We chose Windstar to cruise through the Greek Isles. From the beginning it seemed odd - we heard almost nothing from Windstar other than itinerary changes and information posted on My Windstar. When they removed our reservation from My Windstar about a week prior to sailing I had to call them to ask if the ship was still going and we were still on it. Apparently all reservations are removed in the last week just for admin reasons - a heads up would have been appropriate.

We got to Athens and the hotel had no record of a reservation (We made it through Windstar). The hotel was helpful in rectifying this - though they clearly had not settled anything by the time they gave us a room a little over an hour later. The rest of embarkation was straightforward - though there was another port change handed to us as we boarded the ship (not a good ship to try to coordinate outside excursions on).

Given the acknowledged lack of activities onboard this ship this cruise seemed like a great fit - every day was scheduled in port. Unfortunately bad weather cancelled two ports (out of 6), so twice we all got to try to find activities on a ship not prepared for any sea days...how many times can you take napkin or towel folding? Luckily we were only slightly over 1/2 full - a full ship with sea days would have been unbearable (no room to sit or relax). While I don't hold Windstar accountable for the weather they do operate in a manner that increases the risk of a poor outcome. Because they elect to anchor out and tender in to most ports they are much more exposed to the impact of weather, additionally on our cruise the motors weren't operating up to speed (a fact I was able to verify in conversation with technicians who came on board before we left) so trying to make anything up with speed was almost impossible. These are old ships and clearly have issues even with maintenance. Read more