sauertea

Windstar's transfer to port was included in our fare. You may want to see if purchasing the transfer is an option. As Piraeus is such a large port this was definitely a plus. I am sure your hotel could assist in making arrangements. You will really enjoy the trip from Athens to Venice. Hands down the best vacation I have ever taken!

Yes, the laundry service is well worth it. If you are particular about how your laundry is done, just tell them what you want. They are great! They do not dry clean, however.

Thank you both! This is very helpful.

There is no comparison. We had a total fo 115 people on board when we sailed from Athens to Venice in 2015. At times it felt like our own private yacht. One evening while anchored outside Hydra, we were the only ones on deck except for the bartender, as the sun set. It is a quiet low key experience. You can choose to dine as a couple of with other guests. There are no table assignments. The food and the service are excellent. As others have said, there is no constant sales pitch. Perhaps the only area which could be improved is the dvd library on board. The fact that the ships are small allows for very unusual itineraries. I have no desire to cruise on a mega ship. I live in a large city, so hanging out at close quarters with 6000 of my closest friends is not appealing.

We used the laundry service and it was great. They do not dry clean, but do everything else. I even brought along bags for delicates and they used them. Very prompt. Cut down on the number of items we needed to pack. Well worth it.

I think that should work on the breeze. As I recall we had an adapter for our two pronged American style plugs.

We will be sailing on Windstar over Thanksgiving. We will be in St. Barts on Thanksgiving Day. Any recommendations on a nicer restaurant for dinner. I am not looking for traditional Thanksgiving dinner but thought it would be nice to have a festive meal on the island.

Did the same on the Windjammer Legacy in the Bahamas, but it was off the side of the ship.

Thanks. I was actually able to schedule the zipline and waterfall tour directly with the provider. Included pick up in Castries. Thanks for the responses.

We have Verizon and signed up for the International package when we sailed from Venice to Athens. We had the cheapest wifi plan on the ship. What I did not realize was that when I turned on my iphone is that if the wifi signal was weak, the phone would connect to the nearest cellular phone network. Imagine my surprise when we had extra data charges even though we only turned the phones on when we were hooked up to wifi. I contacted Verizon and they did refund some of the data charges and told me about the wi-fi assist feature on the iphone. The long and short of this post is, make sure you turn wifi assist on your iphone off. It is located on the cellular tab under settings at the bottom.

We will be on the Star Breeze in November for Saints of the Caribbean. I have been looking into Ziplining in St. Lucia. There are a couple of options that pick up from the port. It seems as if these are ones that the cruise line also uses, but booking directly is significantly cheaper. Has anyone had any experience booking excursions directly in St. Lucia?

My husband took some of his favorite Oxford cloth shirts and solid colored Tommy Bahamas. Those seemed to do the trick

Thanks for the info on the sports jacket ... think he'll leave it home :D

A good selection of Tommy Bahamas should do the trick

In regards to the small number of passengers on our cruise. We sailed on October 17 from Athens to Venice. I think the small compliment of passengers was probably because it was the end of the season. Many of the ports we visited were relatively uncrowded. We talked to quite a few local residents who told us that the season would be done in a couple of weeks and that they would close for the winter.

Based on this type of feedback, my DH and I were even wondering if we might get away with much smaller suitcases LOL

 

Question for you off laundry topic but has to do with clothing ... did you need a sports jacket for the dining room at night? My husband doesn't want to take one and it does take up a lot of suitcase room ....

Well my husband did take his sport jacket, but I think he only wore it once or twice.

We are just back from our first cruise on Windstar. We sailed on the Star Breeze from Athens to Venice. All in all it was a delightful experience. The itinerary was excellent. The service was outstanding. The guides on the excursions were very well informed and entertaining. The complimentary excursion to Butrint was fascinating. Our cabin was very spacious and comfortable. With only 114 passengers, we felt at times as if we were on our own private yacht. We did not encounter any issues with the tender. On occasion, the food was a little hit and miss. That being said, the on deck barbecue was exceptional. There were so many delicious items it was hard to choose. Based on this first experience, I think we will sail with Windstar again.

Hi, just back from our first cruise on the Star Breeze. The laundry package was well worth it. They did an excellent job. Made it much easier to pack less, knowing that we could have the laundry done throughout the cruise. They took great care with everything and returned it promptly.

Comments about those new to Windstar and/or Star Breeze being easily pleased seem somewhat dismissive. There is no one size fits all. Presumably those choosing Windstar, either sailing vessles or newer yachts made conscious decisions for this type of travel. Experiences with other cruise lines may have informed their decisions but I would suggest that these passengers would still be able to discern what works and what doesn't, as opposed to being "easily pleased" which when used by the prior poster appears to be code for " too dumb to know what real luxury is". I doubt this is the case at all.

Thanks!

I saw a mention of morning yoga classes on Windstar Ships. Does anyone have any more info concerning time, type of classes or costs? Thnaks

Thank you very much. How was the rest of the itinerary?

We've just got back from the August 31st sailing. We stayed at the Hotel Grande Bretagne pre-cruise and on our arrival we asked the hotel staff about transfer times to the port, but they didn't have any information. However, on the Sunday morning, the Windstar rep was at the hotel - her desk is on a mezzanine landing just up the stairs to the right of the elevators. She was there on both the Sunday and Monday mornings (we sailed on the Monday) and a transfer information package was left in our room on the Sunday. Our bags had to be outside our hotel room by 9 am on the day of sailing; these were taken by the hotel staff to their secure luggage storage room. We had to be in the hotel lobby and our account settled with the hotel (for any meals, etc that weren't included in the package) by 1:15pm, so we were able to enjoy some more sights of Athens in the morning. The bus picked us up at 1:30 pm. After ensuring that our bags had been loaded onto the bus, it was a short 20 minute or so drive to the port. The Windstar rep pointed out some sights on the way. Once at the port, suitcases were transferred to the ship by the porters while you went through security and then onto another waiting bus for a short ride to the ship, where we were greeted by the Captain and one of the other officers. Check-in is done on the ship and after receiving our room key we were able to go to our cabin. Lunch was served in the Veranda until 4 pm. The hotel was wonderful and we found the port transfer to be very smooth. We were able to eat and unpack before the mandatory life boat drill. Hope you enjoy the cruise as much as we did!

Tnanks for all the helpful info. One question about the luggage. Is it only the large pieces that are collected in the morning? Can you hang on to the carry on stuff?

We are taking Venetian Passageways at the end of October from Athens to Venice. We will be spending a few days in Venice at the end of the cruise. Wondering if anyone has purchased either the Dubrovnik City Pass and the Venice Transit/Museum pass. In the case of the Dubrovnik Pass there is a discount if you order online and pickup at the tourist office. How close is the tourist office to the port? Any thoughts would be welcome

Received my cruise documents, Monday. Transfer vouchers included with note that hotel will advise as to the time for the transfer.

This is very cool. It would be great to if you continue to post more of these during your trip.