Activities on Windstar

[West Windsor girl]

Are there any activities on the 3 non sailing ships - eg.. trivia, lectures, entertainment?

[milepig]

Yes. Some combination of the above. Likely trivia. One cruise we got the “liars club” with the officers. The shop manager - a wickedly hilarious Scot - one by a mile”. There may be an expert on board giving lectures - but not always. On a long stretch of sea days we had a cook off on deck, the best was a multi day Bollywood festival with popcorn. We’ve had photography classes. 

 

You will see much fewer on itins that are focused on the ports with long days in shore  I don’t remember much of anything in Iceland. Ditto on water sports focused trips. The food themes cruises will have tastings, regional food lectures, etc. 

 

The lecturers vary widely. In Tahiti we had an actual expert on the history of the region. Another time we had one who was more or less reading from Wikipedia. 

 

Entertainment, per se, is low key. Mostly some sort of combo by the bar in the afternoon and after dinner music with dancing. But, after a long day on shore followed by drinks and dinner many have their alarms set for six the next morning and are either off to bed or enjoying a night cap on deck enjoying the breeze and stars. 

[Spanky My]

Very few activities on board on the yachts . Limited entertainment as well. But the rooms are generally MUCH bigger with more comforts. Windstar cruises  are geared more towards  port intensive  cruises. It clearly at night is not like the big ships. On a positive note they go to places many larger cruise ships do. not. They carry  generally 200 instead of 3500 hundred  folks.which is huge. for relaxation .

 

 

[milepig]

I don't think there's any difference between the sailing ships and the yachts. They'll all equally low key - which is what we want, so the match it perfect.

[new_cruiser]

There is a duo that plays in the lounge or Star Bar. 

 

On the Alaska cruises, they have an expedition team of naturalists that give lectures, often based on what was seen that day; lead the expedition excursions; and do wildlife spotting while sailing. On the Asia sailings in 2018, they had a lecturer who gave talks on Asian culture, history, etc. He was also on the Pacific crossing from Asia to Alaska. He gave two talks per day on sea days. We didn't have a lecturer on board for the European cruise or the Panama Canal and Costa Rica cruise I took (though I've seen mention that they sometimes do have one). 

 

On the crossing, we had a trivia quiz each sea day with small prizes at the end of the cruise to the top teams. Most of the time there has been one on the sea day of a port intensive cruise, but one didn't have it.

 

Every sailing I've been on has had a crew talent show - I think that's pretty much a constant. There is almost always a deck BBQ (though sometimes it has been held in Amphora due to weather). That often has line dancing and there will be practice sessions before hand for those who want to learn the dances. Caribbean and Panama Canal/Costa Rica cruises usually have a beach BBQ day - water toys are brought to the beach for that. 

 

Often there will be other activities offered once during the cruise such as: napkin folding, towel animal, cocktail making, galley tour (the motor yachts have a lot bigger galleys), cooking demo by the chef. Liar's club is fun (officers given odd words to define, only one has the correct definition and the audience tries to guess which one). On the crossing, there was knot tying on the bridge and they attempted star gazing but there was too much cloud cover. There was also a cooking contest of the Captain and Hotel Manager vs. the Chief Engineer and another officer that I can't remember judged by the Chef. That was pretty funny.

 

I agree that it is pretty much the same between the two types of ship. The variations are more due to itinerary and the particular crew aboard.

[Carolfay]

No rock-climbing wall?  No Andrew Lloyd-Webber knock-off show?  No casino?  Sounds perfect to me.

[Redtravel]

I do not need lots of entertainment. Need friendly people, great food, excellent service, and fun. Windstar has it all.

[Doh15]

The cabins have DVD players (and the library has DVDs). 

[milepig]

6 hours ago, Doh15 said:

The cabins have DVD players (and the library has DVDs). 

 

And we always check out a couple and return them I watched a few days later. To much to do, and normal DVD time turns into nap time. 

[ducklite]

On 7/28/2019 at 3:17 PM, milepig said:

 

And we always check out a couple and return them I watched a few days later. To much to do, and normal DVD time turns into nap time. 

I tried watching the same DVD three nights in a row and never made it past the opening credits.  My husband had enough of the "Groundhog Day" effect and took it back.  🤣

[CruiseOrLand]

I agree that the itinerary has more to do with it than the ship's propulsion means. We had an absolutely superb Polynesian Dance "club" (perhaps comparable to a serious and talented American "Irish Dance" club ... ) give an evening demonstration in Tahiti (sail ship). I was worried about the non-professional nature and wide range of ages of the performers, but it was excellent and memorable. They conveyed their passion for their culture.

 

On an Asian cruise (motor vessel), we had a satisfactory Geisha-style (I don't mean professional Geishas) performance program one day. We also had a young shore troupe do a daytime cultural performance in the Lounge.

 

I think you also mean, "what is there to do on a sea day?" Those days have more scheduled events, maybe one every 2 hours. Some of them are trivial (like Margarita making), some are substantive (like a galley tour), a very few cost money (like a wine tasting.) You should be aware that "lack of night life" is a common ... er ... not complaint, but, observation on this newsboard. That is fine with me. In fact, the singing duos are quite "satisfactory", but I don't care for a synthesized rhythm accompaniment, if you know what I'm talking about. I have often noticed an AA meeting quietly posted.

 

Regarding night life: I might add that if you sit with others at dinner, it is very difficult to finish eating before 9-9:30. That's an observation not a whine! Please be quiet returning to your room after nightclubbing.

[milepig]

22 hours ago, ducklite said:

I tried watching the same DVD three nights in a row and never made it past the opening credits.  My husband had enough of the "Groundhog Day" effect and took it back.  🤣

 

LOL. Back in the day our local PBS channel ran a Dr. Who every Saturday night starting at something like 11pm. We called it our road to sleep as neither of us ever made it more than 5 minutes.

[bplazo]

My favorite thing to  do is sit with a good book and watch the waves.

[LewiLewi]

Does the library on board the motor yachts have a good selection of novels? We will be crossing the Atlantic, many sea days and I don’t want to pack lots of books to read.

[milepig]

The library is iffy. Not to long ago many of the books were still stamped “Seaborne” so turnover is slow. They tend to be sort of what a friend calls “beach novels” light and you can pick it up, read a chapter, and then stare at the ocean for awhile. You’d find something.  

 

Most people I see have loaded up their kindle before they depart for the trip. 

 

Or actually reading kindle books on their iPad, not an actual Kindle. 

Edited August 10, 2019 by milepig

[ducklite]

I'm planning on leaving at least one, if not two books behind on the Legend next year.  I haven't any idea what yet, but they'll be recently published general interest non-fiction.  If I were going today it would probably be Elton John's autobiography and "Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup." 

I'm hoping that others might do the same so that the library had a nice selection on a variety of topics and types of books by the time I retire and take a trans-ocean on them a couple times a year.  🙂

[ellbon]

On 7/31/2019 at 2:03 PM, CruiseOrLand said:

 You should be aware that "lack of night life" is a common ... er ... not complaint, but, observation on this newsboard. That is fine with me. In fact, the singing duos are quite "satisfactory", but I don't care for a synthesized rhythm accompaniment, if you know what I'm talking about. I have often noticed an AA meeting quietly posted.

 

Regarding night life: I might add that if you sit with others at dinner, it is very difficult to finish eating before 9-9:30. That's an observation not a whine! Please be quiet returning to your room after nightclubbing.

I think I will be waking up the barman to get me a nightcap and find a snack on sit on the deck . i am not person and close many bars down. I am loading the Kindle but need enough books to last to the end of April between 3 cruise lines. 

Finish dinner at 9 i mostly roll into dinner about 830 or so.