Ladyorganicgardener

One more piece of information that may be useful for people: This is not a huge cruise ship, so you will feel side -to-side rocking motion when you are at sea between the islands. Rather than risk any motion sickness, I took one Bonine whenever we left the barrier reef of an island. That means when we left Tahiti, Moorea, Taha'a, Bora Bora and Huahine. We were docked at Raiatea overnight and stayed within the barrier reef to get to Taha'a, so none was needed then. And, of course, none needed when we were anchored overnight on Bora Bora.

Does Windstar still put packets of motion sickness pills in a basket at the reception desktop free for passengers?

I'm so glad to hear that staff are receiving the actual tips that people leave for them. I was planning on bringing some $10 or $20 international phone calling cards to use as tips but I can't seem to locate them in the stores here for some strange reason. So, I've decided to bring several thank you note cards with envelopes and a few extra $10 & $20 to give to the individual staff that really stand out.

I just tried Windstarcruises.com and the website works fine. I also tried just typing in Windstar.com and that comes up with some sort of tax website.

Looks like the alcohol package prices went up from $108 per day to $116 not including 15% gratuity.

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.

Take a look at the posting by Rafinmd on his TA from Lisbon to Barbados. It's about 20 down on the main thread. He posted a day by day account of what he did during 20+ days at sea. He also posted tons of photos, menus and the daily activity sheets from his trip. I enjoyed following his entire voyage! I think that will answer your question. Enjoy!

Originally I emailed Windstar asking for a quote and they immediately turned me over to a independent TA in Florida and I'm in Montana which I thought was strange. The TA had all my information that I gave WS on the email link from their website. I paid the TA my deposit and then just went online to WS and paid the balance directly to them. When this voyage went on sale (before my final payment was due) I called WS to give me the lower price and they said I needed to work with the TA who booked it which I did and WS honored the lower pricing. The tickets and WS luggage tags came direct from WS in Seattle. These are nice permanent address tags, not the color coded cabin number bag tags. It's funny how everyone has a different experience, but in the end we shall all have a blast on this trip!

I just received in today's Mail two boarding passes, a contract carriage terms, a brochure to order a gift, two nice address tags for our luggage all in a nice zippered documents pouch.

I'm going to give the WS office in Seattle a call on Monday to see what's up, although I'm still 8 weeks out from our trip. Thanks everyone for sharing your own experiences.

Thanks for responding Suzanne. I have to admit that I have been enjoying your informative posts and photos of your past cruises! I don't ever recall requesting e-docs but I've decided that I'm not going to worry about it. I filled out all the forms online and everyone says that boarding is so laid back that Windstar should have my name on a list when I check in. How hard can it be to keep track of 140 passengers, right? This will be my 4th cruise, I've only been on the mega ships before and I'm done with being hearded like cattle. In fact, this small motor/sailing yacht is the only way I could get my husband to cruise again! I'm already looking at a small European river cruise for next year! Again, thanks for responding & happy holidays!:)

Dear past Winstar guests,

Can you tell me if Windstar sends you any kind of boarding pass for their sailings? This is my first time sailing on Windstar and I paid off my January 31 Barbados fare over a month ago. I have emailed Windstar with no reply to see if I will receive boarding passes in the mail. We are traveling on our own flying & hotels, not going thru them. Thanks for the info!

When I start feeling queasy from the ship rocking, I get into the pool and it immediately helps get rid of the motion sickness.