Sailing vs power

[MICHE99]

How do the Windstar vessels compare to the bigger cruise ships when it comes to the rocking of the boat? My mom is 83 and I just had my hip replaced. Will the motion be an issue?

[rafinmd]

As they say "your experience may differ", and I'm not very qualified since I sailed transatlantic rather than in the Caribbean. I thought the ship was GENERALLY pretty stable but had some significant motion issues when under sail power. The stabilizers do a very good of keeping the ship stable, but require a faster movement of water across them than occurs when under sail power. I don't really know how much the ship runs under sail power alone in the Carribean; perhaps others can advise on that. My hunch is that if motion is an issue in terms of real pain, that's a lot harder to fight than seasickness, and that this is not a good time for your first cruise on Windstar.

[Mike2131]

How do the Windstar vessels compare to the bigger cruise ships when it comes to the rocking of the boat? My mom is 83 and I just had my hip replaced. Will the motion be an issue?

We found the Wind Surf very stable with little rocking (just enough to gently put you to sleep) on our Southbound RT from Barbados last month. As the previous poster noted, you experience might differ. Also, since this was our first Windstar cruise, our experience is limited to the Wind Surf.

[Nexi]

Just got off the Windstar a week ago in Costa Rica. The Windstar is the smaller boat, so if movement were to be a problem, this boat would feel it. We were fortunate to be able to do alot of sailing vs sailing/engines as the winds were good and the schedule allowed for it. There was no difference in the movement of the boat. The stabilizers work very well, and you feel very little. At times, I do remember walking in the dining room at night, the boat pitched a bit, but nothing compared to the movement I have felt on the big boats in the Caribbean.

 

We've been on 5 Windstar cruises and the boats (size, layout, comfort) are terrific.

[Riverroad]

The two smaller ships, Wind Star & Wind Spirit, do not have elevators. Depending on what deck you're on, there could be four flights of stairs to the lounge/dining room and an additional flight to the Veranda restaurant and pool deck. This could be a bigger issue for you than the motion. The larger ship, the Wind Surf, does have elevators so it may be a better choice.

[MICHE99]

Thanks, everyone. I'll need to give those stairs some consideration.