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I Cruise On A Ship That's Been Cut in Half & Stretched! Windstar Star Pride
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Jan 28, 2025
I return to cruise on a cruise ship after it has been sliced in half and had a new section added, staying in a part of the ship that did not exist when I cruised on Windstar Star Pride the first time I sailed on the ship. I show and talk about what it is like and what changed For bonus & exclusive content (including videos, articles, eBooks and more) become a channel member or patron: --------------------------------------------------- * Patreon Patron: https://www.patreon.com/tipsfortravellers * YouTube Channel Member: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_qE-Obs2ocdmPXY0TIU-cw/join Check out my cruise-themed T-shirts and products: --------------------------------------------------- * T-Shirts: http://bit.ly/TFTStore * Mugs, notebooks, hoodies etc: https://www.teepublic.com/stores/tipsfortravellers?ref_id=22354 My social media: --------------------------------------------------- * Blog: https://www.tipsfortravellers.com * Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/garybembridge * Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/tipsfortravellers * Instagram: http://www.instgram.com/garybembridge * LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bembridge
View Video Transcript
0:00
the last time I was on this ship this
0:02
cabin in fact this whole section of the
0:04
ship didn't exist it wasn't even here on
0:08
its 30th birthday this ship was cut in
0:10
half wrenched apart and an 85 ft section
0:15
was put in the middle of the ship with
0:17
cabins like this and bunch of other
0:19
facilities I'm going to tell you what
0:20
it's like to be back on a ship that has
0:23
gone through such major surgery and
0:25
actually what it's like being on
0:27
Windstar star Pride now that it's being
0:30
stretched let's go this ship along with
0:32
its Sisters star breze and star Legend
0:36
were originally Seaborn ships they were
0:38
bought by WinStar and entered the fleet
0:41
some years ago and then they have all
0:43
gone through this massive transformation
0:45
where they've increased the number of
0:46
passengers from 212 to 312 and it has
0:49
around 200 Crews so it's still a pretty
0:52
small ship so adding this big midsection
0:55
which actually you can see here the
0:57
section that was actually added so it's
0:59
a pretty hefty section of the ship but I
1:02
actually think it has actually improved
1:03
the look of the ship the ship looks
1:05
sleek it looks kind of Jaguar like you
1:08
know very athletic like and I think it
1:10
looks absolutely fantastic and still
1:12
very stylish you can't really tell where
1:14
the joints are there is actually only
1:16
one area where you can tell this ship
1:19
was extended if you didn't know uh it
1:22
was extended you wouldn't have spotted
1:23
it at all so let me talk about the
1:25
things that have changed let's start
1:27
with dining so in the change they've
1:29
increase the number of dining venues by
1:31
adding two really important dining
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venues one of the important things to
1:35
note when it comes to dining is WinStar
1:38
is the official cruise line of the James
1:40
Beard Foundation so what does that mean
1:42
well James Beard was a very well-known
1:45
celebrity and expert chef and wrote lots
1:49
of books and when he passed away the
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James Beard Foundation was formed and
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they effectively give kind of the Oscars
1:55
of cooking in North America it seems
1:57
mostly and so they what they have a
2:00
partnership with James be foundation and
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there's as you'll see there's some
2:03
Partnerships in some of the restaurants
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but all the menus have different chefs
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from James Beard awards sort of
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sprinkled through the menu so that's
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really important to understand there are
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six different places that you can get
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food on board the star Pride the main
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one of those is aora this is the main
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dining room it's open seated dining it's
2:24
open only in the evenings for dinner
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it's a pretty stylish you know venue and
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place to go and eat one key change that
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I have found is when I was on the ship
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before it was extended there was plenty
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of room for everybody in the dining room
2:37
in one go which there still is however
2:39
there was more chance to have tables for
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two what I've noticed in the change is
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there are much more bigger tables and
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it's a little bit harder to get tables
2:46
for two or individual tables if you're
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traveling solo so and so there's much
2:49
more encouragement to dine with others
2:52
the second key venue is La Veranda this
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is one where you do see the impact of
2:57
the ship having been cut and stretched
2:59
in because of the layout La Veranda is
3:03
for breakfast and for lunch the buffet
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restaurant there is a small menu where
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you can order items so for breakfast
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things like EG eggs benedict pancakes
3:11
and at lunchtime things like hot dogs or
3:13
hamburgers in the evenings it becomes
3:16
candles which is the steak and seafood
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restaurant this is a long established
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kind of brand or restaurant on Windstar
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so it has pretty good steaks pretty good
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seafood uh pretty much as you'd expect
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with your sides of you know fries and
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onion rings that kind of stuff now the
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layout of leand is kind of interesting
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you have the outside area which is great
3:35
people like it particularly in warm
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climates you then have the buffet area
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however that used to be the main part
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now there's two sort of passageways down
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the side where there's extra tables
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which were part of the extension and
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also then because the whole first part
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of the buffet can't hold all the the
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items there's a second sort of area so
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in breakfast for example you might have
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the fruit and stuff in that area and
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then sort of hot stuff in the front so
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it's a little bit of a strange layout
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because it's quite a big distance to
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kind of walk between those two venues
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were added in the stretch the first of
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those is a big favorite of mine and it
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is called cardro 44 and it's a
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restaurant that's created with Anthony
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Sasson who's a Michelin star Chef best
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known apparently for a restaurant called
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Kaa mono this is a Spanish restaurant so
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you have Tapas typical Spanish disses
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and one of my big favorites as churs
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with amazing chili chocolate sauce at
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the end the other venue that was added
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which is very popular is an informal
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dining restaurant called the star Grill
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and the star Grill again has a a
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partnership with a chef called Steven
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ratlin who is built as a global grilling
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Authority whatever that means so this is
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open mostly for lunches you can get your
4:46
Burgers your informal kind of dining
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here and in warmer climates it's also
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open for dinner although on my sailing
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it wasn't open at all so this means that
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the only informal dining option in the
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evenings is room service it's a very
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small room service menu although you can
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order from aora restaurant in the
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evenings there is one other place that
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you can get food from during the day as
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in formal food like light breakfast and
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little snacks which is the yacht club so
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the yacht club brings me into the second
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thing I want to talk about which is kind
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of lounges and bars now there is
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relatively limited uh venues and bars
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and lounges and places to hang out on
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board even with the stretching of the
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ship in fact there is no increase in
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those the main Lounge is called called
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compass rose which is interesting
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because that's the name of the
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restaurant the main dining room on
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Regent 7 seats anyway compass rose is a
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much bigger venue than it used to be and
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they've made it bigger by getting rid
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unfortunately of the casino which I
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really did miss on this sailing compass
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rose is where they'll do the evening
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sort of entertainment so you'll have
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live music in here and some of the
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parties will be in here however the yach
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club which I mentioned earlier is my
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favorite venue on board this is a lounge
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that overlooks the bow of the ship so
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you have incredible views sort of on
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three sides and you have that coffee bar
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which is open till about 6:00 in the
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evenings it's a fantastic venue now this
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is where you do see an element of this
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being an old Seaborn ship because it
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does have a real feel of the Seaborn
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Square those of you who've been on
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Seaborn but it's an absolutely great
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venue the other key venue of course is
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the lounge which is where they have uh
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the various Port TS they'll have the
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torqus that'll do things like the crew
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show for example and here uh in fact
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when you're checking in it's also used
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and double up as the check-in point when
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you Embark the ship and this is sort of
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a slightly tiered seating area and this
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has not increased in size in the update
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of the ship so the other place that you
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can really hang out and have a drink is
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the grill bar which I've already
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mentioned as part of that kind of
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restaurant that is open a little bit
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later into the evening specially on
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warmer climates now in terms of pcks
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this is one of the biggest and best
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changes that's happened so in the
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stretching that is basically all become
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pool decks so that now has a sort of
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more swimmable pool still pretty tiny
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almost like an infinity pool and hot tub
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used to be a really tiny little pool
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before so the pool's very nice it's not
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very big uh and also then you but you
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have so much more space and it's
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particularly fantastic when you're doing
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like we did senior cruising through
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grangerford and stuff like that because
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you now have loads of deck space that
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you can hang out and look at the
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beautiful scenery there is also a hidden
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venue which many people Miss which is on
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Deck five right the in the the front in
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the B of the ship where there's a hot
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tub and a really nice deck and this is
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fantastic you know if doing Scenic
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sailing or or when you're selling out a
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port and stuff because it's really
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fantastic to be there so when we start
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of Edinburgh for example I was able to
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watch the tugs pull us out a couple of
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other interesting venues that they have
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is just near the main Lounge is they
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have What's called the viewing room so
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they do have a couple of seats comfy
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seats in here where they run movies
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although you can actually watch them on
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the the television anyway in your room
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and this is where they'll have uh
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un-hosted Bridge or a my uh particular
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selling that she had some Maran classes
7:57
which were hosted in terms of other
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Recreation of course there's a fitness
8:00
center and Spa now the fitness center is
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significantly bigger than when I was on
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here before there is two slightly
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unusual things about the spa and the
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fitness center first of all the fitness
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center has no bicycles so it only has
8:11
running machines and cross trainers so I
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thought was really strange not having
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bicycles particularly if you think about
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the profile of people and secondly
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across the ship the ceilings are pretty
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low you might have noticed that when I
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did this intro and so actually where the
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cardio machines are they've built a
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little indent into the ceiling so people
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to people like me them back our heads on
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the ceiling the spa of course has all
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the usual treatment rooms has quite a
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big hairdressing nail salon Barbers one
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of the other big features on board which
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is unusual and great is an open Bridge
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so the bridge is open uh it's only
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closed really when you're going in and
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out of port but you can go in there
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pretty much anytime and chat to you know
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the crew on uh the bridge the captain
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the staff Captain whoever is on there
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and that's that hasn't changed and it's
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that's a real big plus about this ship
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of course you're going to have your
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guests Services your destination uh
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services and your future sales and
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they're all in this Atrium area now
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those of you who've been on Seaborn will
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recognize this as kind of almost again
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another Seaborn icon because it has that
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circular staircase which they've
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maintained and every time I come in I do
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feel like I'm on a Seaborn ship I would
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say though that with the the stretch of
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the ship and and the updating of the
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decor this feels much less like a
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Seaborn ship than when I was on the
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first time another key facility of
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course is the shop the shop actually was
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created in the stretch because this was
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where actually some of the lifeboats
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used to go apparently so now you have a
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shop which is again a slightly strange
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layout sells all the usual stuff your
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jewelry and branded items that kind of
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stuff and fact on the other side is
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where you've got the cadoo 44 restaurant
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which also used to be where there were
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lifeboats another little interesting
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thing that they changed they did is
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they've turned most of the public
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bathrooms into all gender toilets and
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this was fairly easy to do because in
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reality they're all individual rooms
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there's one or two around which have
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specific you know things like urino
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stuff which they've kept as gents and
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ladies but it's generally all gender
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toilet so that's a kind of I guess a
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change with the times now let's talk
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about cabins I mentioned this is a brand
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new cabin that's on board so let's talk
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about this so this is what's called a a
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star balcony suite and as you'll notice
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quite interesting because you've got the
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seating area by the door and the bed by
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the very small balcony so when when when
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you see the ship the balconies are
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really really tiny so I haven't decided
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whether I like the bed being by the
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window or not so be interested to know
10:33
what you think now in some of the older
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cabins it's the other way around so you
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do have everything on this ship from
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Portal cabins right down low which have
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you know very small portals uh to more
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traditional ocean views and then you
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have these cabins which are the bulk uh
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which have either four windows or these
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little mini balconies one of the things
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that I do absolutely love about the
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cabins is they don't have
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interconnecting cabins what they have is
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a door and then you have sort of a
11:01
vshape with the doors to each cabin in
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so even if you want to share with people
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you don't have a cabin door right
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between you there kind of with noise
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seeping in so it's really fantastic uh
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you you know I'm obsessed with
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interconnecting doors into other cabins
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but this is a great solution it probably
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does take a little bit of space in the
11:20
cabin but it really does make a massive
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big difference so I really like that on
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the ship a big plus and they didn't
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change that in the stretch with the new
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cabins and although this ship is 30
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years old in terms of the updates
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they've done which included things like
11:35
new Engines new generators new bathrooms
11:38
and all of the cabins his ship doesn't
11:40
feel old at all it feels very fresh
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there's a few little design things
11:43
around that probably are a little bit
11:45
dated so overall I think the change has
11:47
been a really good one and one of the
11:49
fun things to do is to spot where the
11:51
cuts were and it's pretty difficult but
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I did find them as I showed you earlier
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on if you would like to know more about
11:58
cruising on WinStar watch this this
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video where I dive into who I think
12:01
WinStar is for who it isn't for and why
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because the the reason why it's not for
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everybody may surprise
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you in fact all three ships which
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WinStar bought from Seaborn C Pride SE
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sorry that's
12:20
wrong two venues were added in the
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stretch the first of those is actually
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one of my favorites which is a
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restaurant called cucard 44 let me just
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check the name of
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that
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CRA
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cuadra the first of those is a big
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favorite of mine and it is called cardro
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44 and it's a restaurant that's created
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with Anthony Sasson who's a Michelin
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star Chef best known apparently for a
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restaurant called carza Mono so first of
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all you have compass rose and one change
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they did Sor I got wrong my
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the main Lounge is called compass rose
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which is interesting because that's the
13:09
name of the restaurant the main dining
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room on region 7even seats anyway
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