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Wilcoam

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  • Posts

    576
  • Joined

About Me

  • Location
    Toronto, Canada
  • Interests
    Springsteen, Punk Rock, Baseball, Politics
  • Favorite Cruise Line(s)
    Celebrity - Silverseas Exp
  • Favorite Cruise Destination Or Port of Call
    Galapagos Islands

Wilcoam's Achievements

Cool Cruiser

Cool Cruiser (2/15)

  1. Only been on 4 WS cruises but we've been offered 'upgrades' 3 times - Each time though we passed, as the 'upgrade' wasn't free and we didn't see the monetary value First we tend to book the lowest cat cabin because my wife and I are quite social and barely spend any time in the room, especially say in Tahiti or warmer weather Oddly enough though we've only been on Holland America twice, and this May 2023, got offered a seriously nice suite upgrade for very little cost - We jumped on that one as we were traveling with another couple and our massive suite was a terrific place too gather b4 dinner, and or on at sea glacier days, pus the much larger balcony Now we've yet to be on a WS cruise any longer than 10 nights but I will say the Pride/Breeze size yacht cabins are significantly spacious/comfy as compared to the ole smaller surf/wind, etc, so much so we don't pine for upgrades to french balconies or suites, but sure that would be different once you're talking about 12 night plus, if offered and free, of course we'd jump at it jc Toronto
  2. My wife and have been lucky to travel to Tahiti 3 times and twice with WS (once with PG) - Usually we book a night for a tasting menu at Villa Mahana in Bora Bora or a similar eatery skipping the cruise dinner However in Oct 2021 aboard the Breeze we simply forgot about the BBQ motu in Bora and had pre booked Mahana on the 2nd night weeks in advance! That is until we boarded, got reminded about the Bora motu BBQ and my wife insisted we cancel Mahana Why? Well in our opinion that Bora evening BBQ is one of those can't miss Tahitian Cruise events, not only is the 4 Seasons island location stunning, the buffet dinner fresh and scrumptious, but we still get a major kick from the touristy evening fire show, even though we've seen it 3-4 times, lol It's flat out special So is the full day beach day at WS private island, on our first WS cruise we mistakenly booked a morning half day excursion, which sort of sucked because then you get way less time on the motu Thus we correct the mistake on the Breeze, once on board, we re-arranged our excursion, so we could get off as early as possible and spend the entire day on the motu, socialize, swim, supt, float, drink, feels if the world has literally stopped for us, in paradise, forever smiling in casual bliss, and then be amongst the very last zodiac to leave to we can savour every moment off the ship Also don't forget to take advantage of the sports deck! - There's something very very very sexy about jumping in the middle of an ocean from your cruise ship - Every would be cruiser should have that life experience, be it with WS or one of the smaller yacht cruise ships We hope to sail with WS Pride next this Dec in Panama and then back to Tahiti for 4th time in Oct 2024, here we come poisson cru and Tahitian vanilla creme brulle jc Toronto
  3. As a Canadian, I actually love the Arrivecan app Once you spend the 10-15 min doing the original upload, it's then a 45-60 second process moving forward, and I found going back n forth in and out of Canada, that they are processing you faster than ever b4, a ton less paperwork, and no need to find that elusive pen 🙂 I am secretly hoping its stays in place long after COVID, I find it quite efficient, a rare effective Government program, lol That's because my wife and I travel to Buffalo on a regular basis for Bills games and concerts, and we travel a ton, however empathy for those only coming to Canada once, if it seems burdensome and a bit overwhelming, I'd love to see some international countries dump the crazy advance passport visa's requirements and have an app like this instead jc
  4. 100% concur JDGG In our case we are loyal WS clients, my wife and I adore the product, and choose it over both Silverseas and Seaborne, and we are booked with WS in Europe in Mid Oct 22, Rome to Venice, can;t wait We were initially drawn in this summer by the $1,000 OBC marketing email only to find out, after reading the small print, it's not applicable if you also get the flash sale price, worse, neither is your 5% loyalty discount, yes we used a reputable cruise TA Fine we booked anyway, it's nickles and dimes, we're celebrating a big birthday, we want it to be on a WS ship, but all weekend we got e-mails about this special 40% savings today and thru the week, a suite became open on our sailing, really reduced, so we thought we'd upgrade, for about $1,000 USD each Nope, WS doesn;t want us to upgrade They will not offer us the discounted suite to existing booked reservations, only new one's, so it's uber frustrating, you wish you waited until today to book the trip instead of doing so months ago, and you almost want WS to take you off their e-mail list because all these so called specials are not special period, none of been applicable to us I think it's short sighted on their part, I mean giving us that 5% loyalty, or a lousy $200 OBC, or being able to upgrade to a suite, giving them more funds, it would all go a long way to making loyal WS clients even more happy WS clients, instead of posting negative criticism of their business practices here, just saying... jc Toronto
  5. My wife and I made advance Villa Mahana reservations on our last Tahitian WS cruise (we''ve dined there many times) until we realized once on board it was up against the Polynesian evening So we um cancelled the dinner reservations No regrets, after-all the Polynesian event is a huge hi-light on any Tahitian cruise Itinerary, and not to be missed, we've sailed WS twice and PG once and we've always enjoyed the fire show, even though it was our 3rd go around, also there's something very sexy about having a decadent outdoor pubic BBQ on a private motto, feet in sand, not a care in the world, food was yummy too jc
  6. After decades of numerous cruises on the mainstream, big boats, Celebrity, Princess, & NCL, mostly in top tier suites, my wife and I started ponying the big bucks for the much smaller, more independent lines, Paul G, Silverseas, Seabourn, & Windstar, sort of skipping the Regent, Azamara, & Oceana lines Now we can't go back And nothing against Silverseas and or the Paul G, they are terrific quality high tier vacation choices, (though we dislike Seaborne) we just love love love the Windstar product most It's the cruise STAFF and the FOLKSY ATTENTIVE PERSONALIZED SERVICE that makes the difference for us, plus the way more casual on board attire, and the back of ship waterspouts platform, thus we describe WS as being luxurious without the 'tude, elitism, and pretension, you might find on the likes of Seaborne and or Silverseas, and all at a better sailing price than say the Sea Dream, etc Our first cruise post COVID was in Tahiti on the refurbished Breeze, which was our fave cruise ever to date, and we just loved the new ship layout and the french balconies, but we still adore the Surf and its small inside porthole cabins and are taking it a 7 day Rome to Venice this October, giving up on big suites on big ships for the more preferred small ship experience where we literally are never in our cabin anyway except to shower and sleep pretty well living out on deck, drink in hand, socializing... Good luck in your vacation search JC Toronto
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