Windstar Spirit

would love to hear the good and bad. A friend and I are looking to cruise in 2020.

Best time of year for Tahiti?

Thanks :cool:

Was in Tahiti in July 2017. I would still choose summer as it is the drier season. If you have no choice, then you still have to go. It's an amazing experience.

Nothing to complain about except maybe the dining option onboard that does not reflect the island experience. All Windstar ship are supplied by the same company. But then, it' only my personal comment (food was still excellent)

You need to add a few days before or after the cruise. We do not regret anything. Please note that a few more airlines are serving Tahiti and the fare have dropped in the last few months. French airline FrenchBee is departing from San-Francisco to Papeete a few times a week.

Was in Tahiti in July 2017. I would still choose summer as it is the drier season. If you have no choice, then you still have to go. It's an amazing experience.

 

Nothing to complain about except maybe the dining option onboard that does not reflect the island experience. All Windstar ship are supplied by the same company. But then, it' only my personal comment (food was still excellent)

 

You need to add a few days before or after the cruise. We do not regret anything. Please note that a few more airlines are serving Tahiti and the fare have dropped in the last few months. French airline FrenchBee is departing from San-Francisco to Papeete a few times a week.

They do vary the food a bit, On our recent Japan itin we had some choices that were "Japanized" a bit and also several sort of East Asian soups.

United is also now flying from SFO three times a week, which adds a convenient *alliance carrier into the mix.

We have done Tahiti twice with Windstar. Both times in December, which is the rainy season. We lucked out both times and didn't have any rain to speak of. Just a little at night or first thing in the morning. Nothing that affected any of our plans.

We enjoyed the food as the menu varies each night, and I don't think I ate the same thing twice. The service and crew were outstanding and we love the smaller ship.

They do vary the food a bit, On our recent Japan itin we had some choices that were "Japanized" a bit and also several sort of East Asian soups.

 

United is also now flying from SFO three times a week, which adds a convenient *alliance carrier into the mix.

So how was the Japan itinerary? We'd love to know.

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So how was the Japan itinerary? We'd love to know.

 

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We enjoyed it.

Departure from Yokohama rather than Tokyo itself seemed odd, but worked wonderfully. Yokohama is a lovely city worth a visit, a great shopping area close to the port, a few museums, and the people were lovely. You need to get the pancakes with the mountain of whipped cream! We were sent off to a full brass band and seemingly hundreds of people who showed up to wave flags, in the rain!! We walked to the port from our hotel with no problem in maybe 20 minutes.

We missed Shimizu due to stormy weather and high unpredictable waves. The remaining ports were all interesting in various ways. In all cases we docked so no tenders, many were just getting up to speed on cruise ships and don't see many ships. We had many welcomes and departures including one with am amazing group of drummers. In almost every port people just showed up to start waving at us.

Many ports were largely industrial and not really walking distance to anything. Kagoshima and Sasebo were marked exceptions. In Kagoshima the cruise dock is very close to the ferry to Sakurajima island and they sell a very inexpensive day pass for both the ferry and island transport. In Sasebo the train station and main area was literally a 5 minute walk and several groups were taking the train to Nagasaki instead of the ship tour. People kept asking for directions to the train station and the crew just said "walk off the ship and you'll see it, really."

I did find that the tours got a little repetative as in "today we're going to see a castle and temple/shrine" although most guides were good. I think WS is still figuring out tours since Japan is fairly new to them. We skipped the Atomic Bomb sites in Hiroshima and instead went to Miyajima island which was enchanting. A combination of an etherial temple and good shopping/food. You need to take a taxi to the ferry port but it wasn't a long journey, the only issue was that on the way back the taxi driver took us to the wrong port and bit of an adventure followed.

The stop in Busan Korea was a bit of a head scratcher, we again had a private tour and a nice day but I saw no real logic in traveling all that way just to make one stop. Rumor on board was that it was included so WS could restock the ship for less money in Korea.

We did note that fresh food got sketchier and sketchier as the cruise went on - by the day before we reached Busan fresh fruit was almost non-existent, after the Busan stop things got back to normal. Other things were oddly not available. The breakfast buffet was pretty much the same offering every day and things like hash browns (despite remaining on the menu with many of the items on offer) were NEVER available.

Weather improved each day - at the beginning all meals were in Amphora and by the end we were having Breakfast and Lunch at the Veranda and sitting outside.

We enjoyed it.

 

Departure from Yokohama rather than Tokyo itself seemed odd, but worked wonderfully. Yokohama is a lovely city worth a visit, a great shopping area close to the port, a few museums, and the people were lovely. You need to get the pancakes with the mountain of whipped cream! We were sent off to a full brass band and seemingly hundreds of people who showed up to wave flags, in the rain!! We walked to the port from our hotel with no problem in maybe 20 minutes.

 

We missed Shimizu due to stormy weather and high unpredictable waves. The remaining ports were all interesting in various ways. In all cases we docked so no tenders, many were just getting up to speed on cruise ships and don't see many ships. We had many welcomes and departures including one with am amazing group of drummers. In almost every port people just showed up to start waving at us.

 

 

Many ports were largely industrial and not really walking distance to anything. Kagoshima and Sasebo were marked exceptions. In Kagoshima the cruise dock is very close to the ferry to Sakurajima island and they sell a very inexpensive day pass for both the ferry and island transport. In Sasebo the train station and main area was literally a 5 minute walk and several groups were taking the train to Nagasaki instead of the ship tour. People kept asking for directions to the train station and the crew just said "walk off the ship and you'll see it, really."

 

I did find that the tours got a little repetative as in "today we're going to see a castle and temple/shrine" although most guides were good. I think WS is still figuring out tours since Japan is fairly new to them. We skipped the Atomic Bomb sites in Hiroshima and instead went to Miyajima island which was enchanting. A combination of an etherial temple and good shopping/food. You need to take a taxi to the ferry port but it wasn't a long journey, the only issue was that on the way back the taxi driver took us to the wrong port and bit of an adventure followed.

 

The stop in Busan Korea was a bit of a head scratcher, we again had a private tour and a nice day but I saw no real logic in traveling all that way just to make one stop. Rumor on board was that it was included so WS could restock the ship for less money in Korea.

 

 

We did note that fresh food got sketchier and sketchier as the cruise went on - by the day before we reached Busan fresh fruit was almost non-existent, after the Busan stop things got back to normal. Other things were oddly not available. The breakfast buffet was pretty much the same offering every day and things like hash browns (despite remaining on the menu with many of the items on offer) were NEVER available.

 

 

Weather improved each day - at the beginning all meals were in Amphora and by the end we were having Breakfast and Lunch at the Veranda and sitting outside.

Thanks so much for sharing. Sounds wonderful. With these added itineraries the decisions are harder. We are anticipating a smaller supply of fresh fruit on Alaska cruise next month. Glad to hear on your other post that Legend is in good shape.

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