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The Wind Surf is an
interesting ship, part motor ship and part sail ship. The ship which was a very expensive
vessel to build in its day having all the equipment of a motor
ship and then all the added expense
 of
the masts and sailing rig must still to this day be an
expensive ship to operate.
It really is a delight to
actually be on a ship of this size which does indeed sail and
we did, on several occasions sail power was our means of
propulsion, not that the ship ever goes silent as there is
always the sound of generators clunking away to supply the
domestic needs. never the less it is quite a sight to see the
sails pulling in a good steady Trade Wind blow.
The Wind Surf has long been a favorite of mine. I like
the size, the spaciousness, the cabin layouts and many other
features unique to the ship. Constructed in 1990 she was
originally operated by Club Med as the Club Med 1, in 1998 she
was purchased by Carnival Cruise Line and underwent some
modifications; on deck three (the upper most accommodation
deck) every other stateroom had a large bay cut through to the
adjacent cabin to double the size of the stateroom. The
bathrooms were left in place but the bed and other furnishing
were replaced with a couch and table etc to make a sitting
room. This has worked very well and gives a feeling of
spaciousness as well as the convenience of having his & her
bathrooms. Regrettably, some of the other modification
have not in my opinion worked as well.
The size of the ship allows passengers to have their "own
space", in fact on occasions you wonder where everyone is on
board. It is only in the evening when people congregate
in the main lounge for a pre-dinner cocktail and the next days
briefing that you realize - yes, there are a lot of people on
the ship. In fact the ship in her present set-up carries 308
passengers on a double occupancy basis. The cruise I was
on was close to capacity with some 300 passenger on board and
it never felt crowded, there was always a table in the dining
room and a seat in the lounge available without having to wait.
We had a standard outside
cabin which was a good sized cabin, well laid out with
the standard bathroom module which I like, they are well
thought out with plenty of storage as indeed is the cabin
layout. A recent soft goods and electronics upgrade which
included flat screen TV's and DVD's in each cabin was a
welcome addition (there is a substantial DVD collection in the
library) the new soft goods are bright and give the ship a
"lift" as it can look a little Spartan in its original trim.
Besides the main lounge,
entertainment is also available in the upper lounge in the
from of a guitarist during tea time (4-5pm) and later in the
evening when he is joined by a female vocalist (or was that a
guest?). The trio who perform in the main lounge are a professional
Asian lounge act who play comfortable back ground music,
there is a very small dance floor in the lounge and should
anyone wish to dance they will play musical requests.
Due to the physical
demands of a day either scuba diving or sightseeing most
people seem happy to retire to their staterooms immediately
after dinner, to relax and watch a video presumably.
Many of the tours started quite early as well so there were
not to many night owls on our cruise, however, the cigar bar
was always occupied with a few gentlemen enjoying a cigar and
cognac before retiring.
Our dining experience was
a mixed affair, it started out well but gradually deteriorated
as the cruise wore on. Breakfast which is taken in the
upper dining room was a large selection of buffet items with
cereal, fruits and yogurts, there was always two or three
steamers with bacon, sausage and scrambled eggs or poached egg
alternating daily on toast or Benedict or Florentine, freshly
cooked waffles were available from the grill or a Mexican
style breakfast plate from the kitchen. The omelet
station was always busy too.
Lunches were something of
a repeat of breakfast with various salads replacing the cereals
etc. Occasionally a pasta station was operating.
The grill would prepare hot dogs, hamburgers and chicken, or a
menu plate could be ordered from the galley.
Dinners could be taken in
the dining room on an open seating basis or by reservation on
the day in the Bistro, one would check the various menus and
make a decision, regrettably we never did eat in the Bistro as
the menu's did not appeal and besides there always seemed to
be something carried over from the dining room from the day
previously. The ship started by offering a interesting
choice of four main courses and salad of choice (2) and cold
soup of choice (2) as well as desert. There was also a
light menu which had some interesting selection on occasions.
Regrettably we found the menu selection did not change very
much with salmon, chicken and beef appearing in different guises most
nights. We had an excellent veal chop one night and the
obligatory lobster tail on another, fresh fish seemed to be
none existent.
The itinerary I sailed
was a unique and unusual one. It was a scuba divers
delight covering and are in the central western part of
Central America where the reefs are just amazing - in fact the
worlds second largest living reef was just a part of the many
we visited. Our cruise started in Cozumel, with a
relaxing day at sea to get settled on-board, finally arriving
at the Isla de Utila (the original Robinson Crusoe island). From
there we hopped across to West End Roatan one of the Bay
Islands of Honduras. The following day we made a
technical stop at Puerto Cortes in Honduras where most
everyone went off the ship on some great excursions, the ship
taking the opportunity to move around the headland to anchor
of off Omoa. From there we crossed back to the mainland and
snuck in through the reef to anchor of off Belize City, and
anchor off you do as it is very shallow so the ship is miles
from the the "harbor".. however, there are fast cabin cruisers
which tender passengers to and from the ships in no time at
all and in comfort as well. From Belize City it's all
back uphill with stops at Costa Maya where we discovered an
incredibly as yet unspoilt fishing village, right on the white
sandy beach with a coral reef no more than 150 yards offshore
- the nearest thing to a Pacific lagoon I have seen... nice
people, friendly and welcoming with some cute little beachside
bars and restaurants to relax at. Our final overnight
run took us back to Cozumel.. and reality.
On the negative side a
few points stand out.. our cabin was like an ice box the whole
time and several attempts to rectify the problem changed
nothing, yet oddly the aft end of the ship, especially the
boutique was so hot as be unpleasant and certainly drove us
out before we spent any money. The marina platform which would
have been so ideal on this itinerary was never used once on
the trip, I was told it was 'broken down".
We have always maintained
that the crew make the cruise in many ways, and without any
exception this was the case on this cruise. There were
so many people that made our cruise a pleasure from the
Captain all the way down.. everyone gave a full 100% - so much
so that even picking out a few names of staff we dealt with
mostly would not do justice to all the others who tried so
hard.
Unfortunately in many ways,
this is the last season the ship will do central America as
the Wind Surf will be operating out of Barbados in the
2005/2006 season. Barbados and Grenadines and the whole
Windward Island chain is a spectacular cruising area, one not
to be missed if the opportunity arises.
Click to link to
photo gallery of images from this
voyage. |
