Star Breeze Review

4.5 / 5.0
123 reviews

Very good overall -- BUT TOO LENIENT ON SMOKING!

Review for the Panama Canal & Central America Cruise on Star Breeze
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mwf7501
2-5 Cruises • Age 60s

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Sail Date: Mar 2018
Cabin: Balcony Suite

Chose this because we wanted a 7-day canal transit on a small ship. First time on Windstar. Overall very good -- excellent service, food was quite satisfactory, ship was in good but not outstanding condition. The cabin space was excellent -- was skeptical of the french balcony, but liked it a great deal. Since you have a whole suite, no need for a separate balcony, and opening the sliders brought the outdoors inside.

The canal transit was excellent, super informative, just what we wanted. The excursions at the Panama and Costa Rica stops were good. Time on board was generally very relaxing and pampered (see smoking exception below!). We are not foodies, but we found the food very good in selection and quality -- and again the service overall was really excellent, from top to bottom.

As noted above, the ship's smoking policy was ridiculous. We enjoyed hanging out at the outdoor bar, called the Star Bar, and there is a designated smoking area right next to the bar (like maybe 10 feet away). Come on, this is the year 2018! We had perhaps 6 or 7 smokers (out of about 170 passengers), why should they smog up the place for the all the others? Of course the breeze was always blowing straight from them towards the rest of us. Worse, two people were cigar smokers, and they also puffed away. Windstar should move the smoking area away from the bar! There is plenty of space on the top deck (where the Star Bar is), and the smoking area should be moved AWAY. Before booking another Windstar I would need to investigate the details of the individual ship's policy -- I would be very cautious about booking another cruise on this ship if the policy is not changed.

Cabin Review

Balcony Suite

Cabin BS

Very nice, slightly worn but an excellent value. The double basin is great. The space is the best we've ever had on a cruise. Large walk-in closet.

Port Reviews

Isla Parida

OK beach, not white sand. Water rough and cloudy, snorkeling not good. The crew brought out lots of water toys. Nice to be off the boat for a few hours. Beach BBQ was very good.

Quepos

I think this is where we Zip lined -- excellent -- it's a must-do.

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