new_cruiser

On 9/9/2024 at 8:48 AM, MargotH24 said:

Booking a 2025 cruise to the Canary Islands and have checked availability of excursions.  None from WS are left in the "affordable" range (under $500pp) in Lanzarote or Madeira.  Has anyone done an independent tour (easy) in these locations?  Suggestions?

I'd be surprised to have tours on Lanzarote fully booked this far out. It seems more likely that for some reason they haven't opened them for booking yet. No harm in finding something independent instead, but if you don't, excursions will probably be added as the date gets closer.

In Madeira, I was very happy with DIY. We took a taxi to the cable car, explored the Botanical Garden, went back down the hill to Quinta Das Cruzes Museum.

Then wandered a bit in town visiting the Municipal Garden and stumbled on a delightful wine bar where we had wine and a snack. Other patrons suggested a place for dinner and one called and reserved places for us.

It was an overnight stop so the next morning, I went to the Mercado - amazing market and to a madeira tasting.

Isla Parida is usually the beach BBQ. It's a small island and you don't need any excursion there,  the beach BBQ and playing in the water is enough. I think the only excursion there was when we went was a nature hike. You can also go on a short hike on your own.

6 hours ago, Strenz said:

As for the sails and this is the truth of the 28 times we have sailed the longest sailing trip 26 days ( crossing on the Spirit to Tahiti and staying for the first cruise ) never once have the sails NOT been up for the entire time.

I think you may be talking about two different things though "the sails were used once" was an unclear way of putting it and perhaps out Host misunderstood his friends.

My experience on the sail ships is that the sails are up most of the time. But generally they are just helping the motors or sometimes mostly furled and just partly open for pretty. I've not had more than one day on a 7 or 8 day sailing when the motors were off and sails provided all the motive power.

I don't have as many days on the Wind ships as Strenz, but I've been on Wind Surf several times including once for 31 days of it's 54-day circuit of the Caribbean and 3 times on the smaller sail ships.

Wind Surf does have the best deck space. We were on it for it's only Panama Canal partial transit a year after we had done a full transit on Wind Star and the decks were great for that. (It's masts are too tall to allow a full transit. The space under the bridge on the Pacific side isn't high enough.)

I've been on all three types of Windstar ships and love them all. 

I'm fine with the smaller cabins on the Wind ships for shorter cruises as the deck and inside public rooms are never far away and never crowded. However, for a long cruise (e.g. approaching 2 weeks or longer), I prefer the Star ships because the larger cabins with a couch and two arm chairs are nice when we want to retreat or for the occasional quiet dinner in the cabin. Wind Surf does have some suites which are a double cabin providing a similar experience (and a second bathroom) but we haven't been willing to pay the extra for those. 

Generally, I pick the itinerary that I want and take whichever ship is doing it.

I don't particularly care about balconies. When I've had a cabin with a real balcony on another cruise line, I didn't spend much time on it. I slightly prefer the uninterrupted view from the large windows on the non-balcony Star ship cabins. The French balcony cabins have a more interrupted view because of the framing of the doors. 

Note that the two smaller Wind ships (Wind Spirit and Wind Star) don't have elevators. That isn't a problem for most people since they also don't have very many decks: cabins on decks 1 and 2, most public areas on decks 3 and 4.

We are flying into San Jose, Costa Rica to depart Puerto Caldera for a crossing to Papeete and I'm not sure about where to stay. Since it will be winter, we are flying in several days before departure - we wouldn't want travel delays to make us miss an ocean crossing with no stops. We would like some place laid back and pleasant; possibly near a National Park or beach area. I've already been to the volcano area so thinking somewhere near the coast.  Any suggestions. 

19 hours ago, Charleen2 said:

Which is why I was thinking to make the timing work getting to Seward from Anchorage someone would need to overnight in Anchorage the day before embark or catch an afternoon bus shuttle from Anchorage and overnight in Seward.

Yes, one pretty much needs a hotel night in Anchorage or Seward when flying in to depart from Seward. It wouldn't occur to me to try to fly in the day of departing from Seward. The cruise starts with the fjord day and a sea day so you would miss a lot if any flight delays delayed arrival past sailing time. Depending on your interests, a visit to the Anchorage museum or the Alaska Native Heritage Center in Anchorage or to the Sealife Center in Seward can enhance the trip. 

19 hours ago, Charleen2 said:

2026 is still a long ways away so I am sure things will get sorted before we need them

Hotel prices in Anchorage and Seward tend to increase as you get close to the date.

There is a free shuttle that does a loop through Seward including a stop at the cruise terminal and stopping at the train station. It is also a reasonable walk from the train station to the cruise terminal. If you are coming in the day of the cruise, they will tag your bags for the ship when boarding the train and transfer them to the ship. Most Anchorage to Seward shuttle buses drop off at the cruise terminal, some have additional drop offs. So there isn't a lot of reason to wait for Windstar to choose a hotel if you are staying in Seward overnight.

The Hilton Anchorage is near the train station and is a decent hotel. There was a hotel next to the Captain Cook that I've stayed at but it isn't showing up in searches now. Captain Cook is nice but can be overpriced (even by Alaska's already high hotel prices). 

6 hours ago, Charleen2 said:

Steward is 2.5 hours from the Anchorage airport, so most will need to do an overnight stay in either Anchorage and take an early morning shuttle to Steward or shuttle from the airport to Steward and overnight there.

Or take the train from Anchorage to Seward. It leaves Anchorage at 6:45 AM and gets to Seward at 11:20 AM - similar to the shuttle bus schedule. The train is more expensive than the shuttle but very comfortable and quite scenic. 

2 hours ago, Psoque said:

Is the double Yacht Club discount for 2025 itineraries?

Some 2025 itineraries: it applies to sailings through March 2025 if booked by Sept 30.

2 hours ago, CulverCityCruisers said:

Nothing is ever "FREE"  they just add the $89 per day into the price.  

With the current special, they didn't. We switched our February 2025 cruise to the current special to add All-In and the base fare stayed the same. Our price went down slightly because special increased our 5% Yacht Club discount to 10%. We got All-In and a slightly lower price.

I wouldn't ever buy All-In at $89 pp per day. As 4-stars, we already get free WiFi. We are light drinkers paying $73 per day (89 - daily gratuity) to get free alcohol wouldn't make sense.

1 hour ago, wrk2cruise said:

 

@new_cruiser  Thanks for pointing this out.  My TA was in the process of making final payment today and thankfully needed the CVV code from me and I saw this in the meantime.   I booked in late June for Pride in December 2024.  I'm not sure if the All Inclusive promo included the 10% at the time as I don't remember that or reduced deposit.  Anyway I had TA call today and they put in a Price Protection form and gave TA a new rate (which was apparently wrong) as they called my TA back.  It appears they can't do math as they quoted the additional discount of $305 pp but then gave an overall price pp at about $1k less!  After over an hour on the phone they agreed to have supervisor provide written details tomorrow!  I believe the $305 is correct as it reflects the extra 5% and the $80 pp the taxes/fees have gone down since booking.

 

Anyway it appears I have to keep track of the details of the promo even if the name doesn't change.

 

But thanks to this thread I should be saving over $600 on this Xmas cruise.

I don't think the offer changed from late June, but I might be wrong. We got a post card in early summer telling us about the promotion. It seems it always pays to keep an eye on how Windstar applies things as some things don't seem to be fully automatic.

I've done some solo trips and that pricing is even more opaque. When I'm traveling solo, I just check it to see that it isn't higher than what I expect and as long as that's true I'm fine. Their normal solo supplement is 75% but it seems that there is some part of the cruise fare that they don't apply it to because the invoice has always come out slightly lower than I expect. Until recently, the Reduced Solo Supplement page just gave the price for the lowest category room and didn't have solo supplement %. And since the price on that page was static and not linked to the current price, one couldn't even calculate what the supplement was supposed to be if the cruise was on sale. So I would just call my TA and get a quote. Recently, they added the % to the page so that will be easier to check. 

On 9/4/2024 at 6:17 AM, Psoque said:

Also, is the current promotions for 2026 Europeran itineraries a good deal?  Has Windstar offered more impressive booking incentive in the (recent) past?

In most cases, the $200 OBC per cabin plus complimentary All-Inclusive is as good or better than past booking incentives.

Some past incentives have had a higher OBC amount for the premium suites but didn't include All-In. Depending on how valuable All-In is to the particular passenger and depending on length of cruise, the higher OBC might be a better deal for those who book the large suites. If you book don't book a premium suite, the current deal is best even if you don't care about WiFi and included alcohol since you get the OBC plus All-In covers daily gratuities ($16 per passenger per day).

Many Windstar cruise fares are higher than $2000 ppdo, so the extra 5% off plus complimentary All-In on the current kind-of-late booking deal is usually better than the $200 OBC for the Early Booking deal. But I haven't seen that offered before.

3 hours ago, oakridger said:

The current All-Inclusive Upgrade also includes all gratuities and $200 OBC.

 

"All-Inclusive upgrade — with Wi-Fi, unlimited wine, beer and cocktails, and all gratuities — plus a $200 onboard credit per stateroom"

 

The OBC is a feature of a particular special, not of All-Inclusive.

The Early Booking Offer for 2026 includes complimentary All-in plus $200 OBC.

The Complimentary All-Inclusive offer on sailings through March 2025 booked before Sept 30 doesn't include OBC. Instead it has a 10% Yacht Club  discount instead of the usual 5%. On many Windstar cruises the extra 5% off would save more than $200 per cabin.

They have a Price Assurance Policy that let's you re-price to the current fare if the price drops over 90 days before sailing. Generally, that means you lose any perks that went with the prior fare and get the ones that go with the new fare.

I've seen fares go up or go down as the cruise approaches. We are probably about 50/50 on cruises where it never dropped below our original fare and ones we re-fared under the price assurance program.

Currently, they have the all-in package included on a lot of cruises (some before a certain date and some far out in 2026).

We had a February 2025 cruise booked and used the policy to get ihe current offer. It truly was All-In for no added cost; our cost actually went down 5% because the fare didn't change but the current promotion includes a 10% Yacht Club discount instead of the usual 5%. Also, they let us keep the free hotel night that was part of our original promotion.

7 hours ago, Charleen2 said:

A little more detail would be nice, like what are we doing with a wetlanding in the two NPs. There is no town. Rudyard is actually Rudyerd. 

This is what I have for the Star Seeker 10 day cruise the end of July 2026:

If the do a wetlanding in Kenai and Misty Fjords, it must be for a hike or nature walk. There is nothing there other than nature. When they did Alaska before, they had kayak and zodiac trips those places but didn't land. Kenai Fjords has a glacier.

In both locations in May, there were bears on the meadows by the Fjords. That would make landing tricky. That's probably seasonal as we were told bears tend to graze when they get out of hibernation. It helps get their digestion moving. In Misty Fjords, there was a whale in the fjord with us. 

The map for the ones to/from Seward shows the path going to Kenai Fjords which would be a glacier day, but the itinerary just says 2 sea days. It should only need 1 sea day to get from Seward to the first inside passage port but if they are going to Kenai Fjords why isn't it on the itinerary?

Strange because under dining on that same page it says stylish athletic shoes are fine for dinner. 

Also, I think it's wierd to have jeans be okay and not athletic shoes.

In my experience, athletic shoes are fine. 

This is the source I quoted:

https://www.windstarcruises.com/voyage-plan/general-information/#DiningWithWindstar

Where are you reading that?

Dinner dress description on the Gerneral Information page for booked guests says:

"If you’re dining in Amphora, Stella Bistro, or Cuadro 44 by Anthony Sasso in the evening, slacks or non-distressed jeans are appropriate, paired with collared, button-down or polo shirts, or fashion tops or blouses. Skirts with nice tops, casual dresses and sundresses are also good choices. Dress shoes, nice sandals or stylish athletic casual shoes round out your evening wardrobe."

Whenever I've looked, the website has not prohibited athletic shoes. It used to prohibited jeans but now non-distressed ones are allowed. Several years ago (pre-COVID), some cruise directors would say no "trainers" when they gave their introductory talk but that was contrary to the website. I ignored them since it's not right to try to inforce a stricter policy on board when guests relied on the website for packing. I never had anyone question my shoe choice in the dining room.

On our post COVID cruises, no one has said "no trainers". 

We've arrived on board and sent almost everything to the laundry after unpacking (long flights plus 4 days pre-cruise), sent in laundry every day and left with almost everything clean for our post-cruise stay. All covered by the package and never any complaints about it.

The only time there has been an issue was when we boarded in Aukland. Due to an unreasonable heavy storm, the ship came into Auckland the day before we boarded and then stayed in port until the day after we boarded. They couldn't discharge the grey water there and tanks were near capacity so the couldn't do laundry until we got out to see. So return of t g at first laundry was delayed a day.

There have been a few different Lisbon to Barcelona itineraries. Currently, most of them are similar to the one we did in which all the stops other than Gibraltar were in Portugal and Spain. This itinerary has a stop in Almeria which is about 90 minutes from the Alhambra. The Windstar excursion to the Alhambra is very good and because it is a long excursion and a significant distance it's a good way to go. On our cruise, we had to skip the Almeria stop due to high winds but stayed an extra day in Malaga instead. That's a similar distance to the Alhambra so the Windstar excursion was switched to depart from there instead. We and about 6 others had booked a non-Windstar excursion and had to scramble working with the tour provider to get it modified to leave run from Malaga. 

The other itinerary stops in Tangiers and has some different ports in Spain. The current version of it doesn't stop in Almeria and doesn't have excursions posted so it isn't known whether they will have an Alhambra excursion from there. It does stop in Seville so you are right in town instead of needing to take a shuttle from Cadiz and that is an overnight stop which is pretty nice. Our cruise stopped in Seville, but they have stopped doing that with most of their cruises because the channel in the river is pretty tight - the ship had to back for a good bit of the way out. 

They have some new winter itineraries that are Barcelona to Malaga or round trip from Barcelona that hit Gibraltar and the Spain ports (except Cadiz/Seville) - I guess they stay in the Mediterranean to avoid winter seas in the Atlantic - even at other times of the year, the sea can get a bit rough on the way to Lisbon. Those have overnights for some of the stops.   

They have never done on line bookings. I call or use a travel agent.

I suspect not. Their floats are tethered to the ship. There can be enough current that an untethered raft might get too far from the ship.

Mayreau is mostly a beach stop with the beach BBQ provided and staffed by Windstar. The passenger capacity of a Star ship is larger than the island population, some people walk up to the small town, there is a bar near the dock and there is usually an excursion to a nearby Reef with a tiny island but mostly the stop is about the beach BBQ. As long as the beach is still there, it shouldn't be impacted by the hurricane.

Soufriere is a great stop. It's nice to be near the Pitons instead of having to cross the island to get to that area. Sorry, I don't know anything about the current state of the ports but it's a very nice itinerary.

I didn't need any printed paperwork to board so you don't need to worry about not having a printer. IIRC, I didn't need any electronic paperwork either. Just my passport. I think this is pretty typical of small ship lines.