Ken Rothschild recently sailed on Wind Surf’s “Splendors of Southern Spain”, Barcelona-Lisbon cruise from Jun 13th until June 21st. He shares his experience below.
We got back from our trip earlier this week and wanted to let you know that the cruise was fantastic. We have been on other cruises before, but this was the first small ship cruise. I doubt we will ever go back to the large cruises. The people were terrific, the ship was comfortable and the food was excellent. A couple of things we particularly liked:
1) The head chef, Olven D’Sousa, was absolutely terrific. Aside from the high quality of the meals, he was personable, friendly and a pleasure to be with. We went on a market trip with him to buy some fresh food for him to make a special dinner in addition to the usual dinner menu. It was a highlight of the trip. At the end of the cruise, he came over to us and said he enjoyed us being with him and considered us family. I suspect that on our next Windstar cruise, we will check to see which ship Olven is working on and try to meet that itinerary. We would like to write to Windstar to provide a letter commending Olven to management. Can you provide a contact person/address?
2) The sail away and its music were terrific. We met several people who had been on Wind Surf before and they kept telling us how great the sail away music was and they couldn’t wait to hear it.
3) Unlike big ships, we loved the fact that there weren’t constant announcements of activities which often seem like “day camp.” There were many things to do and we could read the schedule each day and enjoyed not being barraged.
4) The Captain was friendly, outgoing and funny. We enjoyed his “briefings,” the Open Bridge and the tour of the engine room.
5) We were pleasantly surprised by how stable the ship was. Because it was small, we were concerned about seasickness, but we had none. While the seas were relatively calm, even in slightly heavier seas, there was very little motion in the boat.
6) The suites were terrific. The dual bathrooms and tremendous amount of closet and drawer space, made this feel more like a luxurious hotel room, than a cabin on a cruise ship.
I could go on and on, but in one word, this was a “fabulous” trip and we will be back. (We are already thinking about one for next year).
Interested in sharing your cruise vacation story with our readers? Send along your short cruise and/or shore excursion reviews; an anecdote (something special that may have happened on your cruise); or perhaps something off the beaten path you found interesting in port (good restaurant, market, shop, etc…). Be sure to include any photos you may have depicting your cruise. Please email [email protected].
