First Time Cruiser with dumb questions

Hi there! I am considering the Wind Spirit St. Thomas-St. Thomas cruise in September and have some basic questions. Thanks in advance for your help.

Can you leave the ship anytime when in port or are you limited to certain times of the day?

Are there tenders at all the ports and are there long lines for them? What excursions did you enjoy in the ports of call?

And lastly, would you recommend Windstar for a first time cruise? Thanks!

You can leave the ship at any time it's in port, provided you're back on board on time, which is usually 30 or so minutes before they sail, or enough time to check that everyone is back on board. The ship only carries 148 passengers, so there are no lines to wait for anything. We only did a few excursions, so someone else will have to give you that advice. We love Windstar, and would recommend it for any cruiser who wants informal, friendly sailing.

I've been on only one Windstar cruise, the Wind Star in Tahiti. Based on that I highly recommend Windstar. Can't beat the small ship. I just got off a 1590 passenger Princess ship yesterday. We had to tender in one port, it took over three hours to get everyone off the ship who wanted off. On a Windstar ship they have a tender schedule (on the Wind Star it was every hour on the hour, with the return being every hour on the half hour) You just decide when you want to go ashore and get on the tender. No lines. No lines for anything.

If docked at port you just get on and off at your pleasure.

Warning though, Windstar is going to spoil you. If you later cruise on a larger ship from another line you may hate it.

Jackie

Regal Princess June 5 2004 Alaska

Windstar Tahiti 2003/4

Sea Princess Mexico 2001

Nieuw Amsterdam HAL Alaska 1997

Crown Dynasty Panama Canal 1994

Vistafjord Cunard Mediterranean 1987

Hi,

We love Windstar and sail any chance we get. My tip for shore excursions is to visit other cruise line websites and view their shore excursion offereings for the ports you are interested in. It will soon become apparent what the "hot" things to do are and you will be able to figure out what interests you most. These boards can also be helpful - check out the ones on excursions. Having said all that - in St. Thomas we went parasailing and my husband and son rented a motorcycle to cruise the island independently. It was our favorite island :)

Luv2fly

On a Windstar ship they have a tender schedule (on the Wind Star it was every hour on the hour, with the return being every hour on the half hour) You just decide when you want to go ashore and get on the tender. No lines. No lines for anything.

 

If docked at port you just get on and off at your pleasure.

I realize I goofed, the tender schedule was every half hour, so if you missed one on the ship or on shore it was only a half hour wait, and they have a table with water set up on shore for your comfort. Many cruiseline arranged shore excursions left right from the ship, the excursion boat would tie up to the ship.

Jackie

We love the Wind Spirit St. Thomas itinerary so much we’ve done it each of the past two years! As the others have posted, there are no lines because of the small number of passengers. The only possible exception would be for the first tender in at each port. This past January, the only port where we actually docked was St. Thomas – we tendered in to all the others.

One of the great things about this itinerary is that its very easy to get around each island, and you can do a lot of things on your own without having to book the ship’s excursions. A 20-minute walk will get you to beautiful beaches in either St. John or St. Barths, and a short cab ride will take you to great beaches in St. Thomas, Tortola, or St. Martin. (Taxis are readily available at each of these ports.) And in Jost, the ship’s zodiac will take you directly to one of the most beautiful beaches I’ve ever seen – White Bay. The only Windstar excursion we booked was to the Baths in Virgin Gorda, because it wasn’t easy to get there on our own.

If you’re looking for a lot of organized activities or entertainment, this is not the cruise for you. If you’re looking for a very informal, relaxing, quiet vacation, and you want to spend a lot of quality beach time, I would HIGHLY recommend this cruise.

Windstar has a neat feature. There's a board near the disembarkation ramp that has all cabin numbers and you indicate on the board that you have gone ashore or are back on board.

That way they know when everyone has returned and, sometimes, they will sail away early.

One other point. The setup is so casual, the hosts can sometimes arrange a last minute excursion that is not on the offering list if there's enough interest (we did that in Rhodes).

The feeling on board is that you are a guest on a large yacht and there's nothing you cannot request that they won't do their best to accomodate.

Walt,

If you get on board without changing the deal on the board, will they call you out on the PA system? Abercrombie & Kent's Explorer has a similar system. Those who forgot to move their marker over, got called back to the gangway. OK so I got chastised a couple of times from the "peanut gallery".

Benton

You bet they do. And the crowd heckles, good naturedly.

There is one problem with the manual system, sometimes people flip the wrong numbers over, or kids play with them, but when you only have 148 passengers on board, it easily works out without too much of a delay.

Jackie

Jackie,

Thanks for the comment. My first Windstar cruise is coming up next next year. After spending 17 days on the Explorer doing the Amazon River, I have come to really enjoy the smaller ships. To me, the "good natured" heckling is what makes them more enjoyable.

Benton

Walt,

 

If you get on board without changing the deal on the board, will they call you out on the PA system? Abercrombie & Kent's Explorer has a similar system. Those who forgot to move their marker over, got called back to the gangway. OK so I got chastised a couple of times from the "peanut gallery".

 

Benton

Actually, our cruisemates are so straight arrow that never happened. (NOT!) :)

Once, near the end of a 14 day sail, my wife flipped just one for our room to make me think she was still ashore when she was, in fact, in a friend's cabin. She forgot to flip it back when we got back together so she got the razz treatment big time as she walked back to correct it. There was no mercy! (Served her right. She led the harassment of others who forgot during the early days of the trip.)

Once, near the end of a 14 day sail,

Walt, or others, I have a question about a 14 day sail. Do they have laundry service available? I don't remember from my 7 day cruise, ignored the option if there was one since I just brought along enough stuff for the 7 days. I'm hoping to do one of the Panama Canal transits on the Wind Star next year.

Jackie

Walt, or others, I have a question about a 14 day sail. Do they have laundry service available? I don't remember from my 7 day cruise, ignored the option if there was one since I just brought along enough stuff for the 7 days. I'm hoping to do one of the Panama Canal transits on the Wind Star next year.

 

Jackie

Yes, they do have laundry service. We used it a few times. I don't recall whether they had dry cleaning service available, but I think they did.

A Panama Canal trip on WindStar would be the lifetime highlight of my cruising experiences. We almost booked it when they first offered it but the timing was just not good for us.

I hope you can go and that you wil report back to us on your experience.

Jackie,

Here is a link to Windstar's FAQ page, http://www.windstarcruises.com/pages/homeLinks/FAQ.html#Services. Laundry service is available, but no dry cleaning.

Walt,

The good thing about my cruise next year, for the first 15 days of the 22 days I will be on board, I won't have to worry about the check-in board. But then again, I don't think anyone will be able to get off during the Trans-Atlantic portion of the cruise. This will actually be my first Trans-Atlantic cruise, hence the Wind Surf is a perfect fit. I will be seeking out more info later.

Benton

Windstar has a neat feature. There's a board near the disembarkation ramp that has all cabin numbers and you indicate on the board that you have gone ashore or are back on board.

Here's one even better.

A few year's back on the Spring crossing (Ft Lauderdale to Lisbon) we made an unscheduled stop in teh Azores to take on additional fuel <long story but we had extreme head winds that disallowed the use of the sails so must of the cruise was under motor power which used an excess amount of fuel>.

Having not seen/been on land for 10 days, we were allowed to get off for a few hours. At the gangway, the chief security officer stood with a notepad asking for cabin numbers. He recorded the cabin and number of people getting off. Then, on the return, he stroked a line through your cabin number to indicate you were back on board. A primitive method? yes... but with only 60 cabins occupied and not all going ashore, it did the trick!

Here's one even better.

 

A few year's back on the Spring crossing (Ft Lauderdale to Lisbon) we made an unscheduled stop in teh Azores to take on additional fuel <long story but we had extreme head winds that disallowed the use of the sails so must of the cruise was under motor power which used an excess amount of fuel>.

 

Having not seen/been on land for 10 days, we were allowed to get off for a few hours. At the gangway, the chief security officer stood with a notepad asking for cabin numbers. He recorded the cabin and number of people getting off. Then, on the return, he stroked a line through your cabin number to indicate you were back on board. A primitive method? yes... but with only 60 cabins occupied and not all going ashore, it did the trick!

I feel sorry for the poor guy who was probably one of the few on staff that wasn't granted a few hours of shore leave.

I've often wondered why WindStar doesn't plan a stop in the Azores on its crossings, just to break up the 14 straight days at sea!

I just started looking at these cruises and would be a first time Windstar Cruiser. I am confused by what I read as casual and informal cruises here on this thread and what the web site seems to describe a more luxury experience.

Please set me straight, is the casual environment that is described just the ease of enjoying a ship with fewer passengers, or is luxury describing an evening dress code that indicates a higher standard that is consistently followed by all passengers.

This is not like Windjammer right?

Thanks, I 'd love to try it.

The WindStar cruise, as the they say is "casual elegance". This means that you get luxury service but not all the formality of the larger ships. For dinner, the "dress code" is "golf club casual". That means for men they should wear a polo shirt and long pants. You will see very few ties. For the balance of your time on the ship the dress code is shorts and t-shirt.

With a maximum of 148 passengers on the WindSpirit and WindStar, you get great service. The crew gets to know your likes and dislikes very rapidly. They have gone to great lengths to serve great food and keep the crew to passenger ratio high. This gives you the luxury treatment without all the formality.

The formal identification of WindStar is "MSY" which, if I recall correctly is masted-sail-yachts. This says it all.

Hope this helps.

It does. Thanks so much. We are looking forward in time and feeling as though we would like to take a departure from what we have been doing on RCI or Celebrity. I appreciate the information. :)

The formal identification of WindStar is "MSY" which, if I recall correctly is masted-sail-yachts. This says it all.

I think it may be MOTOR SAILING YACHT. And it is like being on your own yacht to a great degree; although there are usually 150+ people, it seems that you only see 25-30 most of the time.

Started on Windstar, tried two others, will always do Windstar.

1992 Wind Star Nice-Nice

1993 Wind Spirit Singapore-Singapore

1995 Wind Spirit St. Thomas-St. Thomas

1996 Renaissance III Bali-Singapore

1998 Radisson Diamond Aruba-Costa Rica

1999 Wind Song Lisbon-Barcelona

2002 Wind Spirit Belize/Honduras

2003 Wind Spirit St. Thomas-St. Thomas

2003 Wind Surf Copenhagen-Copenhagen

2004 Wind Surf Venice-Rome