Windstar no longer "luxury" quality

[SailorJM]

Yours is the best attitude!

Enjoy! because I'm sure you will.

[diane.in.ny]

our focus was the adventure we were on and not the deficiencies of the vehicle that was getting us there.

 

This is also our attitude. We are on the Star Breeze next spring because the itinerary will allow us to check at least 4 items off our bucket list. (We have been to all 7 continents and have sailed on ships as small as 16 pax to as large as 3,500.)

 

I initially had concern about sailing the Star Breeze because I read that most ports of call were tender ports. This would be an issue for us because of some mobility issues. However, a phone call to Windstar assured us that on our particular itinerary, we would be docked for all ports.

 

I think a big issue is those that sailed the sailing ships and are now trying the cruise ships. Two different animals and I can understand why lovers of the sailing ships might be unhappy with the cruising ships. I can also understand luxury cruisers might not be happy ... particularly past Seabourn customers. I am not anticipating a luxury cruise ... as long as my cabin is comfortable, the food decent and we make all of our ports of call, I'm good.

 

For those that want to know, the bulk of our mainstream cruises are on Holland America and Princess. However I have sailed a luxury line. I was on the Silversea Silver Shadow last year and was very disappointed with the condition of the ship (talk about worn and dirty carpets!) and with the food in the main dining room. And yet there are those that love Silversea and wouldn't sail anything else.

 

I think it is important to remember that, generally, people who have something to complain about will complain, while those who had a great experience very often say nothing. This tends to skew reports to the negative side. I was thrilled to read here posts by past Star Breeze cruises who enjoyed their experience and we are looking forward to our trip next spring.

Edited September 28, 2015 by diane.in.ny

[Winner]

Give my love to Star Breeze; I was on her last sailing as Seabourn Spirit last year. No, she does not have sails but, as Bing Crosby once sid to Grace Kelly, she certainly was--and is--yar.

[milepig]

...I think a big issue is those that sailed the sailing ships and are now trying the cruise ships. Two different animals and I can understand why lovers of the sailing ships might be unhappy with the cruising ships...

 

This has not been my experience. We sailed the Pride this spring with an excellent crew and the only thing different from any other WS cruise was that there were no sails above us. Everything else was exactly the same wonderful experience. Except for the big obvious - BIGGER CABINS!! Yeah!

 

We then sailed the Surf in August and while others have reported different experiences we found everything to be sub-standard based on many, many past WS cruises.

 

The difference isn't in the lack of sails but variations in experience from cruise to cruise. Or standards are set to "right down the middle Windstar" and IMHO they seriously failed to deliver on the Surf in August. Toward the end of the cruise we chatted with multiple groups of fellow pax while socializing, and every single group was grousing about various problems they'd experienced. Other posters on here found it fine. WMMV.

 

It isn't about the sails, and indeed our best recent experience was on the Pride, followed by our worst on the Surf.

[SailorJM]

Used to be, and not all that long ago, everyone's experiences on Windstar were all positive and glowing. Sometimes (getting) bigger isn't better.

[milepig]

Used to be, and not all that long ago, everyone's experiences on Windstar were all positive and glowing. Sometimes (getting) bigger isn't better.

 

This. My thought is that they've had to spread out the well-trained staff among too many ships and have brought on too many folk to fill in the gaps. They're just spread too thin at the moment.

 

Our stellar experience on the Pride this Spring may have been like parallel experiences we've had staying at a brand new hotel. They bring in their crackerjack "opening team" for the first few months. We even commented that it seemed like all our favorite officers from other WS itins were on the Pride at the same time - Captain, Hotel Manager, Chef, Dining Room Managers, Purser, Head of Housekeeping, Guest Services Manager (or whatever he/she is called these days), Bar Manager, they were all there. Also the Shop Manager who we didn't know from before was outstanding. Just great from top to bottom.

 

Hopefully with time they'll get people trained and service back up to the former level. I don't think this is a "new ship" vs. "old ship" issue. The officers move around all the time, popping up on various ships.

[sealord]

It is the consistency of poor reviews here and elsewhere and not the random negative review that is so concerning. I guess we waited too long to try Windstar as it is does appear to have suffered due to current management and expansion.

 

This venue can be a little like Yelp sometimes. And having read many reviews, I find that in many cases you can identify a single issue that ruined the cruse for that couple, and you can often see it if you read between the lines. Then they complain about every flaw no matter how small. One company points out that they do their best to solve problems, but you can't solve a 'complaint'. Reading between the lines on one review, the problem was not enough vegetarian nor gluten free options. Another reviewer missed a port stop due to a contract problem over tender fees, and the reviewer became so obnoxious about it the Captain wanted them off the ship. That being said, a quick look at the reviews of Star Legend had ten times as many reviewers rating it between average and excellent, as those 10% who rated it below average. In most cases you could identify the single issue that some of these folks allowed to ruin their cruise, and make 'everything' bad. In our eight Windstar cruises I have had some experiences that did not meet our expectations, but overall we have always had a great time. We have cruised with them twice this year and will go again in January. We have also cruised with Silversea last year .... and we are not expecting Silversea.

[Strenz]

We love WS Cruises, is everything perfect every minute, no, we have had dry salmon, so what an off night, is everything in life perfect every minute, no. It is no reason to go negative and picky and let something relatively small ruin your holiday.

We feel so fortunate to be healthy and to be able to experience these sailing experiences. We are off on one of the motor yachts on 12/5. Can't wait. Three WS Cruises in one year. How fortunate. I wish happy sailing to everyone. Susanne

[diane.in.ny]

We love WS Cruises, is everything perfect every minute, no, we have had dry salmon, so what an off night, is everything in life perfect every minute, no. It is no reason to go negative and picky and let something relatively small ruin your holiday.

We feel so fortunate to be healthy and to be able to experience these sailing experiences. We are off on one of the motor yachts on 12/5. Can't wait. Three WS Cruises in one year. How fortunate. I wish happy sailing to everyone. Susanne

 

Love your attitude too. Happy sailing to you also! :)

[Barrycat]

What a firestorm Curious Traveler started two months ago with the very long and very detailed list of perceived shortcomings of Windstar. If a post gets twelve responses it is a lot. This one got fifty eight so far and they are overwhelming in defense of the line and pettiness of the original post. Everyone has their own standards. We think ours are a pretty high and as such we are looking forward to yet another memorable cruise on Windstar in January. What an example of the old glass half full saying.

[sealord]

I read a few more of these reviews, including the one that started this. It may have been from an experienced traveler, but that traveler has only posted three times total ... all on this subject. It is also apparent that the primary problem was that the traveler made too many purchases ashore, and the Windstar people were not capable of getting a refund. What a surprise!

 

Another post criticized the experience they had in August for various reasons. We were aboard the first two weeks of July, and we were aboard in January, and our experience was equal to or better than our other six visits to Wind Surf. We also were remembered by many of the crew, some of which we have known for years. The ship was a bit empty because they were renovating fifty staterooms while enroute through the North Sea and the Baltic. I also noticed that the ship was in amazingly good condition. Fresh paint and varnish, clean, and no rust visible anywhere. (I am a retired Naval Officer.) Everything was not perfect, and it never has been. When you do encounter new personnel, service can be a bit slow. That can happen on any ship. We were all given a cabin upgrade (party of four), and we dined with the Captain one night. The day we departed Edinburgh they served really good snacks and Champagne as we sailed from the harbor. A couple times we were taken to a table that we did not prefer, we told the person seating us that we would prefer something else, and they gave us the table we requested.

[Ragnar Danneskjold]

Hi Sealord,

 

Looked at your Africa photos, thanks for posting them! Your trip looks like what my wife has been wanting to do for a while. Do you have a link to a trip review, or can you provide a quick summary of where you visited, the lodges you stayed at, and the tour company(s) you used (I saw the photo of the Tauck 4x4 in the slideshow). Also, would you have done anything differently, in retrospect?

 

Thanks!

 

Ragnar

 

(I can provide an email address, if you prefer emailing to posting here)

[diane.in.ny]

Finally found a photo I was pretty sure I had posted to my travel blog.

 

As I mentioned before, for us it is the itinerary and we are able to look past a few rough spots.

 

This post includes a photo of the boat we were on for our Galapagos trip. Bunk beds in the cabin and the walkway to our cabin was about 30 inches wide ...top level .... we had to walk sideways to get to our cabin door.

 

Again ... it was the itinerary. Somehow I think the Star Breeze will feel like luxury compared to our Galapagos experience.

 

Need I say more :D

Edited November 9, 2015 by diane.in.ny

[perlgirlnj]

I've been reading this thread thoughtfully since we got off our French & Italian Riviera cruise a few weeks ago, our first on Windstar. We've previously cruised about 10 times: 5 Caribbean on RCI/Celebrity, 1 Alaska on Princess, 3 Azamara in Europe which is what we've been doing lately, and most recently 1 Caribbean on Seabourn in February (coincidentally on this same ship, the Legend).

 

We'd read the reviews and were a little concerned before we left. I can see where it comes from but the reviews are overly harsh. I'd place this cruise as definitely above the mainstream lines, somewhat above the Azamara cruises, and definitely below the Seabourn cruise.

 

To me, the ship looked great; I could see where the upgrades had been put in since February's sailing. It isn't the youngest, hottest ship in town, but it is nicely appointed and well-designed. So to me anyway, the problems weren't with the ship itself.

 

The food was fine--not as good as Seabourn which blew me away--but certainly better than Azamara, which was itself better than the mainstream lines. Again, this isn't where the problems were.

 

The service was where I think Windstar fell down a bit. The dining service staff seemed young and inexperienced, and perhaps spread a little thin. Very nice and friendly always, but not always there with what you needed in anything like a timely manner. They seemed like they wanted to provide good service but didn't quite know how to make it top-notch: water glasses not refilled promptly (or at all), tea service so slow in the morning that it was aggravating, long lags on order-taking in the evening, very slow breakfast service. Other small lapses: One evening at Candles, a lamb chop bone fell to the ground and people walked by in many times without picking it up.

 

In addition to these lapses in wait-service, there were other ways in which the service wasn't top notch. We walked right on to the ship--that was good. Then we waited in line for something like 45 minutes to check in--not so good. We had a tender issue throughout the cruise, but especially one day when both tenders stopped functioning. We were at the tender port for an hour or more without one word on what was going on, no updates, not attempt to make the time pass or to explain how long things would be. I'd have expected the guys on duty at the tender pier to try to keep us up-to-date and to interact with the growing crowd and/or the people stuck on the dead tender. No interaction, no information. Isn't that what service would be in this situation? The tender issue continued during the cruise with very little information shared with us.

 

Getting on and off the ship was easy but nobody was there to say the customary "welcome back" or "enjoy your day". Small things but noticeable. Especially when we disembarked, we were on our own--not so much as a goodbye.

 

There wasn't any one thing that said to me "not luxury" but there were enough smaller things that weren't as good as they should have been for me to agree that this was not a luxury cruise. A good cruise? Absolutely. I can't compare it to other Windstar but compared to Seabourn which we'd just been on (as I said--same ship), not quite there. Would I sail them again? Perhaps, but if the price were at premium-plus, not at luxury prices.

 

So I have no axe to grind, no over-arching complaint that taints my whole view. It was a nice cruise--a very nice cruise--but just a little "off" from what a luxury cruise would be.

[diane.in.ny]

I've been reading this thread thoughtfully since we got off our French & Italian Riviera cruise a few weeks ago, our first on Windstar. We've previously cruised about 10 times: 5 Caribbean on RCI/Celebrity, 1 Alaska on Princess, 3 Azamara in Europe which is what we've been doing lately, and most recently 1 Caribbean on Seabourn in February (coincidentally on this same ship, the Legend).

 

We'd read the reviews and were a little concerned before we left. I can see where it comes from but the reviews are overly harsh. I'd place this cruise as definitely above the mainstream lines, somewhat above the Azamara cruises, and definitely below the Seabourn cruise.

 

To me, the ship looked great; I could see where the upgrades had been put in since February's sailing. It isn't the youngest, hottest ship in town, but it is nicely appointed and well-designed. So to me anyway, the problems weren't with the ship itself.

 

The food was fine--not as good as Seabourn which blew me away--but certainly better than Azamara, which was itself better than the mainstream lines. Again, this isn't where the problems were.

 

The service was where I think Windstar fell down a bit. The dining service staff seemed young and inexperienced, and perhaps spread a little thin. Very nice and friendly always, but not always there with what you needed in anything like a timely manner. They seemed like they wanted to provide good service but didn't quite know how to make it top-notch: water glasses not refilled promptly (or at all), tea service so slow in the morning that it was aggravating, long lags on order-taking in the evening, very slow breakfast service. Other small lapses: One evening at Candles, a lamb chop bone fell to the ground and people walked by in many times without picking it up.

 

In addition to these lapses in wait-service, there were other ways in which the service wasn't top notch. We walked right on to the ship--that was good. Then we waited in line for something like 45 minutes to check in--not so good. We had a tender issue throughout the cruise, but especially one day when both tenders stopped functioning. We were at the tender port for an hour or more without one word on what was going on, no updates, not attempt to make the time pass or to explain how long things would be. I'd have expected the guys on duty at the tender pier to try to keep us up-to-date and to interact with the growing crowd and/or the people stuck on the dead tender. No interaction, no information. Isn't that what service would be in this situation? The tender issue continued during the cruise with very little information shared with us.

 

Getting on and off the ship was easy but nobody was there to say the customary "welcome back" or "enjoy your day". Small things but noticeable. Especially when we disembarked, we were on our own--not so much as a goodbye.

 

There wasn't any one thing that said to me "not luxury" but there were enough smaller things that weren't as good as they should have been for me to agree that this was not a luxury cruise. A good cruise? Absolutely. I can't compare it to other Windstar but compared to Seabourn which we'd just been on (as I said--same ship), not quite there. Would I sail them again? Perhaps, but if the price were at premium-plus, not at luxury prices.

 

So I have no axe to grind, no over-arching complaint that taints my whole view. It was a nice cruise--a very nice cruise--but just a little "off" from what a luxury cruise would be.

 

I hope Windstar management reads your post. You've made some comments about things that are very easy to fix and which would result in a significantly better experience for the customer.

[sealord]

Hi Sealord,

 

Looked at your Africa photos, thanks for posting them! Your trip looks like what my wife has been wanting to do for a while. Do you have a link to a trip review, or can you provide a quick summary of where you visited, the lodges you stayed at, and the tour company(s) you used (I saw the photo of the Tauck 4x4 in the slideshow). Also, would you have done anything differently, in retrospect?

 

Thanks!

 

Ragnar

 

(I can provide an email address, if you prefer emailing to posting here)

 

Here is a link. My email is trijet zero (numeral) at comcast dot net.

 

[/http://www.tauck.com/tours/africa-tours/kenya-safari-kt-2016.aspx

[Ragnar Danneskjold]

Thanks Sealord, that looks perfect! What time of year would be best to go?

[sealord]

Hi Sealord,

 

Looked at your Africa photos, thanks for posting them! Your trip looks like what my wife has been wanting to do for a while. Do you have a link to a trip review, or can you provide a quick summary of where you visited, the lodges you stayed at, and the tour company(s) you used (I saw the photo of the Tauck 4x4 in the slideshow). Also, would you have done anything differently, in retrospect?

 

Thanks!

 

Ragnar

 

(I can provide an email address, if you prefer emailing to posting here)

 

Here is a link. My email is trijet zero (numeral) at comcast dot net.

 

[/http://www.tauck.com/tours/africa-tours/kenya-safari-kt-2016.aspx

 

If you look in the bottom right corner of that page you will see their travel forum and message board. A lot of info available there. We went in July and it was excellent ... relatively cool, dry, and sunny.

[Ragnar Danneskjold]

Thanks! Won't torment you any further :D By the way, we loved our Galapagos Xpedition trip in 2010. Our favorite trip (thus far...).

[sealord]

I sent a link to this thread to Windstar Customer Relations. I did not request a response, but if they write back I will post their comments.

[avalong]

I've been reading this thread thoughtfully since we got off our French & Italian Riviera cruise a few weeks ago, our first on Windstar. We've previously cruised about 10 times: 5 Caribbean on RCI/Celebrity, 1 Alaska on Princess, 3 Azamara in Europe which is what we've been doing lately, and most recently 1 Caribbean on Seabourn in February (coincidentally on this same ship, the Legend).

 

We'd read the reviews and were a little concerned before we left. I can see where it comes from but the reviews are overly harsh. I'd place this cruise as definitely above the mainstream lines, somewhat above the Azamara cruises, and definitely below the Seabourn cruise.

 

To me, the ship looked great; I could see where the upgrades had been put in since February's sailing. It isn't the youngest, hottest ship in town, but it is nicely appointed and well-designed. So to me anyway, the problems weren't with the ship itself.

 

The food was fine--not as good as Seabourn which blew me away--but certainly better than Azamara, which was itself better than the mainstream lines. Again, this isn't where the problems were.

 

The service was where I think Windstar fell down a bit. The dining service staff seemed young and inexperienced, and perhaps spread a little thin. Very nice and friendly always, but not always there with what you needed in anything like a timely manner. They seemed like they wanted to provide good service but didn't quite know how to make it top-notch: water glasses not refilled promptly (or at all), tea service so slow in the morning that it was aggravating, long lags on order-taking in the evening, very slow breakfast service. Other small lapses: One evening at Candles, a lamb chop bone fell to the ground and people walked by in many times without picking it up.

 

In addition to these lapses in wait-service, there were other ways in which the service wasn't top notch. We walked right on to the ship--that was good. Then we waited in line for something like 45 minutes to check in--not so good. We had a tender issue throughout the cruise, but especially one day when both tenders stopped functioning. We were at the tender port for an hour or more without one word on what was going on, no updates, not attempt to make the time pass or to explain how long things would be. I'd have expected the guys on duty at the tender pier to try to keep us up-to-date and to interact with the growing crowd and/or the people stuck on the dead tender. No interaction, no information. Isn't that what service would be in this situation? The tender issue continued during the cruise with very little information shared with us.

 

Getting on and off the ship was easy but nobody was there to say the customary "welcome back" or "enjoy your day". Small things but noticeable. Especially when we disembarked, we were on our own--not so much as a goodbye.

 

There wasn't any one thing that said to me "not luxury" but there were enough smaller things that weren't as good as they should have been for me to agree that this was not a luxury cruise. A good cruise? Absolutely. I can't compare it to other Windstar but compared to Seabourn which we'd just been on (as I said--same ship), not quite there. Would I sail them again? Perhaps, but if the price were at premium-plus, not at luxury prices.

 

So I have no axe to grind, no over-arching complaint that taints my whole view. It was a nice cruise--a very nice cruise--but just a little "off" from what a luxury cruise would be.

 

I agree with diane.in.ny. This review very well expresses some of the experiences we had on Windsurf in October -- particularly in the main dining room. By and large we had good experiences there, but there were a couple of waiters who were truly clueless. Also, I found that the guys who manned the tender tent on shore were often quite surly, which I found to be very odd & completely out of sync with the rest of the friendly staff. Overall, we had a really nice cruise, but with just a few tweakings it could have been spectacular.

[sealord]

I sent a link to this thread to Windstar Customer Relations. I did not request a response, but if they write back I will post their comments.

 

So here it is:

 

Hi Mike,

 

Thank you for sharing this thread with us.

 

We absolutely welcome our guests’ feedback – it allows us to grow and improve, learn our strengths, and continue to offer a world-class service.

 

I did read through the comments, and forwarded the link to the appropriate Star Legend officers for their review. I am confident the information shared will be well-received and appreciated.

 

Thank you again for taking the time to write to us – if you should need any help planning your vacation, or would like to share your stories with us when you get home, please feel free to write or call at your convenience.

 

We look forward to seeing you on board again soon!

 

Kind Regards,

 

 

Guest Relations Coordinator

 

I have deleted the identification info to protect privacy on this venue. The contact information including phone numbers is available on the Windstar website. I could be mistaken, but it seems someone also complained that they could not get Windstar to respond to their issue. They responded to me in a couple hours, (;-)

[diane.in.ny]

I could be mistaken, but it seems someone also complained that they could not get Windstar to respond to their issue. They responded to me in a couple hours, (;-)

 

This great ... certainly doesn't sound like a canned reply and would be interesting if higher ups responded also.

 

As far as response from Windstar, my TA suggested I call with my questions, which I did, and all were answered completely and courteously.

[sauertea]

We are just back from our first cruise on Windstar. We sailed on the Star Breeze from Athens to Venice. All in all it was a delightful experience. The itinerary was excellent. The service was outstanding. The guides on the excursions were very well informed and entertaining. The complimentary excursion to Butrint was fascinating. Our cabin was very spacious and comfortable. With only 114 passengers, we felt at times as if we were on our own private yacht. We did not encounter any issues with the tender. On occasion, the food was a little hit and miss. That being said, the on deck barbecue was exceptional. There were so many delicious items it was hard to choose. Based on this first experience, I think we will sail with Windstar again.

[diane.in.ny]

We are just back from our first cruise on Windstar. We sailed on the Star Breeze from Athens to Venice. All in all it was a delightful experience. The itinerary was excellent. The service was outstanding. The guides on the excursions were very well informed and entertaining. The complimentary excursion to Butrint was fascinating. Our cabin was very spacious and comfortable. With only 114 passengers, we felt at times as if we were on our own private yacht. We did not encounter any issues with the tender. On occasion, the food was a little hit and miss. That being said, the on deck barbecue was exceptional. There were so many delicious items it was hard to choose. Based on this first experience, I think we will sail with Windstar again.

 

So good to hear. We'll be on the Star Breeze in the spring