Windstar Cruise Lines

Windstar Cruises at value pricing!

Windstar Cruises to get to know the world on intimate terms.

Windstar Cruises, for the cruise of your life:

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.com 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 Luxury Cruises for 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. windstar cruse, windstar cruses, windstar crusies, windstar crusies, windstarcruise, windstarcruises

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 continues its tradition of offering guests access to some of the most intriguing places in the world. In 2003 Mediterranean cruise offerings include stops in 10 different countries on three of Windstar’s luxury sailing yachts, the 308-passenger Wind Surf and the 148-passenger Wind Star and Wind Spirit.

Portugal, Spain, Morocco, France, Monaco, Italy, Tunisia, Malta, Greece and Croatia are the countries featured in the vast array of itineraries for 2003. Each of these countries offers varied ports of call serving as the backdrop for fascinating cultural encounters and idyllic visual experiences.

“Windstar’s sailing yachts cover the Mediterranean from one end to the other in an entirely different fashion than other ships. Windstar offers an intimate vacation experience to many ports only accessible by small yachts, such as the quaint fishing villages of Portimao and Port Vendres, to the historic and stylish towns of Malaga and Capri. Each Windstar cruise itinerary offers the crème de la crème of the Med,” stated Tom Russell, vice president of marketing and sales for Windstar Cruises.

Windstar Cruises might be the vacation you have been dreaming of this year!