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."
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.
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.