We were on a Windstar sailing ship for seven days, sailing around 6 Greek islands including a stop in Ephesus in Turkey. We loved the size of the ship. It had 142 passengers on board with, I believe, 99 crew. The crew was terrific – a great sense of humor and fun and always gracious and always warm. They memorized our names quickly. They were always attentive and kind.
One of the peak experiences was watching the sails unfurl while playing the music from the movie “1492”. The music was called “Conquest of Paradise” written by Vangelis, it definitely gave us all a rush! ( Watch Music Video of Conquest of Paradise Here)
We Loved our room! It was very compact but it was actually a bit larger than we expected. Lots of storage space including the closet and plenty of drawers and shelves. The suitcases fit very well underneath the bed but were accessible if we needed them. There was a little seating area at the table with built in cushioned benches that was very comfortable. The shower was a good size and even taking a shower during the storm we encountered was fine.
Since we sailed the Greek islands on Windstar from September 29 to October 7, most of the passengers were older – probably an average age of 60 – and most were retired. We actually liked that since we are in our early 70s. It was easy to meet people and there were always opportunities to share a table at dinner which led to some wonderful conversations.
We have met so many gracious people who take such good care of us in so many different ways. And it feels good for us to leave behind for a while the chaos that is going on in our country at this time. Peter and I are doing a news and television blackout and figure if we need to know something, somebody will tell. It feels really good to be away from all of that and to be in a totally different environment. At home, sometimes, we have felt that time goes so quickly and on this trip it isn’t so much that the time goes slowly but the days are very full.
The Windstar was a fabulous experience and we also had a fabulous Capt. – Belinda. She had a great sense of humor and was obviously very experienced and gave us a wonderful cruise!
