Med. sailing cruise??
 

Hi everyone,
Planning our first cruise for our 10th anniversary. Would like to go to the Mediterranean, and I think we want to try one of those four-masted sail boat, looks so romantic. We know about Windjammer and Windstar, but I don't think Windjammer goes to the Med.?? Are there other cruise lines that have the sailboat cruises? Thanks.

Star Clippers: http://www.starclippers.com

Windstar does the MED---their largest ship is the WINDSURF which we went on and totally loved!!

They did use the sails all the time...
Windsurf holds 330 passengers and has 2 restaurants...vs the smaller Windstsr ships that only hold 120 passengers...

Thanks Andy & JP. Has anyone tried both Windstar & Star Clippers? Which line would you choose for a Western Med. cruise?

Although this isn't a mast ship, it is certainly a small cruise ship (300 passengers) and a great 2 for the price of 1 special through Radisson. The Radisson Diamond is 5 star and really perfect in everyway in the Med. You can view their various itineraries on the website rssc.com or see all the pricing on my TA's website:
http://www.brownandkeenetravel.com

I think it would make for a very romantic anniversary! I don't know when you plan on cruising but this special 2 for 1 is only good for the first 40 bookings of each sailing. As far as cruising, this has got to be the best deal going.

Mitmap- We DID the Windsurf, which is the largest in the Windstar fleet-the other 2 ships are the Windstar and Windspirit...Both of the smaller ships hold 120 passengers and have no elevator and 1 dining room..
We chose the Windsurf, as it had 2 dining rooms and an elevator and the itinerary was what we were looking for..
And we would do it again...Terrific fun ship....esp with the 4 sails up!!!

Thanks Petlover, for your Radisson recommendation, it does look very good too. I read somewhere else on this board that if you've never been to W. Med., you should do land travel instead of a cruise because port stays are too short and you'd miss too much. What does everyone think?

Mitmap- I LOVE doing the W.Med on a cruise ship...as it gives you a great overview of places that are far apart and you would never be able to hit on one trip....This way, with a cruise, if you fell in love with an area,you could alway go back for a land trip...

We used a Med Cruise the same way we do the Caribbean cruises....to give a littel taste of each island...

On the MED cruise, IF you can find one that is 12- 14 days, it actually gives you a little more time in certain ports--ie. sometimes overnite....This is what we did on our first Med cruise and we overnited in Naples and also in Monte Carlo....the 2nd time we did the Med, we just did a week....STILL had a blast....

I have done both Windstar and Star Clipper. First to correct some info posted here.....The Windsurf has a capacity of 312 passengers and the other two smaller each carry 148 passengers. The Windstar group of ships would be more compared to the Plaza Hotel in NYC and the Star Clipper more to a upscale Holiday Inn. THEY ARE TOTALLY DIFFERENT PRODUCTS. Windstar is luxury and the passengers have no involvement in the day to day - their only responsibility is to relax and be pampered. Star Clippers has MUCH smaller cabins and service is much more toward the minimal side. They do, however offer a better sailing experience for the passenger because they encourage involvement in pulling the sails - at the same time, you are always stepping over ropes and other stuff that is sitting around. The Star Clippers also cater to the European market, and as a result, you can expect that at least 50% of the passengers will speak little English. The Windstar has computer operated sails and look very different.

As to the Windsurf, we did the Med on this ship and liked it a lot. However, when we did the Windspirit in the Caribbean we quickly came to the conclusion that small is better. Also, the food on the smaller Windstar ships exceeds outstanding - after all when you have so few passengers and they come to the dining room at various times, they COOK TO ORDER.

I hope this little bit of info helps you, and should you have further questions just post them here.

Hello Mitmap,

This is another vote for the Radisson 2 for 1 special. This is just too good of a deal to pass up if you can find an itinerary to your liking. The Diamond is such a great, small ship. I would recommend that you tie a cruise in with a 2-3 land stay both pre and post cruise...especially a pre cruise to help with any jet lag before boarding a ship. I've done Med cruises on larger ships as well but my preference is the smaller ones. The pricing is all spelled out on:

http://www.brownandkeenetravel.com

Thanks everyone for their info. I think I'm leaning towards Windstar for their ship and luxury, but the Radisson 2-for-1 is definitely hard to pass up. I think I will definitely tack on land trips before and after the cruise too, afterall we're travelling halfway across the world to get there. Anyone else has other info that may help me? Thanks a bunch.

Mitmap- go look at someone's recent POST on the WINDSPIRIT in Greece- they really panned that ship....Just a heads up....