Windstar Price Drop policy

We are sailing Windstar for the first time this January and really looking forward to the cruise and the British Virgin Islands - love them . We are experience cruisers including many transatlantics with Royal C, Celebrity, Seabourne and it is my experience with all of our previous cruises - when the price drops after final payment, the cruise line doesn't reimburse but will upgrade you to the cabin that your payment would now buy. It is not something they advertise but a practice that is common. Yesterday, I noticed the prices had dropped on our January cruise. I called Windstar not to ask for a reimbursement but to upgrade me to what my payment would now buy and was declined.

Has anyone else had the same experience with Windstar?

To my knowledge Windstar will make a price adjustment up until the 90 days before the cruise when the final payment is due. All cabins are the same on the Windstar with the exception of the few suites. The " upgrades" are the placement of rooms. We have been on 15 Windstar Cruises and have refused upgrades to deck 2 because on deck 1 you feel the least motion of the sea. On the Star and the Spirit there are even less suites than on the Surf. One of the past guest perks is an upgrade if there is availability the day you board. We are on the Jan. 10 th cruise, one of our favorites the BVIs. We think Windstar Cruises are exceptional hope you will to, Happy Sailing. Susanne

As Susanne mentioned, we have received price adjustments when there were price drops prior to final payment. We did receive an upgrade after final payment one time, but it was only because they had a waiting list for our category and happened to have one cabin available for the next category up. This was probably one of those exceptions where the stars aligned for us and I happened to call them at the right time. I would not ordinarily expect it.

You also need to keep in mind capacity of ships for comparison. Both Royal and Celebrity have greater number of cabins even on their smallest ships so they can more easily accommodate upgrades. Wind Surf only has 155 cabins which definitely limits what they can do.

I hope you enjoy your cruise. I've been in the BVI's on Royal, Carnival (what was I thinking?), Celebrity and Windstar. Our cruise there on the Wind Spirit in 2011 was the cruise that got us hooked on Windstar. Haven't cruised another line since and probably never will - Tom refuses to ever again go on a large cruise ship!:D

Past Windstar client can get an upgrade (deck or cabin placement) if they have spot available on the embarkation day. Won't happen on my next cruise with WS (dec. 6) as the ship looks full (not advertized anymore).

dandee2

Thanks for the replies.

Money is not the issue for me at all - just trying to gauge Windstar's customer service on the front end. I was just trying to determine others experience as well. I write a seniors blog on retirement and travel and was curious as to whether this was the norm or I just caught this Windstar customer service rep on a bad day.

So far not that impressed with Windstar front end - didn't recognize AARP discount on my original booking because of the price point - yet the price is lower now.

Nevertheless , I am super excited about sailing Windstar. From everything that I have read the service on board is wonderful.

Snow squalls are in the forecast today up here in Canada - winter is here.

Windstar ships on board is absolutle fabulous: the service, food, ships, rooms, products etc. where they are extremely weak is the front office in Seatle. Lack of phone returns

and return emails. Being a 15 timer I have told them over and over. I do not know the problem. Very discouraging because the rest is perfect. Also, their new website is really problematic and does not represent the ships to their fullest and does not in any way present what fantastic experiences awaits the customer. I will keep trying with my input because my husband and I do love the experience. Happy Sailing. Sysanne

Many moons ago, WS used to be part of a much bigger and global company (HAL, Carnival, etc) with much bigger means (IT dept, Phone Center, etc) but not much says in operation.

I'm guessing it's quite a complex operation to run a 6 ships company with still limited resources. I'm sure they're aware of it. They have 6 great ships and an amazing team on board.

Cheers

This pricing "game" is really unfortunate. It's too bad that Windstar guests don't have the assurance, that if the price drops after booking then Windstar will honor it ( in some form at least) Obviously a balance between maximizing revenue and guest satisfaction. I can tell you though, I would not sail Windstar again if his happened to me, so their policy can for some, be a little short sighted Generally, I have found that booking early( especially with the new ships entering service) may not be the best value. For a cruise in the Caribbean in Jan, there is usually capacity so booking early may not be the best option unless you must have a certain stateroom. I have seen some recent pricing for Caribbean cruises for under $1500. Booking early for best price is not necessarily the best option.

I always reserve early and with my past guest reduction I always feel I receive a good value plus when you reserve early chances are your airline is less. I am on Jan. 10th cruise and saw the price at VTG was about $150 less that what I paid, out of curosity I went on line for flights and they were about $ 200 more, I think it all balances out. For Europe we always reserve early and are able to acquire business class tickets with miles, if we were to wait to reserve a cruise we would never be able to use our miles. In the end t is all ok. Again, we like being in B cabins, less movement, just a gentle rocking which makes sleeping supreme. I guess each passenger is different but it has always worked for us. Happy Sailing.Susanne

I would be happy to do the wire frames for the entire site in barter for a free cruise. :)

Excuse the ignorance but what are wire frames on a website? Perhaps you should redo the entire site for in my humble opinion it is a terrible site, not user friendly and unable as a whole to scroll to see all cruises. I am sure you could do a better one. Happy Sailing. Susanne

Wire frames lay out the site with bullet points of what content each page should contain and how pages show flow or link to each other. It's the first thing you do when planning a site with more than a couple of pages. You mock up your wire frame pages--I usually start with hand drawn/written until we get it fairly solidified. I like to use a large wall and pin/tape/magnet them up and use string to show how they will link. It helps determine if you have things under the right sections or if they should be moved elsewhere, if you have orphan content, and if you need to rename some of your links/sections to better describe the content found under them. It's a very "old school" way of doing it, but it works well and taking it out of the electronic medium quickly identifies flaws you might not see otherwise.

After that it goes to the graphics people to get the art done and the communications department to fine tune the content while the CMS is built. Then the web site managers add the content and art, it all goes to legal for approval, a couple fresh sets of eyes QA it, you do user testing--asking a few people who have never seen the site to perform specific tasks while you watch them to see how easy or frustrating the experience is and get feedback from them, then once you are satisfied, you go live. For Windstar, start to finish the entire process should take 2-3 months.

... and make sure price shown on your web site is same as on vendors/travel agent web sites and modifiable real time. Tricky.

Still, lots of work with somewhat limited means. Growing pain.

... and make sure price shown on your web site is same as on vendors/travel agent web sites and modifiable real time. Tricky.

 

Still, lots of work with somewhat limited means. Growing pain.

Not at all. The vendors and resellers should be simply scraping the data off the Windstar site. Very, very simple coding that can be done in a day or less by the vendor.

Thank you Ducklite, I think I am fairly good at usage, I have an artist eye and a talent for task analysis but I find the new site not user friendly and it does not convey the amazing experience on the ships. There does not appear to be a WOW factor. For that matter I think most cruise webstes are not very good but I attribute it to the size of these mega ships. Since Windstar is not in that category I would expect a better, easier, clearer site with a WOW. What do you think? Susanne

I think the site is difficult to navigate and quickly find the information one is looking for. It's not at all intuitive. I also don't think they did any user groups to find out what people wanted to see on the site, or web analysis to see what search terms were leading people to it.

I agree, great product on the ships, we relish the experiences but problematic home office I see all the time complaints about the website, complaints about not returning emails and phone calls etc. their first line of defense for new customers very weak. We ran a travel type business and from the home office I just shake my head, I have even written them with my opinion. We so adore the experience we have never been able to try another cruise line nor do we want to. We are great fans, want them to do well and we worry. So looking forward to Jan. 10th. Susanne

My input is about the Seattle home office- not meaning to hijack the thread, however I think in all fairness it should be realized that some folks in the Seattle office are terrific. In August of 13 I left a diamond ring in the safe on the Windsurf. It is insured but sentimental value can not be put at a dollar sign. Security on the ship found the ring, their President was on the next trip and he brought it back to Seattle. When I discovered it was missing I contacted everyone I could think of including Windstar. They worked extensively with me so that I could retrieve it. Their Customer Service person met me at the Seattle airport to return it to me. Unbelievable. We had the same Captain when again on the Windsurf last September and I mentioned the ring to him and he said "oh, you're the one!" Nice to be remembered......

I adore the Windstar, it has always been amazing and I am sure they did everything to help you get your ring back. I also think Seattle does a great job after all the cruise experiences are beyond terrific we are on our 16th on Jan 10th, then again Aug. 16 for Tall Ships. I just wish their first line of communication via phones and email, they would answer/return correspondence in a timely manor. I also do not think their newly designed Website is representative of the great sailing experience, I am just trying to help them be more perfect than they already are. Happy Sailing.

Too bad Windstar and others don't do as Island Windjammers does re pricing: Announced specials offered during the year, but no price drops ever, even if ships not full. IWJ is a bit more casual than Windstar, but they are fabulous ships and trips. This is what is posted on their website (islandwindjammers.com):

"We all see the ads for discounted cruises. We know this must cast a shadow of doubt when you’re making plans to sail with us, or sitting on the beach wondering if your shipmate paid less. You might wait for a sale that never happens, and find out that your preferred week is sold out when you finally decide to book.

"Price integrity is as important to us as your peace of mind, so we’re taking the time to explain our price policies, and how you can save.

With our small capacities and the popularity of our vessels, we rarely sail with empty cabins. You can feel confident that if someone does book at the last minute, they pay the published fare, or the space remains empty. That’s the way we do business for you!"

Windstar must understand that their competitors pricing practices are much more friendly to early booking than late. I really don't understand their rationale. I certainly would never book again with them too far in advance. Perhaps that is why they are having to slash their prices closer to sailing.

If they don't have a price drop guarantee, they should be upgrading their existing guests to the level of cabin that their fare would now buy. It is such a common practice across the industry, and a gesture to their guests that booking early is still the best strategy.

It would be nice if Windstar would offer a shipboard credit for the price difference if no upgrade is available. At least they would be essentially keeping the money in the company and the client could use it for onboard purchases.

As a side note, I couldn't get an answer to a email inquiry I sent to WS corporate, however, now I'm getting daily email from them trying to sell me on their shore excursions because I haven't booked any.

Trying not to sound like a "cheerleader" here, but I have found Windstar's price guarantee to be quite fair and easy. Also, it is a little difficult to compare what a ship with thousands of cabins is able to do as opposed to Windstar where the cabin capacity ranges from 75 cabins to 155 cabins.

Background: Five Windstar cruises and a sixth is booked. First cruise was booked about two months out, so within final payment period. Didn't even look at pricing once we booked since we were satisfied with what we paid (booked during their Christmas sale).

The other four cruises were all booked at least a year in advance so we could use airline miles for our flights. All four cruises had price drops after booking and Windstar always honored the price drop with absolutely no problem. One cruise where the drop happened after final booking, they did upgrade us - but only because they had a waitlist for our cabin category and one cabin available at the next level.

My experience with the larger cruise lines is frequently you are not able to get the price drop because they will include clauses like "for new bookings only." You then have to cancel your original booking and make a new booking which sometimes causes you to lose a room you want or not have the ability to use certain credits on the new booking. In other words, you have to carefully read all the fine print and make sure you know what you are doing. It is not an easy process and can sometimes be very frustrating. Also, because of the number of cabins available on these ships, they do have a much greater capacity to upgrade a customer than Windstar does.

I really don't even worry about upgrades on Windstar since all the regular cabins are the same and it is only the location that makes a difference in price. And, of course, I don't even consider a possible upgrade to a suite - there's only one on the Wind Star and Wind Spirit and only 33 on the Wind Surf. I have yet to be on a Windstar cruise where there aren't repeaters who have anywhere from two to four times our five cruises and I know they would be offered upgrades before me.

So far, I've only experienced cruises on the Wind Spirit and Wind Star. The addition of the three Seabourn ships will probably add some complexity to these issues since they are all-suite with more variety of cabin size as well as small balconies. These ships only have a total of 106 cabins, so there will still be limitations on what they can do as far as upgrades. I am booked on the Star Legend next June. Did book early and have had one price drop since booking which they honored (their latest sale price for this cruise was more than the price drop of a few months ago).

I, also, have found their office to be a little slow in responding to emails so I now just pick up the phone and call. Have always had very positive experiences with the staff over the phone.

Happy cruising!!

Hi, Stcruise, I think I am a cheerleader, we adore Windstar, we have always felt the pricing fair. We also reserve a year out for Europe and Tahiti because I am a rabid mile collector, with my arthritis flying business on long flights is a must. Without miles business is something I could never afford! If there is a price change Windstar always honors it within the year before the 90 days out.

As for the Cariibean the closer to the winter you get the flights from the NE become very expensive. In the end it also balances out. Yes, the Windstar cruises really have one cabin type on the sailboats with exception of the suites and not many cabins at that, after all they are sailing ships. I do not understand the fuss. I have never been on a big ship we can not seem to make the jump we like Windstar's concept so much and we love the sail aspect. This will be our 16 th and 17 th is the Tall ships. Happy Sailing one and all, we are on count down. Susanne

Just reading this thread, I had to add two comments:

1. Upgrade for prior customers at sailing?? Ha! (Or at least, "Really? I never heard of that.") My second Windstar cruise was an unusual itinerary -- a quasi-repositioning type of itinerary they only did once a season. I booked it because it was cheap as hell and I'd loved my first Windstar cruise. They couldn't fill the ship. I kept joking that the ship must be bottom heavy because the B level was nearly full, but they only had people in, like, 4 of the A-cabins. (I thought, if it wasn't for those 4, they could have upgraded all of us and closed off the B-deck entirely.) My point: TONS of space on the A level, no upgrades offered to prior customers. I hadn't thought to ask, but it certainly wasn't offered.

2. Confusion in the office? Oh my goodness, yes. I was trying to book a single cabin. Now, Windstar's single supplement is 75% -- so I expect to be charged 175% of the per person double occupancy rate. But not so simple -- as a prior guest, I get a 5% discount. And they don't charge the single supplement on the taxes and port fees. During the booking process (don't ask), we spoke with two Windstar agents, our travel agent, and (indirectly) two different Windstar supervisors. Result: nobody knew how to calculate the price. Do they take the 5% off the base price, or do they take it off after they add on the single supplement? It varied depending on who was doing the math. And taxes were different depending on the base price. Everyone we spoke to calculated things slightly differently. It got worse (better?) when the first person we spoke to actually screwed it up, making an error in my favor, and everyone else was then trying to see what they could do to honor the price the first guy gave. It all worked out (although one supervisor promised a discount to make good on the error, while a second supervisor swore they couldn't do that so offered a shipboard credit), but I ultimately walked away with the distinct impression that as long as I was paying something in the general ballpark of 175%, their system would accept it.

I'm basically a Windstar cheerleader -- but really had to laugh at the whole experience. And I'm glad I'm not the only one who has concluded they're not entirely competent over there.