My husband and I will be on the Windstar from Rome to Athens on September 10- celebrating our 30th anniversary. (We got married between 7th and 8th grade). Got a few questions for those of you have been there/done that.
1. Is there a laundry on board? One we can use, or do we "send it out"?
2. What's the disadvantage of the ship's excursions? Generally, we hate large groups, but on a ship of 144, how big can the groups be? Seems to me the excursions are reasonably priced for two. I checked with a private tour guide for Capri, and it cost a great deal more than what the brochure quoted. Would appreciate knowing what people think of the ship's tours.
3. If anyone has done this itinerary, what sights are not to be missed?
Thanks, Jan

We haven't done that exact itinerary. What are the ports? We have done Windsurf around Italy a couple of times. You can send your laundry to be done for you. Excursions we have done have been fine, and we have also done some of our own, depending on where.
Diane

Thanks, Diane,
We will be in Capri, Messina, Gythion, Napthlion, Ermoupolis (Syrios), and Athens. The Greek ports seem small, and I'm not sure if it's possible to pre-arrange excursions there. I'm leaning towards doing the ship's excursions and then walking around the areas on our own. Any input/suggestions you have are welcome. I'm also curious about dinner attire. Seems everyone keeps saying sundresses,skirts or nice pants for women- are they talking light, casual sundresses, or more formal like little black dresses and stuff? Or is it not that big a deal at all?
Thanks again, Jan

We were on the Windsurf in May and loved the ship. Laundry - we had them do our laundry and found that it was cheaper than using the hotel laundry when we were on our own - namely because everything is done with US dollars and when we took into account the exchange rate we got a pretty good deal. The ship laundry is done by the staff and they were fast and very efficient.

We took 2 of the excursions (300 passenger ship) and neither one was crowded. They both had about 25-30 people. They weren't cheap but one of them (To Marrakech) wasn't up to par so the ship credited our account 1/2 the price that we paid which I thought was very nice of them. The other tour was to a hill town above Marbella which was very nice but not enought time for us as we like to check everything out and then sit down and people watch. I'd say the only disadvantage was time. Hope you enjoy your Windstar experience. It was lovely and we will do one again next year.

Dress at dinner is "nice" casual. Slacks, skirts, cotton knits, linen, nothing that looks like a "little black dress".
Here is a website that you can check out your ports of call.
http://www.europeportreviews.com/NafplionGreece.htm
Have a greaat time.

Thanks for the website, Marycang. I notice we're in Nafplion from 8-6; the excursion is only 3 1/2 hours, so I can see you might want to wander more. Can you get to the Pahlimidi Castle at Nafplion by yourself? Anyone done this before?
Thanks, Jan

LOYL-

we did the Windsurf from Rome to Nice-
it IS country club casual --or casual elegant ( however you want to say it)...that is NO coat and tie for men. A simple Polo shirt and khakis will do fine at dinner.
For women- a sun dress or silk shirt and slax is perfectly fine for dinner.

Jeans are NOT allowed in the dining room.

Do your laundry on board ship-very efficient.

We did 2 excursions with the ship on our cruise and found them overpriced and lacking both in time and quality.

We normally investigate an area we are going to, xerox the guide book for that port, do our own thing- then toss that portion of the guide book in the trash after the day is over..