WINDSURF 6/20 - ANYONE ON BOARD????

I posted a notice on 3/30 and it must have gone into never never land! One person from Boston answered and that is not on the board either! So....here I go again. Waiting to hear from fellow passengers.

Chao for now!

Hi, We are boarding in Barcelona and continuing on to Dover. We were aboard Windsurf two weeks ago and she really looks good. Walt[shore excursion manager] said that the Lisbon to London trip was often not full but he felt that it was one of the best repositioning cruises he had ever been on and he has been with Windstar a long time. Have you sailed Windsurf before?

No, this will be our first Windstar Cruise and we are really excitited. How does Windstar compare to some of the other "niche" ships like Seabourn? To us there no such thing as a "bad" cruise. We just completed a 10 day cruise on the Sun Princess with four other couples and had a great time. Also, have you been to any of the ports we will be stopping at? Look forward to hearing from you.

We are on this trip as well. I have been puzzled by the Windstar website description of this itinerary-i.e. when you click on several of the ports of call, the description is "nothing", and the shore excursions are "nothing". Surely shore excursion manager Walt can do better than this?

Walt will not be aboard. I understand we will have a new hostess and shore excusion manager. They have previously sailed on larger ships but this will be their first time on Windstar ships. Sometimes at the smaller ports there are no shore excursions they just give you very good directions so you can do it on your own. We have been on most of the small ships as well as many large ones [ 50+ cruises] and keep coming back to Windstar. It is less formal and more relaxing than the other small ships plus you can visit ports that you can't get into on large ships. We have been in and out of Dover and Barcelona before and have been to LeHavre several times. Lehavre offers lots of very different options. We have been to most of the places that these shore excursions go so if you have questions just ask. We have not been to any of the other ports. That was the primary reason that we chose this cruise.

Suz thanks for all the additional info. The only tour we can't make up our minds on is the one to Deauville and Honfleur. Can you add any details?

To Merryecho, welcome!. Please re-check their website as we were able to get info on every available tour. Also, have you received any details on the air portion or are you doing it on your own? Are you doing a pre-cruise package in Lisbon?

Hi all! I am the poster from Boston and yes, the previous posts seemed to all get lost. One day I was on the message boards and messages written back in 2002 were in front of messages written in 2004. Technical glitch I assume. As I mentioned previously, there will be 4 of us on the Lisbon to London Windsurf cruise on June 20. Looking very much forward to an experience different from the main line cruise ships. We have received no details on air. I assume that will arrive with our cruise documents and probably not until 3-4 weeks before we leave. We are not doing any pre-cruise stay in Lisbon. I'm glad to hear that Walt thinks the itinerary is good. I'll be happy just to be cruising.

Barbara

Thanks jgagnon, there was a little more info on the website, but belle isle and la pallice still just say 'nothing', and villagarcia has a very short, generic paragraph. I don't really mind, as I have done the research myself and know what I would like to see in these ports, but a mention that villagarcia is only 30 miles from the famous pilgrimage town of santamargarita de campostela would have helped, and I would still like to know if there is a way to get there and back.

I am looking forward to Belle Isle, which apparently was a favorite summer retreat for sarah bernhardt and gustave flaubert.

We are still waiting for our air info- we asked for a deviation to get there a week early. I called yesterday and was told they are very backed up, it could be yet another week before ticket info is confirmed. Curious about what arrangements they have from Dover to heathrow.

Did everyone know that we are arriving in Lisbon smack in the middle of the euro cup soccer tournament? I wondered what was up when Lisbon hotels for the week of June 13-20 were going for $300-400/night on expedia.

With respect to world cup soccer, yes we did realize it when we also looked into hotels and found many sold out. On Sun. 6/20, Spain plays Portugal! The city should be crazy. We are flyihg in one day early - that enables us to get our act together before boarding the ship...not to mention seeing Lisbon which we have never been to. Last time we were in LeHavre we visited Honfleur. It was very nice. Walked around LeHavre for awhile and it was not worth the time. We watched the Travel Channel last night and one of the featured cruise lines was Windstar! The segment will be repeated again over the course of this week. Check with your satellite/cable company for info. on times etc. Looking forward to continuing to hear from all of you!

Jim and Alma Gagnon

We just talked a friend into joining the 6/20 cruise. A charming, single (widowed) sixty-something man, so, to any equally charming single ladies considering this cruise, who knows, you may hit it off!

We just got our air assignments out of Boston today. Not the greatest times/connections, but I guess we will survive. They have us on Lufthansa going to Lisbon and American coming back from London.

Received word of our air arrangements today. We leave Ft.Laud. on 6/18 to JFK. Crossing the pond on Lufthansa to Frankfurt. Then Frankfurt to Lisbon. We get into Lisbon on the 19th. and will run ourselves crazy to see the city before being picked up on Sun. to go to the ship. Can anyone of you find out what time they usually pick us up at the hotel? Is anyone else doing a one night stay in Lisbon??? If so, what hotel? Is anyone on the 6/18 JFK to Frankfurt flight? Looking forward to hearing from you and anyone else who may have booked since we started this chat room.

Jim - we are not going a day early. We fly out of Boston on 6/19 on Lufthansa to Frankfurt also and then connect into Lisbon arriving around 11:30am. I am presuming they will pick us up at the airport and take us directly to the ship. We will be tired I'm sure. Our flight home to Boston is on American and is direct but doesn't leave LHR until 6:10pm. I think we will reserve a day room at the Hilton at the airport. I just can't see us hanging out in the terminal all day. We're getting excited about the trip. It will be here before we know it. Barbara

Jagnon,we are going to do the Honfleur Deauville tour in La Havre. I do not know why they do not offer a tour of the Normandy beaches -- this is one of the most poignant sights in the world. Honfleur and Deauville is less bus time and more "us" time!If you want more info. on the other La Harve excursions just ask. ev876, you might want to consider going into London on the train that leaves from the airport -- I think it takes about 20 minutes. Check the Heathrow website to see if they have a place you can check your bags. What shore excursions are the rest of you doing or what do you have planned on your own?

According to the Windstar website there IS a Normandy tour-starting at the beaches where equipment was unloaded, ending at Omaha beach and the cemetery there. If this is not offered for some reaon please let me know, as we are looking forward to it, and will make our own arrangements if we have to.

I sure wish they would post something for VIllagarcia about getting to the nearby pilgrimage town of Santiago de Campostella. I guess, given no info from windstar, we will arrange to rent a car for the day.

We have unofficial notice of our air plans, and I have to commend the windstar staff- they worked with us to arrange a flight from Oregon with only one plane change. We are flying into Madrid, as there were many more flight options than with Lisbon. We arrive a week early and will make a few day trips before arriving in Lisbon. Windstar arranged a room for us at the Meridien for $300/night, which is a bargain considering there are no rooms to be had.

Madrid, on the other hand, is practically giving away hotel rooms due to the recent bomb

Sorry,the Normandy tour was either not there when I checked the website some weeks ago or I missed it. It's a great tour. Check the website again -- they now offer tours to Santiago de Campostella. We want to go to Sintra the day we are docked in Lisbon, however I am concerned about trying to use public transportation with so many people in the city -- would hate to miss the rest of our cruise! Does anyone know of a reliable tour company in Lisbon?

Thanks suze- they seem to be adding tours little by little. Since I already checked out a car rental we may still do Santiago that way- we prefer discovering a little cafe for lunch on our own to the usual tourist bus stop.

BTW- Windstar, if you are listening- how about some port information for la pallice and belle isle?

I agree thet we need more port info. especially for us independent passengers. I did find a little more info. when I searched LaRochelle instead of LaPallice. I believe they are close to each other.

We also understand that because of the soccer game, lisbon will be a little "crazy" that weekend. They say the airport is only 15 minutes from the city, but who knows how long it will take on that weekend. We can only hope for the best and "go with the flow"

Thank you Lisbon. That is just what I was looking for. I will see if they can put together a private tour that fits in our time schedule. I really appreciate you help!

Suzanne

Alma just found out that our embark time is now 6pm and we sail @ midnight.

Jim - Does that mean they don't let you on the ship until 6pm? I assumed we would be able to get on the ship by early afternoon.

Alma is trying to find out exactly what's going on. Hopefully we will know more by this afternoon.

Keep you posted.

Latest my TA tells me is "boarding will begin at 4:30 or so" and delay is due to tidal conditions. (If they couldn't figure out the tides before this, I am a little worried about their seamanship- after all, it isn't like they change at the last minute!) I expect it has more to do with trying to get all of the air-included passengers into Lisbon during the soccer tournament without having to pay for an extra night hotel at sold out prices.

Did your TA say what time tte ship is scheduled to leave Lisbon?