Windstar no longer "luxury" quality

We are frequent travelers to many U.S. and international destinations and stay in high end hotels and resorts when we travel, usually 5 star properties and fly business class when possible. We have been on seven (7) Windstar cruises total with six (6) in the last nine (9) years. Until now, we were Windstar loyalists and had started taking Windstar cruises every year. We had such a great time on the Tahiti Windstar cruise last year that we booked two back-to-back cruises this year: one was from Istanbul to Athens and the other was from Athens to Venice. The itinerary and ports on both cruises were fantastic.

When we heard Windstar was purchasing the three ex-Seabourn ships, we were very excited and assumed the ships, after Windstar's renovations, would be a step above the sailing ships in quality. We were wrong. While we really enjoyed the balcony stateroom with floor-to-ceiling windows and the cabins were huge by cruise ship standards, the Star Breeze itself was a disappointing. Windstar is not maintaining the ship to luxury standards. There were dirty windows in the public rooms and staterooms as well as rust on the ship. Some of the carpets were worn out. The water platform was worn out and it had a couple inches of stale water in it. The spa is very small. It's hard to believe this was recently a Seabourn ship. Now I understand why they sold their three smaller cruise ships. They certainly are in need of more repair than Windstar has invested. Service was slow at times, especially at breakfast time on the Veranda. The shore excursions manager had a defensive attitude when I made suggestions. While the managers tried to sound concerned, they didn't take action on problems.

The special event at Ephesus was the highlight of the first cruise. It was spectacular to see the Celsus Library lit up at night. Overall, the food was good but not fantastic. The onboard barbecue has always been the highlight of the cruise. I wasn't as impressed with the quality of the barbecue on either cruise this time.

The Yacht Club public room was the nicest room on the ship. It had spectacular views and they seemed to clean the windows in that room. However, the sandwiches in the Yacht Club tasted stale. You had to go out to the bat to order drinks. In addition, on other Windstar cruises they offer a 4 pm tea time with snacks. They didn't offer it on this cruise.

Windstar no longer offers high quality, unique chocolates for turn down. Each night, we got cheap chocolate mints, which we did not eat. I used to look forward to the nightly chocolates.

While our stateroom attendant tried his best, he seemed to be overburdened so our room was not cleaned as promptly as I was accustomed to.

Another disappointment was the pool deck. The view is blocked by the life boats. The jacuzzi on the pool deck was not maintained at a hot enough temperature. The jacuzzi in the front of the ship was hot but there are no umbrellas out there to shield you from the sun so we didn't use it.

Surprisingly, the ships were not full. In the past, all the cruises we've been on with Windstar have been sold out. They have lowered the prices considerably at the last minute to try to fill the ships, which might explain the downgrade in quality. The ship seemed to be 70-80% full. First cruise had about 150 guests out of 212 and the second had about 170 guests out of 212. This was good for us in that Windstar was able to upgrade our cabin at no charge but we overpaid for the cruises because we booked early and prices went down after the 60 days window had closed.

I noticed there were many first time Windstar cruisers. I think we were probably the most experienced Windstar cruisers on both itineraries. In the past, Windstar cruises tended to have many Windstar repeaters. I suspect the repeaters were loyal because they like the sailing ships. I am not sure traditional cruise ships will be as successful for Windstar. The sailing ships felt luxurious because the quality is well above what one would expect for a sailing ship. However, the standard for traditional cruise ships are much higher and Windstar will need to invest a lot more in its new ships to compete with other luxury cruise lines. By the way, the only sailing ship Windstar owns that I like is the 300 passenger Wind Surf. The two smaller ships don't have enough guest space by the pool and they also are in need to more maintenance.

Overall, I rated the cruises a 3 because of the spacious stateroom with balcony (not a real balcony but you can open the sliding glass door and peak out as well as get the sea breeze) and the great ports of call. In spite of the above issues in quality and service, I would have rated the cruises a 4 if it weren't for the problem we had in Kusadasi. At the end of the shore excursion, the guide left us at a Windstar approved store in Kusadasi named Heirloom. They were very aggressive and oversold us a Turkish rug and lots of jewelry. They kept giving us wine and frankly we weren't clear headed when we purchased the items. We went way over what we could afford and didn't even realize it until later when we added up the bill. The reason is because they sell you one item at a time and convince you that you can't live without the item, they stress how unique it is and what a good deal they are giving you. We actually didn't even know how much we had spent until we added up the bill the next day. When I reported this to Windstar, the Captain and Hotel Manager acted concerned and told us to speak to the Shore Excursions Manager. He was not at all helpful and said there was nothing he could do. I asked for help in returning the items and getting a refund. He said that was not possible. He said he would get us authentication certificates to verify the quality of the jewelry but he never followed up. In my opinion, if Windstar recommends a store on a shore excursion and puts their name on a sign outside the store, then Windstar should take responsibility for helping its guests when they have a problem. The management at Windstar was very hands off about our problem. For this reason, we will never go on a Windstar cruise again. This is a shame because we were Windstar fanatics until now. I plan to write a letter to the CEO and see if the corporate headquarters can help us.

Given what I have heard about Xanterra (the new owners of Windstar), I have low expectations for Windstar offering any help. I think Xanterra is lowering Windstar's quality and they don't know how to run luxury cruise ships. Xanterra's expertise is in national parks and land-based vacations. They do not seem to have experience in high end properties. It's a shame because Windstar was so fantastic in the past. I heard Xanterra plans to purchase and renovate 4 more ships. I think they are growing too fast and need to get it right with what they have right now. In fact, I hope someone else buys Windstar and restores it to its former glory.

In the future, we will consider "real" luxury cruise lines because Windstar is now overpriced for what they offer. While the other luxury cruise lines may seem more expensive, they include more items in the price than Windstar does and they offer a true luxury experience on well-maintained ships.

Thank you for your review. I have been on Windstar 18 times, I love the fact the that the experience is elegant without being ostentacious. I think that criticism is always welcome but I take umbrage with Windstar being responsible for the fact you went into a store that Windstar recommended, drank too much wine that the sales people offered, bought way more than you stated you could afford because a sales person said you could not live without it and you want Windstar to fix it. You are not taking responsibility for your errors and that is not Windstar's fault. It is too bad you could not separate the criticism of Windstar with your error. Sales people too aggressive, walk away, sale speople not polite, walk away, simple. I hope in the future you will find a ship more to your liking perhaps one that will take responsibility for the errors that passengers make.

I, too, am sorry your experience was not what you expected or wanted.

But I also agree with Strenz that your experience in the store is something only you can take responsibility for.

Wow! If you can afford to always go on the expensive side of travel and feel like you were "taken", you must have really had a lot of wine and spent a huge sum of money but how is that Windstar's responsibility? If I recommend a bar and you get drunk and have an accident on the way home, would that be my fault? I have had buyers remorse many times in my life but never blamed it on anything but my own poor judgment at the time. And usually there was alcohol involved!

Your review of the ship should have had nothing to do with your own inability to take personal responsibility. We love the sailing ships and will try the "new" ones this year. Hopefully the growing pains will be over and we'll have a wonderful time.

Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk

You know, I was sympathetic all the way until you got to the part about the store. That is COMPLETELY on you. I think it's outrageous that you should try to hold Windstar responsible for your purchases. Plied with wine indeed! :rolleyes:

I feel badly for the OP's not having a wonderful time on Windstar. There would be nothing worse than planning a trip and then not enjoying it, no matter how much money was spent.

There were a couple of things from this review that did not sit well with me. This is the OP's second post. I know they say they have cruised often with Windstar, but red flags go off for me when a first or second, third or fourth post is a rant, a highly negative review, or a statement of anger and injustice. Sometimes those posts seem suspect to me.

I had to laugh a bit about the store episode. I can't count the number of times I have politely, then flatly said no to pushy store clerks. It expected when I travel abroad, especially when you are so obviously a tourist; ie. traveling with a tour group. My husband still chuckles with my "take charge attitude" when we were ushered into a rug store in Marrakech and offered tea, then wine. I wouldn't even sit down I so much did not intend to purchase anything. Each person is responsible for their own actions, wine or no wine. With so much travel experience as the OP states they have, I would have expected them to be savvy in this regard. Now if it had been their first time abroad...

And quite frankly I was never really impressed with the "high quality, unique chocolates". lol. :p While I thought they were a nice touch I generally never ate all that were left in the room.

I am SO LOOKING FORWARD to my upcoming trips with Windstar, one next month and then 2016. I look forward to the relaxed, casual (thank goodness not luxury) trip, the wonderful staff (some of which I could truly call friend), the small, intimate ports, the reasonably priced offering of beverages, the free-of-charge (double) lattes, the red carpet treatment I receive as I walk up the gang plank, the wonderful lending library of books and DVD's, the sail-away music, the frequent use of my name when I'm addressed, blueberry pancakes (my downfall!) even when they aren't on the breakfast menu, the open bridge, the camaraderie of fellow passengers, etc. Goodness. I haven't even scratched the surface of what makes Windstar so special to me.

Was going to respond but figured that being the OP 2nd posting only on CC (the first one 5 years ago), I will refrain from doing so.

dandee2

I agree with all the response posters.

I honestly thought I was reading a joke about the wine and the purchases.

Some great comments - looking forward to my next Windstar cruise next month.

I am saddened by the responses to this member's post. Everyone seems to focus on her mistake and blame her for being stupid and they seem to invalidate all the truth in her feedback as a result. My husband and I just went on the Star Breeze and we agree with all her comments about the decline in quality of the ship and service. It is in need of more renovations. Many guests commented on this especially the more experienced cruisers. First time Windstar guests were more easily pleased because most were coming from Royal Caribbean and Celebrity so they never knew the old Windstar nor had most of the guests ever been on a luxury cruise line. There were several people who sailed on the Star Breeze when it was part of Seabourn and they were all disappointed and said they prefer Seabourn's quality and service. One set of guests even disembarked early and they were staying in an owner's suite. They were previous Seabourn guests when the ship was part of Seabourn. Many guests even said they prefer the smaller ships of Oceania over Star Breeze. If you read other reviews on Cruise Critic, you will see Star Breeze and Star Pride only gets scores in the 50s while the higher scores go to Windstar's sailing ships, which still only rate in the 80s. Windstar is considered "luxury lite" and not a real luxury line. I feel sorry for the person who got taken advantage of by the Windstar-approved store. Windstar receives a commission for every sale the store makes so Windstar does have some responsibility for ensuring its guests are not taken advantage of. If this were not a Windstar retail partner, I would totally agree Windstar would bear no responsibility. If someone gets drunk on a cruise and gets date raped by a crew member, would you blame her too? It sounds like this guest who posted this review couldn't handle the wine and the store did the equivalent of a financial "date rape." So why shouldn't Windstar bear some responsibility for screening its retail partners sales tactics and protecting its guests from financial abuse. I am sure this person feels horrible about what happened and the comments people are posting are very offensive, in my humble opinion.

Ouch!

Drinking wine and overspending hardly can be compared to drinking wine and being raped.

Welcome to CruiseCritic. You must have felt VERY strongly the need to reply as this was your first posting. I stand by my opinion that red flags go off when a first, second, third or even a fourth posting is a "rant, highly negative review, or a statement of anger or injustice".

For all we know, this might be an elderly person. Financial abuse of the elderly is against the law in the U.S. http://www.preventelderabuse.org/elderabuse/fin_abuse.html

Regardless of age, financial abuse should be prevented by cruise lines and they should not get a commission when their retail partners use "deception, trickery, false pretence, or dishonest acts or statements for financial gain."

Why is a first post a rant and why is that a red flag? Many of the responses to this person's original post are insulting and accusatory. I am getting the sense, as a new reviewer on Cruise Critic, that the people can be quite mean when posters are just writing about their experience. The original poster also said many good things about Star Breeze. I did not interpret it as a rant. It turned into a rant when all the replies focused on how dumb she (or possibly he) was and ignored everything else the original poster said - positive or negative.

Many posts I have read on Cruise Critic include booth positive and negative experiences. So I am confused by your comments.

Went on Star Breeze for 10 days in June - beautiful ship - service was beyond fantastic and no renovations needed at all. Just booked 7 days in Costa Rica on Breeze. It's very nice. Oh, I have been on 3 Azamara cruises over the past 3 years and will never go back. Wind star is soooo much nicer!

Compared to Azamara, Star Breeze would be more upscale. Azamara is a Royal Caribbean attempt to compete in the "luxury lite" category with the likes of Windstar and Oceania. I would never go on an Azamara cruise and would always choose Star Breeze over any Azamara ship any day. Star Breeze is luxury compared to Celebrity, Azamara, etc. But it is not up to luxury standards in the real luxury category. Many people who were on the ships when they were owned by Seabourn are disappointed that the ships were purchased by Windstar. Many said they are going back to Seabourn because Windstar isn't maintaining the ships at the same level. My husband and I plan to try Seabourn next time we cruise because of all the rave reviews we heard about Seabourn while on the Star Breeze. We even walked over to a Seabourn ship docked next to ours and talked to passengers there who had sailed on Star Breeze when it was owned by Seabourn. They too are disappointed the small ships were purchased by Windstar but seem too loyal to Seabourn to try Windstar. I might try Oceania but I am suspicious I might be disappointed because I have heard mixed reviews about Oceania. I need to research Oceania some more. My husband is against big ships and he thinks anything over 500 guests is too big. Frankly, he didn't really like Star Breeze because it's a cruise ship. He likes the romance of sailing ships and says he would go on Wind Surf or even the smaller sailing ships again but he agrees we would not want to go on Star Breeze again. Just look at the reviews on Cruise Critics for Star Breeze and Star Pride. They are in the 50% range for customer satisfaction due primarily to the maintenance issues. That is very low for any cruise ship, let alone one that bills itself as luxury.

Check out comments here: http://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/windstar-cruises/cl/.

The sailing ships get much better reviews than the new cruise ships Windstar purchased.

Comments about those new to Windstar and/or Star Breeze being easily pleased seem somewhat dismissive. There is no one size fits all. Presumably those choosing Windstar, either sailing vessles or newer yachts made conscious decisions for this type of travel. Experiences with other cruise lines may have informed their decisions but I would suggest that these passengers would still be able to discern what works and what doesn't, as opposed to being "easily pleased" which when used by the prior poster appears to be code for " too dumb to know what real luxury is". I doubt this is the case at all.

I am new to Cruise Critic but I am shocked at the tone of this thread. It seems people are very judgmental and critical of each other's opinions and use of words. I would think people on Cruise Critic would be experienced, worldly people who would have healthy discussions about their experiences, both positive and negative. I feel that the last poster took one word of my post out of context. And many previous posters were very judgmental of the original poster. All I meant was if someone had sailed previously on Royal Caribbbean or Celebrity or one of the other large, mass market ships, of course Windstar is a step up. Windstar is a "luxury lite" brand which means it falls between premium and luxury. This is in no way dismissive. I actually used to work for Royal Caribbean and Celebrity many moons ago in their marketing department and have sailed on many of their ships, even helped build their first mega ship. Given my experience working for Royal Caribbean, that is why I refuse to sail on any of their ships including the news one branded under Azamara. The company was not a pleasant place to work. I stopped cruising for many years after quitting Royal Caribbean. Then my husband convinced me 9 years ago to take my first Windstar cruise and I was hooked. We've only sailed Windstar since then and have taken Windstar cruises almost every year. All I am saying is since Xanterra bought Windstar a couple years ago, I am noticing a decline in ship maintenance and service. I used to consider Windstar to be a luxury ship and their prices were actually more expensive before than now. In the past year, they haven't been able to fill the capacity of doubling their fleet so they have slashed their prices. I assume this is attracting people who used to sail on the bigger mass market premium ships. That is not to be critical of people who sailed on those ships. I am biased because of my experience working at Royal Caribbean and its sister brands.

Oh boy. :(

I am saddened by the responses to this member's post. Everyone seems to focus on her mistake and blame her for being stupid and they seem to invalidate all the truth in her feedback as a result. My husband and I just went on the Star Breeze and we agree with all her comments about the decline in quality of the ship and service. It is in need of more renovations. Many guests commented on this especially the more experienced cruisers. First time Windstar guests were more easily pleased because most were coming from Royal Caribbean and Celebrity so they never knew the old Windstar nor had most of the guests ever been on a luxury cruise line. There were several people who sailed on the Star Breeze when it was part of Seabourn and they were all disappointed and said they prefer Seabourn's quality and service. One set of guests even disembarked early and they were staying in an owner's suite. They were previous Seabourn guests when the ship was part of Seabourn. Many guests even said they prefer the smaller ships of Oceania over Star Breeze. If you read other reviews on Cruise Critic, you will see Star Breeze and Star Pride only gets scores in the 50s while the higher scores go to Windstar's sailing ships, which still only rate in the 80s. Windstar is considered "luxury lite" and not a real luxury line. I feel sorry for the person who got taken advantage of by the Windstar-approved store. Windstar receives a commission for every sale the store makes so Windstar does have some responsibility for ensuring its guests are not taken advantage of. If this were not a Windstar retail partner, I would totally agree Windstar would bear no responsibility. If someone gets drunk on a cruise and gets date raped by a crew member, would you blame her too? It sounds like this guest who posted this review couldn't handle the wine and the store did the equivalent of a financial "date rape." So why shouldn't Windstar bear some responsibility for screening its retail partners sales tactics and protecting its guests from financial abuse. I am sure this person feels horrible about what happened and the comments people are posting are very offensive, in my humble opinion.

I don't think that most of the people responding took issue with her overall description of the cruise. At least I didn't, until she got to the part about how she and her husband were somehow duped into buying too many things. At that point, when someone's judgment is so very skewed that they can't see that they, and they alone, are responsible for what happened, then it calls into question their judgment about other things (like their opinion about the rest of the cruise, for example). And to be honest, I suspect that you are either the OP, or the OP's spouse. You're just a weeee bit too invested in the whole issue.

And to be honest, I suspect that you are either the OP, or the OP's spouse. You're just a weeee bit too invested in the whole issue.

I was thinking this too.

I actually agree that the OP's post sounds like she is blaming Windstar for her errors in judgment. I don't think Windstar is responsible for a guest who spends too much money in their store. I agree she sounds pretty stupid. She should have just walked away when the salespeople got aggressive.

However, since Windstar promoted this store on a shore excursion and cruise lines get a commission, should they at least try to help her return the items? Anywhere in the U.S., you can cancel an order or make a return. Overseas, once you've left the port, it's not possible to do so without assistance. All she asked for was help in returning the items and/or an authentication certificate. Is it reasonable to expect Windstar to help with this, regardless of the reason she made the stupid mistake in the first place?

The rest of the post sounds fairly sensible and is consistent with others' comments about the new cruise ships.

MTJtraveller sounds pretty invested in this OP's comments too. I wonder why this has hit such a strong chord with you?

My first Windstar cruise was back on the Wind Song in 1988 in Tahiti and I have sailed them ever since. I have never thought Windstar was "luxury" cruising, though it's very nice. I have been on all the sailing ships, but none of the new ones yet.

There are problems with every cruise. OP's complaints don't really seem major. There were some dirty windows and they saw some rust. Some carpets were "worn out". There was water on the swim platform (this I don't understand). The sandwiches were "stale". The chocolates were not "high end". I never ate the chocolates, so can't comment there.

IMO, service is always slow in the morning, if you want to order off the menu, and I have found this to be the case on every single Windstar ship I've been on. Basically all these complaints are really minor.

It's obvious OP is angry about overspending at a store and is blaming Windstar. A cruise line has nothing to do with your personal purchases on shore. All cruise lines will recommend stores. You have no obligation to make purchases and Windstar was not responsible for you drinking and purchasing more than you could afford.

And, it is crazy to compare this overbuying to "date rape". Where in the world does that come from?

OP - don't sail Windstar and choose a line that suits you better. Consider leaving your credit cards on ship when you go shopping. Better luck next time.

We are looking forward to our first Windstar cruise (Star Breeze) in November 2016. From the previous cruising we have done, I think that "luxury" is in the eye of the beholder. After several Regent and one Seabourn cruise, we felt that Azamara's personal and willing service from the Captain on down was superior to both. The passengers were unpretentious and well-mannered, the food excellent, and no request was too difficult to fulfill. On one Regent cruise, it took 3 days to get our mini-bar filled as we requested. Windstar sounds like that kind of cruise line, and if so, we will be thrilled.

Final last word.

As Confucius once said - ""Mama always said life was like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get"

Happy Sailing :):)

We were on the same cruise as "luvtocruise123" (who posted a review of the cruise) and agree with the vast majority of his comments. We have also been on 8 Windstar cruises and have always loved Windstar - in fact we have previously just made reservations on Windstar and not looked at other cruise lines. We do believe that Windstar has had an issue with doubling the number of ships and keeping the same quality as prior years. It appears they hired many people from the "mass market" lines and that has caused the service and food to take a step down - at least on the new ships. What is acceptable on a mass market ship is not the standard that most Windstar alumni are used to. It very well could be that the small ships have the great service and food as prior years and that Windstar is just having an issue with the new ships. All I know is that the service and food on the Legend was not up to the standards of prior years. I would rate the Legend as 3 stars rather than the 4 stars that we previously considered Windstar to be. Is it new staff or a new management philosophy that is causing the issue? No one knows and time will tell if Windstar management takes the comments of alumni to heart and does something to improve the situation.

I really do hope Windstar can get their act together and provide the quality of food and service that they provided previously. As "luvtocruise123" said, we will be considering other cruise lines in the future rather than just looking at Windstar.

In love with the Windstar sail ships but sooooo disappointed with the Breeze. Did they miss the rust on the sailing vessels, were all of the windows clean? The trauma of inferior chocolates OMG. five star hotels, business Class flights and then they get taken by a carpet salesman in Turkey, I don't think I would admit this on a public forum.We went to the same carpet showroom in Kusadassi and realized that the folks there were there to sell carpets, not make friends, and accordingly we kept close to our wallets, although we did buy a beautiful runner.

We spent eighteen days on the Pride this spring. Great cabins, great dinners, great crew, great ports. Perfect,no but the maligned Breeze got considerable upgrades and we are looking forward to Costa Rica next year. Were thourighly enjoyed the Pride and focused on the positives which were many. Glass half full, half empty, I guess it depends on your goals.