When it comes to features on new cruise ships, there is no shortage of top deck attractions. Ranging from challenging active lifestyle interests to simply a marvelous view to enjoy while reading a novel, there is something for everyone.  Nice to know but irrelevant if that something for everyone includes features you don’t care about.  Now reality sets in: everyone is not you.

You just thought you could tame a rock wall until that wall moves as you climb.  Dancers who are normally pretty good at it fall in and out of step with the motion of the ocean as well.  Those two examples highlight someone at a cruise line thinking “What would it be like to do that at sea?”, figuring out how to do it and then hoping the end result is of interest to travelers. Cruise lines are getting pretty good at it too, rarely missing the mark much. Still, you might be a traveler to whom those top deck attractions do not beckon.

Simply put: In the process of figuring out how to add things that were not meant to be at sea, cruise lines forgot about what was.

This is not reinventing, redefining or pushing the bar higher.  Windstar Cruises 180° From Ordinary promise resolves in their own distinct little world. Example:  What if you had never been on a cruise before and wanted to know about the appropriate clothing to bring along?.  If I told you “bring something one might wear to church or a serious business meeting for some of the nights then lose the tie on others and you’ll be fine” that pretty much describes it.  Still, this is one of the most talked about cruise travel topics.  So popular is it that one creative cruise line provides photos of appropriate clothing. 

Windstar is different.  Casually Elegant is the order of the day.  Sitting at home, considering how to meet that seemingly-ambiguous if not conflicting standard seems a daunting task.  On the Windstar ship, it just works.  Actually, it’s not the ship at all but the people who get on the ship that make it work, each and every sailing as up to half the 212 passengers on board are repeaters. If the cruise line were silent on the topic of dress code, casually elegant would still be a good fit.

Surely, there is part of the past that cruise lines were correct to forget about. Making a good first impression should not have been on that list. Frankly, if we are coming on board and the first person we see is scowling, trouble may be brewing.  Not trouble like the ship is sinking, trouble like not everyone is happy working on board.  More concerning is that cruise line management would place Sam Scowl at the front door.

Cruise lines did not forget about things like how to drive the ship. Absolutely true and documentable: The distinct value of a cruise, any cruise, compared to the same travel on land. These and other core elements have sustained the industry in good times and bad. Safety, an eternal benefit of travel by ship, has even improved over time.

Windstar Cruises shares those attractive core elements with many other cruise lines.  This is not what makes the line unexampled. That comes from the people, crew and passengers. This is the first cruise line I have seen that will allow them to be the stars of the show.  I mean really, actually embrace the idea that a passenger might want to book a specific ship at a time when favorite crew members are on the ship, not at home.

Here’s a Windstar difference: Talk is cheap. Actions speak louder than words.

Not an original thought but a laser-accurate description of that thought is happening here. Actions being taken by Windstar propose quality in your calm, confident, and well-traveled face.  The kind of quality that endures time and keeps us coming back for more. More people. More interesting people on a ship manned by crew people who quietly anticipate needs and check many extra boxes before passenger people even arrive.

 

People are like magnets in this story, naturally commanding an overdue amount of attention.  All Windstar roads seem to be people-heavy from start to finish. From this point forward, look for a bit different angle as we move into the second week of this 14 day sailing. It’s non stop ports and a day at the beach so stick around.  This is where the story gets good.  Real good.