We heard that on the previous cruise, they didn’t let the orange-tag folks off until last. Perhaps this is a new policy. In any case, it sure makes sense to us, and seems much more dignified than making us wait onboard when we have things we’d like to do on land.

 

SERVICE/CREW:

 

This was a huge surprise to me – the service was truly top notch! Having cruised one of the six-star luxury lines (RSSC), where I found the service to be several cuts above the mass-market lines, I didn’t think that I would find this kind of service on a line that doesn’t fall into the luxury category. I was pleasantly surprised. The crew members were uniformly friendly, and seemed eager not only to please, but to assure that we were having the best possible time. Everyone was smiling, and appeared to be genuinely happy and having a good time themselves. If this was an act, they deserve Oscars.

 

The crew members operate in teams – the waiters, the bar staff, and housekeeping. For housekeeping we only had one person, our cabin steward. For everything else we were served by whomever was around, but given the size of the ship there aren’t very many of them, so you get to know them (and they you) very quickly. We were addressed by name starting the very first night, and they often remembered our preferences. For example, when someone would bring me an iced tea (like when I was sitting at the pool), they would usually bring me one packet of equal. Someone obviously noticed that I always put one packet of equal in my iced tea! That was a fun touch. Also, at breakfast one morning the eggs in my eggs benedict were a bit over-poached, and I asked for a fresh serving with the eggs a little less done. After that, any time I’d order poached eggs, whichever waiter took my order would smile and say “A little runny, right?” And that’s how they’d come.

 

Our cabin steward did a great job. I tend to prefer NOT to get too chummy with the cabin steward – just personal preference. Maybe it’s something about the fact that this person gets to see my hand-washed panties hanging on the line in the shower – that’s about as much intimacy as I want with a stranger. And we didn’t actually see our attendant all that much – he was sometimes in the hallway as we’d come or go, and he’d always politely say hello and wish us a good day or evening. Other than that, he didn’t go out of his way to make friends, which was perfect for me. But even if we didn’t see him, he had that great, magical quality of somehow knowing exactly when we weren’t in the room, so that almost every time we returned to it, it was perfect. There were maybe 2 or 3 times the entire cruise when we left the room and came back to find he hadn’t been there yet, but in every case we hadn’t really been gone long enough for him to have gotten in there anyway.

 

The bathroom supplies were always kept filled up, and we never ran out of anything. The ice tub was always full of fresh ice. I can’t think of a single thing that could have been done better.

 

As for the makeup of the crew, they were mostly Filipino and other Asian nationalities. I wish to make a comment about this. When RSSC changed last year from a mostly European crew to one that is mostly Filipino/Asian, comments were made on Cruise Critic that they were perceived by some as less desirable or enjoyable as service staff, as they came across as more “subservient” than “friendly.” Let me state that I personally am uncomfortable with rating someone’s job performance based on their race or nationality. But I do want to say that I did not find this mostly Filipino/Asian crew to be at all subservient. They were polite, competent and professional, while also coming across as regular people; never over-solicitous, but always right there and ready to do whatever our hearts desired. After a while, it was like running into a friend who happens to work at the local steakhouse – you never felt like there was any “class barrier.” They were doing a job, we were on vacation, and we were all having a good time. After I had a…um… “karaoke moment”, a couple of them took to good-naturedly ribbing me about it, which I found to be charming.

 

Now, I understand that not everyone on the cruise had the same great luck with service. I heard that at dinner one night someone asked for a minor change to a dish, or something like that – I can’t remember the details, but I recall that it sounded like a simple enough request to accommodate. I’m told that the waiter basically said no, firmly, and stuck to it! Whereas I had the opposite experience. On our last night they offered crème brulee, which I prefer with berries or some other fruit. When I asked, the waiter said that it didn’t come with anything, but he’d see what he could do. My husband asked for the vanilla ice cream, but he wanted peaches with his, even though it wasn’t on the menu either. When dessert came, it was served up with a smile, along with generous helpings of berries for me, and peaches for him. I guess we need to remember that human interactions are just not always consistent. But lucky for us, on this cruise it was consistently fantastic!

 

Regarding other staff members – the cruise host and hostess were a married couple, Wendy and Mike, who were very nice. He mostly handled excursion-related things, and she was more of a hostess, although her role is not to be confused with the traditional cruise director you might find on RCI or other large ships. She was not there for entertainment, but more to make announcements, introduce people at the Captain’s Reception, and make sure everything ran smoothly.

 

Speaking of the Captain, I’d read a lot about the open bridge. Yes, the bridge was open pretty much the whole time, and early in the cruise we had some interesting times checking out what they were doing in there, especially on the night we departed when there were some complications due to the high winds that necessitated the use of tugs to pull and push the ship away from the dock. The captain, Ian, was pleasant and always had a smile and a hello for us. Other than that, we really didn’t see him all that much.

 

We had a bit of a disappointment when we realized we’d never heard the stirring music that we read so much about, that they are supposed to play when they unfurl the sails. For some reason, the sails were regularly unfurled but we never heard the music! This became an issue on the last night, when during the final announcements Wendy mentioned that we would be departing the anchorage at 10:00 pm and the music would play. Well, for some unknown reason we actually departed much earlier, and the next thing we knew, the sails were all unfurled and we hadn’t heard the music!

 

A few of us, at this point feeling in a rather feisty mood, decided to storm the bridge to register our displeasure. We headed up there and laughingly threatened mutiny if we didn’t get to hear the music! The Captain wasn’t there at the time, but whomever it was that was manning the bridge quickly called one of the bar staff, and then told us to head on back to the pool deck. Sure enough, our good buddy Tata was there, and he started playing it. Yes, it IS quite stirring! It was actually very magical, standing out on that deck under a million stars with our new friends, the wind whipping around us, with this music playing. At the end of it we all called out for more – and Tata played it again…and again! He must have played it four or five times for us. It was really a great way to end the cruise.

 

FOOD:

 

The dining arrangement was open seating – you could arrive at any time you liked during the couple of hours the restaurant was open, and sit with whomever you liked, or with no one at all. The restaurant can obviously accommodate the entire passenger load, as we never waited more than a nanosecond for a table. The first night we were seated at a table for four, and they brought over another couple whom we hadn’t met yet, which was lovely. After that, we’d bonded with some other folks, and we had dinner with them every night, either on our own, or with additional people depending on who we were hanging out with in the lounge before dinner.

 

In general, I found the food to be mostly good to excellent, with a few flashes of brilliance, as well as some spectacular failures. The menu was not hugely inspired or exotic, and the variety was not what you’d find on other cruise lines – at dinner there were usually three or four appetizer choices, a couple of salads and soups, four choices of entrees, and a few desserts. But I always found something among the offerings that was enjoyable to eat. Breakfast and lunch were buffets, along with a small menu from which you could order.

 

The biggest miss, for us, was the fruit. Now, to really understand this you must know that we have friends who retired in Costa Rica in a lovely town, and their home is right on the edge of a mango farm. We’d spent a couple days with them pre-cruise, and had eaten our fill of the most delicious, flavor-packed fruit we’d ever encountered. The mangos in particular were sublime, and the pineapples were like eating wet, juicy sugar. So to then go onboard and discover that the fruit was much like that we’d find in our local grocery store (in winter), and was just barely on the green side of ripe to boot, was a huge disappointment, especially after reading about Windstar’s supposedly sumptuous displays of bountiful fruit. It was there alright, only it was a pale comparison to what we’d just enjoyed. We did notice that it started getting a little riper, and closer to edible, towards the end of the cruise. But we mostly avoided it, knowing we’d be spending a few more days with our friends post-cruise.

 

Another miss was the “jumbo” shrimp dinner, which turned out to be medium shrimps that tasted like they were pre-cooked, then over-frozen. They were served along with something that was called “garlic gnocci”, which were just lumps of pressed, sticky mush with no flavor to speak of. But, as I mentioned earlier, this was the last night, and at this point I was so full of food I was happy to push it away.

 

I found the soups to be spotty and sometimes flavorless, but the salads were quite good, and often unique and inspired. I found the rack of lamb on the first night to be excellent, and cooked perfectly to my tastes, unlike the lamb in Signatures on RSSC’s Voyager, where they just couldn’t seem to make it medium rare. But I heard that several other people didn’t like it at all, although I’m not sure why.

 

As for hits, the biggest one in my mind was the beach bbq lunch on Tortuga Island, where they had the most incredible, tender, melt-in-your-mouth baby-back ribs I’ve ever tasted! I could have eaten dozens of them if I’d had the stomach space. They seemed to have been prepared with some kind of rub that permeated the meat with a delicious flavor, and then brushed with a savory bbq sauce. They were the meatiest ribs I’ve ever seen, without much fat on them, and the meat literally fell off the bone. In fact all of the meat at that bbq was fantastic…so good that I pretty much stuck to being a carnivore, so I can’t tell you much about anything else they had there! I did try a couple of bites of the cole slaw, which was crisp and delicious.

 

The other food hits were the prime rib dinner, which was a very high quality cut of meat served with a fantastic horseradish sauce (not so hot that it caused you to sweat, unlike some other horseradish sauces I’ve tried), and the surf-n-turf, which proffered a very tender lobster tail along with a quite good piece of steak. One advantage to being on such a small ship is that you really CAN order your meat the way you want it, and it will come that way! I like my meat somewhere between what restaurants usually serve as rare and medium rare, which is how I asked for it, and it came that way every time.

 

I’d read much about the Thursday night barbecue on the pool deck, and I must say it lived up to its hype! Although the lobster tails weren’t quite as good as the lobster served with the surf-n-turf. The only real problem with that barbecue was that the ship was at anchor in Quepos and it was hotter than all get-out, and extremely humid that night. Of course you can’t control the weather, but I was a bit uncomfortable.

 

One final hit I’ll mention were the desserts. I had a couple of chocolate desserts that were some of the best desserts I’ve had at sea! The chocolate mousse cake on the first night, and the mocha thing on another night, were creamy perfection, packing huge flavor wallops. And the crème brulee was very good – especially with the added berries!

 

For comparison purposes, I would put the Wind Star’s food somewhere between Celebrity and RSSC. It had those special, cooked-to-order touches that you expect at a fine restaurant, and that you just don’t find on a Celebrity ship with a couple thousand folks on board. But it lacked that WOW factor that I experienced on my RSSC cruise, where there were times when I thought I’d died and gone to six-star-food heaven. There was no foie gras, which is abundant on RSSC. They did serve escargot, although it was rather uninspired – just the snails in a basic garlic-butter sauce, as opposed to something a little more interesting involving pastry or whatever. Still, the fact that I can’t squeeze into any of my clothes now proves that I had plenty of great food to eat on this cruise. And the desserts actually surpassed those on RSSC.

 

CABINS:

 

Yes, the cabins are small. Given that my last cruise was on RSSC’s Voyager, on which the smallest cabin is a 350-ft suite, this tiny room took a bit of getting used to. But they really do make the best use of the space, so we had no trouble at all storing our stuff. There is more than ample room under your bed to hide your suitcases – and my suitcase is an enormous one, so if that could fit under there, anything could. The portholes took some getting used to, and I missed having a balcony, but this really was a cruise in which I didn’t spend much time in my room. I think my husband would have preferred a balcony more than I, because he spent more time in there, reading and recharging his batteries, and it would have been nice to do that on a balcony rather than on the bed (there is no chair or any other place to sit, other than a small stool). But we knew the specifics of the room going in, so we had no complaints. You can see excellent pictures of their cabins on the Windstar website.

 

The bathroom was small and tight, but adequate. No bathtub, but we’re shower people. One problem was that there was little space to put your shower items (soap, shampoo, conditioner, face wash, razor, etc). They really need to put some kind of shelf in there, as I ended up having to leave much of it on the floor, which I hate. I was happy to find that there were no water pressure issues, and although the water temperature occasionally fluctuated, it was not bad enough to bother me. I still have painful memories of our RCI cruise, when the water temp would swing from ice cold to burning hot with no warning.

 

On the first day while in port the cabin was uncomfortably warm, and moving the thermostat didn’t seem to have much effect. I’d read that the air conditioning doesn’t work well in port, but once we were underway it cooled down considerably, and was very comfortable from then on, even in ports. I did hear from friends who had the owner’s suite that their cabin was very warm the entire trip, and the thermostat didn’t seem to help. I guess we were fortunate.

 

It’s in the area of cabin amenities where Windstar really shines. They apparently have completed their upgrades. The bed was the most comfortable bed I’ve slept on at sea – even with the slight dip between the two twins, which I know was there but I never felt it. The mattress was firm, and yet I felt like I was absorbed into it every night, cushioning me like a cloud. How’d they do that?

 

The flat screen TV’s are great. They have a few channels with constantly rotating movies, as well as CNN headlines, and a channel with shows from Discovery or The Learning Channel, things like that. We were so busy that we didn’t watch much, although we did spend one quiet afternoon in there watching that Jodie Foster movie Flight Plan, which just recently came out on DVD. You can also borrow from a wide selection of DVD’s in the library.

 

One of the best amenities was the iPod, and the Bose docking system. You could check out an iPod at the reception desk, which was pre-loaded with 500 songs from virtually every music genre you can think of. You could carry it around with you and listen to it with earplugs (a great thing to do when you’re at the pool and you want to actually READ that book, rather than get involved in conversation with all of your new friends!) And in the room you could pop it in the docking station and listen to your favorite genre through the speakers. I used this thing constantly.

 

The bathroom amenities are high-quality L’Occitane products, which were amply replenished as necessary. There is a small fridge, which unfortunately was filled with expensive mini-bar items. I removed them and put them in an upper cabinet, to make room for the couple of bottles of Chardonnay I’d brought. There is also a little wooden tray filled with expensive mini-bar snacks, which was kind of a pain, and in the way a lot. I should have just asked to have it removed, but I never got around to it.

 

The cabin was well maintained, and always spotless. I saw no evidence of any wear and tear, even though this is not a young ship.

 

As for location, we were on the lower of the two cabin decks, and I can see absolutely no benefit to having a cabin on the higher deck. I’m not really sure why they charge more for those cabins, to be honest. We did get some splashing on our portholes when at sea, but we could always see out of them. If anything, we though seeing the waves splashing on our portholes was kind of cool!

 

On this ship, all the cabins are exactly the same except for one Owner’s Suite, which is really nothing more than two cabins put together, with the extra space used for a sitting area. The couple we bonded with, and spent the most time with, happened to be in the Owner’s Suite, so we got to see it. Other than the extra space, the only other difference is the flat-screen TV, which is about twice the size. While they felt the extra space was nice, it wasn’t an earth-shattering addition, and there were absolutely NO other extra perks or anything that came with being in the Owner’s Suite. We discussed how we would have thought that they would get SOMETHING for being the only folks onboard in the “Owner’s” suite, but in fact there was nothing, not even a bottle of champagne or some flowers or a note from the captain. It certainly was no big deal to them, but we just found it curious. It’s something to consider if you are thinking about spending the extra money for the Owner’s Suite.

 

NICKEL & DIMING:

 

This topic is probably my biggest complaint – but then, I also realize I was utterly spoiled on RSSC. Once you’ve cruised on an inclusive line, it’s so hard to go back to signing those stupid chits any time you want anything. And yes, our bill at the end was eye-popping. I especially resent having to pay for water, which is a necessity for living, and in my mind should not be charged. While I’m sure that the tap water on board was fine for drinking, to be honest it had an odd taste, leaving us stuck with bottled water charged at exorbitant rates. What bothers me is that I know that they can get the huge quantities of bottled water they need at very cheap prices, and to then mark it up 1000% seems like highway robbery for something we absolutely have to have.

 

When we signed up for our excursions, we were given the option of selecting a bottled-water pre-purchase plan whereby for the “discounted” price of $1.95 per bottle, they’ll put two bottles of water in your room the night before the excursion. What a rip-off! First of all, on most excursions they provide some opportunity for refreshments as part of the tour. Second, and this one really irked me – when we went on our horseback riding tour, the water they gave us was not the normal-sized water bottles, but two tiny bottles of Evian! I suppose that was because it was assumed that it would be difficult to carry the larger bottles, so they made up for the fact that they gave us half the water for the same price by making it the more “expensive” name brand. Gimme a break.

 

They had a drink of the day, usually some kind of fruity thing, and a martini of the day. I tried them a few times, and thought they skimped a bit on the alcohol content. Although it was different at the beach bbq – the rum punches were mostly rum, and left you feeling oh-so-relaxed as you sipped them from your lounge chair on the beach!

 

As a wine drinker, it’s important to me to have good wines to drink while on vacation, and I’d read that their wine list wasn’t great. It wasn’t. I’d gone ahead and brought a few bottles of my own favorites onboard, and had no trouble doing so – I carried them undisguised in my carry-on, and no one seemed to have a problem with it. I’d read that they have a corkage fee policy in the dining room, but that hardly anyone had ever seen them apply it. Well, I’m sorry to say that they DID apply it – 10 bucks each time I brought a bottle of wine to dinner. I have to say I was bummed out about that.

 

Anyway, if you’ve never cruised anything but the mass-market lines, you’ll be used to signing chits all over the place. But if you’ve enjoyed an inclusive cruise, you’ll probably find this as annoying as I did. Of course, we knew it would be like this going in, so I’m just venting. I do think that Windstar should consider going more inclusive, as it would put them another notch up in category, and I believe they would probably lure more of the luxury cruise passengers who are looking for a slightly different experience, without having to go backwards in service and luxury.

 

WATER SPORTS

 

Now THIS was the best part of the cruise! And I’d have to say that it’s because of the couple who run the water sports program, Crispin and Michelle. They’ve got a great program going here, and they run it very well. They are also just fantastic people who clearly get a great deal of enjoyment from watching the fun and enthusiasm of the passengers, some of whom (like me) are trying things for the first time.

 

The water sports program is run from the aft of the ship, where there is a platform that drops down off the transom right onto the water, opening up a big square hole in the back of the ship, if you can picture that. They offer swimming and snorkeling right from the platform, as well as one or two person kayaks, a little sailboat, and fun stuff you can do off the back of one of the zodiacs, such as water skiing. There used to be a banana boat that carried multiple people that they would pull at high speed with the zodiac, but they got rid of that due to too many injuries. It has been replaced with this hilarious little inflatable contraption called a seadoo, which is a one-person thing that resembles a jet ski -- you sit on and hold for dear life while Crispin drags you at top speed on a rope from the back of the zodiac while making sharp turns and pulling donuts, doing his best to dump you. I laughed so hard I practically drowned from sucking in sea water!

 

The other part of the program is the scuba diving. I’ve always wanted to try this, but just never got around to it. So I signed up for the beginner dive program, which involves a two-hour session on board, followed by a couple of beginner dives. This was the highlight of my cruise! Michelle did the flip-chart instruction, then Crispin tested our basic skills in the pool, and they both were highly competent, professional, caring, and eager to get us inspired. Unfortunately the first beginner dive in Playa del Coco was cancelled due to lack of water visibility. But the second beginner dive, off Curu National Park, did go forward, and it was utterly fantastic. I got lucky – due to an interesting quirk of fate I ended up getting to do two dives, both a deeper one off Curu, and a shallower one off Tortuga Island (long story how this came about). The sea life was abundant, colorful and fascinating, and I am totally hooked. I now plan on getting my certification prior to my next cruise, to Tahiti, in November.

 

I can’t imagine another team doing as great a job as Crispin and Michelle. I felt totally safe at every moment, and they really went out of their way to make sure we got the best experience possible.

 

Windstar – if you are reading this – give them a raise! They are totally awesome!

 

ENTERTAINMENT

 

If the water sports program was the highlight, this was the lowlight. Now let me state right off that this was not a big deal to me – I wasn’t on this cruise for the entertainment, I’d read that it leaves a lot to be desired, and I didn’t spend much time watching them anyway. But if anyone is thinking they are going to be seeing any great entertainment on board, they will be sadly disappointed.

 

The only entertainment is a couple whose names escape me (I suppose an indication of just how memorable they weren’t). Oh wait – I think his name was Chico, but I don’t know if I ever learned her name. Anyway, he sang, and played guitar and a canned music machine, and she sang and stood around looking generally cranky and dyspeptic. While Chico’s guitar playing was actually pretty darn good (especially when he got to doing some flamenco-style tunes), he couldn’t sing a note. And she was Simon Cowell’s worst nightmare – the embodiment of what he expects the worst American Idol auditioners will become if they don’t take his advice and stop singing. She dressed like a tired hooker, and they both look as if they spent way too many years in some off-strip lounge in Laughlin, Nevada.

 

The best entertainment night was the karaoke, and that was probably because nobody took it seriously. Oh, and also because most of the karaoke singers actually sang BETTER than Chico and the Woman. Everyone was having a great time, and some of the performances were so hilarious we were falling over laughing. There were also a couple of really great singers, including one gentleman who was a professional singer for 35 years…as well as some, um, really BAD singers who thought they were good! I even got inspired to get up – and I should preface this by saying that I truly can’t carry a tune. Next to me, Chico and the Woman sound like Broadway stars! Luckily I chose a song that doesn’t require any vocal chops – “Wild Thing” by the Troggs. I got up and did my best growly microphone-eating, throwing in a few dance moves (forgot to mention – I can’t dance either), and the crowd roared. It was the first time in my life I have ever received actual applause. Of course, they may have really been clapping out of relief that it was over. After that I officially became known as “Wild Thing” by passengers and crew alike. I can think of worse nicknames.

 

PASSENGERS:

 

Like many cruise lines, especially the higher-end, smaller-ship ones, the average age of the passengers tends to lean towards the senior side. We are 46 and 48, and we sort of expected to be among the youngest on board. Surprisingly, we weren’t – even though this cruise line is owned by Holland America, this was not your typical HAL passenger demographic. While the average age was probably mid to high fifties, with a smattering of 60’s-70’s, there were quite a few folks our age and younger, and even one adorable young honeymooning couple who charmed the dickens out of the entire ship. This was generally an active crowd, and we didn’t see any mobility-challenged passengers at all. (This would NOT be a good ship for the disabled – there are no elevators, and there are steps and heavy doors everywhere – not to mention the wet beach landings at a couple of the ports.)

 

I’m a freelance writer and my husband is an Information Systems executive, and we felt completely at ease and at home with this crowd. This is neither a party ship, nor a geriatric retreat, nor an all-you-can-eat-buffet food fest. It’s a cruise filled with active, interesting people who love to travel, and much of the conversation initially revolved around other cruises taken, and other exotic places visited. We met some of the nicest folks on board, and thoroughly enjoyed all of our social interactions.

 

Well this brings a close to the ship portion of my review. I will post more later regarding the ports themselves. Stay tuned!

 

LeeAnne

Great report, can't wait for part two.

 

Pete

We took our first Windstar cruise in '92, and though we now prefer RSSC, still sail with Windstar now and again, mainly because of their outstanding itineraries. With these small, lovely little sailing ships, one can visit smaller ports that larger ships, even the 700 passenger RSSC beauties, cannot enter.

 

Your review is so detailed, fair and thorough, and brings wonderful memories back to me from Tahiti, the Leeward Islands, the Mediterranean and Costa Rica sailings we've had aboard ALL the Windstar ships.

 

Yes, the nickle-and-diming is annoying....and the entertainment not amazing...but most Windstar cruisers are there for the adventurous itineraries, the company of like-minded, interesting fellow passengers, and the laid-back, no-tuxedo-EVER ambience.

 

....and the price is right! Last summer, we sailed a 14 day itinerary from Rome to Venice, which included ports in Sicily, Tunisia, Greece and Croatia, for less than half the price of a 14 day Med cruise aboard a luxury six star ship.

 

I'm looking forward to your review of excursions and ports, LeeAnne. Did you zip-line? Hike to the waterfalls? Riverraft? Ohhhhh, the memories!

GENERAL COMMENTS:

 

WARNING -- This may be the longest cruise review you've ever read -- and this is only the first half!

 

Welcome back LeeAnne. Sounds like a pretty good time.

 

Barb

LeeAnn:

we were on the WindSpirit last month and loved it so much that we booked the Windstar in Costa Rica for January. I am really looking forward to the port section of your review since we have never been there and I would like to know what excursions you did and if you would recommend them

 

thanks for the great review-so far-looking forward to the rest!

 

Nancy

Welcome back, LeeAnn,

 

I thouroughly enjoyed Part I of your review, it took me back to our trip over New Year's. I'm glad you enjoyed your trip, am looking forward to Part II.

We're in our forties, too. Now that you're an alumni, why not join us on the Windsurf next Jan. out of Barbados?

 

Beth

Thanks everyone! Wow, I'd love to join you, Beth...but I will have just returned from my 18-day RSSC cruise to Tahiti, followed by another week in Costa Rica (we loved it so much that we're going back -- and bringing our kids -- for Christmas!)

 

Working away on part II....!!

 

LeeAnne

Very good review, I will be adding this ONE cruise :)to my todo list. I have always like Costa Rica.

 

While not a boozer :D I really like having my refrig on the RSSC Mariner full of water and Diet Coke. But even that was not enough for RSSC, just before leaving the ship in any port they had the water table

 

 

While I would know going in I would have to pay $1.95 for bottle water on this cruise,,, I still would not like it .

 

Looking forward to your port talk..:):)

LeeAnne,

 

I'm so glad you had a great time. Beth, we (or rather Windstar) converted another one.

 

Interesting that your captain was Ian. On my first Windstar cruise (only two so far and wishing for a lot more) our first captain was Ian. He wasn't all that memorable. He had to leave after the third day due to a family emergency. On my second cruise just this last Thanksgiving the captain was John Clark who added so much more to the trip. He was a real hoot.

 

Sounds like they've replaced the hosts but glad they still have Crispin and Michelle. They are great. Also sounds like they replaced one bad duo for another for the evening entertainment.

 

I know what you mean about the anonnymity (wish there was a spell check) I found it enjoyable to go on deck with the intention to read a book and would instead end up in a spirited conversation about books or what not with others I had already met or was just then meeting. My significant other is more introverted so he did spend much more time in the cabin than I did. He's a systems engineer.

 

Looking forward to your port review. On our sailing we only had one stop in Costa Rica and I'd love to go back.

 

Jackie

Nice review LeeAnne.

 

We were recently on the Wind Surf and were unsure if we would try a Windstar cruise again but after reading your review we might give it another try as it sounds like you had the experience that we were expecting.

 

Our ship was in need of maintenance, lacked entertainment (some would comment that one does not choose this cruise line for entertainment - which doesn't explain why the crew show is standing room only an hour before it starts - but some nice variety while taking in the star lit night would be good), no outdoor evening barbecue, and somewhat disappointing was our expectation that fellow passengers would be a younger group. There were only 4 or 5 couples under the age of 55 -we are 43 and 47. It seemed that the average age was around 70. Perhaps this is because the ship has an elevator.

 

With that said - service was excellent, food good to excellent, and fellow passengers quite friendly.

 

Your experience sounds great, we will look forward to reading part 2.

 

Emilee

Hola Leeann,

Great review - I concur with everything you said.

We totally enjoyed the ship, the passengers( especially you guys), and most of the cuisine.

Really didn't experience any sea sickness (thank goodness).

I remember the Capt. saying the sails were up and used more than 70%

of the time - they were truly beautiful - especially at night.

 

We've only been on the larger lines, so this was radically differrent for us.

The absence of lines, waiters pushing drinks, dressing up, seeing boring shows etc. was not missed one bit!

 

The only port I would change (or not get off the ship for) was Nicaragua.

It was our first stop. We took the excursion to Granada - don't! It's a long bus ride through a very poor country. Trust me.

 

We can't wait to plan another Windstar cruise - somewhere -anywhere-anytime.

Barbara

Hola Barbara! For those who actually read that mega-review -- the fabulous couple with whom we spent most of our time were bl413 (Barbara) and her charming and wonderful husband. They were a definite highlight! :) :) :) That's something you just can't plan for -- encountering such great people with whom you "connect". The worst cruise can be made enjoyable -- or in our case, the best cruise can be made even more fantastic. :)

 

Barbara I've come down with a NASTY cold. Did you ever wake up in the middle of the night and feel your throat close up, and know you were in for at least a few days of misery? Yeah, that's me right now. Bummer. Well, the silver lining is I might get my port write-up done sooner, as I don't feel up to doing much but sitting here on the sofa tapping away on my laptop.

 

I'll have my pics uploaded to Snapfish soon.

 

We miss you! Now back to typing up part 2...

 

LeeAnne

Hey Wild Thing:

 

Great review. Agree with you totally on all counts. Bottom line is that with some minor changes based on your comments, Wind Star could make this a top notch experience instead of a great experience.

 

Being in the owners cabin was certainly nice as Barbara and I both liked the additional space. I too, like Charlie, enjoy reading on a balcony, so having a sitting area worked out well for me. I did object to not having ANY additional perks to go along with this cabin. I still feel that the captain should have sought us out and should have invited us to sit at his table for at least one dinner. After meeting Charlie and you, we probably would have declined anyway! For others taking the Wind Star, if you need the extra space, go for it, but don't expect anything additional for the extra money you spend. We were lucky to have gotten the cabin at the last minute at a 50% discount.

 

Staff was fabulous as you mentioned. They should find a way to clone Edison as he was the very best bar staff guy I've ever met - land or sea. Wind Star, are you listening? The rest of the staff was friendly and attentive, but Edison was superb. TaTa was great also, and together they made us feel like old friends.

 

We have always felt that if we can meet just one other couple to pal around with, we would have a good time. We met you and Charlie and another couple, all who made this a wonderful cruise. We fully expect to stay in touch with those we bonded with for the rest of our lives.

 

By the way, the book I read on the cruise was shorter then your review

 

Charlie

Charlie,

 

TaTa and Edison were my two favorite people on our Windstar cruise. So nice to hear their names. I'm glad you had a good time. We can't wait to go back.

 

Beth:)

Beth,

Yeah, weren't they special. Wish I could have taken them home with me. When are you going on Wind Star again?

 

Charlie

We liked Erwin too. He's the one who kept calling me "Wild Thing". ;) He's a pretty good dancer too -- didja see him when the waiters and bar staff did the "Electric Slide"? He was almost as good as Barbara!

 

LeeAnne

Charlie,

 

We're signed up for the Windsurf Southbound alumni cruise next Jan, out of Barbaods. Its the third week of January, can't remember the day. A very good rate is offered for past cruisers.

 

Brad wants to do a little golfing this time, and several of the stops have golf courses, as well as Barbados.

 

I'm interested to see if we like the Windsurf as well as the smaller Windstar.

 

Beth

LeeAnn:

we are taking this cruise in January, so I am really interested in the posrt section of your review-did I miss it?

thanks

Nancy

oops...no, I just never posted it! I'll post it today...

Lee Ann:

thanks I can hardly wait to read it! I enjoyed your first part of the review and I need some solid advise for the ports

 

thanks!

Nancy

I'm trying to finish up the last port...running behind, and now I'm going out to dinner -- I'll try to get it done later. Not much left to do, I swear!

Come on LeeAnne. How can you let dinner interfere with PART 2? Why don't you let Charlie ghost write it for you. :)

Hope all is well with both of you. Beverly and Barry will be visiting us in Williamsburg on the 30th. Tells you a whole lot about the people we met and bonded with on our Costa Rican cruise. I could use another about now.

We are quietly looking into 14 day Greek Isles and Grand Prix for next year. A bit costly, but a fabulous itinerary.

 

All my best,

Charlie

LeeAnn

I am on pins and needles waiting for your port review so i can plan my trip! Please dont forget to post it!!

 

thanks

Nancy

Another "soon to be" Windstar cruiser eagerly waiting for Part 2. That'll teach you to be such a good writer.... now you have to deal with all of your clamoring fans. :)

 

Kathy

I've been so busy with some new clients...I still haven't completely finished it. But it's still absurdly long, even NOT being done! So what the heck, I'll post what I've got so far. Here it is:

 

San Juan Del Sur, Nicaragua

 

This is definitely an interesting, although rather odd, choice for a port stop. I’m happy we went there, as it’s probably the only way I would ever actually visit the nation of Nicaragua. But it some ways it was rather depressing, certainly in comparison to all of the stops in Costa Rica. I suppose it’s best that it came first, as we probably would have enjoyed it far less if it came after the other ports.

 

We tendered into port, which was kind of a trip because as soon as we exited the tender there was a band playing Latin music for us. It was kind of funny – we’re in this kind of desolate construction zone with cranes and piles of dirt, and a few buses lined up for our tour, and this band serenading us. Some of us started skipping and twirling on our way to our air-conditioned bused.

 

The town itself isn’t much to look at – it’s just a little coastal fishing village, rather run-down looking. We didn’t spend any time there at all – we elected to go on the 8-hour Granada/Masaya Volcano & Craft Market excursion. I’m glad we did it, but one should be aware of what you are getting into. First, it’s at least a 90-minute bus ride there, and a good two hours back, on some of the worst roads I’ve ever seen. Potholed doesn’t begin to describe them – they are really just one long series of never-ending potholes, with some pavement in between them. Those buses must have super-duper shocks to be able to withstand all that!

 

Second, the countryside, while beautiful as far as nature goes, is somewhat depressing in terms of seeing how the people live. Our guide gave us a never-ending talk on the entire history and culture of Nicaragua, and informed us that there is no longer a middle class – there are only the very rich, and the very poor. This is true as far as we could see. There were no suburbs – just strips of hovels, lean-to’s and shacks scattered along the road, interspersed with occasional very nice houses behind barbed wire fences.

 

Once we entered the old colonial city of Granada, things got a bit more interesting. The city was founded in the 16th century, and is named after the city of Granada in Spain (which I visited last year). It even has a palace it calls the Alhambra. But this isn’t anything at all like Spain’s Granada. It appears basically unchanged since inception! Unlike Europe’s old historic cities, which have incorporated modern life into their ancient buildings and streets, Granada doesn’t look very modern at all. In that regard it’s quite interesting, as you do feel like you’ve stepped back in time.

 

We stopped at the town center and visited a very nice hotel, where we rested and used the facilities. Then we headed off to a museum where we learned more about Nicaragua’s heritage, and saw some very interesting displays about the indigenous people. We also visited a convent where they house a large collection of stone sculptures from the early indigenous population who lived here before the Spaniards arrived.

 

Along the way we were ushered to a space beside an old building where there were a bunch of people dressed in traditional garb, and a few musicians. They put on a really great show of traditional dances for us, including this one hilarious piece where a man and woman were dressed up in masks and danced like they were fighting with each other. At one point the woman pulled a guy from our group out to dance, and the man pulled ME out, and then the woman started pretending to “beat” me, and each chased the others’ partner away. It was pretty cute.

 

After this we headed to a restaurant for lunch. It was really an interesting place – all open and airy to catch the breezes, topped with a thatched roof. They had a good buffet of traditional Nico food, including meats and chicken in delicious sauces, sautéed veggies, rice and beans of course, and plenty of fruit. We were also allowed one beer, which tasted heavenly in the heat. A group of Mariachi musicians serenaded us for a while, which was entertaining mostly because the guy playing the wind instrument was horribly offkey the entire time! We couldn’t help but smile.

 

After lunch we headed to the craft market in Masaya. This was a pretty large center in the middle of the town – at least a couple city blocks long and wide. They had some interesting things – Charlie got some GREAT leather sandals for something like $12, as well as a very high-quality linen shirt for cheap. I got several things, including a cotton embroidered dress, a doll that looked like the woman wearing the mask from the dance, a leather wallet, and some 12-yr-old Nicaraguan rum.

 

Then it was back on the bus and on to the volcano. This was REALLY interesting! It’s an active volcano with a huge crater that is constantly spewing sulphur gasses, something like tons of it a day.

 

The ride home seemed to take forever. Along the way we got to see two of Nicaragua’s biggest volcanoes, which looked like absolutely perfect cones topped by cloud forests out in the middle of enormous Lake Nicaragua. We also happened to spot a few monkeys in the trees, which our driver allowed us to photograph by stopping along the side of the road. By the time we got back it was time to board, so we had no opportunity to see the village at all, which was fine by us.

 

A couple comments about this excursion. Nicaragua is a very poor country, and it was somewhat sad to see the hovels and shacks that much of the population live in. However, while I did notice that, I also noticed that the countryside was spectacularly beautiful. And I found it fascinating to see how the people live -- the homes are often open-air, with all available space carefully and ingeniously used. Even the smallest ramshackle huts had decorative touches, and most had big outdoor tables where we saw multiple families congregating for meals and the routines of their daily life. There appeared to be ample food -- there was fruit EVERYWHERE, piles of it. I recall thinking that, to many of these people, this may be all they feel they need -- they may not feel the drive to have all the luxuries that we find necessary in our lives. Many of them smiled and waved to us as we drove by. I enjoyed seeing how another part of the world lives...it was quite different, but certainly no less "worthy".

 

But on the way back, I heard a few people behind me on the bus talking about how horribly depressing the whole excursion was...how awful it was to see the poverty-stricken state in which most of the population live, and how they felt it was WRONG of the cruise line to subject us to this without warning. They said they wished they'd remained on the ship!

 

So I guess it's all in how you look at it. I saw a different culture living their daily lives differently from us, they saw people who must be miserable because they don't live in the same lap of luxury as we do.

 

Playa Del Coco

 

We’d signed up for the beginner dive here, so we didn’t book any excursions, figuring that would be enough. Unfortunately, the sea conditions were not in our favor, and the dive was cancelled due to poor visibility. Left to our own devices, we thought we’d take the opportunity to see what the sports platform had to offer.

 

Crispin and Michelle were there, and offered to take us out on the zodiac for some fun. We thought we’d give water skiing a try. Now the rules say you have to have be “experienced” to do this, but we never got a specific definition of how MUCH experience one needs. Hey, we’d water skied before! Okay, so it was 30 years ago…who’s counting?

 

Nobody else was down there, so he took just the two of us. I tried it first. It was not at all the way I remembered it. I remember hanging onto those handles for dear life, and having the boat pull me right up out of the water…and then skimming across the wake, winking at all the cute boys waving at me on shore as I zipped by in my bikini. Boy, that must have been a LONG time ago! First of all, I’m now wearing a one-piece bathing suit with a skirt. Second, I don’t think any boys would be waving at me from shore (pointing at the unidentifiable lump being dragged behind a boat, maybe). Third, I couldn’t hang on to those handles if my life depended on it. The moment Crispin fired up the zodiac, they just rrrrripped out of my hands as if they were greased. I got hoisted all of about six inches out of the water before they were yanked away. After my sixth try I gave up.

 

Charlie tried it next. On the first go-around he let go too, and I consoled myself with the belief that it’s just not humanly possible. But then, on the second try, the creep got right up! How’d he DO that? I had a grand time videotaping him as he zoomed along behind us.

 

Since I was unable to ski, Crispin offered me the chance to be the first Wind Star passenger to go out on the SeaDoo, which I described earlier in this review. This was a total blast! And Crispin made it so much fun by trying the whole time to dump me…quite successfully, I might add. I held onto that thing with all my might, but when he’d get to turning those tight figure-eights, the force would be so strong that I just couldn’t hold on anymore and…SPLASH! I was always laughing so hard that I swallowed a bit more seawater than I’d prefer. One time I landed on the water kind of hard, directly on my ribs. I didn’t feel it at the time, but my ribs were definitely sore later.

 

After this we headed to shore. This port is the first of the “wet landings” – they take you on a zodiac, and you have to hop out into the water at the beach. It’s really not difficult, but you do have to take your shoes off, and expect that your shorts may get wet if a wave comes in. There are a couple local boys who hold the zodiac in place while passengers hop out, or climb in for the return.

 

Playa Del Coco is a pretty little beach town, Costa Rican style. There’s a very casual, open-air beachside restaurant where several of our shipmates were camped out enjoying Imperials (Costa Rican beer) and margaritas. We headed past that to the town itself, which is comprised of only a couple of streets lined with souvenir shops, cafés and other stores. There was also a little internet café where I took the opportunity to check and send a few emails. We bought a few things for our kids and wandered around a bit more, then sat down at the beachside restaurant for chips and Imperials and just enjoyed the sun and heat. It was a quite pleasant way to spend the afternoon.

 

Quepos

 

We’d heard that the horseback ride through the rainforest to a waterfall was supposed to be a great excursion, so we signed up for that here. We were not disappointed.

 

We headed out pretty early, on one of the first tenders. A couple of small buses were waiting for us. There were about 20 of us on this excursion. We rode for about 30 minutes into the countryside, seeing lovely palm plantations along the way. They dropped us off on a dirt road where they had the horses waiting for us. Once they matched us up to our horses and got us mounted, off we went down the dirt path into the rain forest. It was HOT and humid, but the scenery was so splendid that I really didn’t mind. I had a horse who clearly liked to run, and our guides had told us that we weren’t supposed to trot or run. I had to hold mine back the whole time, or he’d have taken off like a shot!

 

We walked along the path for about 45 minutes. The forest was SO thick and tropical. The path was took us up and down some pretty steep hills, which was fun riding the horses. Sometimes we’d break out of the thick trees and be on top of a hill, looking out over miles upon miles of this rolling green blanket. We eventually reached a stream, where we dismounted. Our guides gave us water and juice, and then cut up and passed around the sweetest, most mouth-watering and delicious watermelon I have ever tasted! Now THIS is what the fruit is supposed to taste like in Costa Rica, not that wooden stuff they’re serving on the ship.

 

After our little snack, we left the horses behind and our guides took us up a steep, densely-forested hike to one of the most beautiful natural sights I’d seen yet on this trip – a lovely waterfall, crashing into a small pool about thigh-deep. Some of us had our bathing suits on, so we stripped off our clothes (which by now were filthy and sweat-drenched) and stepped into the pool. It was SO refreshing! A few of us sat on the rocks beneath the waterfall, letting the fresh, cool water pour over us. What a treat! It wasn’t exactly like “swimming,” as the waterfall and the pool beneath were not very big, but it was a delightful little spot. Those that didn’t go for a dip took a break and sat around on the logs and rocks surrounding the small pool.

 

On the ride back, we took a different path that brought us to a river. We actually took our horses down this river, walking them in water that was deep enough to reach their underbellies. This was the best part of the ride! We all got splashed and drenched, and the horses certainly seemed to enjoy it. The dense forest created an overhanging tunnel effect, and we frequently had to duck to avoid low-hanging branches. We spent quite a bit of time splashing down that river. I loved it!

 

We ended up back where we started, and boarded the buses for the 30 minute ride back to town. Many of us wanted to spend some time in Quepos, so we had the bus drop us off in the town itself, rather than at the pier. By this time it was after 1:00 pm and we were pretty hungry, so we asked our guide if she could recommend a good place for lunch. She pointed out a small, unremarkable little open-air restaurant on a corner just down the street, and said that we could get a delicious and very authentic Costa Rican meal there for half the price of the more touristy places closer to the water. Not ones to ignore recommendations from those in the know, we went straight there.

 

We ordered “casados,” which is a very classic Costa Rican meal that literally means “married.” It’s called that because it is a marriage of the most popular foods of the region – black beans, rice, and some kind of meat in sauce, along with some type of starch such as fried plantains. We got the casados with chicken, which was scrumptious! We also were fortunate to run into a couple from the ship who hail from Seattle, Mary and (oh gosh I’m blanking on the other woman’s name!), who were just delightful lunch companions. They were along with us on the horseback ride, and enjoyed it just as much as we did.

 

After lunch we wandered around Quepos, which is a larger town than Playa del Coco, with quite a few shops and stores lining a number of wide streets. There were a LOT of souvenir shops, selling mostly the same stuff, but we enjoyed walking through them, and managed to find a couple things for the kids.

 

Eventually we decided to head back to the ship. It was a LOOONG walk back to the pier, though, and I was so hot and sticky and icky from riding the horses that I was pretty miserable by the time we got there. We happened to run into Barbara and Charlie at the pier, so at least we had great company while we waited for the tender.

 

Marenco/Drake’s Bay

 

This was probably my favorite port stop, for a variety of reasons. First of all, it’s so remote you can only get there by boat. There are no roads – there’s this spectacular white-sand beach, and a rustic resort there with a few tables, lounge chairs and hammocks, and that’s it. No roads, no vehicles, nothing that doesn’t look like it arrived there by nature, not man. Second, this is where we had what, to me, was one of the most amazing experiences on this entire vacation – a canoe ride up a river to the most unbelievably picturesque waterfall I have ever seen – and I’ve seen a LOT of waterfalls!

 

This is also where you’ll find the Antonio Manuel National Park, which we didn’t visit. We decided not to bother with any excursions this day, but to just wander around and enjoy the natural setting on our own. I’m glad we did, although I did hear from others that the nature walk was amazing.

 

This was another wet landing. However, the current and waves are apparently much stronger here, as we had to wear life vests that they handed out before we boarded the zodiac. It was a bit more difficult to exit the zodiac on the beach due to the slightly larger waves, but it wasn’t a problem. Nothing wrong with getting a little wet!

 

We saw Carlos, the Costa Rican port lecturer, on shore, and he told us that there was a very nice walk along a rough path parallel to the shore, which we could take for about 20-25 minutes, passing a couple of lovely little beach coves along the way. Meanwhile, the ship set up a beachside bar for the passengers, which was a very nice touch.

 

We relaxed at the beach for a little while, then headed down the path. It was a lovely hike, VERY green, lush and tropical. It dropped us into a couple of very picturesque, tiny beaches along the way. Rather than stopping there we decided to keep on going and see where it leads. After about 15 minutes we passed a few other folks from the ship on their way back, and they told us that if we kept going we’d encounter an amazing opportunity – apparently a few of the local indigenous people will take you on a canoe up a river, and they raved about the experience. They said to ask for a guide named Avilio, So off we went in search of them.

 

After another 10 or 15 minutes we saw the mouth of a river meet the ocean, and a couple of little blue rowboats pulled up on the sand. A tarp and a couple hammocks were strung between a few trees, with a couple of guys in shorts lounging around. Their English was about as limited as our Spanish, but we managed to work out that for $5 per person,

Avilio would row us up the river for a while. We hopped into one of the boats, and our guide, a young, deeply tanned man with a brilliant, ever-present smile, began rowing us up this river. I swear, the scene was straight out of Skull Island (for those who’ve seen King Kong). Not a soul in sight, just a river about 30 feet across, dappled with what bright sunlight could filter its way through the incredibly lush, vine-dripping rain forest. The river was full of these enormous blue fish, but I can’t remember what he said they were! Anyway, he pointed out some interesting wildlife along the way, including a white hawk eating something, and a sleeping, vivid blue bird that looked like nothing I’d ever seen before. It was huge, with an enormous head and a big, flat, rounded beak. It had huge, black eyes like an owl. Avilio said it was a heron, but I’ve never heard of a heron like that!

 

So he paddled us up this river for about 20 minutes. We could hear howler monkeys off in the distance, although we never saw any. At one point the river narrowed into some small rapids, and Avilio had us climb out of the boat and clamber over some rocks to a spot a bit higher up, while he carried the boat over the rapids, and then we boarded again for more paddling. I was just lost in the jungle, amazed at the remoteness, the lushness, the natural beauty of the place.

 

We reached the end of where he could paddle us, as the river narrowed to a point he couldn’t go past. On the way back, we shot the little rapids we’d previously walked past, which was kind of fun. Shortly after that he pulled up to a small bank and tied the boat off there, then led us to a path that climbed some rocks. There was a big rope strung there with large knots, to hold onto and help pull yourself up the rocks. It was a bit of a climb, but at the top we found ourselves looking at the most amazing, incredible sight – a waterfall, probably about 25 feet high, pouring into a large pool maybe 50 feet across. The pool was deep, well over my head, and the whole thing was sitting deep down in like a hole in the forest, so that when you looked up, the forest climbed high above you for hundreds of feet. Vines dangled from huge, ancient trees way above your head, and the sound of far-away howler monkeys filled the air, along with the crashing of the waterfall. I was overwhelmed.

 

Avilio dove right into the pool, so I dove in right after him. We swam up to the waterfall, and he showed me that there was almost a throne-like seat carved into the rocks there, so you could sit there and lean forward and have the waterfall hit you square on the shoulders, giving you the best natural massage on the planet. The water was cool, colder than the ocean, and SO clean and refreshing! I could have sat there in that natural massage chair for hours. I felt like I was in heaven.

 

We swam and splashed around and played in the waterfall for a while. I could have easily just spent the entire day there, lolling around in perfect harmony with the lushest of nature in this amazing place, God’s most beautiful natural setting on earth. But Avilio surely had other clients waiting back at the beach, and we hadn’t had any lunch yet, so we had to climb back down the rocks and head back down the river in the boat. We gave Avilio a generous tip.

 

On the hike back to the beach we encountered a few other folks walking towards the river. Of course we told them they MUST find Avilio!

 

Even if everything else on this cruise had gone wrong (which of course it didn’t), this entire trip would have been worth it for our trip up the verdant river and our swim in the most stunning, luxuriant, and magical waterfall I’ve ever seen.

 

Curu/Tortuga Island

 

This was a slightly odd day, in terms port times. We arrived at Curu Wildlife Refuge at 7:00 am, then everyone had to be back onboard by 11:15 to pull up anchor and make the very sort journey to Tortuga Island for arrival by 12:30. The big event scheduled for this day was the beach barbecue on Tortuga Island, and everyone was looking forward to it.

 

I, however, was looking forward to something else – finally I was going to get to go on a dive! Having never done it before, I was really excited. They were running two dives this day – the certified divers at 8:00, and the beginner dive at 10:30. The certified divers were going to a spot that is a little more advanced, with a couple of holes down to 70 feet, and a channel with a somewhat strong current, so they normally don’t take beginners there. But due to an interesting sequence of events, they ended up inviting most of the beginning divers to go with them on the more advanced dive, and then did a second, shallower dive for a person who’d struggled a bit during the skills course.

 

So I got to do my very first dive in a place that most beginners don’t get to go…and it was FANTASTIC! I took to diving immediately, and had no trouble at all with my ears, my breathing, clearing my mask or anything. Charlie struggled a bit with his ears at first, but worked it out and then continued along with us. The sea life was abundant, colorful and amazing! We all stayed together as a group, rather than splitting up into beginners and advanced, so we ended up going to some really cool places. The channel was particularly cool – it was a narrow passage between rocks, and you had to kind of hold yourself in place while the current was moving against you, then it would SWOOSH forward and you just let go and ran with it!