Wind Surf 2018 Westbound T/A And Afterwards

[Griller]

We just did our first Transatlantic on Wind Surf and really enjoyed it.  Food and service was excellent, and there was some entertainment in a daily Trivia, with cumulative scoring, some teams won once or twice but a team called Short School Bus won over half so got the trophy. Questions were weird to say the least, the ships photographer Marie hosted some games, and Gus the Future Cruise guy some others, and Felipe and Joanna the shore excursions crew also helped out.

Gus also gave lectures on Art.

We also had an interesting series of lectures on sailing ships etc by a guest lecturer David Hirzel which were well attended.

It really wasn't at all boring even with a dozen days at sea without sight of land.

There was a cold and cough going round the ship, both  passengers and crew were suffering from it. Even the ship's doctor had it, so did we but it wasn't too bad.

 

However once we  finished the Transatlantic and started our week around the islands the cuisine suffered a bit, it was still OK -ish  but with the wonderful rotund Executive Chef from Bulgaria and 8 of his galley staff leaving the ship the new and suspiciously thin Chef Bert from Germany was obviously struggling.

He didn't even provide lobster that week at the deck BBQ, we always had it before, and steaks in Amphora were not good, the filet mignon in the other dining rooms were fine though.

I hope he improves soon for the  next cruises coming up. Complaints were made to the Hotel Manager.

[minidonuts85]

Thanks for your review and a got a good chuckle about the rotund and thin chef comments. I've always heard "never trust a thin chef" haha!

 

What was your itinerary around the islands and what was the conclusion on your diet-mixer dilemma? 

[Griller]

Wind Surf had Diet Tonic, Diet Sprite and Diet Coke so it was much better for us.

 

We also managed to score a toilet brush in the bathroom. Missing last time.

 

Still not much in the way of choice of sugarfree desserts, always one though,  and no sign of any sugar free jelly or jams.

Little pots of delicious English jam were great. Full of sugar but delicious and compelling.

And Twinings tea is always good. Lots of varieties of it.

Butter was French  President brand  wrapped portions for the T/A and a US brand afterwards.

There were some great cheeses available including nicely ripe French soft cheeses.

 

Candles and Stella were wonderful.

After a couple of less than wonderful dishes in Amphora with the arrival  of Bert the new Chef we didn't eat there again. Not much of a hardship, the last 3 nights for us were Deck BBQ (NO LOBSTER) , Candles and Stella. The MaitreD' was very accommodating and we never had any problem eating where we wanted and when we wanted. 

 

There were about 200 passengers on the T/A and the ship was about full on the following 7 days, visiting St Kitts, Ile des Saintes, St Bart, Dominica, Antigua, Pigeon Island for the beach BBQ, not visiting in that order though.

 

We didn't use the sails much on the crossing as the wind was against us, but they were good around the island afterwards at times.

 

It was a little choppy for the first few days of the crossing but not much fell over and I don't think any passengers were injured.

 

We will be repeating the T/A on WindSurf as soon as we can, and hope to meet many of the same friendly passengers who were on this time.

We do have SeaDream 1 booked next April but think we might cancel as it broke down last week and had to return from the current  T/A crossing. And its not the first problem with the ship. Too worrying for a T/A in such a tiny ship, one third the tonnage of WindSurf.

 

[minidonuts85]

Great to hear about the diet mixers and I do enjoy Diet Sprite. I wonder if Burt the thin chef will be onboard on our sailing in 24 days LOL

We planned to make at least one reservation for Candles and a couple for Stella; glad to hear you didnt have much trouble securing a reservation.

 

Did you use the laundry service? If so, is it a bag of laundry and fit a decent amount of clothes? Thanks!

[ridethetide]

3 hours ago, minidonuts85 said:

Great to hear about the diet mixers and I do enjoy Diet Sprite. I wonder if Burt the thin chef will be onboard on our sailing in 24 days LOL

We planned to make at least one reservation for Candles and a couple for Stella; glad to hear you didnt have much trouble securing a reservation.

 

Did you use the laundry service? If so, is it a bag of laundry and fit a decent amount of clothes? Thanks!

You can fit a lot of clothes in the laundry bags.  We love the service and it allows us to travel lighter.

[minidonuts85]

2 hours ago, ridethetide said:

You can fit a lot of clothes in the laundry bags.  We love the service and it allows us to travel lighter.

 

Thank you! We have a week long land trip post cruise and would like to do a couple of laundry bags. Not sure we need to buy the daily laundry but might buy two days worth in advance. $16/day for two peoples-worth of laundry seems reasonable.

[ridethetide]

6 minutes ago, minidonuts85 said:

 

Thank you! We have a week long land trip post cruise and would like to do a couple of laundry bags. Not sure we need to buy the daily laundry but might buy two days worth in advance. $16/day for two peoples-worth of laundry seems reasonable.

I didn't realize that you can buy it by the day.  I thought you had to buy the whole package or else just pay for each item individually that is laundered.

[Griller]

2 hours ago, ridethetide said:

 

 

We had free laundry and just sent a couple of items a day each, they came back nicely pressed on hangers or in a paper bag if they were small items,  never any problem even with delicate items, no holes or bleach stains etc like we have often had on Princess.

Edited December 4, 2018 by Griller

[minidonuts85]

1 hour ago, ridethetide said:

I didn't realize that you can buy it by the day.  I thought you had to buy the whole package or else just pay for each item individually that is laundered.

 

Hmm I went back to look at the form and I think I just read it wrong; appears you are correct. I saw "number of days" and thought I could pick the # of days, but the verbiage in red says priced by total # of days in the cruise.

Thanks for pointing that out!

 

    PERSONAL LAUNDRY SERVICE PACKAGE

Package includes laundry service for two occupants per cabin.

Number of days

Price per day

Subtotal

_____

x $16

_____

Single occupant package price is 1/2 of the package price shown above.

Number of days

Price per day

Subtotal

_____

x $8

_____

Package must be added by the first day of the cruise and will be priced by the total

number of cruise days. Pricing is inclusive of applicable taxes.

 

[Petoonya]

What was the weather like on the crossing portion? Trying to figure out how to pack for next year 11/30/19.

[Griller]

Weather was wet in Lisbon at the beginning, and not too warm for the first few days, around 60 degrees  then as we approached the Caribbean it became comfortably warmer getting up to the usual 80 or so.

Personally I was never cold but I have a wide tolerance for all sorts of climate, and tend to wear just a shirt and cotton pants all year round unless travelling in winter by public transport.

[Petoonya]

Thanks Griller!