GENERAL COMMENTS:

WARNING -- This may be the longest cruise review you've ever read -- and this is only the first half! ;) I have separated my cruise review into the ship experience, and the port experiences, as this ship cruises in different regions, and some readers may be more interested in learning about one vs. the other.

About me: I am a 46-yr-old freelance writer and cruise lover who has taken several cruises on a few different lines, including Royal Caribbean, Celebrity, Radisson Seven Seas (now Regent), and now Windstar. I have enjoyed every one of my cruises, although each cruise line has its strengths and weaknesses. I will attempt to describe my cruise experience from the perspective of offering a comparison between this line and the others I have cruised. However, I should mention that a Windstar experience is truly not like any other cruise, so some things are just not going to be comparable. Also, know that while I was on the cruise itself, I probably spent a grand total of a nanosecond actually thinking about comparing this cruise with any other – I was too busy enjoying myself!

I will try to write an honest and balanced review. There were great things, and not so great things. I want to stress, however, that there wasn’t a single not-so-great thing that, to me, was worth openly complaining about. For example, even when I had one really horrible entrée, all I did was laugh because, well, it was the last night and I was so stuffed full of rich foods that it was actually a relief! I just set it aside and saved myself for dessert – which turned out to be one of the best.

SHIP:

We were on Windstar Cruise Line’s Wind Star ship, one of the smaller of their three ships, carrying a maximum of about 140 passengers. The Wind Star is a motor sailing vessel, sporting four tall masts with enormous sails that they leave unfurled most of the time we’re at sea. I’ve read criticisms that these are more for show than anything else, but on our cruise that was not the case – they do in fact USE these sails for power whenever possible, and we were fortunate that the winds were in our favor quite a lot on this cruise, allowing the captain to shut down the engines and sail exclusively under wind power. I must admit that there is something stirring about the huge sails unfurling in the breeze on this majestic ship.

The ship is truly magnificent – lots of wood, very understated and classy, with a strictly nautical décor. Those who prefer their cruise ships to look like Las Vegas will probably not like this ship, as there isn’t a spec of neon or a flashing light to be found. In fact, the casino is one of the smallest rooms on the ship, consisting of no more than a couple gaming tables and slot machines. There are only four decks – two for passenger cabins, the main deck with the lobby, lounge and dinner restaurant, and the pool deck with the pool aft, and the bridge and Veranda restaurant for breakfast/lunch at the fore. There is also a fly bridge with a few tables and chairs, where I really didn’t spend much time as it got kind of windy up there. I won’t go into much more description of the ship, as details such as these can be found on Windstar’s website.

This was our first small ship experience, and we truly enjoyed it. It was definitely a different kind of cruise vacation from larger ships. By halfway through the cruise, you are on a first-name basis with most of the other passengers, as well as the crew. This has its pros and cons – mostly pros as far as I’m concerned, but a couple of us commented that you really lose all opportunity for anonymity on this ship. If you want to go hang by the pool and quietly read, you probably won’t make it far in your book before you end up in conversation with the folks around you, who all know you by this time. This wasn’t a problem for me, as I’m a social person. But my husband is much more introverted, and while he enjoys social interactions, he needs occasional time to recharge his batteries alone. He spent more time in the cabin than I did.

One major pro was the lack of lines anywhere. Even at the busiest times at the buffets, you could just walk up to what you wanted and take some. It wasn’t a linear buffet, and you never stood behind anyone.

The only lines I ever saw were at Tortuga Island, when we got there later than expected and it seemed to take a while to get everyone to shore on the zodiacs for the beach bbq, and on the last morning at the reception desk, when I had a question about my statement and there were a few people waiting ahead of me. That’s it. Welcome to the world of small ship cruising!

EMBARKATION/DEBARKATION

Not much to say about this. We had private transportation, who drove us directly to the ship and literally dropped us off at the bottom of the gangplank. We left our luggage there and walked on board at about 2:30 pm. That definitely ranks as the easiest embarkation of any cruise I’ve ever been on.

The check-in process was a little more complex than I’ve dealt with in the past – we had to fill out a bunch of forms, and visit two desks – but it didn’t take long and soon we were in our cabin.

The muster drill was relatively painless, other than the clunky and rather low-tech life jackets. The two muster stations are in the lounge, and you only spend about ten or fifteen minutes there before you are released to head back to your cabin to get ready for dinner.

Debarkation was equally painless. You were issued colored luggage tags based on what time your flight was and which airport transfer you were on, or if you had private transportation, in which case you got an orange tag. Unlike other cruise lines, you do NOT put luggage out in the hallway the night before. Rather, your cabin attendant came by at around 6:30 in the morning to collect your luggage, which I REALLY liked. First of all, it made sure we got our behinds out of bed early enough to get off the ship by the time they demand (9:00 am). Second, it always seemed a hazard to me to see all that luggage piled up out in the hallways, and I was never really comfortable just leaving it out there where any schmoe passing by could unzip and pull something out if no crew members happened to be around. Not that I would worry too much about this with this passenger load, but the fact is that you are in a crowd of strangers that may very well include some immoral, unethical scuzbag who would have no compunction against swiping something given the opportunity. Bad apples exist among all demographics. Frankly I worried more about this on the RCI “party ships” I’ve cruised on, where I saw some unfettered alcohol consumption, and I wouldn’t put it past some of the wilder ones who might be weaving down the hallway on the last night and succumb to a sudden criminal urge. Anyway, not to belabor this – let’s just say it seems far more civilized to do it the Windstar way.

Another great thing was that if you had an orange tag, you could leave the ship whenever you wished. This was WONDERFUL, and a huge advantage over RSSC, where those who don’t have to get off the ship early basically aren’t ALLOWED to leave the ship until everyone else is off. I never understood this – I mean, if they don’t have to deal with our transportation, why can’t we leave when we want? As it was, we got to have a leisurely breakfast in the Veranda, and then we sat on the pool deck and watched for Sandy & Bill’s truck. The moment we saw it, we waved to them and just walked off the ship.

We heard that on the previous cruise, they didn’t let the orange-tag folks off until last. Perhaps this is a new policy. In any case, it sure makes sense to us, and seems much more dignified than making us wait onboard when we have things we’d like to do on land.

SERVICE/CREW:

This was a huge surprise to me – the service was truly top notch! Having cruised one of the six-star luxury lines (RSSC), where I found the service to be several cuts above the mass-market lines, I didn’t think that I would find this kind of service on a line that doesn’t fall into the luxury category. I was pleasantly surprised. The crew members were uniformly friendly, and seemed eager not only to please, but to assure that we were having the best possible time. Everyone was smiling, and appeared to be genuinely happy and having a good time themselves. If this was an act, they deserve Oscars.

The crew members operate in teams – the waiters, the bar staff, and housekeeping. For housekeeping we only had one person, our cabin steward. For everything else we were served by whomever was around, but given the size of the ship there aren’t very many of them, so you get to know them (and they you) very quickly. We were addressed by name starting the very first night, and they often remembered our preferences. For example, when someone would bring me an iced tea (like when I was sitting at the pool), they would usually bring me one packet of equal. Someone obviously noticed that I always put one packet of equal in my iced tea! That was a fun touch. Also, at breakfast one morning the eggs in my eggs benedict were a bit over-poached, and I asked for a fresh serving with the eggs a little less done. After that, any time I’d order poached eggs, whichever waiter took my order would smile and say “A little runny, right?” And that’s how they’d come.

Our cabin steward did a great job. I tend to prefer NOT to get too chummy with the cabin steward – just personal preference. Maybe it’s something about the fact that this person gets to see my hand-washed panties hanging on the line in the shower – that’s about as much intimacy as I want with a stranger. And we didn’t actually see our attendant all that much – he was sometimes in the hallway as we’d come or go, and he’d always politely say hello and wish us a good day or evening. Other than that, he didn’t go out of his way to make friends, which was perfect for me. But even if we didn’t see him, he had that great, magical quality of somehow knowing exactly when we weren’t in the room, so that almost every time we returned to it, it was perfect. There were maybe 2 or 3 times the entire cruise when we left the room and came back to find he hadn’t been there yet, but in every case we hadn’t really been gone long enough for him to have gotten in there anyway.

The bathroom supplies were always kept filled up, and we never ran out of anything. The ice tub was always full of fresh ice. I can’t think of a single thing that could have been done better.

As for the makeup of the crew, they were mostly Filipino and other Asian nationalities. I wish to make a comment about this. When RSSC changed last year from a mostly European crew to one that is mostly Filipino/Asian, comments were made on Cruise Critic that they were perceived by some as less desirable or enjoyable as service staff, as they came across as more “subservient” than “friendly.” Let me state that I personally am uncomfortable with rating someone’s job performance based on their race or nationality. But I do want to say that I did not find this mostly Filipino/Asian crew to be at all subservient. They were polite, competent and professional, while also coming across as regular people; never over-solicitous, but always right there and ready to do whatever our hearts desired. After a while, it was like running into a friend who happens to work at the local steakhouse – you never felt like there was any “class barrier.” They were doing a job, we were on vacation, and we were all having a good time. After I had a…um… “karaoke moment”, a couple of them took to good-naturedly ribbing me about it, which I found to be charming.

Now, I understand that not everyone on the cruise had the same great luck with service. I heard that at dinner one night someone asked for a minor change to a dish, or something like that – I can’t remember the details, but I recall that it sounded like a simple enough request to accommodate. I’m told that the waiter basically said no, firmly, and stuck to it! Whereas I had the opposite experience. On our last night they offered crème brulee, which I prefer with berries or some other fruit. When I asked, the waiter said that it didn’t come with anything, but he’d see what he could do. My husband asked for the vanilla ice cream, but he wanted peaches with his, even though it wasn’t on the menu either. When dessert came, it was served up with a smile, along with generous helpings of berries for me, and peaches for him. I guess we need to remember that human interactions are just not always consistent. But lucky for us, on this cruise it was consistently fantastic!

Regarding other staff members – the cruise host and hostess were a married couple, Wendy and Mike, who were very nice. He mostly handled excursion-related things, and she was more of a hostess, although her role is not to be confused with the traditional cruise director you might find on RCI or other large ships. She was not there for entertainment, but more to make announcements, introduce people at the Captain’s Reception, and make sure everything ran smoothly.

Speaking of the Captain, I’d read a lot about the open bridge. Yes, the bridge was open pretty much the whole time, and early in the cruise we had some interesting times checking out what they were doing in there, especially on the night we departed when there were some complications due to the high winds that necessitated the use of tugs to pull and push the ship away from the dock. The captain, Ian, was pleasant and always had a smile and a hello for us. Other than that, we really didn’t see him all that much.

We had a bit of a disappointment when we realized we’d never heard the stirring music that we read so much about, that they are supposed to play when they unfurl the sails. For some reason, the sails were regularly unfurled but we never heard the music! This became an issue on the last night, when during the final announcements Wendy mentioned that we would be departing the anchorage at 10:00 pm and the music would play. Well, for some unknown reason we actually departed much earlier, and the next thing we knew, the sails were all unfurled and we hadn’t heard the music!

A few of us, at this point feeling in a rather feisty mood, decided to storm the bridge to register our displeasure. We headed up there and laughingly threatened mutiny if we didn’t get to hear the music! The Captain wasn’t there at the time, but whomever it was that was manning the bridge quickly called one of the bar staff, and then told us to head on back to the pool deck. Sure enough, our good buddy Tata was there, and he started playing it. Yes, it IS quite stirring! It was actually very magical, standing out on that deck under a million stars with our new friends, the wind whipping around us, with this music playing. At the end of it we all called out for more – and Tata played it again…and again! He must have played it four or five times for us. It was really a great way to end the cruise.

FOOD:

The dining arrangement was open seating – you could arrive at any time you liked during the couple of hours the restaurant was open, and sit with whomever you liked, or with no one at all. The restaurant can obviously accommodate the entire passenger load, as we never waited more than a nanosecond for a table. The first night we were seated at a table for four, and they brought over another couple whom we hadn’t met yet, which was lovely. After that, we’d bonded with some other folks, and we had dinner with them every night, either on our own, or with additional people depending on who we were hanging out with in the lounge before dinner.

In general, I found the food to be mostly good to excellent, with a few flashes of brilliance, as well as some spectacular failures. The menu was not hugely inspired or exotic, and the variety was not what you’d find on other cruise lines – at dinner there were usually three or four appetizer choices, a couple of salads and soups, four choices of entrees, and a few desserts. But I always found something among the offerings that was enjoyable to eat. Breakfast and lunch were buffets, along with a small menu from which you could order.

The biggest miss, for us, was the fruit. Now, to really understand this you must know that we have friends who retired in Costa Rica in a lovely town, and their home is right on the edge of a mango farm. We’d spent a couple days with them pre-cruise, and had eaten our fill of the most delicious, flavor-packed fruit we’d ever encountered. The mangos in particular were sublime, and the pineapples were like eating wet, juicy sugar. So to then go onboard and discover that the fruit was much like that we’d find in our local grocery store (in winter), and was just barely on the green side of ripe to boot, was a huge disappointment, especially after reading about Windstar’s supposedly sumptuous displays of bountiful fruit. It was there alright, only it was a pale comparison to what we’d just enjoyed. We did notice that it started getting a little riper, and closer to edible, towards the end of the cruise. But we mostly avoided it, knowing we’d be spending a few more days with our friends post-cruise.

Another miss was the “jumbo” shrimp dinner, which turned out to be medium shrimps that tasted like they were pre-cooked, then over-frozen. They were served along with something that was called “garlic gnocci”, which were just lumps of pressed, sticky mush with no flavor to speak of. But, as I mentioned earlier, this was the last night, and at this point I was so full of food I was happy to push it away.

I found the soups to be spotty and sometimes flavorless, but the salads were quite good, and often unique and inspired. I found the rack of lamb on the first night to be excellent, and cooked perfectly to my tastes, unlike the lamb in Signatures on RSSC’s Voyager, where they just couldn’t seem to make it medium rare. But I heard that several other people didn’t like it at all, although I’m not sure why.

As for hits, the biggest one in my mind was the beach bbq lunch on Tortuga Island, where they had the most incredible, tender, melt-in-your-mouth baby-back ribs I’ve ever tasted! I could have eaten dozens of them if I’d had the stomach space. They seemed to have been prepared with some kind of rub that permeated the meat with a delicious flavor, and then brushed with a savory bbq sauce. They were the meatiest ribs I’ve ever seen, without much fat on them, and the meat literally fell off the bone. In fact all of the meat at that bbq was fantastic…so good that I pretty much stuck to being a carnivore, so I can’t tell you much about anything else they had there! I did try a couple of bites of the cole slaw, which was crisp and delicious.

The other food hits were the prime rib dinner, which was a very high quality cut of meat served with a fantastic horseradish sauce (not so hot that it caused you to sweat, unlike some other horseradish sauces I’ve tried), and the surf-n-turf, which proffered a very tender lobster tail along with a quite good piece of steak. One advantage to being on such a small ship is that you really CAN order your meat the way you want it, and it will come that way! I like my meat somewhere between what restaurants usually serve as rare and medium rare, which is how I asked for it, and it came that way every time.

I’d read much about the Thursday night barbecue on the pool deck, and I must say it lived up to its hype! Although the lobster tails weren’t quite as good as the lobster served with the surf-n-turf. The only real problem with that barbecue was that the ship was at anchor in Quepos and it was hotter than all get-out, and extremely humid that night. Of course you can’t control the weather, but I was a bit uncomfortable.

One final hit I’ll mention were the desserts. I had a couple of chocolate desserts that were some of the best desserts I’ve had at sea! The chocolate mousse cake on the first night, and the mocha thing on another night, were creamy perfection, packing huge flavor wallops. And the crème brulee was very good – especially with the added berries!

For comparison purposes, I would put the Wind Star’s food somewhere between Celebrity and RSSC. It had those special, cooked-to-order touches that you expect at a fine restaurant, and that you just don’t find on a Celebrity ship with a couple thousand folks on board. But it lacked that WOW factor that I experienced on my RSSC cruise, where there were times when I thought I’d died and gone to six-star-food heaven. There was no foie gras, which is abundant on RSSC. They did serve escargot, although it was rather uninspired – just the snails in a basic garlic-butter sauce, as opposed to something a little more interesting involving pastry or whatever. Still, the fact that I can’t squeeze into any of my clothes now proves that I had plenty of great food to eat on this cruise. And the desserts actually surpassed those on RSSC.

CABINS:

Yes, the cabins are small. Given that my last cruise was on RSSC’s Voyager, on which the smallest cabin is a 350-ft suite, this tiny room took a bit of getting used to. But they really do make the best use of the space, so we had no trouble at all storing our stuff. There is more than ample room under your bed to hide your suitcases – and my suitcase is an enormous one, so if that could fit under there, anything could. The portholes took some getting used to, and I missed having a balcony, but this really was a cruise in which I didn’t spend much time in my room. I think my husband would have preferred a balcony more than I, because he spent more time in there, reading and recharging his batteries, and it would have been nice to do that on a balcony rather than on the bed (there is no chair or any other place to sit, other than a small stool). But we knew the specifics of the room going in, so we had no complaints. You can see excellent pictures of their cabins on the Windstar website.

The bathroom was small and tight, but adequate. No bathtub, but we’re shower people. One problem was that there was little space to put your shower items (soap, shampoo, conditioner, face wash, razor, etc). They really need to put some kind of shelf in there, as I ended up having to leave much of it on the floor, which I hate. I was happy to find that there were no water pressure issues, and although the water temperature occasionally fluctuated, it was not bad enough to bother me. I still have painful memories of our RCI cruise, when the water temp would swing from ice cold to burning hot with no warning.

On the first day while in port the cabin was uncomfortably warm, and moving the thermostat didn’t seem to have much effect. I’d read that the air conditioning doesn’t work well in port, but once we were underway it cooled down considerably, and was very comfortable from then on, even in ports. I did hear from friends who had the owner’s suite that their cabin was very warm the entire trip, and the thermostat didn’t seem to help. I guess we were fortunate.

It’s in the area of cabin amenities where Windstar really shines. They apparently have completed their upgrades. The bed was the most comfortable bed I’ve slept on at sea – even with the slight dip between the two twins, which I know was there but I never felt it. The mattress was firm, and yet I felt like I was absorbed into it every night, cushioning me like a cloud. How’d they do that?

The flat screen TV’s are great. They have a few channels with constantly rotating movies, as well as CNN headlines, and a channel with shows from Discovery or The Learning Channel, things like that. We were so busy that we didn’t watch much, although we did spend one quiet afternoon in there watching that Jodie Foster movie Flight Plan, which just recently came out on DVD. You can also borrow from a wide selection of DVD’s in the library.

One of the best amenities was the iPod, and the Bose docking system. You could check out an iPod at the reception desk, which was pre-loaded with 500 songs from virtually every music genre you can think of. You could carry it around with you and listen to it with earplugs (a great thing to do when you’re at the pool and you want to actually READ that book, rather than get involved in conversation with all of your new friends!) And in the room you could pop it in the docking station and listen to your favorite genre through the speakers. I used this thing constantly.

The bathroom amenities are high-quality L’Occitane products, which were amply replenished as necessary. There is a small fridge, which unfortunately was filled with expensive mini-bar items. I removed them and put them in an upper cabinet, to make room for the couple of bottles of Chardonnay I’d brought. There is also a little wooden tray filled with expensive mini-bar snacks, which was kind of a pain, and in the way a lot. I should have just asked to have it removed, but I never got around to it.

The cabin was well maintained, and always spotless. I saw no evidence of any wear and tear, even though this is not a young ship.

As for location, we were on the lower of the two cabin decks, and I can see absolutely no benefit to having a cabin on the higher deck. I’m not really sure why they charge more for those cabins, to be honest. We did get some splashing on our portholes when at sea, but we could always see out of them. If anything, we though seeing the waves splashing on our portholes was kind of cool!

On this ship, all the cabins are exactly the same except for one Owner’s Suite, which is really nothing more than two cabins put together, with the extra space used for a sitting area. The couple we bonded with, and spent the most time with, happened to be in the Owner’s Suite, so we got to see it. Other than the extra space, the only other difference is the flat-screen TV, which is about twice the size. While they felt the extra space was nice, it wasn’t an earth-shattering addition, and there were absolutely NO other extra perks or anything that came with being in the Owner’s Suite. We discussed how we would have thought that they would get SOMETHING for being the only folks onboard in the “Owner’s” suite, but in fact there was nothing, not even a bottle of champagne or some flowers or a note from the captain. It certainly was no big deal to them, but we just found it curious. It’s something to consider if you are thinking about spending the extra money for the Owner’s Suite.

NICKEL & DIMING:

This topic is probably my biggest complaint – but then, I also realize I was utterly spoiled on RSSC. Once you’ve cruised on an inclusive line, it’s so hard to go back to signing those stupid chits any time you want anything. And yes, our bill at the end was eye-popping. I especially resent having to pay for water, which is a necessity for living, and in my mind should not be charged. While I’m sure that the tap water on board was fine for drinking, to be honest it had an odd taste, leaving us stuck with bottled water charged at exorbitant rates. What bothers me is that I know that they can get the huge quantities of bottled water they need at very cheap prices, and to then mark it up 1000% seems like highway robbery for something we absolutely have to have.

When we signed up for our excursions, we were given the option of selecting a bottled-water pre-purchase plan whereby for the “discounted” price of $1.95 per bottle, they’ll put two bottles of water in your room the night before the excursion. What a rip-off! First of all, on most excursions they provide some opportunity for refreshments as part of the tour. Second, and this one really irked me – when we went on our horseback riding tour, the water they gave us was not the normal-sized water bottles, but two tiny bottles of Evian! I suppose that was because it was assumed that it would be difficult to carry the larger bottles, so they made up for the fact that they gave us half the water for the same price by making it the more “expensive” name brand. Gimme a break.

They had a drink of the day, usually some kind of fruity thing, and a martini of the day. I tried them a few times, and thought they skimped a bit on the alcohol content. Although it was different at the beach bbq – the rum punches were mostly rum, and left you feeling oh-so-relaxed as you sipped them from your lounge chair on the beach!

As a wine drinker, it’s important to me to have good wines to drink while on vacation, and I’d read that their wine list wasn’t great. It wasn’t. I’d gone ahead and brought a few bottles of my own favorites onboard, and had no trouble doing so – I carried them undisguised in my carry-on, and no one seemed to have a problem with it. I’d read that they have a corkage fee policy in the dining room, but that hardly anyone had ever seen them apply it. Well, I’m sorry to say that they DID apply it – 10 bucks each time I brought a bottle of wine to dinner. I have to say I was bummed out about that.

Anyway, if you’ve never cruised anything but the mass-market lines, you’ll be used to signing chits all over the place. But if you’ve enjoyed an inclusive cruise, you’ll probably find this as annoying as I did. Of course, we knew it would be like this going in, so I’m just venting. I do think that Windstar should consider going more inclusive, as it would put them another notch up in category, and I believe they would probably lure more of the luxury cruise passengers who are looking for a slightly different experience, without having to go backwards in service and luxury.

WATER SPORTS

Now THIS was the best part of the cruise! And I’d have to say that it’s because of the couple who run the water sports program, Crispin and Michelle. They’ve got a great program going here, and they run it very well. They are also just fantastic people who clearly get a great deal of enjoyment from watching the fun and enthusiasm of the passengers, some of whom (like me) are trying things for the first time.

The water sports program is run from the aft of the ship, where there is a platform that drops down off the transom right onto the water, opening up a big square hole in the back of the ship, if you can picture that. They offer swimming and snorkeling right from the platform, as well as one or two person kayaks, a little sailboat, and fun stuff you can do off the back of one of the zodiacs, such as water skiing. There used to be a banana boat that carried multiple people that they would pull at high speed with the zodiac, but they got rid of that due to too many injuries. It has been replaced with this hilarious little inflatable contraption called a seadoo, which is a one-person thing that resembles a jet ski -- you sit on and hold for dear life while Crispin drags you at top speed on a rope from the back of the zodiac while making sharp turns and pulling donuts, doing his best to dump you. I laughed so hard I practically drowned from sucking in sea water!

The other part of the program is the scuba diving. I’ve always wanted to try this, but just never got around to it. So I signed up for the beginner dive program, which involves a two-hour session on board, followed by a couple of beginner dives. This was the highlight of my cruise! Michelle did the flip-chart instruction, then Crispin tested our basic skills in the pool, and they both were highly competent, professional, caring, and eager to get us inspired. Unfortunately the first beginner dive in Playa del Coco was cancelled due to lack of water visibility. But the second beginner dive, off Curu National Park, did go forward, and it was utterly fantastic. I got lucky – due to an interesting quirk of fate I ended up getting to do two dives, both a deeper one off Curu, and a shallower one off Tortuga Island (long story how this came about). The sea life was abundant, colorful and fascinating, and I am totally hooked. I now plan on getting my certification prior to my next cruise, to Tahiti, in November.

I can’t imagine another team doing as great a job as Crispin and Michelle. I felt totally safe at every moment, and they really went out of their way to make sure we got the best experience possible.

Windstar – if you are reading this – give them a raise! They are totally awesome!

ENTERTAINMENT

If the water sports program was the highlight, this was the lowlight. Now let me state right off that this was not a big deal to me – I wasn’t on this cruise for the entertainment, I’d read that it leaves a lot to be desired, and I didn’t spend much time watching them anyway. But if anyone is thinking they are going to be seeing any great entertainment on board, they will be sadly disappointed.

The only entertainment is a couple whose names escape me (I suppose an indication of just how memorable they weren’t). Oh wait – I think his name was Chico, but I don’t know if I ever learned her name. Anyway, he sang, and played guitar and a canned music machine, and she sang and stood around looking generally cranky and dyspeptic. While Chico’s guitar playing was actually pretty darn good (especially when he got to doing some flamenco-style tunes), he couldn’t sing a note. And she was Simon Cowell’s worst nightmare – the embodiment of what he expects the worst American Idol auditioners will become if they don’t take his advice and stop singing. She dressed like a tired hooker, and they both look as if they spent way too many years in some off-strip lounge in Laughlin, Nevada.

The best entertainment night was the karaoke, and that was probably because nobody took it seriously. Oh, and also because most of the karaoke singers actually sang BETTER than Chico and the Woman. Everyone was having a great time, and some of the performances were so hilarious we were falling over laughing. There were also a couple of really great singers, including one gentleman who was a professional singer for 35 years…as well as some, um, really BAD singers who thought they were good! I even got inspired to get up – and I should preface this by saying that I truly can’t carry a tune. Next to me, Chico and the Woman sound like Broadway stars! Luckily I chose a song that doesn’t require any vocal chops – “Wild Thing” by the Troggs. I got up and did my best growly microphone-eating, throwing in a few dance moves (forgot to mention – I can’t dance either), and the crowd roared. It was the first time in my life I have ever received actual applause. Of course, they may have really been clapping out of relief that it was over. After that I officially became known as “Wild Thing” by passengers and crew alike. I can think of worse nicknames.

PASSENGERS:

Like many cruise lines, especially the higher-end, smaller-ship ones, the average age of the passengers tends to lean towards the senior side. We are 46 and 48, and we sort of expected to be among the youngest on board. Surprisingly, we weren’t – even though this cruise line is owned by Holland America, this was not your typical HAL passenger demographic. While the average age was probably mid to high fifties, with a smattering of 60’s-70’s, there were quite a few folks our age and younger, and even one adorable young honeymooning couple who charmed the dickens out of the entire ship. This was generally an active crowd, and we didn’t see any mobility-challenged passengers at all. (This would NOT be a good ship for the disabled – there are no elevators, and there are steps and heavy doors everywhere – not to mention the wet beach landings at a couple of the ports.)

I’m a freelance writer and my husband is an Information Systems executive, and we felt completely at ease and at home with this crowd. This is neither a party ship, nor a geriatric retreat, nor an all-you-can-eat-buffet food fest. It’s a cruise filled with active, interesting people who love to travel, and much of the conversation initially revolved around other cruises taken, and other exotic places visited. We met some of the nicest folks on board, and thoroughly enjoyed all of our social interactions.

Well this brings a close to the ship portion of my review. I will post more later regarding the ports themselves. Stay tuned!

Great Job Leeane!! I would consider Windstar, were it not for the "nickel and diming" I'm spoilt rotten with RSSC!!

Chico and the Woman...I laughed my head off with that one!

Yes, unfortuantley, once you have tasted what my dad likes to call "Nature's Candy" in Central America, nothing else quite adds up...ever...

Thanks Leanne for the great review - I know it took alot of time. I really appreciate you bringing back great memories for me. Yes the nickle and diming is a pain in the you know what. But the sails, the stars, the ship and the great crew tempt and call to me again. I love RSSC but the Windstar ships are amazing, imho, they are truly unique, nothing like them sailing today. Would you sail Windstar again?

Wow LeeAnne, what detail! I think maybe you should consider writing for a living! ;)

Thanks for taking the time to compose this for us.

Thanks, LeeAnne. I know how hard it is to write these long reviews. Glad you enjoyed your cruise. Looking forward to Part II.

Thanks LeeAnne ,

I felt like I was on the ship!
Maybe I'll try them someday,

Great review, "Wild Thing"!

LOL Kathy! Well, like I said, I can think of worse nicknames. ;) Btw, check out under my avatar...

LeeAnne

There is a motorized 100 passenger speed catamaran in St. Thomas called the Wild Thing. That is a totally wild ride and completely circles St. Thomas with a stop at Megans Bay for swimming, snorkeling and relaxing.. It leaves the dock playing the song by the Trogs at top volume.
If you make it to that part of the world, you ought to see if it's available. That was the one of the best days of my 2002 Millennium Cruise.

Oh what a treat to come home from a rotten day and find this review. Only have a few minutes to spare so I'm printing it out and going to read it while I'm in the doctor's waiting room. :)

Thanks!

Kathy

Thanks LeeAnne for detailed review - I love to go back to my cabin on Rad and just chill or sit and read on balcony - I know it is different cruise but I would oh so miss the balcony - but sounds like it is a winner if that does not matter - Joanna

Great review LeeAnne! Thanks so much for sharing. Hope you post photos. Glad you had a good time.

Such detail LeeAnne! Thanks for taking the time to share with us. Glad you loved your dive!

Thanks for posting the great review, LeeAnne. I always wanted to do Windstar when they were sailing Tahiti. Never did, but the idea stuck in my head and we finally ended up on the PG last year. The watersports platform is a cool part of the PG and it sounds like it really added to your trip too.

Dena

Great review! Love the karaoke description - you go girl!

LeeAnne,

I loved your review. The Windstar idea sounds great, but the nickel and diming would be a deal breaker after RSSC. The choice of wines at mealtime is huge for us, and especially when traveling recently with my daughter. She likes different (sweeter) wines and no red, so I could have what I wanted and neither had to compromise.

Your karaoke sounded fun....I always enjoy amateurs the best.....you "Wild Thing"

Cheers, Pam