We travelled on the 7 day Meediteranean cruise from Barcelona to Rome on Sept 19, 2015. We had previously sailed on this ship 12 years ago when it was owned by Seabourn. While the Windstar experience is a step above traveling on the larger 2000 plus passenger ships, it is not up to par with the overal experience when it was operated by Seabourn.

They advertised that they spent $5 million on renovations upon purchasing the ship from Seabourn but with the exception of the main dinning room, Star Lounge and the Yacht Club it is hard to tell where they spent the money. Aside from those areas, it appeared that none of the carpeting had been replaced in most of the common areas and staterooms. It is not that big of a ship and it defiantly appeared as though they tried to do as minimal amount of renovation as possible. The tender boats look as though they were ancient relics and had not even been touched in a number of years.

While the daily staff was overall friendly, curtious and attentive, the ship senior management was nowhere to be found the entire cruise. The cruise director, who is typically the most visible person on a ship, never once socialized with the passengers individually, as a group, or made announcements about upcoming events or ports of call. Especially, after some events that took place during the cruise that certainly warranted apologies and explanations to the passengers that were impacted. Overall I think the ship is understaffed which appeared to be a conscious cost cutting measure. Usually only one bar would be open at a time, no nightly entertainment (the main show lounge was never used), and same two person entertainment daily. Read more