Misty Morning

Just came back from a great 2 weeks on the Wind Surf to celebrate both our retirements (our detailed review just got published as I am writing this). Our 12th Windstar trip. Just as good...and delicious as our first, 11 years ago. Amazingly relaxing trip (no office buzzing around). The Windstar experience remains intact, alive and well. Approximately 50% of guests were 1st time Windstar cruisers and I asked several of them if they were enjoying themselves? The overwhelming response was they finally understood what cruising was all about, that they would never go back to a large ship and wished they had discovered this gem earlier. Food amazing, Service exceptional. You are not a number, crew will actually call you by your name everywhere you go after a few days. I attach a photo that says it all, when one guest next to me looking over at the monstruous Enchanted Princess in St. Kitts from our highest deck, said that there were probably more people on that dock waiting for an excursion that there were on our ship, we laughed, it said it all!!

There are some flight and hotel included fares/options on the Windstar website. Flights are from LAX, SFO and SEA. Most people book flights independently and usually come in a few days early before the cruise. Pretty sure Air France has a flight from Paris which has a stop in LAX

You do go up and down a few rope ladders on certain rocks but it's not strenuous. We have been twice and there were several people in their 70's doing the trail

All of this commotion likely also due to them trying to finalize the drydock #2 dates for both the Wind Surf and Wind Spirit in 2025/26

The Breeze is in Tahiti until 2026. Difficult to believe they would not have a ship in French Polynesia. Maybe they swap back to the Wind Spirit

That's interesting because these Star Legend Winter cruises are advertised at a much lower price than what they are getting in the Caribbean with both the Pride and Surf. I am assuming they are making extra money on excursions which there are less of in the Caribbean.

This is really a personal choice. I would qualify them as relatively firm which is what we have at home. No soft pillow tops unless you ask. Works for us. You don’t sink in the bed if that’s what you want to know

Crew is always amazing

On the Surf now and no tender issues. Tendered in to Anguilla and realized I had left money in my state room. Tendered back to ship and back to shore in less than 30 mins and the tender ride was at least 10-12 minutes. In Jost Van Dyke today and they are running tenders t’il 9h30 tonight so we can go to Foxy’s. great trip so far

We went to bed around 10 and the sails were up and did not have a long way to go to Anguilla

Onboard the Wind Surf now. Trying to up load pictures of the spa menu but having a hard time. My wife had deep tissue massage and said it was the best massage she ever got. There is a raffle when get onboard and we won $100 credit

Nearpost345, We are onboard the Surf currently and unlike the Star ships, the Surf does not have the onboard expenses on the TV. The internet though is much better now with Starlink, aside from some sites that are not accessible as per previous posters. You can actually stream music which is not bad.

Looks like it made an additional stop in Scarborough Tobago on top of Charlotteville

You will not need anything. Just show up at the reception desk in the terminal with your passport and off you go. You will likely need to show your confirmation email (or a copy of it) to get in the port itself They will put tags on your luggage and get it delivered very quickly to your stateroom. Very simple

This is great news Jazzbeau. All of the sailing ships were at a point where they needed a bit of love. I think they did a great job on the yachts so if they can be replicate this on the sailing ships, it'll be great. Drydock #1 for the Surf is slated Nov 9 to Dec 21st (likely includes a 2 week wetdock crossing) while Wind Spirit is scheduled for March 10 to April 23rd, 2025. Nothing yet on the dates for 2026 (phase II of the Wind Star & Wind Surf). It looks like Wind Spirit will get it all done in one dry dock vs 2 for the other 2 sailing ships.

Glad you are enjoying the crossing SailMaine. Was wondering if you had a chance to try the newly installed StarLink internet on the ship? We will be on the Surf in January.

Star Link has yet to be implemented in French Polynesia (expected in 2024) so I would think it's not great. Probably some cell coverage on the islands but at sea, on the ship, probably very slow

Surprised no one has responded to this as there are a lot of Wind Surf fans out there. Leaving in January

Mopion is a small spit of sand coral with lots of fish and turtles. There is an excursion that goes to it from the ship and that's really the only way to get there. There is some snorkeling at both ends of Saline Bay (where the BBQ is held) which are more rocky and have some fish. Love Mayreau and Grenadines. Tobago stop looks interesting

Does anybody know if StarLink is now available on the WindSurf? I know the Star ships have migrated and everyone seems to be happy, just not sure about the sailing ships. Thanks

Yes no issues once they give you your ship card, you can get off and wander around

We have gotten complimentary upgrades on the 2 cruises we have taken since end of COVID and on our last cruise we got upgraded from 109 to 309 on the Surf. On the surface it looked great and took it right away however we realized, once onboard, that 309 is above the propellers (whereas 109 is further to the center of ship) and in the morning, the room would shake (I mean shake) strongly as the propellers backed up the ship during anchoring operations (added in room sticky at the time). Should have stayed in 109. We are in 119 on our January cruise and unless the upgrade is also in the ships's mid section, we're not taking it.

We were on the stretched Pride last November. We had lots of rain initially (Caribbean) and 270 onboard and even though we had to squeeze in to avoid the rain sometimes at the Star Bar, it never felt crowded. We are late diners (i.e. after 8pm) and never had an issue getting a table. If there's a deck BBQ, you may need to come in a bit early to secure the table that you want, but the layout of the Star Ships is better for the BBQ as everyone is in the same area and every table has a good view. I can understand some people may be worried about capacity but it wasn't an issue on our cruise.

Loved your live reports. Glad you enjoyed the Star Legend. We are long time Windstar cruisers (4 stars) and have done both the Star ships (pre and post stretch) and the sailing ships and given the renovations on the former, I would say we prefer the layout of these to the sailing ships (hope they spruce up the WindSurf soon, Club Med just spent $10mm on Club Med 2 and it looks great) The Star Bar area is where we would spend most of our time pre and post dinner as for us cruising is being on top deck and outside feeling the air. That being said, we are booked 2 weeks on the Surf in January and I am sure we are going to love it just as we do every time we board a Windstar ship. Like a second home

Wonder where it will get re-deployed for the winter