Author name: Carolyn Spencer Brown

Carolyn Spencer Brown has, for the past 20-plus years, been one of the cruise industry’s most knowledgeable journalists, first as a staff writer at The Washington Post and later as a longtime editor-in-chief of Cruise Critic. Over the past two decades she’s traveled on more than 300 cruises on ships big, small and downright tiny. An award-winning editor as well, her cruise stories have appeared in Conde Nast Traveler, Town & Country, and London’s Sunday Times.

Destination Discovery Grows: Windstar Adds Japan, Croatia, Italy and London for 2027

Windstar Buzz / 3 minutes of reading

Once one of the greatest cities in the Mediterranean, ancient Ephesus, just outside the Turkish port of Kuşadasi, remains an extraordinary site by any measure. A big part of that is sheer grandeur: this is a place where entire streets, facades, and structures still stand, largely intact, in a city that reached its peak between […]

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Sea Bream, Green Tomatoes, and a New Friend: My Week With James Beard Award-Winning Chef Gabriel Kreuther

Eat+Drink / 4 minutes of reading

It seems fitting that our 7-night cruise from Rouen to Bordeaux was also designated a James Beard Foundation voyage. Windstar has partnered with the foundation for 11 years now, sailing its award-winning chefs alongside guests and folding their dishes into Amphora menus, and this trip felt like a perfect showcase of why.

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Friends Who Travel Together, Stay Together: Where to Go Next

Travel Tips / 7 minutes of reading

Traveling with friends is an excellent option for any vacation. You can reconnect with your friends, experience new cultures and make lasting memories. The experience can relieve stress and enhance your creativity, making it a reinvigorating opportunity for everyone in your travel group. The hardest part is usually agreeing on where to go. What if one

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FAQ: Which Island Escape Is Right for You? Caribbean vs. Canary Islands

Caribbean, Destinations / 7 minutes of reading

Ask a dozen travelers to picture a cruise, and most will describe the same scene: turquoise water, a swim-up bar, a beach with a hammock. That’s the Caribbean — and it’s a wonderful, well-earned classic. But a few thousand miles east, off the coast of Northwest Africa, another archipelago offers an entirely different kind of escape. The Canary Islands trade palm-fringed beaches for volcanic peaks, tropical humidity for eternal spring, and beach clubs for tapas bars tucked into cobblestone plazas.

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Meet the Team That Will Lead Windstar’s Star Explorer When It Sets Sail This December

Windstar Buzz / 9 minutes of reading

As Windstar’s shipyard and newbuild teams prepare for the launch of Star Explorer, its second new addition to the fleet in two years, attention now turns to the leadership team responsible for making sure it is ready for its debut. Windstar has announced the slate of officers who will be part of the inaugural season.

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What It’s Like: Four Seasons of Splendor in the Mediterranean

Onboard Windstar / 19 minutes of reading

When Windstar announced last fall that it would be extending its Mediterranean season to year-round (from spring/summer/autumn), the first thing I wondered was this: How would a cruise in November–early March be different from one during the traditional April–October time frame? How would the new timings materially change the experience?

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Who’s Cooking on Windstar’s 2026 James Beard Cruises? Meet the Chefs.

Eat+Drink / 5 minutes of reading

Now in its 11th season, Windstar’s partnership with the James Beard Foundation for chef-hosted cruises continues with a new lineup.
The six acclaimed chefs — José Garzón, Belinda Bishop, mother-daughter duo Kirsten Dixon and Mandy Dixon, Gabriel Kreuther, and David Uygur — will bring their regional culinary expertise and signature dishes to sea and host market tours on their itineraries.

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