Star Legend cruise shared with 100 passengers from a group

We just returned from our 7th Windstar cruise, the Star Legend roundtrip from San Juan. The atmosphere on this cruise was totally 180 degrees from what we have experienced before with Windstar. 100 passengers on this cruise were booked together as a group of followers of a singer who plays Texas/Caribbean music. There was non-stop drinking and partying on the part of half of the passengers. Mealtimes were raucous and on one occasion, there must have been 30 people crammed into the small pool. Service from the staff and meals were predictably wonderful, but there was little peace and quiet onboard. I realize that you never know who your fellow passengers will be, but I sure do hope our next cruise is calmer and more relaxing.

That's a real shame. We had a similar experience once on the Surf but not as bad. When 50% of anything is booked for a specific group it is not going to go well for the rest of us. Not sure what can be done about it though. Our very first Windstar was on the Spirit and a group of only 8 took over the hot tub, stayed drunk, and made sitting out on that deck anything but fun for us. If it had not been for great service elsewhere we probably would not have gone back but we're so glad we did.

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I made a point of telling first-time Windstar passengers that the party atmosphere was not typical of Windstar cruises. Hopefully, they will return.

Also had this happen on a Windstar cruise. When you're in a very small ship, a large group is very noticeable and affects your cruise experience.

I don't think WS should have group bookings of 100+ passengers; they should have to do a full charter or the "regular" passengers should at least be informed so they have a chance to change their booking.

Had a group of 30-40 or so (? - maybe fewer) on a Tauck Tour on our recent Panama Canal cruise - was not really an issue at all that we noticed

We also had a large from - coincidentally from Texas - on a recent itin who just sort of took over the ship. They were everywhere, even the normally quiet and peaceful Yacht Club room was overrun with people having their third bloody mary at 9:00am and erupting into gales of laughter. In Venanda, in the Dining Room, at the bar, in the pool, they were impossible to avoid. I didn't let it ruin the trip, but they were very annoying.

Had a group of 30-40 or so (? - maybe fewer) on a Tauck Tour on our recent Panama Canal cruise - was not really an issue at all that we noticed

Tauck people are generally very civilized. Have met up with them in hotels, tours, etc.

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This happened to us on the Legend when it was part of Seabourn. A company's sales meeting took over our Caribbean cruise. It really changed the atmosphere of the cruise. We felt almost like outsiders.

I think when a group is 25% or less of a sailing it's usually not a problem. After that it begins to become quite intrusive on other passengers. Maybe they should do these large group bookings together so they can annoy each other rather than a lot of unknowing passengers.

Unfortunately, it can happen. I have been the victim of being annoyed by the "group". I have also been part of the "group". It happens on large ships all the time. The largest group traveling together on Windsurf was an alumni group from Michigan. They were a bit loud at meals. They did not detract from my having a nice time. If there was a large group on a small ship, it would be nice if the cruise line told you. Keeping it a secret doesn't pay. I'll bet the non group people think twice about traveling on a small ship.

Also had this happen on a Windstar cruise. When you're in a very small ship, a large group is very noticeable and affects your cruise experience.

I don't think WS should have group bookings of 100+ passengers; they should have to do a full charter or the "regular" passengers should at least be informed so they have a chance to change their booking.

II agree - it shouldn't happen on the Windstar ships as they are too small and makes it uncomfortable for the other passengers. I realise that Windstar is a business, but this is definitely NOT good for repeat business and the least WS should do is warn people, so that we have a choice.

We just returned from our 7th Windstar cruise, the Star Legend roundtrip from San Juan. The atmosphere on this cruise was totally 180 degrees from what we have experienced before with Windstar. 100 passengers on this cruise were booked together as a group of followers of a singer who plays Texas/Caribbean music. There was non-stop drinking and partying on the part of half of the passengers. Mealtimes were raucous and on one occasion, there must have been 30 people crammed into the small pool. Service from the staff and meals were predictably wonderful, but there was little peace and quiet onboard. I realize that you never know who your fellow passengers will be, but I sure do hope our next cruise is calmer and more relaxing.

What was the date of your sailing?

We had an atypical WS crowd on our recent Legend cruise, not bad just different. It was more of a party crowd than typical of WS. Lots of "middle America" people so not a very diverse group. A woman and her husband travelling with a gay couple mentioned that a certain couple were offended by their presence, not sure why but I think this was an isolated incident.

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A large group does change the atmosphere on a small cruise quite a bit. Especially if they are a hard partying type crowd. I have asked in the past about large groups on the cruise that I had planned. I have always been able to have the Seattle office tell me if there was one. For my upcoming cruise, I asked that question and was told that they no longer had access to passenger bookings (group bookings) so that information was not available! Strange! I booked anyway, but if I run into a huge group on our small ship, I will be an unhappy camper!

Well I have been checking the Tauck brochure for this year and next and would suggest you may all wish to do the same before you book your next WS cruise. It seems that Windstar have now entered into what looks like a firm partnership with Tauck for up to almost 50% of the ships on many sailings - both this year and next. It looks to me that all the WS cruise dates for the Med will be affected but its hard to say until WS get round to publishing all of their own 2018 itineraries. The cruise we were looking at in September from Venice is one of them, the Tauck group is 60 people.

It is also happening on all of the Windstar ships this summer. This is going to significantly alter the current 'small ship' vibe onboard. Hopefully the Tauck people will be a civilised crowd, but thats not really the point. Windstar has never been a 'mass market' package tour kind of experience and I think that this is a really sad move by WS. We will have to try it because there will be no choice if we want to keep sailing WS, but its not going to be the same. So far WS have made no mention of the link with Tauck in the shared sailings for this coming summer, which I find very disappointing. This is not just a group booking, in effect, its a charter of almost 50% of the ship.

Tauck has been advertising WS cruises for a couple of years. I believe they reserve more cabins than they use, have a cut-off date and then the rest are sold through the normal channels. The people we know who have taken Tauck and the tours we've run into in Europe are made up of mostly older travelers who like all of their days filled with certainty and don't want to spend the time making their own plans. They pay fares higher than the rest of us but get all inclusive tours, land packages, etc. I'd much rather take my chances being on board with Tauck than half the ship of sales people who won an incentive cruise. If you look at Tauck brochures and the photos of the people they market to, add 10 to 20 years average age, thats what their group will look like. Nice quiet well behaved fellow passengers.

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Ditto Sb44, we took Istanbul to Athens there were 20 cabins for Tauck, you would never have known they were any different than passengers who reserved independently. Remember they do know each other either. Seriously never made a difference. Tauck has always used WS. This was 4 years ago.

Well its good to hear that all may not be lost and that you both survived. I had assumed it was a new move on Windstar's part. Lets hope that the experience continues to be positive. We have not been on a WS cruise with Tauck passengers thus far, but its likely to happen very soon.

I don't think a smaller group would be a problem, and agree a Tauck group would probably not even be noticed as a group except when they all gather in the lounge in the morning and get off together for their tour--although for all you know they are part of a ship sponsored tour.

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Ditto Sb44, we took Istanbul to Athens there were 20 cabins for Tauck, you would never have known they were any different than passengers who reserved independently. Remember they do know each other either. Seriously never made a difference. Tauck has always used WS. This was 4 years ago.

We had a similar group, perhaps larger, on our Istanbul to Athens in 2005. Agree that it didn't change the character of the cruise in any significant way. We might not have realized if we hadn't asked a couple about their port plans for the next day.

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I agree that a Tauck tour group would not bother me. It is when everyone knows each other and hangs out as a large group, reserving areas on the ship, etc. that you can feel like outsiders with respect to the large group.

Been reading all these posts and am freaked! We've done 14 WS and never had a group larger than 20 or so. I can't imagine 100....especially if they're partying and loud. WS has always had a nice group and not loudmouths who think they're still in a frat.... Very disappointing and I'm having my TA look into this. We've already moved one of our cruises to Sea Dream because of the new WS and its clientele. Thanks for the heads up.

I will share this with our TA as well. If we had known that there would be a group of 100 loud drunken passengers, we would not have booked this cruise. Thankfully, the service and the food were, as always, very special. The casual sophistication that we are used to enjoying on WS cruises was overwhelmed by the group's rowdiness.

I forgot to mention that smoking was a bit of a problem on our recent WS cruise. It seems that no one thought there were rules about where to smoke. During the day and evening smokers were all over the star bar deck, including the lounge chairs during the day. Men smoking cigars were all over the place. Again, a reflection of the demographics of this particular cruise. There were a few people who stuck to the port side in the designated smoking area, but they were few.

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We have been on WS when a group of about 100 were onboard. Thru were well behaved but it DEFINITELY affects the cruise for the rest of the passengers. Many venues were closed due to private functions- Candles was never available to non group guests and the pool area was often closed off for their events. We love WS but hound them and have our TA make sure that there is not a group larger than 20 booked before we will commit. The ships are just too small for a large group and non- group passengers to all be happy.

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I forgot to mention that smoking was a bit of a problem on our recent WS cruise. It seems that no one thought there were rules about where to smoke. During the day and evening smokers were all over the star bar deck, including the lounge chairs during the day. Men smoking cigars were all over the place. Again, a reflection of the demographics of this particular cruise. There were a few people who stuck to the port side in the designated smoking area, but they were few.

 

 

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Have you reached out to Windstar management in Seattle about this? I would like to hear their response. It sounds to me that you did not get a Windstar cruise, and they need to make it right somehow.

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