Star Breeze Review Jan 23

Here's a link to my review. Feel free to come back to the forum to discuss.

http://click.email.cruisecritic.com/?qs=0c57eabf98d2b9f4f398d081bca59baf8674a75afec0682a4032ccc55e07e21b88c1131cf5f8eff0ee6bf5a20979b556

We are also long-time Royal Caribbean brand cruisers (D+) who recently tried our first Windstar cruise. Our impression of Windstar matches pretty closely with yours. We also found the food and most of the staff (the folks at lower levels who you interact with most frequently) to be great, but communication and some senior staff members were appallingly bad.

I sure hope someone from Windstar is reading this. The comments are making me nervous about our upcoming trip.

We have never been on Windstar and picked our sailing (actually doing an 8 night B2B) because of the itinerary. This trip will allow us to check off of our bucket list about 4 items that have been close to the top for a while.

I think I can handle most of what you wrote about but the business about the rusty water has me nervous. Guess I can buy bottled water to drink while in port but I'm not sure I want to bath in it either.

The problems that the OP experienced somewhat mimic what we experienced on the Legend last August. We have been on WS about 9 times and the August cruise may have been our last on WS. You pay a premium for WS but lately it does not seem that they deliver a premium product.

Guess I can buy bottled water to drink while in port but I'm not sure I want to bath in it either.

You can get bottled water at the bars. No charge.

You can get bottled water at the bars. No charge.

Thanks for letting me know

Thanks for the report.

I have been on 19 cruises with WS. All on the sailboats and one on the Breeze last December. I never have had an issue with anything. I reviewed the Breeze and we loved it as did many of the people we spoke to. She was beautiful, the crew was as usual top notch, the food varied, delicious with lots of healthy choices, I think 11 is a fair price for a glass of a nice Zin. Maybe I have been lucky I have had consistently great weather, never a bad meal some better than others. I love the peace and quiet, the smallness, no loud speakers ongoing. We are not wealthy, we love the sea and know a lot about the sea, we are foodies and know a lot about food and if I could brag are good cooks, we are quiet, love to read, rarely take WS tours we are more independent types. We have taken all types of cruises with WS: relaxation in the Caribbean, trans oceans, trip cruises in Europe, canal passage etc. (I think there is a difference between a vacation and a trip ) For us the WS is perfect and always had been. Those of you for the first time I wish you a great time and hope that your expectations are met. For those of you who are in the middle give it another try if you want and for those of you who hated it I am sorry but we are all different and I am sure there is a nice cruise out there for you. Happy Sailing.

Here's a link to my review. Feel free to come back to the forum to discuss.

 

http://click.email.cruisecritic.com/?qs=0c57eabf98d2b9f4f398d081bca59baf8674a75afec0682a4032ccc55e07e21b88c1131cf5f8eff0ee6bf5a20979b556

I was on the same cruise. Mr. Birkholz (CEO) had better take notice, get out of his window office and board his ship. My observations if you wish to read.

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

I was on the same cruise. Mr. Birkholz (CEO) had better take notice, get out of his window office and board his ship. My observations if you wish to read.

 

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

Yes. An excellent synopsis that brought up additional issues. I Agee 100% with your comments. Thanks.

Talk about nit picking. We were on the January 23 cruise and had a great time probably because we did not spend our time for something to complain about. If the original poster got out of bed in the morning they would have seen the crew washing down all decks.....every morning. Glass half full?

Talk about nit picking. We were on the January 23 cruise and had a great time probably because we did not spend our time for something to complain about. If the original poster got out of bed in the morning they would have seen the crew washing down all decks.....every morning. Glass half full?

If you actually read the post, you would have found nothing but praise on the soft goods refit. You would have read the praise for staff level employees who tried under poor management. Perhaps you weren't on the same zodiac looking at a three hundred foot boat listing so badly that her landing platform was rising four feet above water line and crashing back on the down list in relatively calm seas (~ 2 feet). Perhaps you weren't one of the passengers stranded for almost an hour with no shade nor water.

The purpose of these boards are to praise where due and hopefully get the attention of the ivory tower types to address the breadth of the entire experience by pointing out areas that need improvement.

I started with a disclaimer that for me this was a comparison cruise. WS mostly failed where the cruise experience matters most - running a tight ship and communicating with passengers.

Again, the Star Pride is badly in need of a haul out and repairs to her decks and hull. Until she is retrofitted with decent bow and aft thrusters, she will continue to have these listing and rolling issues.

Mediapro

in your reply you mention star pride. Did you mean star breeze?

Talk about nit picking. We were on the January 23 cruise and had a great time probably because we did not spend our time for something to complain about. If the original poster got out of bed in the morning they would have seen the crew washing down all decks.....every morning. Glass half full?

Yes. My glass is absolutely half-full. And then some!

My wife and I both contracted something on the ship that left us with diarrhea for at least a week after. We don't think this is a minor thing. You should get back from vacation relaxed, not with severe stomach cramps. Is it nit-picking to expect not to get sick on a high-end cruise ship?

We didn't sleep well the last night of the cruise, because the 0600 scheduled departure turned into 0730. Stressed about missing our flight, that didn't seem like vacation, either. Nit picking? I don't think so.

The picture that I provided with my review shows exactly how disgustingly filthy the painted surfaces of the ship were. I'm glad you saw them washing the deck every day, but don't you think that protruding deck board would have caught someone's attention and have been fixed? The pool showers not working for a week are OK?

Maybe you should go back and read the other reviews that have been posted since mine. I didn't even complain about the adventurous docking, and wasn't a part of the "mud people" excursion, where an elderly group was stranded and had to get out of their boat in alligator inhabited water and were stranded for a couple of hours covered in mud. Heck, I didn't even complain about the listing of the ship and watching octogenarians brave the boarding and unboarding process, or being stranded in a zodiac for over an hour without water waiting to board! But the other reviewers did.

When I wrote my review, I knew that I might ruffle the feathers of Windstar loyalists. I stuck my neck out. In reading the other reviews however, It's nice to see that I am indeed not a nit-picker, that others had high expectations as well, and were not impressed. Truthfully, my wife and I are just laughing about it now, wondering, "was that really a high-end cruise?" Lol.

Hey, if you had a great time and this is your brand, more power to you. Simply put, at my job it's imperative that I run a tight ship. This cruise simply didn't pass muster. For us. Click on the attached picture if you would like to review the spilled drinks, shoe scuff marks, and general filthiness of the ship located in a very public area.

Could you describe what that is a photo of? It is not recognizable.

Could you describe what that is a photo of? It is not recognizable.

http://images.r.cruisecritic.com/ships/deck-plans/739592c671de9ba060d04bd2113a6c4f.png (Deck 5 image)

If you look at the deck plan of deck five, there's a white barrier between the forward hot tub and the front of the ship. If you are standing on the bow and turn around and look up towards the bridge this metal half-bell shaped hot tub wind-break thing is directly in front of you. It's actually a pretty cool photo spot, I cropped my wife out of the pic on the right. You can see her shoulder.

I apologize but I do not see "the spilled drinks, shoe scuff marks, and general filthiness of the ship located in a very public area" in your photo.

I apologize but I do not see "the spilled drinks, shoe scuff marks, and general filthiness of the ship located in a very public area" in your photo.

Here. I zoomed in. It's a white ship. It should be white. A solid color. I'm not going to get all wrapped-up about this one area, but it's pretty indicative of the state of the rest of the exterior of the ship.

Mediapro

 

in your reply you mention star pride. Did you mean star breeze?

Yes. My mistake. I was on the Star Breeze. All were of the same vintage. Now that Star Pride has been damaged again (originally she was the target for a Somaili pirate RPGs back in the early 1990's) running aground off Panama, and now in dry dock, maybe the suits will see fit to use this hull repair to install decent thrusters and/or aft stabilizers when the ship is underway.

Look, everyone has different opinions and comfort levels. For me, Compared to other lines who earn the five stars, my first WS experience was more akin to a nice hotel instead of that seamless voyage we pay the bucks for.

Glass half full. This structure in front of the forward hot tub is probably the least accessible public area on the ship. We were in that hot tub every day and saw another person once. We spent our time enjoying the cruise,new friends, and excursions. Looking for scuff marks in obscure spots and photographing them never occurred to us. We do have lots of great pictures of Costa Rica however.

Glass half full. This structure in front of the forward hot tub is probably the least accessible public area on the ship. We were in that hot tub every day and saw another person once. We spent our time enjoying the cruise,new friends, and excursions. Looking for scuff marks in obscure spots and photographing them never occurred to us. We do have lots of great pictures of Costa Rica however.

Yeah, whatever dude. It's just the front of the ship where no one ever hangs out. And I was just looking for problems, because that's how I roll, lol. My wife and I were just talking about the cruise yesterday, two weeks after the fact. We always have a great time wherever we go. But we agree: That was the worst cruise we've ever been on. By far!

Now if I was the only one making these comments, that would be one thing. But I'm not. And while you mention the scuff marks, are you saying it's perfectly OK for the pool showers to be inop for a week? You realize, that it's no longer a pool then, right? It's a bath for 200 people, lol.

Hey, if this is your cruise line, I'm happy for you that you can just go with the flow, low standards and all. I wish I could be more like that. But on the other hand I don't think cleanliness is too much to ask for. But in this case, I guess it is, because you're calling me unreasonable.

Of course, we are talking about a cruise line that recently grounded one of it's ships. That's called gross negligence. I suppose theres a good excuse for that, too, lol. Enjoy your future Windstar cruise. This is in our past, we're over it. I suspect the Windstar management wishes this thread would just go away, congrats on bumping it! It would be great to see - because my glass if half full- very recent posts by folks who have been on the ship stating that some of the things that I mentioned have been fixed; loose deck boards, showers, etc., but we aren't hearing that, are we?!

Yes. My mistake. I was on the Star Breeze. All were of the same vintage. Now that Star Pride has been damaged again (originally she was the target for a Somaili pirate RPGs back in the early 1990's)

 

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Pride, the first Seabourn ship, was inaugurated in 1998. The aborted attack by Somalis occurred in the beginning of November 2005; the only damage may still be visible in what was then the Observation Lounge on deck 8--a small dent in the starboard wall. The ship, by the way, that was pursued--and outran--the Somali pirates, was Seabourn Spirit.

Dude??? I don't remember seeing any twelve year olds with their baseball hats on backwards on the cruise. Now I understand.

Decks never washed? I saw them washed every morning because I was up.

Showers not working? I Used the on on the starboard side, that's the right side, nearly every day.

I wonder what other complaints were actually the result of an active imagination.

Our standards are as demanding as anyone's and admittandly not everything during the cruise was absolutely perfect but pretty darn good. Our focus is on the positives and we enjoyed ourselves and are happy with our experience. Sadly you had a different experience.

In retrospect my last post was probably more snarky than necessary

You made your points, I made mine. Let's just accept the apparent fact that some folks are RCC people and some are Windstar people. We obviously are the latter.

Come now, here in California where most people surf, or have surfed, "hey dude" is a common, friendly greeting. Let's not give "dude" a negative connotation :D

By the way, "hey brah" is used similarly, usually by the younger crowd.

Be a bit wary though if someone calls you "kook" and gives you the stink-eye.