Whats the good and bad

[cruzinmecrazy]

We have been cruising with RCCL for a few years. Eight cruises so far. My wife and I are ready for an upgrade. Possibly a cruise with less people, better food and more romantic.

 

Is Windstar the way to go.

 

Would love to hear your inputs.

 

Thank you in advance.

[Glaciers]

We are RCCL regulars as well. Did our first Wind Spirit cruise in December for the same reasons you mentioned. The food is definitely better and it was certainly nice not to dress up for dinner. The entertainment is very limited due to the size of the ship and number of passengers. The crew put on a very good show after the deck barbeque and there was a piano player in the lounge who was one of the best we’ve heard. (we don’t get out much) Hands down a much more romantic and intimate cruise. Laying out on deck as the sails were unfurled as we sailed away was spectacular.

 

The crew is primarily Pilipino and Indonesian and make it a point to know you by name. The customer service was excellent and also refreshingly casual like they’ve known you for years.

 

One of the things I enjoyed was not feeling as if the cruise line was trying to squeeze money out of you at every turn. You’ll see no ship photographer trying to take your photo as you embark/disembark. Instead of discouraging you from taking ship towels to the beach, Windstar has them available as you head down to the tender as well as a free IPod loaded with tunes should you wish to check one out for your cabin.

 

Except for times when we were entering or exiting a port, the bridge was open.

 

There really wasn’t much of a downside to this cruise. I suppose it would have been nice to have a balcony but I didn’t really miss. Smaller ship, a bit more movement. The seas were calm when we sailed.

 

Wind Spirit & crew photos at:

http://community.webshots.com/user/delrock

[Surfgirl]

Honestly.. I can't think of any bad. I had cruised on the big ships, and enjoyed them, but found that they started targeting a different crowd. I think the night on an NCL ship when they let a man into dinner wearing ripped jeans, sneakers, and a t-shirt that had a picture of a box of Tide on it.. was when I felt I had had enough. Oh.. and this was supposed to be the optional "dress up" night! Windstar is casual, but NICE casual.. khaki pants and button down shirts was what you saw for the men, and sundresses, nice pants with a nice top for the women.

 

I tried Windstar for the first time a few months ago and love everything about it. It's small, there is an interesting mix of very intelligent and successful passengers, no kids, no pumping disco music at the pool.. just a quiet, classy, and relaxing ambiance. The passengers were mainly from the U.S, but there were some Brits, Canadians, and a few from Germany, Spain and Belgium.

 

I have a career that is full of lights, noise and visual stimulation (I work in TV).. and a week on the Windstar.. enjoying the QUIET and PEACEFULNESS of a deck with just the sound of the ocean and the wind, was just.. well.. ahhhhhhh!

 

You could always find a deck chair. The crew greeted us at meals by name, and even remembered our food preferences. There were no lines, no waiting, no feeling like cattle.

 

There is an open bridge policy.. which means you can go up and chat with the captain and officers while they're sailing. You can also take a tour of the galley.. which the big ships USED to offer, but don't any longer.

 

You can watch the computer raise the sails. You can swim off the back of the ship when the sports deck is down.. or take out a kayak or sailboat.

 

The food was great, and I was so happy that there was plenty of chocolate on board! When they mentioned they were going to have a bar-b-q on the deck one evening, I was expecting chicken, hotdogs and hamburgers. I had no idea we were in for a huge feast of lobster, lamb, and too many delicious meals to list.

 

If you have kids, this isn't for you. If you need shows, bingo, krackits, constant noise and commotion, and evening nightlife, this isn't for you. But if you want to relax, enjoy the ocean, meet really terrific people, and sit back and be treated like a rock star.. Windstar is for you.

[elaineeng]

I just returned from the Barbados to Barbados Wind Surf cruise and I recommend that you look into the other Windstar ships instead which seem to be doing a much better job than Wind Surf at the moment.

 

Contrary to what most people say about the other two ships, on Wind Surf the crew knew no one's name, had a photographer selling photos...the set up was along side of the line for the dinning room, had constant commercials on TV trying to sell a video of our cruise. They also made it perfectly clear that they would confiscate (until the end of the cruise) any liquors bought off the ship except wine. So it is a very different experience on the Wind Surf right now. The crew seemed all new and inexperienced.

 

If you read reviews and comments from other passengers on Cruise Critic you will get a pretty good idea that they need to do some work to get Wind Surf up to snuff. Passengers from the other two ships seem pretty happy.

[elaineeng]

To get back to your question, here is The Good and the Bad:

 

 

THE GOOD

 

beautiful ship

 

Public rooms comfortable and well maintained

 

pretty good fitness center

 

cabins comfortable, plenty of storage

 

quick room service

 

New chef very nice and tries hard to please, also has nicest and most profession staff

 

very stable ship

 

nice spa

 

polite young ladies at desk

 

 

 

THE BAD

 

Lines for everything, daily lines for dinner no matter what time you arrive, lines for the tenders unless you leave quite a bit after arrival, lines daily to attempt reservations for Degrees restaurant (we never were able to get a reservation), lines often to speak with the front desk, lines to check in initially, lines to disembark at the end of the cruise(even before groups were announced which had even longer lines) lines for a van that was used to take the passengers back to the terminal, long lines at beach barb b que.

 

 

Crews response to problems were slow to non existant. Such as an odor in bathroom from septic system never fixed after 7 days and several requests, battery in door lock mechanism went dead and ultimately had to go to the second in command to regain key access to our cabin... repair made around 3PM but was reported around 6-7AM, errors on preliminary invoice not corrected for a few days and not until I threatened to retrieve credit card imprint or contact credit card company the last evening of the cruise when they were to automatically put it on my credit card with the mistakes.

 

 

Bad customer service, again it was non existent. Young ladies at the desk were always polite and always ineffective. They seemed either unable or unauthorized to do just about anything.

 

 

Unlike bar b que on other ships ours consisted of hot dogs, burgers and some kind of light colored sausage and chicken. All drinks except tap water and sugar ice tea were charged to the cabins.

 

 

Photographer around daily trying to take photos to sell. Photo shoot set up was next to the dinning room line every evening. Also, constant commercials on TV trying to sell the passengers a video of their cruise.

 

Crew in general seemed very inexperienced and untrained and therefore not too helpful. Often seemed lost about what to do about most requests and problems. Most that we asked said they were on board only three weeks. Many repeat passengers complained that this was a different experience for other Windstar cruises, big disappointment to many.

 

 

Some behind the scenes crew members were rude at times, especially on the early tenders when they refused to get on line with the passengers and instead literally pushed us out of the way so that they could disembark first.

 

 

All of the hassles and wasted time because of the need to repeatedly reporting the same problem (because they were never addressed). A simple request that would have been instantly forgotten was made to feel more like we were dealing with ten problems. Management often not available.

[Xoe]

What a difference one's choice of ship makes! Elaineeng's post reports on Wind SURF, seemingly a whole different WORLD from Wind Star and Wind Spirit, both of which I have loved. I will stick with the Windstar "little sisters", Star and Spirit, unless/until the reports on "big sister" Surf do a turn-around. The challenge may be what to do once I've done all Star's and Spirit's itineraries. Maybe by then they'll add some new ones? Right now, I'm considering the 14-day repo on Wind Star, Costa Rica to Barbados, at the end of the 2009 winter season.

 

After my two idyllic Windstar cruises, I am reluctant to return to a big ship again.

[cruzinmecrazy]

Thank you everyone. I will difinitely book the Windstar. Thank you

 

I think we will save our Diamond status on RCCL for cruises with our boys.

[2Feathers]

elaineeng said,

 

"Photographer around daily trying to take photos to sell. Photo shoot set up was next to the dinning room line every evening. Also, constant commercials on TV trying to sell the passengers a video of their cruise."

 

 

Is this a new thing, or maybe only on the Surf? We've only been on the Spirit, but never saw a Windstar photographer or videographer on either trip??

[cruzinmecrazy]

What a difference one's choice of ship makes! Elaineeng's post reports on Wind SURF, seemingly a whole different WORLD from Wind Star and Wind Spirit, both of which I have loved. I will stick with the Windstar "little sisters", Star and Spirit, unless/until the reports on "big sister" Surf do a turn-around. The challenge may be what to do once I've done all Star's and Spirit's itineraries. Maybe by then they'll add some new ones? Right now, I'm considering the 14-day repo on Wind Star, Costa Rica to Barbados, at the end of the 2009 winter season.

 

After my two idyllic Windstar cruises, I am reluctant to return to a big ship again.

 

 

I agree that one ship is different than another. We have cruised on RCCL, Legend was by far the worse cruise we have ever taken. The staff was not bad but not great the port really stunk and the ship wasn't great. Food was lower than usual etc., But the Navigator, mariner, Voyager, Jewel and SOverign were great all around. The Cruise Director on Legend was not very personable to the english speaking people but cut up with the spanish speaking people. On other ships the CD was usually the life of the party and everyone wanted to talk to them or meet them.

 

I guess the ship makes the cruise.

 

For anyone else looking in to this conversation....this is only my opinion so don't slam me. You have your opinion and that is great.:D

[cruzinmecrazy]

What a difference one's choice of ship makes! Elaineeng's post reports on Wind SURF, seemingly a whole different WORLD from Wind Star and Wind Spirit, both of which I have loved. I will stick with the Windstar "little sisters", Star and Spirit, unless/until the reports on "big sister" Surf do a turn-around. The challenge may be what to do once I've done all Star's and Spirit's itineraries. Maybe by then they'll add some new ones? Right now, I'm considering the 14-day repo on Wind Star, Costa Rica to Barbados, at the end of the 2009 winter season.

 

After my two idyllic Windstar cruises, I am reluctant to return to a big ship again.

 

 

I agree that one ship is different than another. We have cruised on RCCL, Legend was by far the worse cruise we have ever taken. The staff was not bad but not great the port really stunk and the ship wasn't great. Food was lower than usual etc., But the Navigator, mariner, Voyager, Jewel and SOverign were great all around. The Cruise Director on Legend was not very personable to the english speaking people but cut up with the spanish speaking people. On other ships the CD was usually the life of the party and everyone wanted to talk to them or meet them.

 

I guess the ship makes the cruise.

 

For anyone else looking in to this conversation....this is only my opinion so don't slam me. You have your opinion and that is great.:D

[Surfgirl]

Don't worry.. nobody slams anybody on this board. Unlike some of the big cruise line boards, I've found Windstar people tend to be very friendly and respectful of other people's opinions.

[cruzinmecrazy]

Don't worry.. nobody slams anybody on this board. Unlike some of the big cruise line boards, I've found Windstar people tend to be very friendly and respectful of other people's opinions.

 

 

that is good to know. I was slammed on another M&M line for just telling about a bad cruise, trying to help out people who may be trying the same port of departure.

 

thx

[Capt. Mike]

I truly beleive that repeat cruisers on at least the Windspirit "get it". We are booked on our 4th Spirit cruise from Istanbul in October. I know what to expect and have never been disappointed, but again after 60+ years on God's earth we know how to live and enjoy life . We take any bumps in the road as just another adventure instead stomping our feet like 2 year olds and writing letters to the president of Windstar. The Windspirit is just one of those little oasis in our life we enjoy.

 

Like we always say either you get it, or you dont!

 

Think I'll pour us some good wine and chill out on our deck tonight and listen to a little Jerry Jeff. It's 70 degrees and the sun is going down over the bay. Not bad for the middle of February.