WindSurf Europe cruise questions

Am sailing Nice-Rome on June 18th and had a couple general questions that I'll bet can be answered by some seasoned WindStar sailors out there...

1. Am curious as to just how "casual" the attire is onboard, especially at mealtime? I was planning on maybe doing just 1 skirt and the rest capris or "MAYBE" shorts (if I can get my gams in shape in time!), but I'm now starting to wonder if women dress more in skirts/dresses at dinner, particularly in the main restaurant (as opposed to The Bistro)? Hubby was planning on dockers and golf shirts, which I'm assuming will be right in line for men?

2. Speaking of the Bistro, am reading it's not a great choice. Is that the general consensus, to just stick with the main restaurant?

3. I understand there's no assigned dinner seating, so is it just first-come first-served, and wait in line if you have to? If that's the case, are there some times when the wait is extensive?

4. Shore excursions: we were planning on winging it on our own, but would be open to maybe some locally sponsored tours. Are they available at the docks where we'll be?

5. Any must-do's onboard???

Thanks for all the input!

Hi Dana,You will love the Windsurf. We did a 10 day Mediterranean cruise last July.

1. For dinner every night, I and my 3 daughters usually wore casual skirts and tops and sandals. Most women dressed that way. I had a nicer pair of capris that I wore a few times at dinner. My husband wore docker style pants and a polo or button down shirt. During the day, we wore capris or shorts and my husband was always in shorts.

2. We ate in the main dining room.every night, except for one night when we were on shore in Sorrento. If you would like the name of that restaurant, let me know. We all loved our waiter, Rey, so we could not even try to get our girls to go to the Bistro. There are no table assignments, but we are a family of 5 and we got the same table every night. It seemed as they saved it for us...it didn't matter what time we got there, we were always taken to it. With such small ship, they all get to know you very well.

3. As for the wait, it's non-existent. You just stand in line and get seated immediately. There is plenty of staff seating people.

4. We had a little different itinerary. We did go to Amalfi, which we did on our own. In Sorrento, we did the excursion to Pompeii, which is not to be missed. It was so interesting and we had a wonderful guide through the cruiseline. In Capri, we went to the Blue Grotto (also a ship excursion.) You are only in the Grotto for about 3 minutes, but it was worth it to us. We were very pleased with all of the ship excursions that we took.

5. As far as onboard, we just relaxed in lounge chairs. My kids loved the library. They have a small about of books you can borrow and there is a huge selection of movies you borrow for free to watch in your room. Our daughters loved that. You can even borrow board games. The lounge in the evening before dinner is very nice. We enjoyed a drink there every night. My 11 year old daughter loved the lounge act. The group was Rain.

We always ate breakfast and lunch (if not on shore) in the Verandah. We sat outside and it was wonderful. We had great weather the whole cruise.

It was so nice being on a small ship. You really get to know the passengers.

Have a wonderful time.

Dana,

We were also on the Windsurf for a 10 day Med cruise last August, Venice to Rome, probably the one after Readinglady. Our experience was similar to hers & we loved our trip! However, I thought the women dressed up a bit more at dinner than what she described-lots of sun dresses & dressier pants outfits. I mostly wore dressy capris/pants & skirts. The dress is the same for the Bistro as in the main dining room & of course, no shorts at dinner in either venue. We ate in the Bistro 3 or 4 times and did not experience any of the problems that have been mentioned lately. But that was last year.

Can't comment on your ports, except to agree that Pompeii is a don't miss.We took the ship's tour which was great. You'll proably find taxis at all ports but not organized tours per se. Search the "Europe" board for more info.

Hope you like the Windsurf as much a we did!

We took the trip on our own. just take the ship's tender to the dock then purchase the trip to the grotto. once there they take you in another boat into the grotto and you must tip those fellows. we noticed people on shore getting picked up as well(with less wait). you could hire one of the open cabs to take you touring around and include the drive to the blue grotto. negotiate a price for a set amount of time with them and dont forget to include a stop up to Monreale(i think)We rode the funny single chairlift up to the top. the view was spectacular and we had a drink up there. the prices windstar charged for the blue grotto and other excursions were very high. We watched the sunset from Amalfi town (overlooking the port)sipping a glass of wine at a wine bar just up the stairs from the main square then took the cable car back to the dock to catch the tender. lots of fun!

This day was in Capri not Amalfi. Sorry!

May family (2 sons, 18 and 21 next year) are looking into the Nice/Room trip on Windsurf. We're not sure if they wouldn't prefer the mega ship better for entertainment, particularly at night. What were the ages of your daughters if I may ask...sounds like they enjoyed it? Had they been on a big ship... any thoughts on comparisons? Just what to try and pick the best cruise for the family next year.

Thanks!

Cynthia Hyde

MobileCruiser

Hi Dana,You will love the Windsurf. We did a 10 day Mediterranean cruise last July.

1. For dinner every night, I and my 3 daughters usually wore casual skirts and tops and sandals. Most women dressed that way. I had a nicer pair of capris that I wore a few times at dinner. My husband wore docker style pants and a polo or button down shirt. During the day, we wore capris or shorts and my husband was always in shorts.

 

2. We ate in the main dining room.every night, except for one night when we were on shore in Sorrento. If you would like the name of that restaurant, let me know. We all loved our waiter, Rey, so we could not even try to get our girls to go to the Bistro. There are no table assignments, but we are a family of 5 and we got the same table every night. It seemed as they saved it for us...it didn't matter what time we got there, we were always taken to it. With such small ship, they all get to know you very well.

 

3. As for the wait, it's non-existent. You just stand in line and get seated immediately. There is plenty of staff seating people.

 

4. We had a little different itinerary. We did go to Amalfi, which we did on our own. In Sorrento, we did the excursion to Pompeii, which is not to be missed. It was so interesting and we had a wonderful guide through the cruiseline. In Capri, we went to the Blue Grotto (also a ship excursion.) You are only in the Grotto for about 3 minutes, but it was worth it to us. We were very pleased with all of the ship excursions that we took.

 

5. As far as onboard, we just relaxed in lounge chairs. My kids loved the library. They have a small about of books you can borrow and there is a huge selection of movies you borrow for free to watch in your room. Our daughters loved that. You can even borrow board games. The lounge in the evening before dinner is very nice. We enjoyed a drink there every night. My 11 year old daughter loved the lounge act. The group was Rain.

 

We always ate breakfast and lunch (if not on shore) in the Verandah. We sat outside and it was wonderful. We had great weather the whole cruise.

 

It was so nice being on a small ship. You really get to know the passengers.

 

Have a wonderful time.

Hi Cynthia,

My girls last year were 18, 15 and 11. We have been on a larger ship (HAL Zaandam), although not a mega ship. We are going on a Baltic cruise on HAL Rotterdam this summer. Both of those ships carry around 1300 passengers. My kids are very independent and spend most of their time together on the ship. There were only about 10-15 teenagers on the Windsurf and they enjoyed the attention by the staff and the passengers. They enjoyed sitting in the Lounge every night before and after dinner listening to the small group playing. My kids are not interested in the programs as they would be in 3 separate groups because of their ages. They were content to borrow movies from the library. They were never bored. There is certainly more to do during the day and at night on the larger ship. They did not seem to miss seeing big shows while on the Windsurf. They have already said that they will miss the small ship. If you have any other questions, feel free to post. My husband and I just loved the ship also!

I was on the Marseille-Rome cruise a few weeks ago, and the ship was nearly full. Every cabin was booked, and most were occupied by couples. There was no significant waiting in line for a table in the dining room, and I never had trouble getting a table in the Veranda buffet at lunch (though outdoor tables were occasionally in short supply).

Dress was casual, for the most part: Sports or polo shirts and Dockers or equivalent for the men at dinner, with women showing a little more variety in the evening but not dressing up any more than they might in a U.S. suburban restaurant.

WIND SURF is a great ship, with lots of open deck space and an exceptionally warm and friendly crew. The cabins are delightful, too, with what might be called a modern French yacht decor and plenty of light from the double portholes. (I had a cabin on the lowermost passenger deck and enjoyed it immensely.) I'd recommend WIND SURF unreservedly to anyone who wants a comfortable and fairly luxurious cruise experience without crowds, formal nights, Vegas-style entertainment, and other traditional cruise trappings. If someone were to ask me what could be changed, I might suggest "ditch the art auction," but otherwise, I'd probably say "Don't change a thing."

Oh come on, the art auction was one of the highlights of our trip!!!!! We started a game to see how many rounds of drinks we would have before the guy sold the first piece. It was close to 30 minutes before someone broke down, felt sorry for the guy, and bought something. It was quite entertaining!!! But seriously, the art auction can definitely go.