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Is this Windstar cruise recommended? Good value?

Is this Windstar cruise recommended? Good value?

Old Jan 14th, 2002, 07:06 AM
  #1  
Anne
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Is this Windstar cruise recommended? Good value?

I am able to purchase a Windstar cruise line (Wind Spirit) transatlantic trip for 14 days for $499 per person (that includes taxes and port charges, but not airfare). The ship goes from the Virgin Islands to Lisbon, non-stop. Would you recommend the trip, given the cost? Is that a good value? Any comments on Windstar or transatlantic trips?
 
Old Jan 14th, 2002, 11:17 AM
  #2  
Vic
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It sure sounds cheap to me. I have never been on a Windjammer but it sounds like it moves very slow. Usually it takes five days to across the Atlantic.

I'm sure it a positioning cruise. They are transitioning from the Carribean to Europe. It's cheap because most people don't want to be cooped up on a small ship for fourteen days. The Altantic can be nasty, especially on a small vessel.

The only ship doing transatlantic crossings on a regular basis is the QE II. It's much larger then the Windjammer. I don't know about being on a small ship that was designed for warm water cruising for fourteen straight days. Cruise ships have a lot of deck space since they cruise warm waters. You may be stuck a good deal of the time inside because of the weather.
 
Old Jan 14th, 2002, 04:33 PM
  #3  
howard c
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I think Vic is mixing his "winds". The Windstar is a fairly upscale 300+ passenger ship. I've sailed both the "Star" and the "Surf" and found both to be the only way I will cruise from now on.
As for a transatlantic voyage-bring a lot of reading material.Be prepared to RELAX and not think about getting off the ship, tendering, shopping, etc.
If you're the type that can eat, sleep and read-by all means go for it.
Let us know what you decide.
 
Old Jan 14th, 2002, 10:20 PM
  #4  
Paul Therault
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Wow, a 14 day Windstar cruise for $499. Make sure you're not in a rowboat tied to the back of the ship.

Paul
 
Old Jan 15th, 2002, 02:56 AM
  #5  
Anne
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After sleeping on it, we decided to go for it. Usually our vacations entail a lot of sightseeing - a lot of moving around. This time, we plan to relax - read, play games, hopefully interact with other passengers, and intersperse that with some on-board activities. As has been pointed out - this is for Windstar, not Windjammer - though both utilize small vessels. And I hope it is not for a rowboat tied to the back!!!!
 
Old Jan 15th, 2002, 09:25 AM
  #6  
anthony
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I hope you're fully aware of what you're getting into; have you ever done a trip where you stayed in 1 hotel for 2 wks straight - NEVER leveing the premises? That's what it will be like - there's no pool, and I wonder how fresh all the food will be towrds the end of the cruise, since it's on the ship from the start.
The ship holds a total of 148 passengers - I've read other posts that say transaltlantic sails usually @ 50% or less occupancy -
I don't really see exactly what the appeal would be - for 1 wk, yes, but for 2 wks...you have NO choice to do anything else but stay on the confines of that small ship..............
 
Old Jan 16th, 2002, 12:20 AM
  #7  
Paul Therault
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OK Anne, tell me what you are really paying? Windstar can't feed an infant for that price.

Paul
 
Old Jan 16th, 2002, 04:01 AM
  #8  
Howard
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I am going on this very trip, at the same price cited above. I booked it in December...Windstar had a "5 day sale" at that price. The full "regular" price is $2,990, and the actual going price seems to be $995. The price cited above was really a "sale" price. I guess the line had trouble booking??? When I booked, they said the cruise was about half full, and expected it to be between 3/4 full and full. I am jsut quoting them here.

As for Anthony's concerns stated above, I actually had/have some of the same. As to the freshness of the food - we actually had that discussion a few days ago, wondering about that. Some things cannot stay fresh for 14 days and maybe they will have to be curtailed by the second week (e.g. lettuce), other things maybe are just frozen (e.g. fish). However, this is not a major concern...enough things can stay fresh..or are acceptable if frozen, etc.

A bigger concern is what to do with all the time on-board. Pretty much all of my previous trips involve much sightseeing and much moving around - my last trip was to Mexico - Mexico City, Morelia, Patzcuaro, and Queretaro in about 12 days, with myself handling all of the logistics (no tour - travel by bus). The previous one was to Hungary - Budapest, Danube Bend, Eger, Pecs, Sopron, for about the same length of time, again with handling all of the logistics. These are typicla trips for me.

This will be the complete opposite. There basically will be no schedule. I will hve to see how it turns out

Anyway, as an ILLUSTRATION ONLY...this is how I might spend my 16 waking hours a day:

4 hours - 3 meals plus tea time/before dinner "cocktails" - though in my case in might be before dinner iced tea

1 hour - exercise/pool/sauna/hot tub - there is a very small gym (I hope to keep up somewhat of a routine of exercising - I am assuming the gym has at least a treadmill/stairclimber. There is a small pool on the ship, btw.

2 hours - watching movie - each cabin has a video - this is for watching one movie

2 hours - board games/crosswords, etc. - I am bringing several games, which I love to play..my partner is not that hot on the games, so I am hoping to find others (at least one other) to play with..I could do this for longer each day and be happy

2 hours - reading

1 hour - shipboard entertainment - Windstar does not provide much..something like a duo/trio..includes a few minutes in the casino

2 hours - organized activities - Windstar does not usually provide much..however, on t/a sailings they say they have more lectures, demos, etc. I dont know HOW much more, but I figure there well might be two a day

1 hour - personal time - a catchall for this and that

2 hours - miscellaneous - visiting the bridge - talking - watching tv, etc.

That fills up a day - in a sense a lot of nothing, but is sounds relaxing, something I don't get a chance to do normally as much I as might desire.

I am going to St. Thomas one day ahead of time, and staying in Lisbon for an extra day, so that will give me some sightseeing time.
 
Old Jan 16th, 2002, 06:13 AM
  #9  
Barbara
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Such a little boat on the Atlantic ocean. You may get some really rough sailing.
 
Old Jan 16th, 2002, 06:32 AM
  #10  
Anthony
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Howard:
Hi! I think I may have posted a similar reply to your inquiry about this cruise a couple of months ago on another travel board.
Anyway, your suggested activity schedule seems great, but again, given your past vacations & travel experiences, you sure you will be happy doing ONLY those things for @ least 12 days straight?
As a parallel, I am currently home and between jobs. I was unfortunately 'downsized' 5 days before the attacks from a job I was @ for 18 yrs (right after college). The saving grace is that because of my tenure, I am receiving 1 yrs severence pay, and having gotten a 19wk day termination notice, I wasn't offically terminated until the end of November. Nevertheless, I have basically been home since the attacks, and allowed myself several months 'chilltime' before embarking on a new position.
Let me tell you, sitting at home watching TV, and or reading all day is not all that relaxing. I usually try to get out and take walks, sitesee, shop, go to the museum, etc. ; otherwise I think I would go crazy. Even having gone away for the holidays, and a carribean cruise next week, I am now ready to look for a new job, because I am bored, restless, and antseey (sp).
Now, obviously this is TOTALLY different than a 14 day cruise , but I still can't help but wonderwat one would do day after day, confined on a relatively small ship, with little activity choices.
Oh! How about the internet? Will there be internet access? If so, at what price? If there is, that's definetly one way to occupy time with a learning potential activity.
 
Old Jan 16th, 2002, 06:53 AM
  #11  
Howard
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Thanx for the replies to my response:

Barbara - You are right - might be rough - neither you nor I know what the situation will be - just in case, I have those wristbands, dramamine, and ginger root (which a pharmicist recommended). I hope that will help

Anthony - Sorry to read that you were downsized - good luck finding a new job.
Even as I typed up my "daily schedule" I was thinking that this is good for one day...five days...but what about 12? (its a 14 day cruise, but the first day starts almsot at dinner time, is is over at 6 AM on last day). The items I listed pretty much covers what there is to do on board. Therefore the day-to-day variety will have to come from changing the time devoted to each activity, rather than other ones. (e.g. reading for 4 hours in a day, or watching 2 videos, etc.) As I said, I hope these will be enough, but there is no guarantee.

Unfortunately, there is no internet access. There are machines with e-mail capability, but no internet connection. I like to surf the internet. However, for what they charge for the e-mail..I forget the price but it is costly, they would have charged a lot for the internet. So I am glad I do not have the opportuinity to run up the bill.

As for not sightseeing, I have travelled many times, and love to sightsee. I am just looking at this is another type of travel experience. I pray that I can enjoy more sightseeing trips in the future as well. This one is just something different.
 
Old Jan 16th, 2002, 12:13 PM
  #12  
Anthony
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Howard:
Thanks for your thoughts. I guess this type of cruise would be perfect for someone writing a book, studying for some type of exam, or something of that nature. I had a relative who abbors the main cruise lines and prefers those shipping company cruises. I am surprised, though, to find almost nothing anywhere on the internet in the way of a cruise review from past passengers that where on this or the reverse repo trip.
I really hope you have a relaxing time, Howard & Anne (if you go), and hope my comments were taken in the spirit they were meant - just another person's opinion.
Oh, BTW, Annie, to give you an opinion on your original question, while I think that overall $500/person for a 2 wk cruise is an EXCELLENT deal in it of itself, you do have to factor in the cost of open - jaw airline tickets from/to 2 places outside the continental US; additionally, neither of the places are particularly cheap to fly from/to, as compared to, say, London and Miami.
 
Old Jan 17th, 2002, 02:36 AM
  #13  
Howard
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Anthony - Your comments are appreciated. I have also been looking at on-line cruise reviews. However, I don't think it is surprising that there are no reviews of Windstar t/a trips. The three ships making that voyage hold a total of 600 passengers - not even 1/4 of one large ship. And these crossings take place twice a year - so at capacity that is 1200 people a year. A large line - say Celebrity may have 20,000 capacity (just a guess), with 50 sailings a year - so that is 1 million passengers.

I did however find one review of a Windstar "repositioning" trip - from Central America to one of the Carib. islands. It was two weeks, with a bunch of ports, but there were three or four sea days. The detailed review did indicate that on every sea day, there were a number of organized activies (the types of things Windstar does not do on "normal" cruises)

Also, you are correct - the air is costly. Our total trip (air and cruise) is working out to just over $100 per person per day. Unfortunately the timing is jsut off - there are great fares for Lisbon thru the end of March. After that (and the cruise runs thru mid-April) there is a big increase.
 
Old Jan 28th, 2002, 03:10 PM
  #14  
primrose
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Anne,

I got off the Wind Spirit 10 days ago and although I can't comment on transatlantic crossings I will say that the price you were quoted is unbelievable! I booked our trip last summer and for two of us for one week paid $6000+ and we loved the ship, the crew and most of all the food. The problem for me would be that if the ship is fully booked there's not an awful lot of space to go around; the Verandah where breakfast and lunch are served really feels the press of the passengers when everyone is on board. But if the ship were to sail half-full I think it would be heaven...

The Hotel Manager, Erich, is a marvel and very approachable; the chef is great; and the Captain, John Clark, is a wonderful down-do-earth guy who is always glad to show passengers around the bridge. Just be sure to bring all the books and magazines you'll need, and if you have favorite CDs or videos you may want to bring these too. There is a huge video library on board also but very few books.

I certainly wouldn't be worried about the quality of the food even though you'll be at sea 14 days w/o restocking. The chef and his staff are wizards and Erich will be certain to see that nothing is wanting.

However, if you're particular about your coffee you might want to bring some freeze-dried espresso or something like that, the coffee is the weakest link. But Erich advised us to order it from room service in the morning and we found the quality much improved when we did.

Have a wonderful time!!!
 
Old Jan 31st, 2002, 02:29 AM
  #15  
Howard
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Hello again - Just to give an update, we had been scheduled to stay in Lisbon at the end of the t/a cruise for only one extra day, but we decided to stay a bit longer, and will now have four full days in Lisbon. This will cur into the leftover vacation time for the rest of 2002, but we figured, since we are overseas, we might as well stay longer. I just don't want to face the pile of work on my desk when I get back.
 
Old Jan 31st, 2002, 06:13 PM
  #16  
primrose
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Howard........when you return from Lisbon I hope you'll give us a report, I'll be very interested in hearing about the crossing.
primrose
 
Old Feb 1st, 2002, 12:24 AM
  #17  
Howard
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Trip report - will do.
 

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