I was really excited to join as a travel agent onboard the “Star Pride” for the cruise from September 25 until October 3 – going from Rome to Venice. The itinerary was great and while the newly refurbished ship looks very modern, sleek and overall fresh it still didn’t deliver the vacation experience that I was hoping for. This review might be a little bit critically as we have cruised many times before on similar cruise lines and are used to a certain standard on board these “ultra luxury small ships”.

While I can see that the sailing ships have a unique concept and might fulfill the Windstar promise of “180 degrees from ordinary” I can’t find any clues of that concept on board the Star Pride. Priced at roughly $4000 per person (retail pricing) for this cruise I expected outstanding service from the crew members or something else that would set the ship apart from cheaper and bigger cruise ships. I am not sure if the idea is that the small yacht experience is sufficient to demand such a steep price, since similar cruise lines (think Silversea and Seabourn) are delivering the same small ship experience with an all inclusive concept at this price. I think it is absurd to charge this base price + alcoholic beverages on top of the cruise fare + 15% service charges for each order. The cheapest glass of wine sets one back around $10 (including tax and service charge) while cocktails start at $8.50++. Sure, you are welcome to book the “Ultimate Beverage Package” or a “Wine Package”. The Wine package costs currently $32.00 per person plus 15% service charge and the “all inclusive drink package around $54.00 per person plus the 15% per person/ per day. However, this concept reminds me a lot of Royal Caribbean Cruises, with the difference that on board their ships the passengers from one cabin can actually decide to only purchase that package for just 1 person in the cabin. On board the Star Pride one has to purchase this drink package for 2 people, leaving a $1000 dent in your account, for the duration of the cruise. I can understand those alcoholic beverage prices if we were talking about a similar cruise on board Royal Caribbean or Princess Cruises, with a price of around $1500 for the cruise fare. Norwegian Cruise Lines offers nearly 2 week cruises in an inside cabin for $1500 per person and they include the alcoholic beverages. On top of that there is more entertainment and things to do, while I feel that the only reason the Star Pride is priced at nearly $4000 per person would be the “small ship exclusivity”. Seriously couldn’t find anything else that set this cruise apart from a lower priced bigger ship cruise.

Suite Read more