We "were" going to take a break from cruising in 2017 but . . . I caved to my wife's request to cruise if she could find something for under $100 a day. We never caught a ship out of Charleston before, so we "booked it" and talked sister/brother-in-law to come along. Spent the Sunday before U/W exploring some of the sites in Charleston. (I had forgotten how hot & humid SC could get!) Had a couple of great seafood meals in Mt. Pleasant. Stayed at the Wyndham and took advantage of their Cruise Package which included transportation to & from the port. Despite the typhoon-like rain Sunday night & Monday morning, our driver got us to the dock in time to breeze thru the check-in process and get our first "Guy Burger" by 12:30. I'm sure some of the folks that got caught in the downpour later would disagree but the embarkation was pretty smooth from our point of view.

The only negative comment about the entire cruise happened during the first Early Dining period. We were stuck at a table for 10 with 12 "good size" folks. I'm sure the problem stems from my father-in-law's late booking which caused this situation. Unfortunately, the staff was not able to accommodate us at any other Early Dining table. Instead, we took advantage of the Tour Time Dining in the Wind Star Dining Room. As it turned out, even though we had never considered that option, we had EXCELLENT service from a variety of wait staff. Will definitely consider that option in the future - (though there's something to be said being served by the same staff every night).

One really amazing thing that occurred during this cruise that we've never experience before was a "Meet the Entertainer" night that the Playlist Productions cast put on one of their "off nights". They each performed an individual song with the cruise band and then had a Q & A period which really allowed the guests to get to know the performers. It's not something that they normally do but both my wife & I really enjoyed that one-on-one experience. Read more