Warning Regarding Windstar Cruises

We purchased our Windstar cruise at the end of 2015. Both my mom and uncle have been on Windstar before and really enjoyed their experience. So the four of us thought it would be a trip of a lifetime to cruise from Istanbul to Greece for 9 days. Windstar offered a great price which we jumped on. We purchased our airline tickets and created a 3 week vacation around the cruise. We booked houses in Istanbul and Greece. Now almost 8 weeks after our purchase we get a casual email from Windstar cancelling our cruise because their ship somehow grounded itself sometime in December prior to the four of us purchasing our Windstar cruise! Yes they sold us tickets knowing that their ship was grounded and then allowed us to plan and spend a lot of money to create the trip of a lifetime. And guess what- they offered us essentially nothing except a short list of cruises that don't coincide with our bookings and the opportunity to re-book with such an ethical and thoughtful company? Wow great! There was one cruise that was available that fit within our timeline but the company won't allow us to book that trip because its not on the approved list. They will do nothing to accommodate the passengers who in good faith purchased from them even after speaking with their customer service reps. In my book selling something that they know is broken is FRAUD!! Be very careful when purchasing from Windstar you could end up being taken for a lot of money without any recourse or assistance from Windstar.

Wow, it looks like the Pride cancellations have advanced from through April 9th to through June 9th. I'm sorry you are being impacted by this. A lot of us are dealing with problems due to the grounding and unfortunately you aren't alone.

To be fair, if you booked at the end of December WS expected to have the Pride back in service before your dates. Apparently things have been changed again and WS has gone silent on the status of the Pride. Did they not offer you a refund? Why WS has gone quiet is another issue.

The first itin on the Pride I'm finding is now June 9.

I know if an airline changes or cancels a flight, they will normally rebook you on ANY flight that has available seats at no charge (even if you booked on points and the "new" flight does not have point availability). However, it sounds like WindStar is picking ancd choosing what cruises they will rebook people on. To me, this is not acceptable. I understand the need to cancel additional cruises after they have found out how extensive the repairs will be. But not accommodating the people on the canceled cruises is, to me, unacceptable.

With this extension of the cancellations, I would be very wary of booking ANY Pride cruise. As others once said, if there is extensive damage to the engine room and engines, they may need to scrap the ship.

Certainly, they are refunding your fare, aren't they?

It's always a shame when a cruise is chartered or cancelled. I've had it happen to me three times on Windstar and also found they would let me rebook, at the same price, only on certain cruises.

I finally decided to try them again, and had to cancel my upcoming cruise today, as a family member going with us has been told by her doctor not to travel to any Zika infested regions.

So, I have now lost money again, though this is not Windstar's fault.

I think I will just give up cruising them. Seems to be bad luck for me.

Hopefully, you will find a solution.

I finally decided to try them again, and had to cancel my upcoming cruise today, as a family member going with us has been told by her doctor not to travel to any Zika infested regions.

 

So, I have now lost money again, though this is not Windstar's fault.

Someone on another thread (http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2311341) is reporting that Windstar is allowing people to change cruises due to Zika. Hopefully you can get some help with your cruise.

 

Insurance company will decide the fate of the ship AKA Wind Song.

 

As for WS, apart from apparent lack of proper/satisfying/acceptable (put whatever you want) response from the marketing/sales team to guests, they are taking the latest incident very very seriously. One only have to look at the jobs/positions offering on their FB page.

IAs others once said, if there is extensive damage to the engine room and engines, they may need to scrap the ship.

I think this is pure speculation. We have heard nothing about the extent of the damage.

That having been said, the lack of any updates from WS speaks volumes.

And guess what- they offered us essentially nothing except a short list of cruises that don't coincide with our bookings

Are you saying they didn't offer you the option of a refund? That is definitely not acceptable.

I hope you will be able to hound them into giving you a refund. Then take the money and use it to book an apartment in another city for the same time as the cruise and to pay for the flights between there and Istanbul and Greece.

Hope you are able to save your vacation.