Somehow, Windstar just doesn't seem to understand what passengers expect at this level of cruising. It's little things like "put some books in the library", or "have pencils for the games", or "deliver a daily program to the cabins", or "have a few staff members with fluent English." And for Pete's sake, do something about the awful canned music.
They need overall quality control. Like, they need someone (the cruise director?) who is in charge and who will go to various public rooms every days and ask, like, "why is one channel of the music system not playing? All I can hear is the drums." (This happened one morning in the Yacht Club!)
Embarkation
4 out of 5
Embarkation was fine.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
2 out of 5
I was really disappointed with much of the food. It was schizo. Some items (desserts and breads) deserved 5+ stars, really top gourmet quality! However, I sent back several main courses. They could not even manage a baked potato. I swear some of the potato dishes were either frozen or instant! The baked potatoes were cooked hours in advance and belonged on a Golden Corral buffet line. Appetizers ranged from good to fair, main courses in both the main dining room and specialty restaurants ranged from fair to poor. The breakfast buffet was generally good, i.e. ****, with eggs cooked to order quite well, good waffles. Here too, though, there were some inedible items, like the sausage selections. The dining needs much better overall quality control.
Onboard Activities
1 out of 5
Bored out of my mind on sea days. There were not even any readable books in the library. One lecture per day (pretty good!), one trivia contest some days. I was glad I brought my Kindle.
For some reason Windstar did not deliver daily programs to the cabin. You have to use their aggravating on-board computer program, on either your t.v. set or your phone. Really a huge minus.
Library
1 out of 5
No books! Well, okay, a few travel guides and that was actually nice. There are some board games but there are no pencils to keep score. It's like, nobody's in charge.
Entertainment
1 out of 5
In general, there was a Colombian duo and a standard group from the Philippines, neither of them terrible but not particularly good, either. The duo did an outstanding "name that tune" contest. Minus one-star for blasting the decks with 100db music during sail-aways and the BBQ.
Also terrible was the canned music in the Verandah and Yacht Club. They had the equivalent of one CD for each; the Yacht Club, which was very nice in general, was plagued with Muzak appropriate to an elevator or grocery store. The music in the Verandah was actually pretty good, but we heard the same 15 or 20 tracks again and again and again!
Children's Programs
No children and no children's programs.
Service and Staff
3 out of 5
The service seemed to be in the training stage, by and large. Most of the staff tried very hard to do a good job, and attitude is so important in customer service jobs. But the training for lounge and dining room staff was not great. I mean, this cruise had a passenger-crew ration under 1.0! I think the crew got bored sometimes because they had nothing to do.
There is a huge problem in that only two or three of the staff spoke adequate English to hold a conversation. Public announcements were impossible to hear clearly because of this. I spent the cruise trying to communicate with staff, often with difficulty. I mean, they were trying to do a good job -- but it still didn't make for a luxury cruise experience.
Ship Quality
4 out of 5
Very clean and well-maintained! The layout was a bit awkward, apparently because it was stretched at some point. Some of the decor was hideous, like the carpeting in the central stairway. I took a picture, I'll try to post it so you can make up your own mind. The low ceilings and small rooms were not to my taste.
I must add, I thought the ship itself was pretty. I always like to see or sail on a beautiful ship, and the Star Pride is one of the best-looking anywhere!
Cabin / Stateroom
4 out of 5
Really the best standard cabin I have ever had. It was huge and the decor was decent. Unfortunately, I have to deduct one point, because the bed was a lot less than great. The little French balcony was quite nice and useful, to my surprise!
Ship tip
I'm not cruising on the Star Pride again, so I guess my advice would be, find another ship. It wasn't *that bad*, I can just get a product I like better for the same price.
Visit here if you possibly can and get an excursion up above the fjord. It's called the "king of Norwegian fjords" for a reason. Spectacular! Wake up early -- sailing in is a lifetime travel highlight.
Sorry you didn’t enjoy some aspects of your cruise on the Star Pride. We have sailed on her 3 times and have found everything 6 stars. Being post CoVid and the Star Pride only recently back in service after the “stretch”, thought should be given to possible staffing issues/ training.
I assume you did your research and read reviews. One of the things we like about Windstar Cruises is there are no shows, no formal nights and guests are able to relax and enjoy reading or just watch the world go by on sea days.
Maybe you will give Windstar another chance. Finally, does the carpet on the stairs really matter?
Interesting. We have cruised multiple times on the sailboats windtar and windsurf pre Covid. Always had a great time with excellent food and service. Sea days we are always happy longing on deck and reading from Kindle or actual books. Limited entertainment but always a pleasant evening at compass rose. We are booked on Star Pride for this March hopefully we will have a better experience. We'll write a review.
Thanks for sharing your cruise experience. We always bring our own travel games and books so we don’t have to rely on the ship for those things. Sounds like you had great experiences in the ports of call but ship did not meet your expectations.
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