My Experience on the Windstar Star Legend

It might come as a surprise that my first cruising experience was aboard the Windstar Star Legend on a 10-day yacht cruise to Greece and Cyprus.  After the requisite negative antigen test, we were transported by bus to the ship that was docked at another pier.  I was actually the first person to walk up the stairs to get on board.  One of my cabin attendants--Windstar had two dedicated attendants for each suite-- was waiting to lead me to my room and give me the tour.  My suite was located on the starboard side of the ship at about midships and was part of a recent stretching and renovation of the Star Legend.  These newer suites have small balconies that you can stand on, making it nice to keep the doors open at night.  The sofa was very soft, and the aesthetic was quite pleasing to me.  The bathroom had two sinks and a walk-in shower.  Some of the older suites have bathtubs, I was told.  The walk-in closet and dresser made it easy for me to quickly unpack all my clothes and settle in.   

I personally enjoy the longer length of cruise because it eliminates the need to keep packing and unpacking or to have to ruffle through your suitcase.  It is nice to have a '"home base" so to speak from which to explore a different port every day.  There were two housekeeping services per day--one in the morning and a turn-down service in the evening.  They left a bowl of fruit in the room to snack on between meals--although with the restaurants, Yacht Club (more informal snacking and drinks), and 24 hour room service (which I didn't try due to all the other options available)--it wasn't really necessary beyond the first day or two when getting the lay of the ship.  

Since this blog post is about my experience with Windstar, I'll focus on a few of the more memorable aspects of the cruise.  

1.  They were aware that I had a birthday around the time of my cruise because I mentioned it to the agent when paying my invoice.  He said he would put it on my booking.  On the first evening, I found a card in my room asking me to call reception to schedule my "birthday celebration." 

At that point, I had made friends with some solo travelers and met a few fellow agents also affiliated with Gifted Travel Network.  A group of five or six of us were able to have a 

wonderful dinner at the main restaurant, Amphora.  At the conclusion, a lovely rich dark chocolate cake was delivered, and they sang "Happy Birthday" to me.  About half of the cake was left, so I asked them to wrap it for later.  When I arrived back at my suite, I discovered they had delivered it on a covered dish with a fork and put balloons above my bed with a cute little towel "puppy" and card from Windstar on my bed. 

The cake tasted even better after it had time to thaw!  

2.  The spa was a truly amazing experience.  The second day on the ship was a day at sea.  I have really wanted a great deep tissue massage, which has been difficult to find the past couple of years.  I found it at the spa on the Windstar Star Legend.  I had a one and a half hour deep tissue massage with Nanette.  She was able to release a lot of muscular tension that other massage therapists had left behind.  Following my massage I was able to lie on amazing tiled beds that were heated to help to continue to release the muscle tension.  On another occasion.  I used the dry sauna and then relaxed on the beds again.  

I spent a couple of hours there in between lunch and dinner near the end of the cruise.  Certain spa facilities were available to anyone on the ship without having to book a spa service.  This was one of them.  Due to the time of year, it was a little too cool to really enjoy the jacuzzi on deck 5.  

3.  Is it possible to have too many choices of places to eat?  Perhaps.  I tried out the two specialty restaurants--Candles their steakhouse and Cuadro 44 by Anthony Sasso a Michelin-starred chef featuring Spanish cuisine.  I admit to loving dessert, so the chocolate mousse cake at Candles and the almond cake from Cuadro were my favorites.  I really loved the lamb chops at Cuadro and chorizo tapas.  Amphora is the main dining room which had some new choices every night.  One night, there was also a barbecue buffet.  I loved the paella--and I don't usually like it.  There's was particularly good.  Some guests might be turned off the by pig roast if they have difficulty eating something they can see the face on.  It was a little startling, but I tried and enjoyed a little of it.  There were so many daily food choices that it was difficult to decide and often I ended up eating more than one lunch just to try everything!  

There are obviously many more things I could share, but for today, this will give you a taste of what I enjoyed about this yacht cruise.