Windstar Sailing on Wind Surf

I recently sailed on the beautiful Wind Surf, Windstar Cruises largest ship holding 342 guests. I sailed on the Classic Caribbean itinerary and while this was my first time on a sailing ship, this was not my first time sailing with Windstar.  ​Windstar is a luxury cruise line that currently has 6 ships (2 new ships are being built which will bring the total to 8 ships). Half of the current ships are sailing vessels, and the other half are power yachts.

The décor varies by ship and type of ship, but the atmosphere on board is relaxed and more barefoot luxury vs stuffy butler service luxury.

The food on board is very good and Windstar partners with the James Beard Foundation in both their menu planning as well as having James Beard nominated chefs on select voyages. Windstar does a great job of communicating what is in the food, so people with dietary restrictions, such as vegetarians, vegans, people who are gluten-free or people who need to follow a lower sodium or sugar diet, have options and know at a glance which options are best for their needs. Windstar is also happy to talk about your needs and create options that will work for you while on board. Depending on the ship, there are 4 or 5 places to eat on board which is a lot of variety on a smaller ship. Some are only open for dinner and some require advance reservations, but none
come at an additional cost.

Windstar is also accommodating and aims to please in many other ways on board. For example, I was reading a real paper book in my stateroom and I forgot to pack something I could use for a book mark (I’m out of practice) and was dog earring the pages. My room steward noticed this and gave me a Windstar bookmark. I went hiking in Dominica and came back with soaking wet shoes that simply would not dry in the humidity of the Caribbean. I spoke with my room steward who said he knew of a trick and 24 hours later, I had dry shoes. There are several luxury cruise lines that have excellent service, but in my experience, it is always a bit more formal. On Windstar, it
seems more like you are asking for a favor of a friend instead of having the butler bow and say yes, madam.

​The itineraries are really what I like about Windstar. They are very port intensive and, on this itinerary, we didn’t have any days at sea. This journey was about very comfortable transportation to islands that are difficult to get to any other way (many of the islands we visited have air connections that require you to fly back to the US to catch a connecting flight to get to the next island---craziness!).

We departed and ended the cruise in Saint Maarten and we were originally visiting Nevis, Dominica, St. Lucia, Guadeloupe, St. Barts, and St. Kitts. Due to a problem with a tender boat on board, Windstar had to contract with local tour boats to get us to and from the port (this is common in the Caribbean). Tenders are smaller boats used to bring you to the shore when the cruise ship in anchored off the coast. They were unable to find boats to help on St. Barts or Guadeloupe, so they substituted Antigua and Martinique. The only place we docked was Dominica.

Itinerary substitutions can happen with cruises…. I’ve written about it before. The itinerary you book is pretty much a suggested itinerary. If the weather is bad or the ship has mechanical problems or anything else goes wrong, the cruise will swap out ports or give you a day at sea.

The cruise line is not required to compensate you for this change. What I like about Windstar is they acknowledge that the port change is not something you want---you choose the cruise for a reason----and they offered us a future cruise credit worth 25% of what we paid for this cruise. Very generous when compared to other cruise lines that might give a $25 on board credit or a free drink ticket. Yes, that means to take advantage of the credit, you have to book another cruise. However, that generally isn’t an issue with Windstar loyalists. On our sailing, 52% of the people on board had sailed with Windstar before.

For those of you wondering when I am going to start talking about the amenities on board like the casino, water slide, pickleball court, etc…..I am not going to talk about those things, because Windstar ships don’t have them. They have a small pool and at least one hot tub. They have bars with live music, but no Broadway shows. Older kids are allowed to sail, but in general, everyone on board is an adult. There isn’t much entertainment on board and for those that love Windstar, they think that is fine.

Generally, on a 7 night sailing, you are in port until 9 or 10pm in 2 ports and the other nights, you read a book, work at the communal puzzle tables (more exciting than it sounds ) or hear the music or the waves. Windstar has a ceremonial sail away on every ship, but it is grander on the sailing ships as the sails are unfurled. It is a sight to
see at least one day of your cruise.

Windstar sails around the world and my other times sailing with Windstar were in Europe and Japan. They offer a mix of unique and traditional cruise itinerary options. Please let me know if you are interested in learning more or booking a cruise.