RobertPierre1

Thanks for not being on my next Windstar cruise.:D

Ditto, Airbus Pat, may our paths never cross, since you cannot abide by the single rule of this website: no personal attacks. Tells me a lot about you.:)

:(

Thinking of booking a cruise for my hubby's 55th birthday, I stumbled on a perfect itinerary: Athens to Istanbul. Having sailed on Cunard on several occasions, I was ready to try a smaller ship. The Windstar brochures looked good and it promised casual luxury. While on board, I realized that casual, it was. Luxurious? Not so much. Except for our cabin steward, most of the staff were WAAAAAAY too familiar, addressing us by the first name without an invitation and making a nasty habit of touching one's shoulder at every opportunity. Call me old fashioned, but I am a paying (and tipping well) passenger, not their friend. The food was largely good, though not stellar (salty on most occasions) and the wine list.... well,it was wine, to be sure, but I would not call it good.Heavily skewed towards American palate (heavily-oaked or fruit-forward reds, semi-sweet whites) and no alternatives. The couple of decent bottles on the list were soon out of stock, so we have started buying the wine in ports and paying the corking fee ($17) every night - hardly the promised luxury. The house Champagne turned out to be a dreadly sweet Prosecco. To add insult to injury, after I made my observations known to Guest Relations lead at Windstar Cruises, she dismissed me as a wine snob and basically told me to get a life. So the score is: Windstar got my money, to be sure, but will never again get anything from me or my family, friends and associates.:cool: