cruise ports lacking interest
Star Pride Cruise Review to Europe - Eastern Mediterranean
9 Night Venetian Passageways (Athens To Venice)
Sail date: June 16, 2016
Ship: Star Pride
Cabin type: Suite
Cabin number: 210
Traveled as: Couple
Reviewed: 8 years ago
Review summary
best part was food and service; although uneven, it was apparent the crew's job was to be pleasing. Special kudos to Chef Darrin who made every encounter special (demonstration, market tour) and created a lovely presentation for our table when we asked for a special appetizer. With one exception (we were yelled at by a waiter because 'we took too long' - he said 'I have other tables!' - we noticed he had one other table), the crew in most cases makes an effort to please. Having said that, poached eggs should not come out under cooked and then over cooked, the bathtub should not be blocked, sinks should not be leaking and air conditioning and Jacuzzi tubs should be in working order. We advised staff but the Jacuzzi was never fixed. The cruise ports were not exceptional; some of the ports consisted of a small town (all stores were closed but they were ordinary shops, what might be found in any lower middle class area for local shopping), this might have been the Montenegro and Corfu stops. In other words, you would never hop into a car and decide to visit these places. Windstar boasts that its small ships enable visits to interesting ports that larger ships cannot dock at but that SHOULD NOT MEAN NO OTHER SHIP WOULD WANT TO DOCK AT THE SELECTED PORTS BECAUSE THEY HAVE NO SIGNIFICANCE! We did the HIGHLIGHTS OF MONTENEGRO; a complete waste of time, we were driven around for hours, there were two 5-minute stops off the side of the road (!) for the view, then a stop at a restaurant (located next to an abandoned building) where plates with a few pieces ham had already been laid out on table (who know how long?). I can guarantee that no one asked for seconds! The only part interesting was the short walk to old town at end, where the tour guide spoke a few minutes. The rest of the commentary by this guide, OMG terrible, uninteresting, repetitive, no interest/ability to connect with tour passengers. We along with a few other participants made Windstar staff (Richard) aware - don't you think Windstar should have reimbursed us for this (we spent $200) disastrous waste of time? We decided not to take any other excursions based on this awful experience! I know Windstar takes an interest in improving its service, please feel free to contact for additional details.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
Onboard Activities
Entertainment
Service and Staff
Ship Quality
Cabin / Stateroom
Ship tip
feel free to ask for special attention food items and or drinks, be sure to use your mini bar if it's included. Reminder that spa items include gratuity; we asked but were told it wasn't and winded up giving a double gratuity (which we had corrected by management).
Ports of call
Itea (Delphi), Greece