Wind Star Review 3 - Ports

Goodness, catching up on work is a blog-time zapper! I finally have a few moments to tell you more about Costa Rica. First, however, Ben and I returned to a special offer our agency is offering through February 18 only. Book any cruise on any ship sailing by 12/31/2011, with a minimum cabin cost of $1000 (total – not per person) and receive onboard credit! You must be a subscriber to our eSavers newsletter, however. If you are interested and have a cruise in mind, please visit our website, scroll all the way down to the subscription block, enter your email address and zip code, and you’re in! Then call or email us with the cruise of your choice. Onboard credit amounts are determined by the cost of your cabin and range from $25 to $150 per cabin. The offer ends at midnight on February 18, so you’d really need to act fast. Sweet.

During our Wind Star cruise, we visited the port of San Juan del Sur in Nicaragua and the Costa Rican ports of Playas del Coco, Quepos, Bahia Drake, Curu, and Tortuga Island. Only two “ports” were tender landings. The others were “wet landings” via zodiacs. We tendered into San Juan, home to the second tallest Jesus statue in the world, behind Christ the Redeemer in Rio. Quite a sight to behold. Excursions were offered to the Mighty Masaya Volcano, to Morgan’s Rock Hacienda and Eco-Lodge, and to the colonial city of Granada on the shores of Lake Nicaragua. Ben and I chose, however,

to simply wander the town and walk up to the Pelican Eyes Resort for views of the bay and enjoy some Costa Rican style tortilla chips and salsa. Our next stop at Playas del Coco was our first wet landing, carrying extra shoes with us as needed. We were headed to the zipline adventure at Congo Trail. What fun! We’d done the zipline thing in the Dominican Republic, but this company seemed more organized and there were also more stations to “zip” from—11 in all. You Tarzan; me Jane! Other passengers opted for the Palo Verde National Park Cruise or sightseeing and spending time at the Pacifico Beach Club.

Next up was Quepos, the largest “town” in our itinerary. Once a bustling banana exporting port, it has re-focused itself in recent years as an ecotourism and a sport fishing destination. The Manuel Antonio National Park is considered the most beautiful of all of this country’s many national parks. We chose the nature walk tour through this park, led by Andy, a knowledgeable, passionate naturalist carrying a high-powered telescope to enhance our wildlife viewing experiences. And wildlife we saw! Macaws, sloths, monkeys, colorful birds, an anteater, Jesus Christ lizards (they run so fast they appear to be walking on water), termite colonies, and huge ants marching in single file across our pathway with oversized food and “supplies” on their backs. Some fellow passengers chose the Savegre River raft adventure which received great reviews, too.

I had always wanted to go horseback riding on an excursion, so we finally signed up for the excursion at Bahia Drake, our next stop, that included a boat ride to Josechito Beach, with our guides negotiating the waves and rocks to ensure a safe landing, followed by a lovely ride on our horses along the beach and through the countryside. My horse even cooperated with a canter now and then. Ready to do that again! Also offered at Bahia were another hiking adventure in Corcovado National Park and a whale-watching experience that produced a pod of a special type of orcas not usually seen in those waters as well as humpbacks.

On our last full day of the cruise, we did a quick stop in Curu, Costa Rica, where some of us took advantage of one final nature walk through the Curu National Wildlife Refuge, which lies off the Nicoya Peninsula. Again, an excellent naturalist led us in search of white-faced and howler monkeys (check), raccoons (not our day), and iguanas, macaws, other birds, and a crocodile (check all!). Even though numerous snakes make their home in Costa Rica, we never saw one. The ship then sailed to our final stop, Tortuga Island, where we enjoyed a beach barbeque and time to swim, relax, and enjoy views of the Wind Star under full sail as our captain offered a final photo op day for his beautiful ship.   I’ll offer some closing comments in my final post on the Wind Star.

Wind Star Review 2

The staff and crew of the Wind Star could not have been more friendly and accommodating. The ship‘s British captain, Mark Boylin, frequently roamed the ship conversing with both crew and passengers. Hotel Manager Jeffrey Jack treated Ben and me with a bottle of wine when he learned we were celebrating our anniversary; his wife of just a year, Simona, ran the gift shop. The other married couple of note were our host and hostess Sam (basically, our cruise director) and Shauna (who minded the front office).

Our wonderful onboard naturalist, Carlos Picado, gave presentations on our shore excursions and Costa Rica in general, and was always available at our ports of call offering direction and guidance. Ben and I invited him to dinner at Candles one night to learn more about and from this local treasure.

The lounge served as both lecture hall and entertainment venue for the onboard musician/singer and two visiting local dance troupes. Besides the lounge, the only "congregating areas" were the dining room and the open deck space on top. On a small sailing ship, what more do you need?

I must say that food was excellent. Breakfast and lunch were served in the casual Veranda Restaurant. For breakfast we had our choice of buffet, short order selections, or even Eggs Benedict. Lunch was basically the same with several salad and cold cut options, plus short order burgers and pasta dishes. The dinner menu varied each night, but always featured a fish, meat, chicken, and vegetarian option. Needless to say, delicious fresh fruit abounded--mangoes, papayas, coconuts, melons--and I never ate a bad seafood dish. As referenced above, guests could also opt to eat at Candles for dinner, the Veranda restaurant-turned-intimate for evening meals. There was no charge, but reservations were required. We ate there twice and found the food and service excellent, especially the beef filet.

A limited room service menu was offered 24 hours, too.  Another nice perk is the free bottled water handed out to everyone before each excursion/day in port and on transfers to and from the ship.

Ben has posted all of our photos now, so check 'em out by clicking here!

Next up: ports of call.

Wind Star Review 1

Windstar Cruise Line sails only three ships: its flagship Wind Star, her sister ship, Wind Spirit, and the larger Wind Surf. The first two accommodate up to 148 guests, while Wind Surf can hold 312. Hers is one tag line you can can take literally: “180 Degrees From Ordinary,“ for this is not your traditional cruise line.

Don‘t make the mistake of comparing Windstar with the now defunct Windjammer line, nicknamed "barefoot cruises" and on which passengers did some of the work and stayed in shorts and swimsuits.

Quite the contrary. Windstar is a 5-star, more upscale line that just happens to be "resort casual." You won't see any tuxes or gowns, but your fellow passengers will largely be well traveled with a shared preference for small ship cruising. On our cruise were retired doctors, lawyers and other professionals, along with 50-, 40- and 30-something passengers. Windstar repeatedly receives accolades as the "most romantic cruise line," and we understand why. When the captain hoists the sails and music from Vangelis' CD 1492 fills the air, you know you're in for an extraordinary experience!

Windstar ships sail in the Caribbean, Costa Rica, the Greek Isles, and Western Mediterranean, plus a short Baltic run and transatlantic itineraries. Ben and I chose Costa Rica since we'd never visited there. We were not disappointed. We sailed roundtrip from Puerto Caldera, one of two ports cruise ships use on the Pacific, the other being Puntarenas. January is a dry season month--better for touring, even in the rain forests.

There are only two passenger decks, and cabins are all the same size, except for the one suite on this ship. They are quite spacious with ample storage space and a very nice bathroom. Each cabin has two portholes and no private balcony--but this is "yacht," after all.

I will write more about about the ship, food, and our ports of call in my next posts.

Live from Costa Rica

Greetings from the Windstar Cruise Line Wind Star, sailing roundtrip from Puerto Caldera, Costa Rica! Our very first cruise on this line--and our 41st anniversary gift to ourselves.

We began our vacation, however with a couple of days in San Jose, both to counter any possible flight delays (always a good policy), but also to take in a bit more of this ecologically diverse country. We‘d love to have seen the Aerenal Volcano, one of the most acive in the world, but decided that a 13-hour day trip would neither do it justice, nor “sit“ well with us.

So, we opted for an excursion to Poas Volcano, still acitive with geyser-type eruptions, but a shorter trip from San Jose. We were not disappointed. Our guide, Gina, was extremely knowledgeable about her country and fluent in English. Upon our arrival to Poas Volcano National Park, we took a short walk up to the viewing stands above the rim of the volcano--a great vantage point. We also had the option to hike up a trail to a nearby jade-blue crater lake formed by volcanic eruptions years ago. It‘s a beautiful lake, and I hope you‘ll check out the photo I posted on Facebook. (We will load all of our photos when we return.) The hike itself was not difficult, but we quickly felt the effects of the altitude. We weren‘t in San Antonio any more.

Also included in the tour was a visit to the Doka Estate coffee farm. Gina explained the journey of the coffee bean from seedling to coffee cup. Costa Ricans are proud of their coffee, and we agree that it‘s delicious. A typical Costa Rican lunch with rice and beans was served in an open-air restaurant at the estate.

Our van made a couple other stops, too, one to the craft center in the town of Sarchi selling every imaginable craft and indigenous product, and another to a factory where decorative ox carts and other crafts are made and painted by local artisans. The interesting thing about the factory was that tools were powered totally by water--a tradition kept alive for decades.

Our hotel was actually located in Herredura, outisde San Jose, and this Ramada Inn Resort is also the hotel used by Windstar, which hosts a hospitality desk. We had purchased Windstar transfers from the hotel to the ship in Puerto Caldera and enjoyed the historical and ecological information offered by our host as we made our way the following afternoon to the port.

Next up: more about our cruise. Pura vida!