Why low CC ratings "Star" ships?

Now a word while we're on the "high seas" on the Surf. We definitely see the fingerprint of new management all over the ship. The food is outstanding. Not just good or "okay", absolutely outstanding. The service is the best its ever been, the smiles even more welcoming. Wonderful to see the positive changes and even though the weather has been less than spectacular, the port changes have been well thought out and actually fun. Kind of a magical mystery tour on the Med. The crew seems to be laughing through it and have passed their good nature on to the passengers. Or maybe its the wine left over from our James Beard cruise.

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We have sailed with the Windstar line twice on the 'sailing' ships: Wind Surf and Wind Star and enjoyed their style of cruising.

We prefer the smart-casual dining rather than formal or queuing for buffets.

We have just enjoyed the Venetian Passageways cruise on the newly-repaired and greatly-refurbished Star Pride and we LOVED it!

All the staterooms are wonderfully larger than the usual, clever-but-quite-tight ones and have a sitting area having a 2-seater sofa, two bucket armchairs and a coffee table.

Although not all the bathrooms have been re-done yet, they are roomy and marble!

The walk-in wardrobe is another bonus.

The staterooms, corridors and public areas have new carpets and some of the decking has been replaced.

The staff are always a credit to the line.

Food is delicious.

You will not be disappointed!

Yes, I definitely think that some of the negatives were from past Seabourn cruisers who wanted Windstar to be exactly like Seabourn.

 

We are also ones that had very negative comments about our August Fjords cruise. Having a chef say that he ALWAYS overcooks fish that he got on shore is absolutely unacceptable. Don't buy the fish if you are not going to properly cook it! He even told one passenger (who also happened to be a chef), that you could not even sign a waiver in order to get the fish properly cooked!!!!!! We have never been on Seabourn but have been on WS 6 or 7 times. I have never wanted WS to be like any of the other lines.......I only want them to be like the WS of prior years.

I really do hope that WS is returning to the WS of old and the food / crew is exceptional.

To the original question in this thread:

Going back to the reviews for the Pride; all the 1's and 2's seem to be based upon sailings before the full-refurbishing. Looking at the reviews from the last few months; I think those comments and numbers tell a far better story.

Windstar's only big mistake may have been introducing any of the Star series yachts before they were refurbished completely. However, they may have done all of us who now love the Star yachts an interesting favor. If early bookings stay low because of poor OLDER reviews, we may see fares stay lower than expected for a while. Better values for those of us interested in going some more.

Our sailing on Star Pride in August was beyond outstanding. (I have a full review that was one of the "review of the week" recently.) The staff were exceptional. The dining and service was some of the finest we have experienced.

Regarding comments from former Seabourn passengers:

I think the comments reflect the nature of those who really like to find something "below their expectation"...all the time. The cordial, relaxed style of most Windstar passengers are one of the things making Windstar a fine choice for our taste in cruising.

We are also ones that had very negative comments about our August Fjords cruise. Having a chef say that he ALWAYS overcooks fish that he got on shore is absolutely unacceptable. Don't buy the fish if you are not going to properly cook it! He even told one passenger (who also happened to be a chef), that you could not even sign a waiver in order to get the fish properly cooked!!!!!! We have never been on Seabourn but have been on WS 6 or 7 times. I have never wanted WS to be like any of the other lines.......I only want them to be like the WS of prior years.

 

I really do hope that WS is returning to the WS of old and the food / crew is exceptional.

Oh my gosh! Were you on the Legend Reykjavik/Norway/Dublin starting the last few days of July? Where we missed Isle of Man due to bad weather? We had my inlaws with us, had fish every night. None was overdone. 😀

Oh my gosh! Were you on the Legend Reykjavik/Norway/Dublin starting the last few days of July? Where we missed Isle of Man due to bad weather? We had my inlaws with us, had fish every night. None was overdone. 😀

Actually we were on the following cruise that departed from Reykjavik. I assume the fish you had was NOT bought on shore. The fish that is brought onboard from the normal WS suppliers is frozen - not fresh. According the the chef, freezing the fish for over 72 hours (I believe that is the time he told us) kills any parasites that may be in the fish so they do not have to overcook it. If you buy fresh fish at a port, you do not have that freezer time so it needs to be VERY WELL cooked.

The chef bought fish every day in Norway, and all I believe was fresh. Different ship, different chef. :)

The chef bought fish every day in Norway, and all I believe was fresh. Different ship, different chef. :)

We once had a chef who refused to salt anything resulting in bland tasteless everything. When we finally asked him he said "you can salt to your own taste" completely ignoring that fact that cooking WITH salt gives a completely different result from putting it on top later. I kid you not!!

Just off the Star Breeze a week ago and it was a fabulous trip (I wrote a review(. That being said, we have cruised with Seabourn one week after the inaugural voyage The Odyssey. The bathrooms on those ships are different than the smaller ships. We had a separate shower and tub and they were a bit bigger I believe. The ship was brand new and still sparkling. The Star Breeze was wonderful but even after being refurbished she does show her age. It did not detract from our enjoyment and I would love to go on Windstar again (with many of the same people!). But there are differences between the two lines and it would behoove cruisers to do a little research before hand so they know what to expect. My advice is to try out a few different lines and different types of journeys and find the positives and enjoy them all

I hesitate to bring this up again, due to the tremendous flak I got from WS cheerleaders, but WS allows cigar smoking in half of the Star Bar. If you are as unfortunate as we were in March on Legend, you can get cigar smokers there from sun-up to midnight, rendering the entire Star Bar area and much of the pool area uninhabitable. Just be aware of this possibilty if you are planning to spend a lot of time in those areas.

I hesitate to bring this up again, due to the tremendous flak I got from WS cheerleaders, but WS allows cigar smoking in half of the Star Bar. If you are as unfortunate as we were in March on Legend, you can get cigar smokers there from sun-up to midnight, rendering the entire Star Bar area and much of the pool area uninhabitable. Just be aware of this possibilty if you are planning to spend a lot of time in those areas.

Thanks, but I actually like the smell of cigar smoke! Always have. One time I got a job(this was 45 years ago) because I agreed to share an office with a cigar smoker! Of course, no one else in the office would do that. Sounds so funny now but cigar smoke still doesn't bother me and I still like the smell. Crazy I know!

Jane

We cruised on Star Pride soon after it was acquired by Windstar, and I was one of the negative reviewers. Although we have not cruised on Windstar since, I am considering cruising on Star Legend next year.

My primary complaints then regarded how poorly the ship had been renovated, and some of the areas that had received little (if any) renovation before our cruise. From what I can see of the newer renovations, all the areas of my main concerns have been re-thought and addressed on the 'newer' ships. So I'm willing to give the "Stars" another try.

If we do, you can be sure I'll write another review!

We cruised on Star Pride soon after it was acquired by Windstar, and I was one of the negative reviewers. Although we have not cruised on Windstar since, I am considering cruising on Star Legend next year.

 

My primary complaints then regarded how poorly the ship had been renovated, and some of the areas that had received little (if any) renovation before our cruise. From what I can see of the newer renovations, all the areas of my main concerns have been re-thought and addressed on the 'newer' ships. So I'm willing to give the "Stars" another try.

 

If we do, you can be sure I'll write another review!

I just read your review from two years ago. Excellent observations. While you and I were on the Star Pride 18 months apart and we were far happier than you were, we likely agree on many key point; Windstar's desire to introduce the Star class ships should have allowed more time for renovated before putting them into service. The Pride was more extensively renovated in Winter/Spring of this year. The Legend and Breeze were done earlier.

I am not sure if all of your food/beverage timing and location issues have been resolved. But we did not notice the conflicts in timing. We did notice within the first few days that we could get bar service in the Yacht Club, just for the asking.

The Yacht Club and Star Bar share the same prep area. After we asked the Yacht Club counter server for something as simple as a Coke; we then got repeat service very promptly from the Star Bar waitstaff. Once, as my wife walked by the Star Bar she ordered a Manhattan, and told the bar tender we would be in the Yacht Club. The waiter then brought it within a couple minutes. We tended to hang out in the Yacht Club after dinner and did feel well looked after. The Compass Rose was always open on the evenings we wanted to listen to music. (Side note: I could have just lived on the fresh cookies, regularly found in the Yacht Club.)

I truly hope you find that the Star class ships have worked the bugs out now and you have a good time on the Legend. We found our stay on the Star Pride to be one of our top cruise experiences to date. We expect to be back soon, but not soon enough.

We have just returned from a Venice-Rome cruise on the Legend. Our third Windstar cruise and a first on the motor yachts. It was outstanding. The ship, large suites, food, service all first class.

The officers were very visible, and always talking to the passengers, and the crew were superb as always.

I would not hesitate to go on this ship again. Happy to answer any questions about this itinerary.

We've done CR twice on WS, and we think it is the perfect fit of ship to itinerary. We view CR as a nature trip and WS stops at the best places to go out and see the beauty of the country. Also, we like to take advantage of the sports platform when it's available. It is one of the features we most enjoy about WS.

We enjoy the company of the other WS passengers, and the service has always been great. While we will always prefer the sailing ships, we were pleasantly surprised by the Breeze after so many complaints about its age, etc. It is a lovely ship, and very well laid out. The cabins are incredibly comfortable.

In the past few years, I've gone on a few cruises with a friend of mine who previously cruised on Seabourn and Regent. We were on the Legend during one of its last cruise as part of Seabourn and the following year we cruised on the Windstar Surf. It was the first time my friend was on WS and her review was mixed. While I thorough enjoyed the ship, the crew, and the service, she preferred Seabourn's service and crew. We determined that she preferred the more formal atmosphere of Seabourn while I preferred the WS' more casual approach to service. Case in point, she found WS staff's addressing her by her first name as off putting and I found being constantly addressed as Ms. MightyDin on Seabourn as stiff and overly obsequious. This is a relatively minor point and we both enjoyed the cruises on WS and Seabourn and will cruise with both lines in the future, depending on the itinerary. We will be on a WS cruise to Panama and CR in a few weeks. It'll be interesting to see how the WS Pride, after its renovations, compares to the Seabourn Legend.