okay Tim where are we today
we are back home
we've survived our Windstar cruise yes
to Iceland Greenland and back to Canada
and we've actually got proof of where
we've been Norm because look at your
wonderful Greenland t-shirt I've been to
Greenland yes you have I got the T-shirt
to prove it and I have sailed on a
Windstar ship and I have the T-shirt to
prove it Life's a breeze yes it is
so we just wanted to do a video to give
our Impressions on Windstar Cruises we
went on one of their motor Yachts which
is
um unlike their sail boat cruise ships
that they have so they have motor Yachts
which are shrunk down cruise ships and
then they have ships with sails which uh
look quite impressive
so we sailed out of Iceland on the
Windstar star pride and this ship had
been recently cut in half
and they added a whole new section to
the midships and they also gave it New
Motors
um mechanical systems for heating
ventilating
Plumbing so it it had a massive massive
refit so it was just like a
manufacturer during a a limo so they
stretched the ship
and it was wonderful because we actually
got to stay in one of the new rooms that
was put in in the new section wasn't it
Norm
so we were thrilled with that yes the
room was was perfect it was beautifully
decorated the bathroom had two sinks in
it we've never had a room with two sinks
before it was wonderful and the other
thing is if you've ever cruise before
you could sit on the toilet and you and
your knees weren't rubbing against the
door there was actually plenty of space
to be able to get in it was a really
nice size the bathroom we were very
impressed and the shower was gorgeous
really nice brand new shower high-end
German fixtures in there as well
um so absolutely no complaints the the
shower was a big glass enclosure it must
have been four foot long it was really
nice wasn't it yeah it wrote for a
cruise ship it was massive yeah
so yes we had one of these uh new rooms
and we really enjoyed it they would make
the room up clean the room twice a day
that was very impressive wasn't it
because the last time we cruised it had
gone down to like once a day so to have
turned down service twice a day was
great
so basically we're referring to this
motor yacht the Windstar star Pride as I
shrunk down regular cruise ship
there's there's nothing different to it
than a cruise ship that would have 3 000
passengers it's just they've shrunk it
yeah yeah so what sort of facilities did
they have on board for restaurants team
so they did have a buff
and they had two
had two restaurants
and one was a Spanish restaurant and
then they had a really nice main dining
room
and you're allowed to go to the a la
carte restaurants uh once a week so if
you're on two-week Cruise you got to go
there twice twice to each restaurant and
there was no additional charge for that
it was already included in your price of
your ticket
well what we did find
and obviously on this ship there was
only around 160 passengers the capacity
is just over 300. but
there's no buffet in the evening you
either have to go to the main dining
room
or have room service and 24-hour room
service is included and you can have the
full menu from the main dining room you
can choose from that for room service
yeah that was quite impressive wasn't it
that you could have that yeah it was the
other thing that was all inclusive about
this Cruise was
there was a coffee shop in the um Yacht
Club as he called it that was a
forward-facing lounge that was extremely
well appointed
so this was like a mini Starbucks so
they had uh an espresso machine they'll
do cappuccinos or do lattes do regular
filtered coffee which was off on the
side and you just helped yourself to
that they had decaf as well
they also had a a cabinet and in the
morning times there would be morning
pastries croissants uh Pang chocolate
and stuff like that then they would
change that out for lunch time and
they'd put sandwiches in there
um so that whole experience of the yacht
club was extremely good yes and the
young woman that ran that Cafe was
extremely capable never saw her without
a smile on her face it was great and
another wonderful thing they did in the
afternoon was they actually had scones
with jam and fresh whipped cream which
was to die for it was delicious wasn't
it it was and and yeah we even got that
as room service as well because as our
story evolves you'll understand how room
service will come into our story more
and more
so we love walking on a cruise ship yes
even on a mini Cruiser yeah even on a
mini cruise ship well we had our own
sort of walking Track didn't we Norm so
there's eight there's eight decks on
this trip and the walking Track is on
the very top at the the eight and it's
wooden decks so easy to walk
it was chilly because we were in the
North Atlantic we were just off Iceland
going to Greenland now a lot of you are
going to wonder
do these smaller cruise ships are they
stable do they rock and roll uh what's
the motion like
well bearing in mind we're in the North
Atlantic and
coming out of Iceland was was quite calm
and
you you can you can feel it roll
slightly and you can feel it go up and
down bearing in mind we're in the
midships we're on Deck five and so we
were at that cantilever process where we
wouldn't be going too up or too down
because we're right in the middle
but we did field motion and as the crews
progressed we were
confronted with what was left of
hurricane Lee and so before we left
Greenland
um the captain had been advised by their
weather people that he should hang
around Greenland for another eight hours
because the swell in the ocean was quite
large
and we're really glad he did because if
that was water not too bad swell was we
were sure glad we weren't there where
the waves were bigger at one time we did
have 16 foot didn't we normally well
yeah 16 foot swells and uh and we could
feel that in bed but
we don't get motion sickness we're
extremely fortunate because of that but
we didn't really notice the other
passengers being that distressed by any
of the ship's movement there was
probably one or two days where walking
in the ship was difficult because it was
rolling yeah you really had to kind of
hang on didn't you and on those two days
we actually didn't go outside did we
because they were really encouraging you
not to go outside so if you ever wanted
to know what it's like being drunk and
staggering that's sort of that was how
it was on that particular day
um there's a few things the
seemed disorganized in in some respects
they had Port talks for each of the
ports and we were able to go to all the
ports apart from one so there was one
cancellation which we were very
fortunate for but
they have this compass rose Lounge on
the fifth floor
and it is geared up for music there's a
bar and so they do pre-dinner drinks
because the restaurant opens at seven
and so a lot of people will go there for
six o'clock 6 30 have a cocktail listen
to when we were there there was a duet
uh husband and wife really good guitar
and singer and
um but but then they put these Port
talks on at 6 30 and
people want to go to that so there's
nobody at the live music which seems
yeah it was a bit of a shame wasn't it
it was in fact it took us the first day
wasn't it for us to find out because we
were in the area having a drink and we
thought well where everybody is then we
found out about the port talks and we
thought then we decided to go to the
port talks but then we couldn't go for
the pre-dinner drinks which we thought
was a little strange it was yeah when
when they could have quite easily done
the support talks at three o'clock or
four o'clock in the afternoon so that
was one thing that was strange because
we enjoyed the live music
with it being a small ship
maximum capacity just over 300 there was
160 on ours as we've already said
there's limited choices on the menu it
wasn't an extensive menu no
and shrimp started showing up an awful
lot on it as as both appetizers and main
courses and while they were claiming
that it was wild shim shrimp it was
obvious that it wasn't and we tend to
avoid that anyway so that would be one
meal that's gone
um
also with it being a small ship there's
limited entertainment so the word port
talks there was a husband and wife
photographer
um and they were doing talks as well and
workshops
but there's no Casino so if you'd like
to have a little flutter that that was
removed from the ship
and there's no shows it's it's just
music so they have a five piece band
and then they had this Duo which was a
husband and wife she sang he played the
guitar
and that's it for entertainment
basically yeah I think during the day
they did put some movies on didn't they
on the sea days but they did we're not
really into popcorn and movies so we
didn't really go to those do we we've
seen Millions
so a little we did find that was a
little limited didn't we not that we're
huge show people no we're not but if you
wanted to there wasn't the option for it
that's what we kind of found and the
five piece band got going with the
cruise director because she sang as well
um but that didn't get going until 9 30
at night and so we would have dinner at
seven and then you're just hanging
around for an hour and a half waiting
for the music to start because people
were coming out of the restaurant at
nine o'clock yeah whereas we'd gone to
eat earlier hadn't we so there was that
time Gap that we found a little
difficult didn't we so the all-important
thing 10
how much did we spend on this Cruise
we spent
6166 US dollars each
now so
yeah that was a wow that is the most we
have actually spent for a cruise isn't
it Norms it is multiply it by two that
is the grand total of 12
[Music]
332.
US Dollars now we will say for that we
got the all-inclusive price so we did
get our drinks we got Wi-Fi
um we got the tips and we got free
laundry included which was very nice so
we could have paid around 1400 US
Dollars less yeah for the same room but
we would have then had to buy the Wi-Fi
if we wanted it uh come up with a uh
staff gratuities and uh and the laundry
and everything else and pay for drinks
and it worked out that you didn't really
have to have a lot of drinks to make it
worthwhile if you looked at what the
daily charge would have been for Wi-Fi
and for tips and everything we did we
worked the numbers out there yeah it was
good value and it was really good value
and we got our money's worth on that and
we had the money
so there was all sorts of Miniatures of
alcohol and beer and wine that was all
included wasn't it yeah and we could
drink wherever we were on the ship
whichever restaurant whichever bar that
bit was wonderful so we are saying it
was not a cheap cruise by any means we
didn't think did we so our motivation
for going with Windstar Cruises on their
motor yacht was we saw that they'd
discounted the price because the real
price for this was nearer eight over
nine actually yeah over nine so yeah
yeah which we thought so we saw that it
had been discounted they're obviously
trying to sell the cruise we booked it
within two or three weeks of departure
we chose this as a small Cruise
to avoid getting sick
uh you hear about these large cruise
ships where
um
they have norovirus or they have covid
well within three days of us being on
the ship we were sick and prior to us
getting sick we could hear people just
coughing yeah
excessively coughing yeah
were everywhere we went wasn't it
whether we were in the lounge or
anywhere and within three days who else
was coughing
as yeah so by the time we got on on the
Saturday by the Tuesday we were both
coughing having sore throats and we
really couldn't believe just how ill we
suddenly felt after such shorter time of
being on this the three the three days
it was just a cough but then the next
day the sore throat and then the next
day after that incredible sore throat
yeah
um and not feeling well so then we
decided to just basically stay in our
cabin and we'd stop going to the main
dining room and the specialty ones and
that's where we were having our room
service
so we
we felt that the Windstar didn't deliver
on protecting us there was nothing about
health being said on the ship we we had
to fill in a health questionnaire when
we first arrived even as they were
filling out the forms they were coughing
and spluttering weren't they so
and um so really then another two days
after that on the Thursday Norm we had
actually taken a covid test with us
didn't we yeah we in Canada in Ontario
they provided covid test kits and this
this five tests in each box so I just
thought you know always the salesman
being prepared I just packed one of
those boxes with us just in case never
for a minute thinking we'd actually need
to use it did we so I tested myself
um we didn't test Tina because
for some reason she'd had a nosebleed
the day before well she had two two nose
blades yeah and I just didn't want to
stick anything up a nose but you know
it's not a nice chest is it no so I
tested myself and immediately it it came
up as positive for covid-19
um we still have it we are a little
raspy
um we do still have a cough yeah but
most of the other symptoms have gone
yeah because
um I guess prior to the actual covid
test we had been continuously taking
Tylenol and Advil and we were in bed and
we were getting up having breakfast and
going back to sleep weren't we some
afternoons we'd sleep for like three
hours and we was we were sick
this is it
a ship with 300 passengers is it too
small
um we're leaning towards saying
possibly possibly too small for us well
some staff who were very kind to us
there was a girl called Christine yeah
she was from the Philippines she was
wonderful she knew her name right from
day one and whenever she saw us she
would come over have a little chat and
there was
there was a few people like that
primarily the women
um who were the servant now we we were
impressed by the captain though too he
was a lovely guy and if he came up and
we were there and he would stop and talk
to us and we hadn't really had that on
any other cruise ships had we so it was
rather nice that the captain would take
the time to just stop and chat with you
yeah he was eating in the same venues
that we were they weren't in there they
weren't hiding away uh behind the scenes
um so yeah and you could go on the
bridge as well if you wanted to uh they
had an open Bridge policy
um at certain times they would close it
if there were maneuvering or having to
concentrate but a very unique experience
that you could be hands on with the
captain of the ship
um I had a chat with him at the elevator
and he was in no rush to go anywhere
well that was really nice wasn't it it
was so all in all we enjoyed our cruise
with Windstar
on the star Pride the captain kept her
safe even in the yeah
the hurricane Lee which was a tropical
storm at that point
um we felt very confident and um
we might try a 600. uh passenger ship if
if we go back to cruising at the moment
I know Tina would go back to cruising
I'm kind of put off it and and I'm
thinking I don't want to go on another
cruise ship
because
the other passengers are not playing the
game if you sit before you go you
shouldn't claim on your insurance and
don't go no that's what we would do but
when we're pretty sure that
all they're getting on the show
the Sheltering and we were perfectly
okay before we boarded the ship weren't
we and all of a sudden within a couple
of days wow it just knocked us down well
we we haven't been sick no since
before the pandemic yeah we've never had
a cold we've never had the flu all those
three years and then we just go on one
cruise and it's three days later
we're done yeah so anyway
we don't want to be so negative it was
wonderful to see Greenland it was they
are a marvelous people we were walking
around the towns and they would say
hello or good morning yeah it really
that was really nice wasn't it it was
and we did have a wonderful day in
Quebec City yeah that was fabulous Blue
Skies
just just tremendous yeah and the
advantage of the small ship yeah was it
it moored right at the foot of the
Shadow Frontenac on the uh the river
that was wonderful we did see a
Norwegian cruise ship yeah and they were
way over past the industrial area of the
docks so we were just able to walk off
the ship and we were in Quebec City
yeah really close big benefit wasn't it
so anyway we hope everybody is staying
safe and keeping well not until the next
time bye bye bye bye