charleston Sukey

Thank you for helping me in making my decision!

Your post is very interesting. I am planning a Tahiti trip aboard the Windstar Spirit during either Oct or Nov 2018. This will be my first with Windstar. In light of your post, would you recommend the Paul Gauguin instead? The price difference is not much. My wife and I have sailed the islands on a rented sailboat, but not on a cruise ship. I believe that the Gauguin caters to French/European clientele more that American, is this true of the Winstar?

My husband and I have done 5 Windstar Cruises and are planning on booking the same Nov 2018, 11 day voyage to Tahiti. We have loved our Windstar trips and have studied the differences of going on the PG Cruise......they look similar to be sure. We are sticking with what we have found to be tried and true. Over the years we have encountered some of the same staff that remembers us from previous trips. We are always well pleased with our Windstar experience.

Thank you for sharing your experience..... I will probably just do the same!

We are looking at booking the November 2018 trip but a friend of mine had a bad experience with rough seas and 50 % of the folks on board were sea sick. Have any of you that have done this trip experienced rough seas to the extreme?

We took this cruise 2 months ago (Nov 16) and it was hands down fabulous in every way! Food was fantastic (including the appetizers and afternoon tea/snacks on deck in the late afternoon), service was amazing, and the tamaraa (Tahitian luau) destination event on the private island on Bora Bora was incredible . We paid $3999 per person including RT air from LAX and found it to be an excellent value after watching all the airfares and cruise sale prices for a year.

Le Meridien Tahiti was absolutely fine as our transit hotel and we never had to carry our luggage or figure out transfers, which was a real treat. The Museum of Tahiti and the Isles is just a 5-minute walk north of LeMeridien and you can also walk around downtown Papeete for several hours after being transferred to the ship and checking in (check-in is 1:30 and all-aboard is not until 5:00).

We took this cruise 2 months ago (Nov 16) and it was hands down fabulous in every way! Food was fantastic (including the appetizers and afternoon tea/snacks on deck in the late afternoon), service was amazing, and the tamaraa (Tahitian luau) destination event on the private island on Bora Bora was incredible . We paid $3999 per person including RT air from LAX and found it to be an excellent value after watching all the airfares and cruise sale prices for a year.

Le Meridien Tahiti was absolutely fine as our transit hotel and we never had to carry our luggage or figure out transfers, which was a real treat. The Museum of Tahiti and the Isles is just a 5-minute walk north of LeMeridien and you can also walk around downtown Papeete for several hours after being transferred to the ship and checking in (check-in is 1:30 and all-aboard is not until 5:00).

We are looking to book for Nov. 15, 2018 for 11 days. However a friend of mine went on a Paul Gaugin Cruise and said that the seas were incredibly rough and many of the passengers were incapacitated with sea sickness. Did you find this to be an issue on the Wind Star?