Windstar Cruise Lines

Windstar Cruises at value pricing!

Windstar Cruises, for the cruise of your life:

There has never been a better time to find a Windstar cruise adventure at prices so low.  The fun and excitement of sailing the open seas and waters on a Windstar sailing ship is magical.  We say welcome to our Windstar Cruise site.  Are you still thinking about taking a cruise vacation?  Have your friends been on a Windstar Cruise?  Have you heard about the fun and casual sport minded cruise life-style that Windstar Cruises is famous for?  Do you dream of quite nights sailing with sails flowing in the wind as you sail to your next port of call?  Are you ready for a Windstar Cruise adventure?  Cruise prices have never been better.  Are you ready to try us and SEA!!!!

Looking for something different and unique?  Windstar cruises might be for you.  Sailing under the banner of its appropriate catch phrase 180 degrees from ordinary, Windstar offers a luxury on-board product and superb signature cuisine by renowned L.A. chef Joachim Splichal, yet with a casual, intimate ambiance and dress code.  Windstar is truly a different experience.   Cruises that offer that quiet pace of a sail yacht yet with amenities that match the freedom of the name Windstar.  This wonderful cruise line is maturing and approaching 20 years of age.  Windstar Cruise lines is still sailing under the banner tag "180degrees from Ordinary".  Created from a vision to offer a distinct alternative to the typical cruise on the typical cruise line.  The adventurer who takes a Windstar cruise will see the world from a different view, yet elegant atmosphere with exquisite service and cuisine.  Windstar Cruises still 180 degrees from the Ordinary after almost 20 years. Wind star cruises will show you the difference.

In keeping with the ship ambiance, Windstar guests leave their ties and formal wear at home.  We are a luxury travel company that can help with your vacation planning from start to finish. Please visit our friends at Windstar Cruises for the latest specials and discounts from Windstar Cruise Lines.  WindstarCruises for the best in casual small ship cruising.

Windstar's concept of sailing has lead the cruise industry in the luxury small ship, casual attire, and alternative dining arenas. Pioneering and refining these concepts has earned Windstar an excellent reputation and market niche, winning the allegiance of a new generation of contemporary cruise vacationers, one-third of whom are first-time cruisers.  LuxuryCruises.com can be a great way to see some of the great cities of the world.

Teak decking, rich wood interiors, an attentive service staff, intimate surroundings, eclectic artwork, exceptional signature cuisine featuring both light and vegetarian menu selections, and an extensive wine list are some of the extraordinary elements which have become synonymous with Windstar. Features unique to the Wind Surf include 31 deluxe suites, a Business/Internet Center, The Bistro, and the 10,000 square foot WindSpa offering a full array of spa treatments, consultative, health and fitness programs.

As a passenger, you are cradled in comfort as all staterooms and suites offer ocean views, sitting area, TV, VCR, CD player, safe, mini-bar/refrigerator, international direct-dial phones, bathroom with toiletries, hair dryer, plush robes, and plenty of closet space. The library on board stocks an array of international newspapers, books and games, as well as a multi-media selection of more than 500 video titles and compact discs available for complimentary check-out.

The typical Windstar Cruise ship will have just 148 to 308 guests, Windstar Cruise ships provide a yacht-like atmosphere that helps create friendships between fellow cruisers.  Each and every day on a Windstar Cruise offers the excitement of a new beginning and a new adventure to explore.  If you require any assistance with cruise travel planning, please look at the latest in itineraries, ship amenities and specials for Windstar Cruises worldwide.

Windstar Cruises is always looking to provide you, the cruise customer, with new and exciting destinations.  In recent years, Windstar Cruises has begun service to include Northern Europe, Baltic, Malta and Tunisia.  These new and exciting ports of call help Windstar Cruises expand the routine into new and adventurous countries waiting to be explored. 

You will find a pleasant mixture in the shore excursions and complimentary water sports activities offered at each destination.  Passengers may find themselves sailing through Caribbean waters aboard an actual America's Cup racing yacht, or exploring ruins in Greece.  The water buffs can enjoy complimentary water-skiing, windsurfing, snorkeling, kayaking and "banana" boat rides from the ship's aft sports platform.

Windstar Cruise vacations offer a window to the world, adding the refinement of a luxury hotel with a moveable array of cultural experiences.

Windstar Cruises is a Seattle-based company that operates the 308-passenger Wind Surf and 148- passenger Wind Star and Wind Spirit. The three ships cruise to over 47 countries worldwide.  When looking for a casual sailing adventure worldwide, think Windstar Cruises.

The typical cruise customer will find that by day, shorts and light shirts are the norm.  The attitude for dinner and later in the evening, women typically wear casual sun dresses or pant suits, and men can be found in a pair of light-weight slacks and a polo or button-up shirt. Dinner is served with one open seating.  Day or night, Windstar ships offer the finest in dinning options.

An award-winning line, Windstar’s three sail cruise ships find the un-charted grounds, small-ship destinations, including Costa Rica, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Panama Canal, Virgin Islands, Greek and Turkish Isles, French and Italian Rivieras, Italy’s Amalfi coast, and the Windward Islands from Barbados. Windstar Cruises finished among the top three small ship lines in Condé Nast Traveler’s Readers’ Survey and has been the top cruise line for destinations the past five years.  Windstar Cruises is an upscale sport cruise experience, please remember to bring your tennis shoes and the yearning for outdoor spirit and adventure.

Listen for the sails when they open against a sky, blue as a ocean. Teak decks warm the soles of your bare feet. A staff member, gracious yet unobtrusive, seems to magically appear with an ice-cold rum punch or an extra fluffy pillow just as you've thought of it. Your dress is casually elegant - a style unique to Windstar where no jackets or ties are required.  No tie required, just good taste.

Welcome to a place that can't be pinpointed by compass or sextant.

Close your eyes and you hear gulls, laughter, light winds, the splash of the sea. Open them, and gaze at lines running up to sails that stretch to an infinite blue sky. Ahead, just off the azure horizon, lie the most dreamed-of places in the world: Bequia... Drake Bay... Santorini... St. Tropez... Welcome to a place that's 180 degrees from ordinary. It's called Windstar, and we're sailing... today.

About Windstar Cruises:

Wind Star Cruises sleek masted sailing ships with computer-directed sails, offer the perfect balance of sophisticated pampering, exceptional service, luxurious amenities amidst an oh-so-casual atmosphere. Wind Song, Wind Spirit, Wind Star and Wind Surf carry between 148 and 312 passengers, in spacious modern staterooms and suites.

Passenger to crew ratios are a very high 1.5 to 1, and the superb level personalized service is the result. Passengers tend to be somewhat younger and more highly educated than on most cruises because of the unusual ports and variety of hard and soft adventure.

"Casual Elegance" is the designated dress code. Guests leave their ties and formal wear at home in favor of country club casual sportwear. There are few organized activities and none of the typical cruise line Vegas-style reviews. Passengers linger over dinner sampling delicious entrees developed by renowned chef Joachim Splichal of L.A.'s Patina, Pinot Bistro and Octavio Becerra; Sail Light and Vegetarian meals were designed by health guru Jeanne Jones, developer of spa menus for Canyon Ranch spa and the Pritikin Longevity Center.  Windstar cruise lines was sold last year and the new owners have pledged to make the Windstar experience even better!  Wow!

Wind Star and Wind Spirit:

Unfurling in just two minutes, some 21,000-plus square feet of sails reach into the skies at the push of a button. Sails are the first thing most notice about Windstar’s ships, but a unique knack for delivering gourmet cuisine, fine wines, and personal service in a friendly unpretentious style, is what guests remember fondly when they return.

The Wind Star (1986) and her sister ship Wind Spirit (1988) are four-masted sail cruise ships accommodating 148 passengers in 73 all-outside, identical 188-square-foot cabins and one 220-square-feet owner's suite.

Wind Surf:

In May 1998, a new generation of Windstar ship emerged. Accommodating 308 guests, the five-masted Wind Surf adds two major features to the Windstar experience. The ship has 31 deluxe suites with convertible twin/queen bed, separate living areas and his and her bathrooms.

Originally built in 1990 as Club Med I, in 1998 she was purchased by Windstar Cruises, at which time several suites were added, along with a huge spa and enlarged fitness area, and an alternative dining room, the Bistro, modeled on L.A. super chef Joachim Splichal's Pinot Bistro restaurant. Though built by the same shipyard and along the same design lines as the original Windstar ships, she differs in a number of respects, most deriving from her increased size -- nearly triple the Gross Register Tonnage of her sisters.

Wind Surf was refit in December 2000 to include a new gangway easing embarkation/debarkation, a new Business Center featuring a Meeting Room and Computer Center, a remodeled Lounge and Casino, and new decor and seating configurations in each of the ship's three dining rooms.

The ship shares much with her smaller sisters -- all provide an unstructured, sophisticated, upscale, destination-driven cruise experience to under-visited ports inaccessible to the larger conventional lines. All are true motor-sailers, with substantial time spent under sail power when conditions allow. All have shed the classic cruise trappings of densely scheduled activities, dressy evenings and lavish production shows, substituting instead a dress code of "casual elegance," open seating restaurant-like dining.

There are, however, a number of areas of difference. Those who prefer the smaller ships cite their higher level of personalized service, more intimate atmosphere, and a more "yacht-like" feel, as opposed to that of a floating resort. We found these criticisms to be legitimate, especially on the personalized service front. Aboard Wind Surf, however, we found levels of service well below Windstar's typically high standards in a number of areas. We waited two hours between salad and entree at dinner one evening. We lacked hot water in our shower for three days, and repeated requests to three departments were required before the problem was fixed. We found the reception desk and shore excursion department sometimes inattentive and insensitive to legitimate passenger needs, occasionally downright obdurate. We hope these faults can be ascribed to the fact that we were aboard on the last segment before transatlantic repositioning, and may have caught some personnel at the end of their contracts.

Wind Surf's fans tout the fact that she does feel less like a yacht and more like a ship, and point to the amenities that derive from her larger size; a much more extensive spa and fitness facility, greater passenger/space ratio (47.23 vs. 36), and better stability. Those who like more living space point to the suites, unique to Wind Surf. Some champion the inclusion of elevators, though this is a specious argument, since the steep, 40-step, narrow gangway is as much of a climb as the inside stairways on the smaller ships. Others like the fact that on Wind Surf it is possible to reach any point on the ship without having to go outside.

In the news:

Windstar Cruises - A Unique Concept In Cruising

Sailing under the banner of its appropriate tag line "180º From Ordinary," Windstar was created in the mid-1980's with the vision to offer an alternative to the typical cruise or resort vacation. The Windstar passenger sees the world from a romantic sailing ship with luxurious accommodations, a casual yet elegant atmosphere, and exquisite service and cuisine.

The Ships

In late 1986, the first commercial sailing vessel built in 60 years slipped out of a French dry-dock in Le Havre. Although the towering sails echoed a bygone era of explorers, the msy Wind Star, with its sleek lines and computerized controls, was revolutionary in concept and design.

Windstar's ships are officially motor-sail-yachts (msy), but the designation belies the vessels' unique rigging. Unfurling in two minutes at the push of a button, billowing white sails reach to the sky. All functions are operated from the bridge by computer micro-chips and navigational devices. The unusual "open-bridge" operation allows guests to drop by and acquaint themselves with the veteran captains and officers who demonstrate the ships' intriguing capabilities to modern day explorers.

The 148-passenger Wind Star was joined by sister ships the msy Wind Song in 1987, and msy Wind Spirit in 1988. A new era in luxury cruising was now being pioneered by Windstar Cruises. Nearly a decade later in 1998, the 312-passenger msy Wind Surf was acquired by Windstar. Sailing originally as Club Med I, the Wind Surf was built in 1990 in the same shipyard to strikingly similar specifications as her sister ships, making her a perfect match for the four fleet family.

Shipboard Life

Windstar's unique concept of sailing has led the cruise industry in the luxury small ship, casual attire, and alternative dining arenas. Pioneering and refining these concepts has earned Windstar an excellent reputation and market niche, winning the allegiance of a new generation of contemporary cruise vacationers, one-third of whom are first-time cruisers.

Teak decking, rich wood interiors, an attentive service staff, intimate surroundings, eclectic artwork, exceptional signature cuisine featuring both light and vegetarian menu selections, and an extensive wine list are some of the extraordinary elements which have become synonymous with Windstar. Features unique to the Wind Surf include 31 deluxe suites, 2 Bridge Deck suites, The Yacht Club, Degrees (formerly The Bistro), The Terrace Bar for small intimate getaways and the nearly 10,000 square foot WindSpa offering a full array of spa treatments, consultative, health and fitness programs.

Passengers are cradled in comfort as all staterooms and suites offer ocean views, sitting area, new LCD flat screen TV, DVD, CD player, iPod Nanos and Bose SoundDocks systems, safe, mini-bar/refrigerator, international direct-dial phones, bathroom with luxurious pampering toiletries, hair dryer, plush terry cloth robes, and an abundance of closet space. The library on board stocks an array of international newspapers, books and games, as well as a multi-media selection of more than 500 DVD titles and compact discs available for complimentary check-out.

You are sailing into the fabled port (ancient, romantic) you’ve seen in travel books and magazines, only the breeze on your skin tells you: it’s real. You are gliding through a beautiful harbor in the Mediterranean, the Greek Isles, the Panama Canal, Costa Rica or the Caribbean. The destinations of Windstar are classic sailing playgrounds, irresistible in every era, for the simple reason that their aura of cool elegance and sportive privilege never go out of style.

This classic elegance is mirrored in the Windstar experience on board as well. Throughout you’ll find an intimate and refined ambiance, with an emphasis on expansive choices, unfettered access, and the liberty to do…whatever you desire. You might spend time in the ship’s library, pouring over an atlas or choosing a CD or DVD to take back to your stateroom. Whereas you will find all manner of new appointments aboard our ships, from flat-screen LCD televisions to granite-clad surfaces and updated fitness rooms, the real luxuries Windstar offers are not luxuries “du jour” but rather, luxuries of the heart. Absolute freedom, a relaxed sense of being, a lighter mind.

Carrying just 148 to 312 guests, Windstar ships exude a private-yacht-like atmosphere creating camaraderie and lasting friendships between fellow sailors. Every day aboard Windstar brings the promise of new horizons and harbors to explore.

An interesting mix of shore excursions and complimentary water sports activities are available at each destination. Passengers may find themselves slicing through Caribbean waters aboard an actual America's Cup racing yacht, or exploring archaeological ruins in Greece, the "Cradle of Civilization." Water buffs can enjoy complimentary water-skiing, windsurfing, snorkeling, and kayaking from the ship's aft Water Sports Platform.

The company's cruise vacations offer a sea-side window on the world, combining the refinement of a luxury hotel with a moveable feast of cultural experiences.

Seattle-based Windstar Cruises operates the 312-passenger Wind Surf and 148- passenger Wind Star and Wind Spirit. The three sailing yachts cruise to over 47 countries worldwide offering an affordable luxury vacation.

Windstar Cruises Recognized by Condé Nast Traveler Readers
as One of the Top Small Ship Cruise Lines in the World

Seattle, October 28, 2008 — Windstar Cruises, which operates a three-ship fleet of luxury yachts that explore hidden harbors and secluded coves of the world’s most treasured destinations, was voted one of 2008’s “Top Small Ship Cruise Lines” in Condé Nast Traveler magazine’s annual Reader’s Choice Awards.

“Windstar Cruises is honored that the readers of Condé Nast Traveler have selected us to be a part of this esteemed list of cruise lines again,” said Diane Moore, president, Windstar Cruises. “It’s a testament to our outstanding staff who deliver an exemplary and personalized cruise experience to our guests time and time again.”

Windstar’s commitment to providing guests with the most casually elegant, enriching and luxurious cruise vacation has consistently placed Windstar on the prestigious Condé Nast Traveler list year after year. The readers of Condé Nast Traveler rated contenders in the cruise line category on a variety of criteria including activities/facilities, cabins, crew/service, design/layout, food/dining, itineraries and shore excursions. The questionnaire was available to all readers through a secure website and final tabulations of 32,633 responses were completed by New York’s Mediamark Research.

A full list of winners in every category can be found on the magazine's website. Winners are also featured in the November 2008 issue of Condé Nast Traveler on newsstands now.

A leader in defining the small ship luxury cruise experience for more than 20 years, Windstar has won the allegiance of a new generation of contemporary travelers who appreciate the line’s luxurious accommodations, alternative dining venues, diversity of shore excursions, complimentary water sports program and deluxe spa facilities. The recently completed multi-million dollar Degrees of Difference enhancements on all three ships focused on structural and technical operations along with upgrades to guest areas, remodeled bathrooms in staterooms and an expanded beauty salon and spa. In order to take the ship’s comfort level to a new degree of luxury, Apple iPod Nanos and Bose SoundDock speakers, wireless Internet, flat screen televisions, luxury linens and mattresses as well as L’Occitane amenities were added in each stateroom across the fleet.

In addition to Condé Nast Traveler accolades, Windstar was recently awarded “Favourite Small-Ship Cruise Line” in the U.K.’s Condé Nast Traveller’s 2008 Readers’ Travel Awards. Windstar received the highest score of any cruise line in the poll and was also only one of three cruise lines that made Condé Nast Traveller’s list of the “Top 100 of the Best the Travel World has to Offer.” Celebrated Living, American Airlines’ prestigious publication for first class passengers, named Windstar Cruises “Best Small-Ship/Mid-Ship Cruise Line” on their 2008 Platinum List for the second time in a row. Readers of Porthole Cruise Magazine awarded Windstar “Most Romantic Cruise Line” and “Best Tall Ship” in the 9th Annual Readers’ Choice Awards. Windstar has also earned top honors in Travel + Leisure’s World’s 2008 Best Awards and was lauded among “The World’s Best Small Ships” by Condé Nast Traveler readers in 2008.

About Windstar Cruises

Windstar Cruises operates three sailing yachts known for their pampering without pretense and their ability to visit the hidden harbors and secluded coves of the world’s most treasured destinations. Carrying just 148 to 312 guests, the luxurious ships of Windstar cruise to nearly 50 nations, calling at 100 ports throughout Europe, the Caribbean and the Americas.