Barrycat

Mocamps

We MAY be allowed into the UK as in transit passengers if we go directly from the airport to the ship.

You might look into this possibility if you just change planes in Miami. Just a suggestion

There are a series of Legend departures from London starting on September 4 for a London London cruise and on to our 29 day London to Athens cruise an September 16.

Lots of uncertainty still regarding when/if the UK will open to American tourists and under what conditions and our final payment is looming.

We have a few people  chatting on a Roll Call but I would like to hear from anyone else who is planning on going on any of these London  based cruises. 
Hopefully we can share any information on entry requirements, boarding information and some other thoughts on options for ground based excursions.

sail to day

PLEASE, give it a break. You got your cancellation notice one week ago and even if Windstar put your check in the mail on the 21st you would still be waiting. News flash, there are other people dealing with cancellations and refunds. Don’t worry they will get to you, please.

Sail2day

In what sense of proportion is getting a free cruise, albeit an abbreviated cruise, are the 90 passengers on board the Breeze already not being “comped”? Free WiFi, open bar, how about laundry, ask for free shoe shining, why not? Yes Windstar screwed up big time but they took 90 people on a cruise with no revenue and cancelled two subsequent  cruises. I think they have paid handsomely for their stupidity.

Windstar was not obliged to compensate the Breeze passengers with a free cruise, they could have offered less. Then the “never satisfied “ group would really have had something to complain about.

Metaphysics on Cruise Critic. Jazz always raises the bar, thanks

YES HOORAY....BUT

No one would like the good old days of free roaming around town and booking independent land tours return more than I do. We have a 28 day European cruise booked for this fall and we recently booked thirteen different Windstar excursions for that trip. Those thirteen excursions cost me more than we are paying for an eighteen day Tahiti cruise next year, crazy I know BUT. If the Windstar bubble keeps us safe, as ridiculous as some of the recent examples are, it might be worth it. It’s great news that Windstar now allows roaming in Greece but only 25% of the people in Greece are fully vaccinated, ergo 75% are not. Our itinerary visits seven different countries, each with its own COVID entrance regulations. Some require a PCR result so many  hours prior to arrival, others an antigen test results at different days. Some require full vaccination, others don’t. It’s a crap shoot and we are excited about going but I haven’t made my final payment, bought airline tickets or booked hotels.

I reluctantly booked those excursions realizing that I could cancel some or all if Windstar relaxed it’s excursion policy and then book independently. With the spread of the new variants, the slow vaccination rates in many countries and the confusing and contradictory policies everywhere, I’m not sure that is still our plan. As annoying as the Windstar policy is, there is some small comfort in having them look out for us, whatever their motive.

MRMAC ASKS WHY

I'm not necessarily happy about it but there are valid reasons to Windstar’s continuing limitation on shore excursions.

Correction, all of he crew will not necessarily be vaccinated. Windstar’s policy is that they want the crew to be vaccinated when the vaccine is available to them. It doesn’t appear to be a requirement.

Secondly, the crew is allowed to go ashore at port unsupervised. Currently about 17% of the FP population has been fully vaccinated. That’s a potentially unvaccinated crew member having a drink on shore with a member of 80% of the local population that has not been fully vaccinated. Welcome back on board, I’ll have a red wine please.

Lastly, you, vaccinated, will be mixing with that same 80% uncontrolled if you are not part of the Windstar bubble.

I agree with petoonya that there is probably a profit motive here but there are other reasons why the policy makes sense.

MORE

The Breeze is now half way to Lisbon from Palermo. She left two days ago. At the same departure time, the Legend sailed down to Malta waters, turned around and headed back to Palermo. The Pride is still missing but hopefully in dry dock with its locator turned off

Correction to Lewi

Windstar does not require all crew to be vaccinated, they encourage crew to be vaccinated when vaccine is available to them.

Thanks for the update on Celebrity  susisan  it good to know that passengers who are concerned with their health and safety, like us, will continue to gravitate to Windstar. 

Susisan asks why windstar is following CDC guidance despite the lack o CDC authority on non US ports.

I think the answer is obvious, because it’s good guidance designed to keep people safe. 

A BALANCE

On one hand, the  CDC relaxes their rules about requiring company only excursions and outings, despite their geographical authority to do so. This rule is implemented by Windstar and other cruise lines.
On the other hand, Windstar and others enthusiastically adopt the CDC guidelines in support of requiring what is probably their second largest on board profit generator after liquor sales.

What do you do? You realize that passengers are unhappy about the excursion limitations but you are running a business and   you must calculate how many bookings will you potentially loose if you continue to limit excursions in the name of “passenger safety” as opposed to relaxing those limitations in accordance with the CDC guidelines?

A dilemma for Windstar and others

Up to 48 hours prior to sailing you get 100% FCC if you cancel

No matter how far you venture with us, the confidence of our Beyond Ordinary Care Program—hospital-grade protections that include HEPA filters paired with UV-C irradiation, and regular virus-neutralizing cleanings—go with you. For an additional protection, all guests are required to have COVID-19 vaccinations. If you need to modify your vacation plans, Windstar’s convenient Travel Assurance Booking Policy allows cruise booking cancellations up to 48 hours prior on 2021 departures for a 100% Future Cruise Credit.

We were getting concerned about the availability of lower capacity excursions for our European cruise this September. As Petoonya points out, cancelled excursions are fully refundable so it’s only a matter of committing the money this far in advance.

Interestingly out of the eighteen excursions we considered, sixteen maintained the same price we noted months ago. The two exceptions were Tuk Tuk excursions in Portugal and Spain. Three months ago the price was $109, today it’s $349. A possible mistake but I doubt it since the change occurred on two different dates in two different countries. On Trip Advisor you can book the same three hour Tuk Tuk tour for $94.

We have taken a number of Tuk Tuk rides in Asia and India and probably have not spent a total of even $109 for all of them so we will pass on this one.. We are booking 11 or 12 excursions in case Windstar decides to take advantage of their captive audience and raise prices and we will hope that the policy will be relaxed prior to sailing.

False alarm, the Pride November schedule is back online

To New cruiser

r&rd is a previous poster

The hold back I referred to is a policy of one of the largest TA’s which they call a “15% cancellation service fee” I won’t go into detail about this but basically when you cancel they will impose this fee which is held by them and can be used towards future bookings. It’s complicated and when the agent explained the justification for it I hit the snooze button on the conversation and decided they were not for me. I’ve never been a fan of someone else holding my money.

I agree again with r&rd. There are good and not so good Windstar reps and TAs. We obviously been pleased with our Windstar people over the years and the more we sail the more they say “thank you”

Our experience was similar to Zukini without the hassle. We got our original Tahiti price transferred to 2022, upgrade, OBC plus all of the perks of level 4 alumni status.

Whatever or whoever gets  gets us on board at this point is ok with me.

Out of our fourteen Windstar cruises, I tested using a TA twice and I was not pleased. At times, one TA was not available when I needed her. There were problems when the TA did not properly communicate what I wanted passed on to Windstar. Some TA’s hold back for future bookings, their commissioned part of your payments when cruises are cancelled. If things got complicated as in the case with r&rd, I felt my resolution was much more successful when I dealt with Windstar directly rather than getting a third party involved.
Maybe you got a bit better rate, maybe you got a little OBC, but in my experience it wasn’t worth the hassle

That’s possible new cruiser. I’m just going from what is posted on the website so they may just be rearranging.

I thought it might be correct since the transponder on the Pride has been off for four months. When the previous two ships were being worked on, their transponders were on and their location was showing  in the dry dock.

This time I hope I’m wrong.

This may be old  news but Windstar announced one month ago that he Pride was scheduled to start in the Caribbean this November. Now the first sailing is April 1, 2022 in the Med.

Not surprising since the Pride has been docked in Palermo with the transponder off for four months, apparently not in the dry dock used for lengenthing.

Maybe milepig should just stay home for awhile. I have more confidence in Windstar’s ability to, along with the other cruise lines with the same requirements, make the excursion experience worthwhile, not ideal but worthwhile. We have been on very few Windstar cruises when constant complainers among other passengers were a bit of a bummer. Those that want will accept only the Windstar experience of pre COVID should just make other plans for awhile until that time returns, whenever that may be.

The good news is the last sentence in susisan’s last post.

It seems that, with one exception, people on CC understand the value of the cautionary measures that Windstar is taking. Not what we might want but necessary. She said

“No cruises for me on any line until these bubble excursion requirements are gone”

Everybody is entitled to their opinion but they are not entitled to their facts as the saying goes. My guess is that the CDC is in the best position to decide if mask wearing is recommended in various situations. Hopefully Windstar will be following CDC guidelines and not IMO positions.

Petoonya

Did the tour operator in Moorea get included in the “bubble” or was it a thanks but no thanks response from Windstar?

Petoonya outlined a very reasonable scenario for getting the crew vaccinated using the J&J vaccine as the key. Two obvious problems for Windstar are first, getting the vaccine, and secondly paying a full compliment of crew for two weeks on a ship with no passenger revenue.

It makes no sense to require passengers to be fully vaccinated and not require the same of the crew who typically have the same degree of proximity to passengers as other passengers do. Windstar is going to need to make their crew vaccination policy clear before people feel comfortable getting on board.

Just confirmed on Windstar site

New COVID-19 Vaccine Requirement - UPDATED April 1, 2021

Windstar Cruises will require proof of a current COVID-19 vaccination for all guests sailing aboard Windstar’s yachts. The cruise line arrived at the decision in the best health and wellness interests of its guests, crew, and the places the yachts visit.

At the cruise terminal prior to embarkation, guests will be required to provide proof of a completed current vaccine course (one or two shots, depending on the brand) finished at least 14 days prior to the guest’s embarkation date.

NEW: No COVID-19 PCR test is required at pier. Windstar will require and administer a free COVID-19 antigen test at pier prior to boarding. A negative test result is required to board.