Jump to content

Wind Star trans-Atlantic Crossing Review


mariners
 Share

Recommended Posts

new-cruiser, we sailed on the motor ships when they were with Seabourn. They are quite a bit different than the sailing ships. We haven't sailed on them since Windstar bought them so I can't give you any current information.

 

I can tell you that we loved the ships, the size of the cabins, and the ease of meeting other people.

 

The trans-Pacific crossing is a wonderful itinerary. We did it on a different cruise line, and have been to some of the same ports - Osaka, Kochi, Busan, Nagasaki, and Tokyo. Loved them!

 

The only tough thing about the itinerary is the number of hours you lose on the crossing.

 

I have no doubt that you will have a great experience.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I was on the Star Legend with my husband last May so I don't need any info on that. I've been on the Wind Surf and the Wind Star but those cruises were years ago. Both the "Wind" and the "Star" ships are appealing to me and I'm familiar with the differences. Love the big cabins on Star Legend, but even before remodel, the Wind cabins were comfortable for us. I'll be solo on the upcoming cruise as DH isn't interested in an ocean crossing nor in returning to Alaska. The cabin will be really huge for just one person. Both kinds of ship have plenty of deck and "public" inside spaces to socialize or be on ones own outside the cabin.

 

All my prior cruises on Windstar have been 8 day, one sea day ones so this will be quite a departure and I was most interested in what the activities might be like.

 

Overall, I'll gain time on the cruise because of crossing the international date line, but I suppose you are referring to losing one hour per day most days (clock moves 6 hours earlier in the course of 9 days at sea). I'm pretty good at coping with time changes so don't think this will be a problem for me.

 

The ports on this crossing are all North of Yokohama, Miyako, Hakodate and Kushiro, so only the departure port Yokohama (Tokyo) will be one of the ones you listed. I'm thinking of going to Japan early enough to spend a few days in Osaka and Kyoto before departure. I've spent some time in Yokohama and Tokyo before (mostly business trips but some sight seeing arriving a day early to get unjet-lagged before meetings and sometimes a weekend between meetings).

 

I'm doing the Star Collector that includes the voyage after the crossing too so it will be 27 days - 13 for Japan and the crossing and 14 in Alaska.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My review of our trans-Atlantic crossing has been posted:

 

 

 

https://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=599880

 

 

 

If anyone has any questions, please feel free to ask away.

 

 

 

Thank you for your review of the Trans Atlantic Crossing on Windstar. How many passengers were aboard? Sorry to hear about all the noise from workers who were aboard doing maintenance. Was there any effort made by the officers or hotel manager to mitigate it, or to confine the time work was being performed?

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

Link to comment
Share on other sites

gymswim, I can't remember how many passengers there were onboard. The ship was not full, but there were all of the individuals from Greece who were working on the sails.

 

As far as I know, the work was all completed during daylight hours. We had the crew working on the sails, other crew working on the calking between the boards on the deck, and crew who worked on the sports deck as well as crew (perhaps the same people) working in the bow area where the zodiacs are located.

 

We have always had maintenance on a ship take place on sailings as there is always varnishing, painting, etc. As I stated in my review, we had a great time; but, that being said, we would not choose to sail on a ship if we knew that there was going to be extensive work taking place every day. We believe that this was a "one off" and would not hesitate to sail Windstar again in the future.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Thank you very much for your follow up, Mariners. Very interesting. On our trans Atlantic Crossing this past November on Windstar Surf, we had workers aboard as well. All of the workers (mostly Eastern European) were housed in deck 1. Every passenger who had originally been assigned on deck 1 were moved up to deck 2. Fortunately the workers activities didn't impact us as much as they apparently impacted you on the smaller ship. The bulk of the work was being done in the crew quarters bathrooms forward. There was only one evening when we heard banging and welding noise around 9 pm which fortunately didn't last long.

There was also work being done in two of the life boats as well as some outdoor caulking / painting. Like you, we were not so bothered by it that we would hesitate signing up again in a future trans Atlantic voyage. We had a lovely cruise.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Please sign in to comment

You will be able to leave a comment after signing in



Sign In Now
 Share

  • Forum Jump
    • Categories
      • Welcome to Cruise Critic
      • New Cruisers
      • Cruise Lines “A – O”
      • Cruise Lines “P – Z”
      • River Cruising
      • ROLL CALLS
      • Digital Photography & Cruise Technology
      • Special Interest Cruising
      • Cruise Discussion Topics
      • UK Cruising
      • Australia & New Zealand Cruisers
      • Canadian Cruisers
      • North American Homeports
      • Ports of Call
      • Cruise Conversations
×
×
  • Create New...