twenty five percent of Wind Spirit passengers petition Windstar

[gymswim]

Regretfully there are serious problems to report with the new management of these marvelous ships and their amazing, devoted crew. Below is a petition from twenty five percent the passengers currently on board the Wind Spirit.

Stay tuned.

 

**************************

Marilyn Tokarczyk

Guest Relations Manager

Windstar Cruises

January 9th, 2007

 

Subject: Petition from onboard the Wind Spirit to Windstar Cruises Headquarters-Seattle

 

Dear Ms. Tokarczyk:

Earlier today,Captain Pedder and Hotel Manager Lemay aboard the Wind Spirit were presented with a petition signed by over twenty five percent (so far) of the very unhappy guests currently sailing aboard the Wind Spirit in the Caribbean. The majority of the petitioners are repeater Windstar passengers. Those signing the petition of grievances represent a total of over one hundred and twenty eight previous Windstar cruises. A copy of the petition is attached below. We welcome hearing from Windstar Management soon. Please forward a copy of the passengers' petition and concerns to the new management/owners, Ambassador International Cruise Group and to V ships, as soon as possible. Thank you very much.

*****************************************************************************************

 

We the undersigned passengers want to express our concern regarding two actions taken by the new management of Windstar ships which have been detrimental to our overall cruise experience this week. We believe they are significant enough to warrant reconsidering sailing on Windstar again in the future. We hope Windstar management will consider our concerns and inform us about what corrective measures will be taken.

 

 

 

First, those of us aboard are upset there has been no reason given for ordering two hosts to be fired and ordered off the ship with two hours notice. The two hosts have been Windstar hosts for many years and are known by many repeater passengers. By all measures known to passengers this week, they were doing an outstanding job during this cruise. Moreover, why would management find it necessary to schedule and to undertake their firing and replacement two days before the end of a cruise? Termination in such an abrupt and public forum is not only severely upsetting it is also extremely disruptive to everyone on board. We would like to know what consideration was given by management to the impact this would have on the cruising experience of Windstar's guests.

 

 

 

Secondly, we request the scuba program be restored on all ships as soon as possible. Windstar's on board scuba instructors, equipment and program are known around the world in both the diving and cruising communities. It is extremely disappointing that Windstar management terminated the on board program on all the ships, particularly without providing advanced notice to passengers already booked on cruises.

 

 

 

We encourage Windstar to capitalize on unique design of these Windstar ships which makes on board scuba feasible. Land based operators cannot provide the same convenience or consistently high quality of experience. We believe Windstar should continue to provide scuba gear and provide qualified dive masters on board on all ships sailing in the Caribbean for the continued enjoyment and safety of its passengers at reasonable fees.

 

 

 

These two management decisions and lack of communication with Windstar passengers before and during the cruise is inconsistent with the exceptional high level of service provided by the crew and staff on board these ships.

[Glaciers]

Wow, this is amazing. The two Hosts were very good, always approachable and seemed to really enjoy what they were doing. It will be interesting to find out what occurred for WS to let them go. May never know...

[yogagal47]

Wow-pretty incredible. we just finished our fifth cruise on the line(Windsurf for New YEars). We were also upset with the decision to NOT offer diving and the watersports people are pretty upset about it as well since at least one of them is a dive master. I had to make private arrangements for my son, husband and a friend to dive with local outfits on Bequia and Tobago. It was particularly disappointing as we had friends along on the cruise who had hoped to be certified onboard(two of our group did this last year in costa rica for new years). Windsurf never sent out any official notification of the change in the dive activities and furthermore claimed there would be dive excursions offered and then cancelled them. Our onboard hostess was singularly unimpressive-there was almost no enthusiasm , energy or attempt on her part to mix and mingle with guests, many of whom were former Windstar folks. Overall we had a great time though, in large part due to the wonderful waiters, barmen and servers and room stewards(and countless other behind the scenes crew).

[6rugrats]

I guess I'm the only one that finds it strange that people would get so caught up in the drama of staff being fired, that they let it affect their vacation.

 

Why do you think, as passengers, that you have any right to have the termination of two employees discussed with you?

 

Did it occur to anyone that there might be a very good reason they were discharged? A reason that they themselves may not want discussed with passengers.

 

I guess I am tired of drama and just go on vacation to have a good time with my spouse. I don't really care who the staff is, as long as they do their jobs. I don't feel as if any ship is my "home" and that any crew or staff are really my "friends". And, I have been on four Windstar cruises.

 

Guess I am in the minority.

[lovecruisingtoo]

I suspect that Windstar will not respond to the personnel issues. It is a matter of privacy between an employee and employer. I would be very disappointed if any public comments about the firing were made.

 

Relative to no longer offering the scuba, I agree that it was very enjoyable having the lessons and dives run by the Windstar sports coordinators. They offered a personal touch that land based companies can not.

 

My bigger concern is the latest rash of cancellations due to overbooking or last minute charters. My wife and I tend to book almost a year in advance due to using frequent flyer miles for the air transportation. It is impossible to rebook those flights with relatively short notice. We are scheduled for another Windstar cruise this summer (Rome to Barcelona) but I suspect that it will be our last. We spend a lot of time planning our vacations and do not want to be cancelled at the last moment. Our plans are to move over to Oceania. Ships are larger than Windstar but it sounds like they have the same type of atmosphere.

[cruister71]

Where do these guests, who represent 25% of the ship come from that they honestly believe that they should be told the full story behind someones dismissal?

 

It is completely none of our business as a customer to know the reason behind the firing of an employee by an employer. Has everyone forgotten that these cruise ships sail all year long on approximately 50 cruises and dont just sit in port for 51 weeks waiting for our arrival. They might have been dismissed for something that happened before this cruise even started. A lot goes on behind the scenes on a ship that as guests we are not aware of, whatever it was it must have been a pretty significant reason if the company chose to terminate them on a cruise with only 2 days remaining. Whatever the reason, I dont think Windstar Cruises needed their guests approval for their decision and blaming the New Management for it is the wrong thing to do; people don't get fired for doing an outstanding job.

 

I think that the two items in the letter should never have been put together. One is an item that shouldn't be discussed on an open forum and the other is something that the company should hear how its guests feel about the new diving program. Polled individually I think you will find most of those guests who signed that petition only did it because of the new dive program.

[Surfgirl]

I sailed with the two Hosts, and thought they were great. They were extremely approachable and always took the time to help with any questions or concernes. I'm sad that they will no longer be with Windstar.

 

Having said that, I agree with the previous two posters. I feel it is totally inappropriate for passengers to get involved with employment concerns.

 

As for the scuba, that really isn't my thing, so I don't care about it.. although I know many people enjoy it and miss it. However, I must say that I wasn't too impressed with the way the sports deck was run on the Windspirit.

 

One of the things offered was snorkeling. One passenger asked to have his group taken out to snorkel. After three days, the person running the sports deck finally consented. He took them out (actually dropped them off for a half hour-- which makes me wonder how safe that was??? If they had a problem, they had no way of contacting anyone).

 

Another group of us wanted to go, and he simply said, "no." He and his partner didn't seem to want to do much of anything.

 

But.. we still had a fabulous time, and we don't sweat the small stuff. That's just one area I feel "needs improvement."

[Xoe]

Just returned home yesterday from Wind Spirit Jan. 12-19, and it was fabulous. I'll be doing a trip report, and creating a photo album -- but all that takes time -- stay tuned! Alejandro and Ardy were hosts and did a terrific job -- very approachable and helpful and cheerful and competent. Same for ALL of the crew, from the bridge all the way down. NO complaints. The sports platform was open and available when possible with sea conditions where/when anchored.

 

I agree that employment contracts and arrangements are private concerns, and even though decisions may disappoint some passengers, still, it's not our business to know how the decisions are made nor to know the reasons behind them.

 

If I were to "get picky", I'd wish their excursions weren't so costly; many of these activities can be done on your own for half the cost, or even less. A BIG WISH is that they would have more options for passengers after the required 8:00 disembarkation at STT on Saturday, who have many hours before their afternoon flights returning home -- TOTING LUGGAGE, as there is nowhere to leave bags and you cannot check them at the airport until you are ready to stay in the airport.

 

Suggestion: when booking the Wind Spirit R/T STT, book your return air in the 10:00 - noon time frame on the day you return to Crown Bay at STT. The airport is near the dock and it's quick to get there. Or else, stay overnight in Charlotte Amelie and return home Sunday morning.

 

We ended up taxiing to the Marriott and having a leisurely lunch and a look-around; they were willing to check our bags while we were there, even though we were not staying there. It was a pleasant way to spend the hours from 8:00 to 1:00 when we were due at the airport for a 3:30 flight. We did not want the ship's tour of St. Thomas with shopping at the end (if you took that, they kept your luggage) --we'd already done that on the Friday before our cruise began.