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I Cruise The World's "Most Popular" Small Ship Line: Windstar
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Jan 28, 2025
After loving recent cruises on 600 and 700 passenger ships, like Oceania Insignia, Azamara Quest and Seabourn Encore, I wanted to see if going ever smaller was even better, so I booked myself on an 11-night Windstar Star Pride “Lands of the Midnight Suns”. Now this ship only holds 312 passengers, and they claim to be the market leading small ship line and have both these yacht style engine-driven ships that I went on, but they also have sailing vessels as well. For bonus & exclusive content (including videos, articles, eBooks and more) become a channel member or patron: --------------------------------------------------- * Patreon Patron: https://www.patreon.com/tipsfortravellers * YouTube Channel Member: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_qE-Obs2ocdmPXY0TIU-cw/join Check out my cruise-themed T-shirts and products: --------------------------------------------------- * T-Shirts: http://bit.ly/TFTStore * Mugs, notebooks, hoodies etc: https://www.teepublic.com/stores/tipsfortravellers?ref_id=22354 My social media: --------------------------------------------------- * Blog: https://www.tipsfortravellers.com * Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/garybembridge * Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/tipsfortravellers * Instagram: http://www.instgram.com/garybembridge * LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bembridge
View Video Transcript
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after loving recent cruises on 600 and
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700 passenger ships like ocean Insignia
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aamar Quest seon Encore I wanted to see
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if going even smaller was even better so
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I booked myself on an 11 night Windstar
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star Pride lands of the midnight Suns
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now this ship only holds
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312 passengers and they claim to be the
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market leading small ship line they have
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these yacht style engine driven ships
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that I went but they also have sailing
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vessels as well now when I boarded and
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for the first few days I could see that
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small had many upsides but that will
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change as you will see I love the
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boarding in Edinburgh it was such a
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breeze and so fast to check in because
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there were so few passengers after
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boarding I headed to my cabin I booked a
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star balcony suite and was delighted by
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the cabin size and the two sync bathroom
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for such a small ship the first small
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ship issue though reared its head as the
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so-called balcony was Tiny it wasn't a
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balcony at all and this was the first of
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the trade-offs the compromises coming to
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roost I was paying for a balcony but as
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you can see not getting one next anyway
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I checked the daily program in the cabin
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and was encouraged though to see that
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there were a choice of six dining
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options on the ship I decided to head to
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The Veranda which is the buffet
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restaurant which is open for breakfast
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and of course I could see lunch the
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staff when I was there told me that each
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day lunch was going to be themed around
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a different Cuisine a different country
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and if the buffet didn't appeal to me
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there was also a small menu both at
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lunch and at breakfast where I could
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order something else now I actually
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ordered Pancakes on a couple of the
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mornings off the menu but actually never
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got round to ordering a hamburger off
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the lunch menu because the buffet was
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pretty good I liked by the way that it
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also had an outside area but other than
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one day on my cruise it was a bit too
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chilly unfortunately to sit out there
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some people chose to go to the star
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grill for their lunch an informal dining
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venue out on deck which was also open
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for lunch every day I discovered during
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the cruise by the way they occasionally
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also had themed lunches there like a
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Scottish salmon one when we were in the
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ory Islands dinner of course is a key
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focus on a cruise and I could see from
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the daily program there were three
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options available let me tell you I got
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on and for was the main dining room this
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was open- seated dining though
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that evening another hint of a potential
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issue because I asked to have a table by
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myself and the mat said he could do it
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for today the first day but he couldn't
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guarantee it because if the ship was
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full that would not always be possible
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now I noticed there seemed to be fewer
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tables for two there were more bigger
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tables for four or more and sharing was
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actively encouraged when passengers
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arrived for dinner now many of course
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love the idea of sharing to be fair now
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in the end because the ship wasn't full
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I was able to get a table by myself on
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the nights I went by basically going at
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7:00 p.m. when they opened but this was
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another issue with small May mean that
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that's a challenge there were two
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included speciality restaurants first
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there was candles Veranda was turned
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into this steak and seafood restaurant
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and did require booking they guaranteed
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I could go once though again because the
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ship wasn't full I actually went twice
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because the food there was really great
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there was also cro 44 Spanish restaurant
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with even better food in my opinion
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again because the ship wasn't full I was
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able to go twice the downside though on
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the small ship but there was no casual
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dining option for me in the evening now
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I don't always want a big and a served
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meal every night so I had to use room
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service which I did twice actually this
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had a rather small menu although I could
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as I discovered have ordered from the
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actual M4 menu every evening there was
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another compromise being on such a small
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ship that struck me from the first night
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which was that the menus had relatively
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tighter options even versus those larger
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small ships 600 to 700 passenger ship I
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was mentioning that had been on recently
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like Oceania Azamara and Seaborn but to
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compensate for this what they did is
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they made a lot of their partnership
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with the James Beard Foundation now this
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Awards chefs what seems to be kind of
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like the Oscars of cooking neither the
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lead dishes on the menus each day were
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recipes from James Beard Foundation
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winning chef or as in the case of cro 44
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a partnership with Anthony Sasso that
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was linked to them and the star grill
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that I mentioned earlier was another
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partnered with a guy called Steven
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rashin they also pushed the point about
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quality they did this through a couple
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of cooking demonstrations by the
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executive chef he spoke about making
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everything from scratch on board and he
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spoke a lot about the quality of the
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ingredients versus larger ships that
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he'd been on before so across the cruise
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while felt there was a compromise on the
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breadth of the menus especially versus
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the larger small ship lines like oania I
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did find the food was great to be honest
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was probably just enough options so a
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bit of a trade-off but not terrible in
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the end now I probably run a bit ahead
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of myself because before dinner that I
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mentioned earlier I actually did two
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other things that I want to talk about
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first I attended the excursions talk and
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again some compromises good and bad at
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the excursions talk I realized being a
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smaller ship seemed there was a more
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limited Choice than I was used to on
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other cruises and what I noticed and
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this is important for something I will
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talk about later almost all were active
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ebikes RB boat tours hikes walking tours
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and they were costly compared to bigger
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ships though one upside that I later
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discovered which is a plus is they were
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all in really small groups even when we
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got to Bergen for example I went on the
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mount uan cable car Excursion and
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although 38 people had booked on it and
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could offer it in one bus they actually
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took us in two different buses in two
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smaller groups so that is a real big
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positive trade-off after the Excursion
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talk I did take time to explore the ship
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and this is what compromises and upsides
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that I found first of all I really like
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the size it was really easy to get
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around through the trip I loved that
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everything was literally kind of seconds
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or at most a few minutes away though to
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be honest there weren't that many places
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to go to there was for example the
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compass rose Lounge where we had the
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welcome party later that evening and
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during the cruise it's where all the
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evening activities took place Trivia
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Live music and the parties there was the
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lounge which I checked in which is where
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they held that Excursion talk I
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mentioned and then across the cruise
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they also held in here the port talks
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the enrichment talks the captain's
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welcome and farewell parties and the
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crew talent show for me though the best
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Lounge by far was the yacht club which
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was overlooking the B they had hot
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drinks and snacks from 6:00 a.m. to 6
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p.m. served in there uh I also by the
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way like the size of the fitness and the
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spa which I found coped really well with
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the numbers on the ship it was a really
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good size for the amount of people on
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the ship the shop was fine it sold the
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usual stuff watches jewelry clothes
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though disappointingly it had limited
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WinStar merchandise for my liking you
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know being a smaller ship I guess they
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had much less stuff outside by the way
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was also spacious for the numbers though
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the pool deck only had a kind of a
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plunge pool and one hot tub it's not one
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that you could sit around and lay about
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on on the bow on Deck five was another
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hot tub that was really great space for
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Scenic cruising days or as I did
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watching the tugboats when we set sail
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from Edinburgh there was also lots of
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deck space to hang out with in warm
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weather but in our case on the fj's
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cruise to basically stand up there and
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watch the amazing scene there's lot
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space to do that now by the way if you
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want to know more about the ship
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specifically the star Pride ship I do
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have a full video tour of that but let
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me talk about probably the biggest
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challenge and the issue that hit me on
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that first night and played out
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throughout the cruise at the welcom
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party in compass rose I clicked there
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was no entertainment team just a lone
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Cruise director along with a four-piece
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band and a music duo in the evening
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there were no shows just live music like
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unfortunately for me the inevitable Abba
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evening not something I enjoy one
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evening the crew did a line dancing set
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for example and the only full show was a
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crew talent show there was also by the
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way no Casino as I found quickly the
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daily program was pretty light on Port
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days there maybe one daily trivia lots
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of unhost Chess Bridge mang a cornhall
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game maybe a film in the viewing room
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and then shopping and Spar events and in
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the evening live music on the SE days
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not much was added with a cooking
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demonstration or some sort of food
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related activity like one day we had an
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onc barbecue one evening we had a galley
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Market in for where the galley was
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turned into a grand kind of buffer which
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was quite fun on C days there were the
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port talks there we had a guest speaker
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Dr Jean Kenyan she spoke about whales
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arctic animals Animal Sounds how
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undiscovered the ocean was the captain
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did a talk about stretching the ship so
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pretty light stuff going on what I
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learned going on a such a small ship is
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it's much more about socializing now I'm
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not a drinker I don't particularly like
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sitting listening to live music very
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much so the evenings for me I found much
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more challenging and particularly as a
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solar traveler I realized that you
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needed to be really outgoing to
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integrate because there weren't many
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diversions and you had to really make
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the effort to meet and sort of get
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involved with people now something that
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did not bother me but did some by way
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being on such a small ship is because we
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were sailing like to the fuds to Iceland
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the Seas were pretty choppy and there
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was quite a lot of movement now smaller
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ships of course have much more movement
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and some surprisingly did struggle with
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it much more than I think they probably
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expected and I don't think they were as
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prepared as they should be so that is
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another watch out the compromises and
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things I were missing did start to make
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me wonder if this was all just a bit too
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small for me so I wanted to see what
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others were thinking and why there were
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clearly so many repeat Windstar
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Travelers on board so over the rest of
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the cruise I started to speak to lots of
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people and I sat and kind of ear wigged
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and listened in to what people were
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saying which is something I found lots
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of good information about I discovered
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four things through that that seemed to
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be pretty consistent amongst people who
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were really enjoying themselves on a
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ship this small now first of all the
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itinery and the ports were their main
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passion and the lack of facilities and
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activities that I was missing really
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wasn't important to them the small ship
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for them unlocked something way more
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important so most guests seemed very
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well traveled and they wanted to see
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importantly new and out of the way
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places not just the well-known and so in
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fact the small size was really
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fundamental because it enabled just that
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so for example I've been to the fields
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you know multiple times on bigger ships
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but going on this smaller ship took me
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to places that I had never been to
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before on those bigger ships you know we
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went to the W Islands on the way there
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we went to MDA we went to heland and we
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just saw places that I hadn't seen
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before so I looked a little bit more I
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looked for example at the Caribbean a
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place I love going and I saw that
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instead of selling out of Florida they
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mostly go from say St Martin or or rat
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and they stop at way less of visited
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islands and other Cruisers Go to like
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sbart Guadalupe virgin Gord Mara which
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I'd never even heard of and Bonet on the
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cruise by the way they also ran a middle
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eastern Bazaar which was a future Cruise
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Sales Event and they were talking about
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how they they're creating sailings in
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parts of the world to open new regions
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to see and they talk about how the small
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ships include stops that bigger ships
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couldn't even in these new regions so
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that was kind of really interesting I
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also realized that while the trivia the
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live music and so on were actually not
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that well attended but when they brought
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on board local entertainers they R ports
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local enrichment talks those events were
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packed unlike the kind of activities the
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ship whenever we import was empty from
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the minute we arrived pretty much until
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the minute we left the ship was empty
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because those people those Travelers
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were out spending as much time exploring
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as they could in fact it was so empty
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that uh various people seeing the photos
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and videos I was posting during the
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cruise when when I was in Port kept
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saying where is everybody it's because
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everybody was out all the time the
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second key thing I clicked was really
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important and this was the informality
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and pretty much the lack of dress code
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there was theoretically a dress code
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which basically said no shorts trainers
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and kind of distressed jeans in the
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evening in the restaurant but dress code
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was very relaxed this was not a flashy
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designer label get dressed for dinner
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experience it was more like to be honest
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when I've been on an expedition Cruise
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where what you bring what you wear was
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really low down on the list for the
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evenings now the third thing was with a
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maximum of 312 guests and 200 crew
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passengers were saying that they really
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liked that they got to the crew and vice
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versa it was very chatty it was jokey
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and they liked always being called by
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your name and also the same crew would
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man lunch dinner and the bar whenever I
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went around the ship they would always
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pop up they'd know my favorite drink or
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Quirk and that seemed really really
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important also passengers clearly loved
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access to Senior Crew winar have an open
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bridge I could pop in whenever I wanted
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to chat to the crew there except when we
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were coming out of port Senior Crew were
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always around the ship including the
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captain he would eat in the buffet he
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got to know my name got to know many
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people's names he would stop in chats he
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remembered what you you know he'd spoken
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to you about the last time they also
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hosted you know meetups in the O club
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with the Senior Crew so that access and
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visibility of Senior Crew was really
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important to people however it became
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clear to others that although they were
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well traveled and independent they of
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course wanted to do it with some luxury
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they wanted good food they wanted comfy
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plush cabins which had up Market lock
14:25
and toiletries high quality bedding but
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they didn't necessar want to push it the
14:30
next price level to a Seaborn or a
14:32
regent or a Sil silver sea you know
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because that is much more focused on
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giving more Choice more options the ship
14:38
is even more fundamental to the over
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experience that was much less important
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by the way one thing that struck me was
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also that it was very American focused
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in food in style and service in fact one
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of the slides in the future sales
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presentation had the line the only us
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focused small ship line and I would say
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easily I would guess I don't know N9 out
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of 10 of the passengers on my sailing
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anyway were American So based on all of
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this would I rush back to such a small
15:07
ship and winstock cruises now while I'm
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thinking it probably was too small for
15:12
me because I missed some of the buzz and
15:14
the excitment in the evenings you know
15:16
shows Casino other activities and I
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found the cay to be honest not busy
15:21
enough I did and I do still find their
15:24
approach to destinations itineries
15:26
visiting less well visited ports
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appealing especially in the more exotic
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parts of the world they go to like
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French Polynesia the Middle East Asia
15:34
Australia so I would for a specific
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itinery like that Middle East itinery
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which really appealed to me because I
15:40
take me through the SE canal and so on
15:42
however I would only return if it was a
15:45
port intensive itinery because having
15:48
many C days being on a small ship with
15:50
not many activities didn't really appeal
15:53
now if win star does appeal from what
15:55
you've heard and you want to know more
15:56
about say the star Pride ship take a
15:59
look at this video because I talk about
16:00
how the ship was actually stretched and
16:02
new facilities were added see you over
16:04
there
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