Just back from Costa Rica on the Breeze

Some tips

Negotiate with cabs at the airport before getting in

Stay at the CR Marriott but book yourself rather than through the cruise line

Tour the Pre Columbian gold museum in the city

Seven can travel to the port for the cost of two through Windstar if you make your own arrangements. Try Odyssey tours.

The two zip lining excursions offered by Windstar were great, especially the one at Corcovado Canopy

Disappointed by Manuel Antonio tour. Lots of walking, crowded, few animals except monkeys. If you go enjoy the beach.

Mangrove boat ride, expensive, disappointed in lunch, too long, more mangrove than necessary

Do the Curu wildlife refuge tour on the last day, it's the best.

Tortuga beach bbq was great. Get there early to get a good chaise.

Be prepared for wet landings. They are easy but bring proper shoes.

The crew is great except for Shehabb the sports guy who had a raft of excuses for not doing anything involving a little extra work.

If you have any questions, ask

Overall we had a great time and are now planning our sixth Windstar cruise.

Thanks Barrycat for the good tips. Did they have the watersports platform open in Drake Bay?

Never open. Granted, at least on our cruise, the seas were probably too high to deploy the sports platform. But during the beach day at Tortuga when it was calm enough for beginner stand up board riders to go out, Shehabb said it was too rough to take us out tubing. Too much work I guess. Thus my previous comment on him.

If seas are calm, almost every stop should be a sports platform opportunity but it may take some persuasion.

I'm sorry to hear that. It is one of the features we most appreciate about WS aside from the sails (which we will really be missing this time around). We'll definitely pack all our powers of persuasion and hope for undeniably calm seas. :)

Never open. Granted, at least on our cruise, the seas were probably too high to deploy the sports platform. But during the beach day at Tortuga when it was calm enough for beginner stand up board riders to go out, Shehabb said it was too rough to take us out tubing. Too much work I guess. Thus my previous comment on him.

If seas are calm, almost every stop should be a sports platform opportunity but it may take some persuasion.

I enjoyed my dealings with Chehab on the 23 Jan Star Breeze Costa Rica Cruise. However, the sports platform was not open one time during the entire cruise. On the 23 Jan Star Breeze thread, I provided a link to my review. In that review, I stated that communications were sorely lacking, but did not provide the example of the sports deck. (There were so many issues, but I wanted to keep it relatively short). So here it goes:

Based on the weather forecast, you might want to provide a note to guests as to whether you expect the sports deck to be open or not. It was simply closed every single day, no explanation given. Was it the weather? A mechanical issue? Since I don't know, I'll surmise that since Windstar recently ran one of it's ships aground, the rest of the fleet is parking waaay further offshore than was practiced in the past. I'm talking 2-3 miles offshore -on our cruise- which seems like overkill. Maybe the currents are too strong out there to safely deploy the sports deck, but jeeze, you think someone would say something, right?

The sports deck was a major selling point for us, never got to use it, still don't know why.

I enjoyed my dealings with Chehab on the 23 Jan Star Breeze Costa Rica Cruise. However, the sports platform was not open one time during the entire cruise. On the 23 Jan Star Breeze thread, I provided a link to my review. In that review, I stated that communications were sorely lacking, but did not provide the example of the sports deck. (There were so many issues, but I wanted to keep it relatively short). So here it goes:

 

Based on the weather forecast, you might want to provide a note to guests as to whether you expect the sports deck to be open or not. It was simply closed every single day, no explanation given. Was it the weather? A mechanical issue? Since I don't know, I'll surmise that since Windstar recently ran one of it's ships aground, the rest of the fleet is parking waaay further offshore than was practiced in the past. I'm talking 2-3 miles offshore -on our cruise- which seems like overkill. Maybe the currents are too strong out there to safely deploy the sports deck, but jeeze, you think someone would say something, right?

 

The sports deck was a major selling point for us, never got to use it, still don't know why.

For those interested in a thorough review of potential causes for the ship's issues:

http://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=525426