Thanks to small ships like Windstar's, those of us who value no queues, no casinos, no ear-splitting “entertainment,” great personal service, well prepared meals properly served and true relaxation, also have cruses to enjoy.

No shows, no casino, no hordes. All sounding pretty good to me. Quality food, space to sit and enjoy bring at sea, comfortable cabins. I’m sold - but then we’re all different. Good review. Thank you.

This is exactly why we love WINDSTAR, it is the non "cruise" cruise. Low-key, relaxing and quiet.

Some people want to cruise on a floating Las Vegas, but not me. This sounds like my kind of cruise: informal, unique ports of call, small tour groups, good food and comfy cabins. Most of my cruising has been on rivers in ships smaller than this one, and you have enumerated the benefits. The lack of onboard entertainment wouldn't bother me a bit.

When you get off of a Windstar ship you get to see what the port or town is really like. When you get off a 3,000 + passenger ship, the port becomes the people on your ship walking around the town.

I would rather compromise on a small ship with 300 passengers, than fight a mega crowd nightmare on a larger ship. And no screaming kids!

What you call limitations or trade-offs are in fact advantages. We sailed exactly this ship almost exactly 10 years ago when it was the Seabourn Pride. Simply fantastic. Food, amenities, excursions, all great. But the massive advantage is no crowds and the intimate atmosphere. That was our first cruise and we were permanently spoiled. We will never, ever book a ship >500 passengers. Ever.

Some of the issues you see as a bug, I tend to look at as a feature. I dislike larger cruise ships as I am averse to big crowds, I don't care for 24/7 entertainment, and am not a big fan of lots of noise. When it comes to entertainment, I'm pretty low maintenance. If I have a couple of good books packed, the chances are that I am going to be set for sea days. Give me peace and quiet, some open deck space to walk on and get fresh air, and maybe a quiet corner to sit with a book and smoke my pipe and I am likely to be a happy passenger. Throw in some good food that won't spike my blood sugar level too much, and you can sign me up right now.

I’ve been retired a couple of years and, only being aware of big flashy busy casino ships, have never previously had any temptation at all to go on a cruise. This excellent overview, including all the “downsides”, sounds absolutely wonderful and I’ll now definitely be looking into experiencing this for myself.

We love cruising windstar. It's by far our favorite cruise line. Everyone knows your name. The food is made from scratch. They have an open bridge. You are waited on hand and foot. We were on Windsurf for 18 days in January. We have booked 18 days from Venice to Rome in October and we have booked 15 days from Rome to Lisbon. As far as excursions have found a good mix of tours in all price ranges.

It's a french balcony and that's exactly what they call it. We've never had an issue getting whatever seating we asked for. And thank goodness they don't have those horrible shows to suffer through. The food is wonderful and nonpretentious. They have the best excursions and if in Alaska you get expedition trips. No better cruiseline than windstar. We love, love everything about WS!

Thanks much Gary. As a repeat Windstar cruiser, I was trying to describe the experience to an interested couple. Your clear framing allowed them to make a better informed decision. They booked.

Based on your comments, this is the first cruise I’ve been tempted to take.

All I can say is, this sounds PERFECT!! for me. I wouldn't miss the crowds and buzzy activities a bit-the leisurely approach floats my boat.

As a less-experienced cruiser, my cruising experience extends only to some of the largest commercial cruise lines, such as Princess, RCL, and NCL. What strikes me the most about your Windstar experience is the focus being primarily on exploration rather than the “floating resort” experience the larger ships offer. This cruise experience is very reminiscent of what’s offered on some of the smaller expedition-intensive luxury cruise lines where passengers attend a briefing every evening on the next day’s expedition, which requires rigorous exercise. Windstar seem to be much more in that vein. The whole ship experience has more to do with supporting what’s really important to guests, which is EXPLORATION. I love that. Don’t give me any shows. I don’t care about huge food variety, but the food *must* be somewhere between excellent and exceptional. Excellent cuisine always lends itself to convivial atmosphere among guests. As a solo cruiser, I’m ecstatic about sharing my dinner table with other guests. I hate dining alone. Bottom line: I find myself yearning for a smaller, more sedate ship experience, good food on offer, and less being CRAMMED in with the masses. I adore children, but when it comes to cruising, I detest families with all the drama they bring. Enough with the party atmosphere, which lends itself to unruly, uncouth behavior by passengers who can only afford to vacation “on the cheap.” Sorry to sound like such a snoot. I’m just over the “floating resort, loud family-friendly, drink till you drop, party hardy”experience the larger cruise lines offer.

I love windstar. We did 2, 18 day trips in 2023. We had a fabulous time. Food is wonderful and made from scratch. We booked 3 more back to back trips. As experienced cruisers this is our favorite cruise line. Regarding the excursions there are plenty of non active excursions in my experience. Fyi the staff from our trip in January that stayed on actually remembered our names on our return in October. I prefer the socialising of a small ship although I am conversational.

This looks right up my alley-small numbers and more intimate. As a solo traveller these things are important. The big Shows are not so important to me. I like my personal space so the small balconies are concerning

Windstar is my absolute favorite cruise line. F un. Friendly. Most people rarely go out on any balcony on any ship and just like to open the slider. As far as a table for yourself arrive at 7PM. I find a great selection of food more than on larger ships with great food.

My very first cruise, back in 1993 was on Windstar to French Polynesia. I loved it. The cabin was very comfortable, excellent food as you mentioned, and all round, the experience was fantastic. I had nothing to compare it to. But, having cruised over the years, on larger and more active lines (most recently Cunard's Queen Elizabeth to Alaska) I would still happily cruise on Windstar again. It's just as you put it. A very different experience. And, as I'm not a person who has to or wants to be busy all the time, I would find it relaxing.

We did 14 days cruising the Caribbean on the Star Pride last March. It was amazing. The entertainment director at that time was also an Opera singer who entertained us several times. This was a huge plus. The ship also has an area where one can jump off the ship into the ocean & go for a swim. Not as casual as it may sound as there were many currents & it was often closed…but a highlight for sure. Twice we had BBQs ashore & they brought the paddle boards, kayaks & swimming platforms ashore for all to enjoy. The crew was wonderful & it was one of our favorite trips.

I didn't know cruise ships this small even existed. Thank you for introducing!! As an introvert, this would probably be fine for me. It would just be many more laps around the deck to walk off the food!!!

My wife's second cousin, Caroll Spinney, who was better known to the world as BIG BIRD on Sesame Street, raved about Windstar Cruises. Sadly he died in his 80s a couple of years ago. But the small size and the itineraries and shore excursions were the things he would go on about. Nothing but good.

We’ve sailed numerous times with Windstar and feel this was a very fair and realistic view of the cruise line. For the reasons you mentioned, we tended to avoid their itineraries that have sea days, unless the day involved going through a scenic passage, like the Corinth Canal. While the pools are small, on warm weather itineraries they do open the back of the ship to form a swim platform; it’s an unique experience lying on a swim mat tethered to the back of a ship 😊

Twenty years ago we took the Windstar sailing ship from Barcelona to Nice and it was fantastic. The food was great and the experience of being under sail was unique.

As long as you're "downsizing", you should consider a schooner cruise sometime! I love big ship cruising but also have cruised around Maine and the Bay of Fundy on a vintage wooden ship (Schooner American Eagle) several times, and it's a fantastic experience. Amazing food (cooked on a venerable wood stove!), delightful companions and crew, unforgettable scenery, and you just can't beat eating fresh cooked lobster on the beach of a wooded island. There's a small fleet of cruising schooners based in Rockland, Maine, and I imagine there are similar very-small-ship cruises available around the UK and Europe. Though I should say if you've ever thought a cruise ship cabin was small...well, you ain't seen nothin' yet! ;-)

This sounds like my kind of cruise, and that food looks amazing.

Windstar is a great fit for us, outstanding destinations, best crew by far and comfortable accommodations. Dining better than most big ship lines. Did I mention the crew? Our last trip had impromptu morning coffee on bridge with captain. Deck bbq night 1st officer spent at least half hour with us chatting. Genuinely made us feel welcome and special. Thankfully Windstar is not for everyone.

I’ve been cruising since the Ile de France and Queen Elizabeth, and we settled on Windstar as our favorite cruise line. We’ve always made friends, and have had repeats with many of the excellent crew members. We have 48 Windstar cruises under our belts including transatlantic repositioning cruises, and love the more freeform, less frenetic pace, the smaller places they visit. (There has been a casino, just forward of the Compass Rose starboard side.) Windstar is not for everyone, but they have a committed audience.

Thanks for all the videos you do that help us understand the differences between the lines. We have sailed with Windstar for 5 cruises (with a 6th coming in November). I believe you have accurately focused on the main reasons people repeatedly cruise with Windstar. For us the ship itineraries are the top reason, followed by the friendliness and familiarity that the small ships have. Because we are off the ship on excursions in every port, by the time we have finished dinner we enjoy some down-time to prepare for the next day's activities. I agree that too many sea days can be boring on Windstar because of the lack of shows and a decent casino, but it is something we accept for the speedy check-ins, the absence of line-ups, etc. You have presented the Windstar cruise fairly and accurately to my mind. Well done Gary!

Gary, I love that you are so comfortable in being by yourself on these cruises. This is one aspect that terrifies me: that I will find myself alone, which is fine, but forced to table share and feel like a third or fifth wheel. You are so at ease, taking it all in. Good for you! ❤

It reminds me a lot of being on a river cruise like Viking. Not a whole lot going on, but great food and a small ship and very social. Personally, I really liked it and think I would enjoy this type of a small ship.

I did a 14 day Greek Isle and Dalmation Coast cruise on a Windstar sailing ship and absolutely loved it for all of the positive reasons mentioned and many of the negative as well. I have been on the bigger cruises that go to ports every other cruise ship goes and quite frankly didn't like the experience of being in a port with four or more other large cruise ships. In the Caribbean, each ship has its own neon color stickers that passengers wear to keep them from getting on the wrong bus or ship. I am also a solo traveler so maybe that had something to do with it. I wasn't up for the shows or dancing, and I don't gamble. The stuff they sell is overpriced and the shore activities are also packed with hundreds of people going to the same tourist spots hundreds of people from the other ships in port go. If that is what you like then the larger ships are for you. If you have kids then the larger ships have many more activities for them which allows the parents to have a vacation too which is nice. One of the things not mentioned in this video about larger cruise ships is that frequent passengers get perks like first off the ship privileges in ports so if you are not one of them you have to wait to get off. In the final analysis, if you are looking for a ship that is an entertainment experience then the larger ships are best, or even the smaller luxury ships if you can afford them, but if you are looking for a personalized, comfortable mode of transportation to experience different ports or places then the small cruise ships can't be beat. There is just something about walking around in a beautiful place without being surrounded by throngs of other tourists. JMHO.

Sir, Love your channel! My wife and I have sailed on six Windstar Cruises with our seventh scheduled for February 2025. As a few people have commented, we like the cusine, the quiet, the ports we visit, and the interesting folks that you meet onboard. A couple of other points, one you mentioned and one you did not, I love the fact that you can wander up to the bridge at four o'clock in the morning and interact with the crew. The other item is, you rarely see children onboard, and if you do see them, they are abnormally well behaved. It is a very relaxing and quiet place to be. Of the six we have sailed on, five were on the sailing ships and one on the Star Legend motoryacht prior to "the stretch".I would recommend to you traveling on one of the smaller sailing ships (Windstar or Windspirit), it is an even more intimate and enjoyable experience.

My best were the ships that hold between 300 and 600. The smaller ships are more fun and easier.

Has anyone ever told you this is the best cruise show? Loved the bonus train trip.

I absolutely love your channel! I have never been on a cruise before - I definitely want to go on one, and watching your channel makes me feel as though I am on a cruise. Thank You for all of the information you give as well 😊

My first cruise in 2013 was on Windstar, Wind Surf to be exact, the largest of their sailing vessels. I adored the size, food, crew, the open bridge and the time it took to disembark in ports. In Ibiza, for example, we docked inside the town centre and I went back on board to use the washroom and was back with my friends in town in 10 mins. In other ports we'd pop back on the ship for lunch as the food was so wonderful.

We LOVE Windstar. Just booked them for summer 2024 in Tahiti & Bora Bora. Expensive, yes - but WELL worth it !

I’m glad I watched this. I’ve been considering a small ship cruise. I can see the up side with the excursions and different locations that are not the typical ones on larger boats, but the lack of nightlife and entertainment seems boring and is a deal breaker for me.

I have only been on two large, ~3,000 passenger budget line cruises. Windstar actually sounds to me appealing and similiar to the way people describe European river cruise ships. Both my cruises on large ships were much more about a party than the destinations.

Now, that ship actually "looked" like a proper ship. LOL That would be a good ship for people with visual, and other accessibility challenges to cruise on. Thanks for sharing.

We travelled Windstar several times. Absolutely loved it. Thank you for reminding me of some wonderful memories!

This is really appealing to me. I'm not interested in a floating city. Love live music but not big productions. I don't gamble, so casinos are worthless to me. The destination and good food are important. I've never cruised before but would be willing to give this a go.

We are just beginning to look at cruising. We have traveled many places by with tours or by ourselves, but we love nature , we love water, and so are looking at cruising - your information is very helpful.

If I had a choice between a small ship such as this or in my case Viking cruises or one of the Genormous of the Seas theme park roller coaster monstrosities I would take the small ship any time.

We are going to Greece-Amalfi Coast-Rome Oct. 14. Our ship is called Windstar. It only holds 148 people and is one of their saining ships. I was so excited to hear your thoughts even though your ship was a bit larger. Thank you!

This should appeal to people who like river cruises. Slightly scaled up!

Love Windstar, we've done two cruises on them, going on our third next year. The only minor nit is that the excursion options are a bit more limited than other cruise ships and as you point out, pricier. Well worth the trade off for the quiet, lack of lines/chaos.

I suspect you are simply more accustomed to larger ships. I'm more used to small ships of around 30 people. I consider BIG to be a Viking river cruise ship. 312 passengers seems huge to me. I'd love to see you review something on the size of a catamaran Galapagos tour.

The smallest cruise ship I have been on was the Marco Polo a Christmas cruise in 2019. Like you I met many people who had been on her many times and loved her. After one day I knew her inside out. It had most of the things the bigger ships had, a library , a game room and a craft room which was if you didn't come early the door would be shut . The shows and games were all connected to Christmas. They had something called a reindeer game which involved the people in the theatre at that time. I've been listening to you for a few years now and I've never heard you mention the library. My last cruise in July/August on the ambassador line. There was a situation ind the library was empty , no books . I was very unhappy because I always take a book almost finished and exchange it for another book in the library . I'll talked to other people on the cruise and they did the same thing. So many of us were very disappointed that there were no books on the shelves. Also the game room had no games. I had brought a deck of cards and have recently taken a bridge so I asked people if they played bridge and ended up finding quite a few people and we had a few games on sea days in the card room. You could do that on a very small ship as well. That's the wonderful thing about cruises if you can keep looking around to find out what activities are taking place either to watch or take part.

Was on my first Wind Star cruise earlier this year in Costa Rica and will soon be on them again for Turkey/Greece. I've been on larger ships and just loved the Wind "Star" which has sails and only like 132 people. Being able to get into smaller places was great, I enjoyed the food and the lack of most of the things that some people seem to want! Great experience..

Their fans all grew up watching the Love Boat, this is a Cruise they expect. It would make me happy to know Gopher and Doc. Had I wanted to be on boat with 3000, I would have joined the Navy😂

Although this Windstar ship seems a little too large for my taste, I would probably enjoy sailing on her. The only benefit I can see from larger ships is their lower risk of seasickness (and of course the ease of avoiding certain other passengers who annoy me).

Thank you for pointing out about the balcony feature. I am planning to book a Windstar cruise and will certainly opt out the balcony option. Windstar is definitely a good choice for me for I value smaller crowds and low key trips where I can relax and enjoy the journey and destination.

Drives home to me that the Azamaras and Seabourns are probably the perfect size. Excellent video, as always.

We have cruised on the windstar Breeze and the Pride and are booked for our next adventure starting in Tahiti in 2025. These ships have a greater appeal to senior travellers like us who enjoy the pace, easier access to smaller port destinations and meeting fascinating people and wonderful crew members who make the small ship experience such a pleasure.

I love the idea of a small ship. I find those floating apartment buildings that pass for cruise ships to be ugly and would be too busy for me.

Happy to see you getting there; I put 35,000 nautical miles on my sailboat over ten years of cruising. It was 32 feet long from bow to stern.

Excellent. I didnt know much about Windstar. This video was very informative and is going to help me in picking future cruises. You are so good at this!

Great review. As a solo traveller who has shared tables with people that were to intrusive for my liking I’ll give it a miss. The non choice of dining alone on any cruise I would find a little stressful. I like a small ship but this one a little to small

“Unfortunately for me, the inevitable ABBA show.” 🤣🤣🤣

Sounds perfect. I care nothing about shows, casinos, or live music.

Informative and thourough as always. Appreciate the range of your reviews.

Thanks Gary. Very interesting to hear about Windstar. We definitely prefer the smaller ships as we are not into the shows, casinos, water parks, etc. When we cruise it is definitely more about the destination, but that doesn’t mean we don’t like to be pampered 😂 and spend relaxing time on our balcony. Would be interested on your take/comparison between Windstar and Paul Gauguin for South Pacific sailings.

Sounds perfect. Great tip on focusing on port intensive itineraries. Thanks.

Thanks so much Gary! You showed off the cruise line would be a great fit for me!

Once again, I find myself happy to share this planet with you. Your videos are very well thought out, very informative, very pertinent, but most of all very Gary Bembridge.

It looks wonderful. A juliet balcony on a ship. I prefer the smaller ships.

We LOVE Windstar - everything you said was spot on. We did our first in 2021 and are presently booking one for this coming summer.

To me, most big cruise ships are like going to Las Vegas on a holiday weekend. I hate Las Vegas and I hate crowds. This ship sounds wonderful for what interests me.

Sounds good but for my lovely wife, food allergies/restrictions are VERY important. Twice burned on RCCL, we feel quite "safe" with DCL . . . but/still open to other lines especially if they can take us on new itineraries to Canada, South America and/or Mediterranean.

Great update, something I would definitely consider. Like the smaller ports concept, and the small number of people. Like you though I enjoy the buzz of slightly bigger ships. Thank you Gary

Those prices looked so reasonable! I was on an Alaska cruise and the drinks were double that!

Hi Gary, thanks for this review and for sharing your opinion. I would def try Windstar. I like the idea of experiencing being on the water, feeling the elements with little distraction from scenery.

Outstanding video! The Middle East tour with all the exotic ports sounds shagadelic!

I would definitely try this once, at least! I think the 600-passenger ships are the MOST my style, but I absolutely love the learning while traveling vibe. The approach to destinations is awesome.

Thank you for sharing you view of the smaller ship cruises. That is nice it would feel like a super yacht scene on the smaller ships. And when you show us the balcony on this ship then I totally agree with you not a wide space at all. And I stand at 6'2" so, I need space.

So first let me say we have traveled to 96 countries, sometimes by ship. The best experiences have been on smaller destination type ships. Windstar had expanded over the years to include additional ships. If you like meeting educated well traveled individuals than this is your kind of fellow travelers.The ships are small enough to go where the mega ships can't. The crew to guest ratio is excellent . Crew members become more like family or friend.Soon to depart on an Iceland, Greenland,Labrador to french Canada trip. Fourth time to the arctic.Ready to go!

Great video, Gary! On a recent cruise to Iceland, we were able to make port on the smaller than most, Viking Star while bigger ships like an NCL liner had to tender in. At the island of Heimaey, we had to tender in, but I saw the Star Pride was small enough that they could dock downtown. I will take your guidance when planning our next sail-away. Thanks again!

Getting back to basics is the way to go.

The funny thing about his dress code comment, was before he said that I was thinking how nice everyone looked. Yes, they were casually dressed, but still nice, as opposed to the horrifically slovenly clothes most people call casual.

I would not be worried by the lack of entertainment but I get that that would be an issue for many. I would enjoy the smaller size ship I think and hang out in my cabin with a pile of books! Thank you for the video!

We are going on our 8th Wind Star cruise this October in Greece. Love them!

My wife likes Holland America and there's nothing wrong with them. That said, if I had my way and for my money, I would only cruise with Windstar. Without question the smaller ships are my preference. Excellent service, food and beverage and staff contribute to my best sailing experiences.

Great video, thanks! My family and I had our first and, to date, only cruise in Norway some...5-6 years ago? Rather different ship, MSC Splendida at around 130K tons. New experience in October/November 2024 with a Danube river cruise, no kids this time! Have perused your river cruise videos which bought much information, thank you!

It sounds wonderful. I'm really looking forward to my Panama Canal cruise on the Star Pride in December

I might add a plus for smaller ships is that they can go upriver to ports inaccessible to larger ships. For example if you want to do Hong Kong to Singapore do not take an even a medium size 70,000 ton ship. They cannot go up river to Bangkok or Saigon and these are two of the big ports. The smaller ships go right up river to downtown and you are right there. The bigger ships port three hours away and you have to be bussed to and fro. Not a way to do these ports. The smaller ships also do a lot more overnights. Going to Copenhagen and not doing Tivoli Gardens at night is a complete waste and the bigger ships DO NOT do this for the most part. Same with Athens, Rome and many other ports. So keep this in mind. Also too smaller ships can have far better itineraries so check this all out.

This would be my jam! ❤

Yeah, I think I would like this for a port intensive itinerary. Entertainment is overrated unless it's a repositioning cruise with sea days. Gary, the video you pointed to at the end didn't appear.

Really fantastic review of Windstar. I took a Windstar cruise about twelve years ago and you echoed many of the thoughts I had from that experience. The entire James Beard connection seems very misleading as it seemed to imply that the cruise line itself actually won some James Beard awards. In reality, we found the food on the ship to be mediocre at best, and I’ve since had much better food on NCL and Royal Caribbean. Great description of the essence of the onboard experience, which was one of the most appealing parts of the cruise. Your video even made me reconsider the possibility of trying Windstar again! Thank you for a wonderful presentation of the Windstar experience. This was very informative and entertaining.

Your comments haven’t out me off sailing French Polynesia with Windstar but I think your comments about making sure it is a port intensive trip make sense to me. Usually the ship is very much the destination for me though. Thanks once again for your varied coverage.

I have been on 31 cruises in total - 8 of those on Windstar (the sailing ships). I like both types of cruising - they are completely different. I think it depends where you are cruising to. Windstar is ideal for somewhere like the Greek islands as the ships can get to ports that larger ships cannot. It is a few years since I was on Windstar and in those days there was a small casino.

Nice, balanced review. You were fair in that it may not have been particularly for you (unless it had many, unique port stops, it still had merits that others might appreciate more.

We absolutely LOVE Windstar. 🎉🎉

Vloggers Norm and Tina did a Windstar Cruise. They had reasons for doing so, mainly Covid. They indicated sanitation was not a thing that was promoted. Folks were sick all around. They also got COVID. They did love the experience otherwise.

Great insightful review

This sounds superb to me but I agree it would be best suited to a port-intensive itinerary - which suits me just fine! I’ll have to look into Windstar.

Sounds perfect. See the world, new experiences, all with relaxed intimacy. No miserable micro “Vegas” shows, casinos, or tortuous lines. There are innumerable reasons I do NOT go to Vegas.

I love the Riker’s Island Prison Barge in NYC. Great little barge.

bingo, painting, clay class, guess that song, towel folding class...there is plenty more activities they could add for evening time that doesnt need high energy