Windspirit to Eastern Carribean

Old Sep 14th, 2006, 04:40 PM
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Windspirit to Eastern Carribean

Has anyone had experience with Windspirit to the Eastern Carribean. I would like to take a cruise to the eastern carribean on a small ship, does anyone have suggestions??

Thank you--Maryanne
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Old Sep 14th, 2006, 08:55 PM
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We have done the Windstar, and I think it is about similar...yes, we loved it, every time we have been on it. A great small ship experience, sails up a good share of the time, and the motor is off (at least it was for us). Get to know everyone on board, food is excellent, cabins are okay, help is extrordinary, etc. Would that be one week or two? We had fun snorkeling, going on shore for tours,warm weather, etc. I think the Windspirit is a sister ship to the Windstar, altho I think Carnival bought this line, and I don't know if things have changed, but would give it a try.
 
Old Sep 15th, 2006, 05:20 AM
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I will be on Wind Spirit in December. I've been on Wind Star before (sister ship) in the Meditteranean and really loved it. The St Thomas R/T cruise goes to islands I've been to before both on cruises and land trips, so it wasn't really a unique itinerary that interested me. I like the fact that it's a small ship, and after sailing Windstar once, I'm not sure I'll ever set foot on a big ship again. Plus it's able to dock in ports other than the main ports which means that we can be on the island, but not have to fight with lots of other big ship passengers to do anything. And some of the extended hours in port are also a big plus. (Docking in Marigot on St. Martin rather than Philipsburg on St. Maarten was a big selling point for me)

Perhaps if you gave us more information on what you like or don't like, we can give better advice.
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Old Sep 15th, 2006, 08:08 AM
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We are 5 women in our early 60's that love to be casual, have fun snorkeling, swimming and visiting different places. We have all cruised before and thought a small ship would be more fun than dealing with large crowds. Windstar cruises seemed to fit our wishes.
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Old Oct 9th, 2006, 01:18 PM
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At last some new information on Windstar Cruises. My wife and I are on the "Over New Years Cruise" from St. Thomas R/T. We had a bad experience on Celbrity this summer and will not return. We have sailed many times both on Ocean, River and Canal cruises and really looking forward to it. We have also been to St. Thomas several times as well as the other stops--but we didn't care. How about shore excusions? Which Ports should we book them? Which ones? Should we do it throughWindstr or independantly? What are drink costs?
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Old Dec 17th, 2006, 04:52 PM
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We just returned from the St Thomas R/T on Wind Spirit. To answer a few of your questions: For the most part, we found the shore excursions to be over-priced compared to doing somthing similar on our own. There were 4 in our party, so that made the cost difference even more attractive. We rented a vehicle on St. John, St. Martin and Tortola and were able to see those islands on our own much cheaper than any of the excursions. A word of caution - the driving can be challenging on St. John and Tortola because of the hilly roads. We did go on the 'Beach Elegance' tour on St. Bart partly because we were intrigued by the concept. It was a half-day stay at an 'exclusive' hotel including a 3-course lunch with wine or other drink. But the beach wasn't all that nice, the service wasn't all that great, and the lunch was good if you liked seafood. We did get to see part of a Victoria's Secret catalog shoot. In all, it seemed really overpriced, considering we got similar or better service, a better beach and a better lunch at Waikiki on Orient Beach on St. Martin for a lot less. We also used the ship's excursion to the Baths at Virgin Gorda, but mostly because it wasn't going to be very easy to get there on our own. On Jost Van Dyke, Windstar ran a free shuttle from the dock where we tendered in to the beach (where Soggy Dollar is). And for Virgin Gorda, there was a 'beach barbeque' lunch at Prickly Pear - so you really don't need an excursion to get to a beach. I really think that with some planning you can easily do things on your own without the ship's shore excursions.

A soft drink (can) was $2.25 I think, wine was $5.50 to $6.50 depending. I don't know about hard liquor - but perhaps the wine prices can give you a clue. A 15% gratuity is automatically added (and that includes purchases from the minibar).
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Old Sep 12th, 2007, 06:49 PM
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how would windstar be for a single woman?
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Old Apr 23rd, 2008, 10:33 AM
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We,ve done Windspirit and Windsurf in the Caribbean and loved both ships. We did prefer Windsurf as it was a bit larger so had a little more to offer.

Windspirit we did St. Thomas, St. Bart's, Virgin Gorda, St. Martin, Tortola. The sailing in the Virgins is really beautiful, especially on a small ship.

Windsurf we did the lower islands. Barbados, Bequia, Dominica, St. Lucia, St. Bart's, etc.

Also did the Northern(St.Thomas) route on Star Clipper. Star clipper was not quite as luxurious, but had great sailing(Windstar does motor quite often).

In my opinion, the Northern (St. Thomas to St. Bart's for example) islands are better.Especially if this is your first time to the region.

We loved the sailing on Star Clipper, but much preferred the Windspirit and Windsurf for the look of the ship, the food, and the service---the crew was just wonderful.

We also did Star Clipper in the Mediterrean. We do plan to do Windsurf from Rome to Venice in the near future.

I was on a large ship years ago, and never felt the need to do it again.These beautiful sailboats are the way to go for us.
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