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10 things you need to know about Windstar Cruises if you are thinking of cruising with them. Cruise expert and Author Gary Bembridge from http://www.tipsfortravellers.com, shares ten key things you need to understand about Windstar and their ships, on-board service and ambience, types of passengers, fares and more. Selecting the right cruise line is key to a successful cruise vacation and this video will help you navigate around that choice and understand if Windstar is right for you.
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My travel with Windstar was arranged by the cruise booking agent Mundy Cruising: http://bit.ly/MundyWindstar
Gary Bembridge of http://www.TipsForTravellers.com shares weekly travel inspiration, tips and advice to help you to make the most of your precious travel and vacation time and money.
I’m Gary Bembridge, a travel blogger, writer, published author, podcaster and vlogger. My goal is to help you find and have amazing travel experiences on both land and at sea.
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0:00
the biggest mistake that people make
0:02
when going on cruising is going on the
0:04
wrong cruise line so this video is
0:06
designed to help you decide is wistar
0:08
the right cruise line for
0:10
[Music]
0:15
you hi I'm Gary benbridge I'm here on
0:18
board the Windstar star Breeze and in
0:20
this video I'm going to tell you a whole
0:22
bunch of reasons to get you thinking
0:25
about winst start and whether it's the
0:27
right Cruise Line if you're thinking of
0:28
going on a cruise first thing that I
0:30
thought I'd let you know is that WinStar
0:32
is not part of one of the big groups so
0:36
if you've got a group like Carnival
0:38
which control things like Carnival
0:40
Cunard Holland America Seaborn princess
0:44
piano they have they basically control
0:46
most of the cruise lines there's another
0:47
group called Royal Caribbean which uh
0:50
looks after Royal Caribbean it has
0:52
celebrity it has Azamara so those are
0:54
the two big giants in cruising wistar is
0:57
quite an independent group they only
0:59
have six ships in their Fleet it's a
1:01
much more independent group so if you're
1:03
looking for something that's a little
1:05
bit more independent then that's
1:07
something to certainly think about
1:08
rather than one of the big uh groups of
1:10
cruise lines the trend in cruising is to
1:12
bigger and bigger ships you know a lot
1:14
of the cruise lines have these big
1:16
monster ships what Windstar do is have
1:19
much smaller ships so their biggest ship
1:21
only has just over 300 passengers and it
1:23
goes down to about 140 so it's a small
1:26
ship experience so if you're looking for
1:28
something that's a little bit smaller a
1:29
little bit more into it and you don't
1:30
like the idea of going on really big
1:32
ships then definitely Windstar may be
1:34
something to think about so for example
1:36
on the star Breeze that I'm on it has a
1:39
maximum capacity of about 210 guest I
1:42
think it's about 212 and 150 crew so
1:45
it's quite small and quite personal so
1:47
inar have two basic types of ships so
1:50
there's six ships all together in the
1:51
fleet three of them are sailing ships
1:54
and three of them are sort of engine
1:57
driven ships and all the three engine
2:00
ships are old Seaborn ships again kind
2:02
of still yacht style so it's really a
2:04
yacht style service that win our promise
2:06
the other thing of course with being a
2:08
small ship is uh the crew get to know
2:09
you very well uh they know what you like
2:11
what you don't like there tend to be no
2:13
lines Excursion groups tend to be much
2:16
smaller in size so the ships within the
2:18
fleet are not brand spanking you so the
2:21
uh the sailing ships that they have the
2:22
sailing Yachts that they have they're
2:24
all um you know maybe 15 years old or
2:26
maybe even older than that and the three
2:29
newer ships are are old Seaborn ships so
2:31
they're also in their late teens they've
2:33
obviously been revamped and remodeled
2:35
and updated but there are older ships
2:37
although the ships are small it doesn't
2:39
mean that there are no choice of
2:41
facilities but there won't be as many as
2:43
on the big more Resort style ships so
2:46
you will have uh a couple of choices of
2:48
lounges so for example on the star Brees
2:51
that I'm on you've got the yacht club
2:52
you've got compass rose you've got the
2:55
the lounge where Port talks are you've
2:57
got the Star Bar outside it's a very
2:59
small Casino so there is less choice of
3:01
amenities obviously because the ships
3:02
are smaller so there's not as much uh
3:05
onboard activity so if you're looking
3:06
for lots of onboard activities lots of
3:09
activities lots of events lots of
3:10
entertainment lots of quizzes lots of
3:12
Production shows guest artists big
3:15
casinos uh rock climbing walls all those
3:18
kind of things that are much more linked
3:20
to Resort Styles ships then Windstar is
3:22
not going to be the right cruise line
3:23
for you however if you if you're quite
3:25
happy to have a much uh quieter less
3:29
laid on ENT entainment and you're quite
3:31
happy just to chat and meet people and
3:33
really focus on the destinations which
3:35
is a different time of experience the
3:36
wind star is probably going to be much
3:38
more suited to to you and your way of
3:40
traveling one of the features that
3:42
Windstar ships have which is a real plus
3:45
and the big Cruise uh ships don't have
3:47
is the water sports platform so at the
3:49
back of the ship when the ship is um
3:52
docked in a harbor and of course the sea
3:54
conditions are suitable and the water's
3:55
warm enough they can open the water
3:57
sports platform at the back of the ship
3:59
and that's a great experience because
4:01
you can then basically go kaying you can
4:03
go on an RB boat or you can just swim
4:06
and splash around and have fun on the
4:07
various water uh to toys and things that
4:10
they put out there they can only do that
4:12
when the ship is uh you know anchored
4:14
out in a bay they can't do when the ship
4:15
is actually within a port and docked the
4:18
other thing on Windstar is choice of
4:20
cabern types so generally speaking
4:22
there's four cabern types there's the
4:23
owner Suites which there's not very many
4:25
of them which are the very big sweets
4:27
then you would have classic sweet which
4:29
which are also quite big and then you
4:30
would tend to have cabins similar to the
4:32
one that I'm in which is a balcony Suite
4:34
or the ocean view Suites are the same so
4:36
all of the Suites will have ocean you
4:38
don't have inside cabins so if you're
4:39
looking for a cruise line and you want
4:41
something that's you know really good
4:42
value and you you're quite happy to have
4:44
an inside cabin then wind start are not
4:46
going to be able to accommodate you now
4:48
because the ships are smaller the other
4:50
thing that they can do is call on
4:52
slightly more diverse ports because
4:54
they're smaller they're more Nimble they
4:56
can get into smaller ports also because
4:59
they're smaller
5:00
often they will dock either right in the
5:01
heart of town or they're more just
5:03
outside and tender people in so the next
5:06
thing to think about is the overall
5:08
experience on wistar is much more casual
5:10
so some of the cruise lines you know
5:12
which really focus on a much more formal
5:14
cruising experience so they might have
5:16
formal nights dressing up you know
5:18
tuxedo nights that kind of thing wistar
5:20
is a much more informal approach so uh
5:23
the crew will often call you by your
5:24
first name the dress code is fairly uh
5:27
casual so the the strictest code is in
5:30
the evenings where they ask you to be
5:32
elegantly casual so you can't wear jeans
5:34
for example you can't wear shorts to
5:36
dinner but you can wear slacks you can
5:37
just wear a polo shirt something like
5:39
that so there's no formal nights there's
5:41
no themed nights or anything like that
5:43
so if you're looking for a cruise line
5:44
where you do actually get dressed up if
5:46
you like the idea of putting on nice
5:48
gowns putting on cocktail dresses
5:49
wearing a tuxedo wearing a jacket and
5:51
tie then you'll probably be disappointed
5:53
with WinStar other examples of the line
5:56
being fairly casual is because it's a
5:58
smaller ship they are things like they
6:00
have an open Bridge policy so for
6:02
example other than when you're coming
6:04
into port or going out of port when
6:05
Pilots are on board and they can't it
6:07
you onto the bridge you can actually go
6:09
onto the bridge chat chat to whoever's
6:10
on the bridge which obviously on bigger
6:12
ships you can't do because there's much
6:14
more people and there's much more kind
6:15
of structure and formality around it
6:17
it's a much more relaxed uh overall
6:19
experience because they can be because
6:20
there's much few passengers on board the
6:22
other thing I noticed a lot on winsty is
6:24
about the type of passengers so a lot of
6:27
the passengers that I've come across and
6:29
and spoken to they are well traveled
6:31
they travel quite a lot they're mostly
6:34
um Americans Australians uh some brids
6:37
not many but it tends to be much more
6:38
sort of North America Australians a
6:40
couple of kiwis that kind of stuff they
6:42
tend to be very well traveled uh and
6:44
travel frequently and so they're looking
6:46
for a smaller more intimate experience
6:49
uh they're not looking as much to
6:51
perhaps dress up they're not looking for
6:52
it to be as much of a special occasion
6:54
and they're very much focused on the
6:57
destinations and pretty much everyone I
6:59
spoke to the real reason they chosen the
7:00
Windstar cruise was around the itinery
7:03
and the ports of coal rather than the
7:04
ship because the ships being smaller
7:06
they don't have like some of the bigger
7:08
Resort style ships they don't have lots
7:11
of facilities and lots of uh onboard
7:13
entertainment and attractions and things
7:15
so therefore the shift in emphasis is
7:18
much more towards the ports and the
7:20
destinations the other thing that I
7:22
think Windstar does really well and if
7:23
it's very important to you is food and
7:26
dining so there's a buffet breakfast
7:28
there is a buff buffet lunch and then in
7:30
the main dining room the aora restaurant
7:33
which is a beautiful uh restaurants
7:35
there is a huge menu every evening with
7:39
lots of starters uh soups main courses
7:42
lots of desserts a lot of choice and
7:44
every single day the chef will have a
7:46
daily special because the ships are
7:48
smaller they will often have bought
7:50
either fish in the local market or you
7:52
know we'd got certain pastas that were
7:54
bought uh in the places who were in
7:55
Italy on my particular Cruise so they're
7:58
able to do that much more the food is
8:00
great it's very high quality lots of it
8:02
and a lot of choice one of the things
8:04
that I've been asked about is is it an
8:07
all inclusive Cruise experience and the
8:09
answer is no not really it basically is
8:12
very similar to other cruise lines so it
8:14
has the usual inclusion obviously your
8:16
cabin or your food is included um soft
8:20
drinks are included though so if you
8:22
have you know Diet Cokes or Cokes or
8:24
fruit juices or teas and coffees that's
8:26
all included but your usual things are
8:28
excluded so excursions are not included
8:31
although there is one event included in
8:33
every Cruise which is a special
8:34
destination immersion experience uh
8:36
which is included which might be out
8:38
going out to um Elites and local
8:41
families and have uh you know lunch or
8:43
tour a farm or something like that so
8:44
the things that are not included are
8:46
excursions are not included gratuities
8:48
are not included Wi-Fi is not included
8:51
so the usual things that you would
8:53
expect with many other cruise lines are
8:55
not included so there you have it
8:57
there's a whole bunch of things about
8:58
winstall which hopefully helped you
8:59
decide if WinStar is a cruise line that
9:02
you should be considering and I do think
9:04
it's really really important when you go
9:05
cruising to make sure you choose the
9:07
right cruise line so hopefully that's
9:09
giv you some things to think about about
9:11
what WinStar is and what WinStar isn't
9:13
to help you make up your mind now if you
9:15
enjoyed the video I'd love it if you
9:17
gave it a thumbs up I'd also love if you
9:19
subscribed to the channel
9:24
[Music]
9:30
h
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