Writers Theresa Morrow and Bill Ristow based this independent review on their 7-night Aegean cruise departing from Athens, Greece.

Wind Spirit has just that -- spirit -- reflected in her sophisticated passenger set and just plain unusual profile. Those distinctive four masts outlined against a sunset are a beacon for passengers whose hearts race when they spy them. A slightly spiffed-up version of her slightly older sister Wind Star, Spirit sticks to the same blend of unique ports, gourmet food, and a small family of newly made friends and crew. They vary in subtle ways: The lounge is larger, with room for a piano, for example. And Wind Spirit has six sails, compared to Star’s five. About half the passengers have been on one of the other Windstar ships in the past, so they feel like they’ve come home. (Wind Surf, the third ship in the triumvirate, is larger and therefore unique.) On Spirit, the glamour associated with most cruises is exchanged for shared experiences, being a part of the ship and weather, and boogying with the crew.

Why Wind Spirit?

• She’s pretty: The ship gleams with teak decks and sparkling new sails. When the sails unfurl, the dramatic theme from the movie 1492 blares out and there’s not a glum face on deck. No one can resist those gorgeous sails against the sky.
• Casual and quaint: Boating clothes are in, formal wear out. And that’s how the whole cruise goes. There are no scheduled seatings, passengers are not spoon-fed their entertainment, and the ship is small and intimate.
• The crew: Passengers adopt crew members and vice versa. Everyone mingles, from the captain to doctor to stewards, and by the last day there are hugs all around (well, not the captain, but he might know your name!).

Heard on the deck: “There aren’t any of those goofy shows. I love this. I’m already starting to plan the next one.”

Who should go
Travel aficionados love these ships. There’s lots of opportunity to share a passion for travel, and most passengers take several trips a year, both at sea and on land. This passion sets the stage for lively discussions on deck. Loyalty is high: Former Windstar customers can make up as much as half of the passenger set; several take back-to-back trips. (We even met a couple who stayed on the ship for four weeks!) Companies like to book small groups since there’s such a team atmosphere onboard and some facilities for separate functions.

Who shouldn’t go
Anyone looking for a big party would be disappointed; though the pool deck can get raucous now and then and the bar sees plenty of action, this is not a rock ‘n’ roll crowd. People who like musicals and comedians onboard won’t like this; there’s very little in the way of scheduled entertainment, and what there is could be an informal show by the crew or a talk about the local culture, with a few dance lessons and casino tournaments thrown in. Kids are discouraged; there’s nothing for them to do and you seldom see any. Spirit is also a bad ship for the disabled as there are no elevators.

Heard on the deck: “There’s not much to do. I thought there’d be more shows and things.”

Hits and misses

• Don’t miss: The bridge is open almost 24 hours a day and the officers are happy to demonstrate equipment and chat. You can see how the sails are operated and how the course is plotted.
• Best part of the ship: The Veranda is a perfect place for breakfast al fresco. Start the day with the sun and the teak and a view of a Greek village or Caribbean island, with waiters in white greeting you by name.
• Best experience: “Sailaway,” the name for departures from ports, is an event, especially at sunset when the sails are unfurled and the music always plays. Every hand holds a drink, and every heart soars.
• Best shipboard activities: The casino gaming lessons and tournaments attract the gamblers. Though the casino is small, winnings can be relatively large; e.g., $600 for a blackjack tournament.
• Needs improvement: More local produce and local wines would make up for a certain disconnect between what you see in port and the experience onboard. Also, the beds are a little hard! On some itineraries there is a guide on the ship, on others there are local port experts who come onboard for a couple of hours. Having a cultural guide along for the entire cruise is a plus for such an articulate and educated crowd. The local experts mainly talk about shopping.
• Activities to skip: Half-hearted organized activities, like board games on deck, are a token gesture to provide unnecessary entertainment on an at-sea day. The salsa classes attracted at most six dancers.

How to meet the captain
It’s easy: He’s right there at the top of the gangway at embarkation, shaking hands and welcoming passengers. There’s a captain’s reception where you can meet and mingle with him and all the officers and hotel managers (the officers are British and look it with their crisp whites). But you are just as likely to run into the captain on the bridge or on deck, and he’s usually happy to chat. Whether there is a captain’s table in the dining room or not is up to the individual captain; some prefer to mingle on deck while others will invite past customers to dine.

Who said little things make the difference? The menu for all Windstar ships was created by chef Joachim Spichal, and while entrées are flavorful, the soups, salads, smoothies, and side dishes are just plain fun with taste. Don’t bother trying to guess what the crew will produce for these little dishes -- it’s bound to be unusual, like the phyllo appetizer with wild mushroom and carmelized onion. For the entrées, the fish is consistently moist, and standbys like lamb shanks and osso bucco are rich with sauce. Breakfast and lunch are a combination of buffet and special order from a small menu.

The Restaurant
Five-course dinners are served in the casual, nautical-themed room where the dining room staff knows your preferences. There is no assigned seating.

The Veranda
Wicker chairs and fresh air, or a casual glass-enclosed room, are the choices for lunch and breakfast at the Veranda. For both meals, there are substantial buffets, or select dishes from a menu.

Heard on the deck (from a woman at the smoothies table at breakfast): “What is it today? Chocolate and orange -- strange. But they never miss!”

Other dining options

• The Lounge: Cocktail hour appetizers are served in this lounge bar of comfy furniture and low tables. Appetizers include mussels, shrimp, and spring rolls, among other delicacies.
• Pool Bar: Continental breakfast for early risers and afternoon tea with such things as cherries jubilee are served by the tiny swimming pool.
• Room Service: A limited menu is always available, or you can order from the Restaurant or Veranda menus during meal times.

Best dining

• Dish: Surf and turf -- juicy filet mignon and a buttery rich lobster tail -- mmm. Also, the pistachio-crusted snapper gets high marks.
• Dessert: Chocolate crème brûlée -- crisp film of caramel over creamy custard with a surprise of deep chocolate on the bottom.
• Experience: Nothing beats sipping coffee with breakfast on the deck while the ship anchors off a Greek island (or Caribbean island, if that’s where you’re sailing). Gaze at windmills, whitewash, and aqua water while cutting into eggs benedict made with crab.
• Food tour: On the galley tour, you can survey the whole tiny galley from one spot and learn how the chef feeds 238 people (passengers and crew) while at sea. Hint: The bread bakers start at 2 AM, and the galley cleaner finishes minutes before that.

How to…

• Get a table for two: Just ask. You might have a short wait or end up by the kitchen, but you can always get a table.
• Celebrate a birthday/anniversary: Tell the dining room manager and you’ll get a little cake and a song.
• Dress: In the main dining room, dress is casually elegant. No shorts, T-shirts, hats, jeans, or tennis shoes -- but you won’t see any suits and ties either. In the Aegean in spring and fall, you will see some sweaters and jackets.

Tips:

• There is a chef’s recommended menu paired with wine for each dinner; however, we found that the recommended menu did not often pick the best items on the overall menu. Except for dessert -- usually you could rely on the chef to point you toward the most delectable sweet.
• There usually are both warm and chilled soups at lunch and dinner, and they are worth trying, even if they sound odd. If it’s offered, try the cold beet soup, or carrot soup with lemongrass and coriander crème fraiche.
• There is always a vegetarian entrée and appetizer on the menu. There’s also a Sail Light menu for anyone foolish enough to try weight watching during a cruise.

Fresh fruit and flowers accent the relatively roomy cabins, all of which have porthole windows and a fold-out table for room service meals. Multiple cubbyholes and two closets provide more-than-adequate storage, especially if you tuck suitcases under the bed. There’s a chair and a stool, but the bed usually becomes the sitting area anyway. The four pillows are a nice touch, as is the daily delivery of ice. The small safe is above the minibar for better access than on sister ship Wind Star, where you have to dismantle your counter to reach it. All cabins have a DVD/CD player (which accommodates MP3 players) and flat-screen TV; movies are on loan from the library.

The bathroom has plenty of room for cosmetics, and the shower is bigger than on most ships. Amenities include a hair dryer, two terry cloth bathrobes, Neutrogena lotion, and BioBalance soap and shampoo. Heat in the cabins can be erratic, but there are extra blankets.

Cabins for guests with disabilities
Cabins are not outfitted for the disabled, and Wind Spirit would be difficult for anyone with infirmities since there is no elevator and the winding stairs make anyone’s knees ache after a couple of days. Many excursions are via tender from the anchored ship, and getting on and off the tenders can be challenging.

Tip: Hair conditioner is not provided -- bring your own!

Windstar passengers entertain themselves mostly by eating, drinking, and talking. There’s not a ton of dancing, either at the pool bar or in the lounge, with one exception: On BBQ night, a conga line and loud “YMCA” get the group off its collective feet. The crew entertains with some well-practiced dancing and it’s fun for all. Beyond that, however, passengers are on their own. There can be some local entertainment -- Turkish folk dancers and a belly dancer in Turkey, for example -- who come onboard in port. And a water sports platform opens to the sea while at anchor for kayaking, sailing, scuba diving, swimming, and other active sports.

Bars, lounges, and casino
The tiny casino does see some action, and some groups stage their own slot tournaments. Two musicians play at the pool bar in the afternoon and in the lounge at night, but they mostly seem to be playing for themselves and don’t generate a ton of activity. That doesn’t mean the bars aren’t busy; they are, but with drinkers rather than dancers. There is a specialty drink that changes from time to time at the pool bar: Usually one martini, one non-alcoholic drink, and a fancy, frothy concoction. The lounge bar is only busy at cocktail hour.

Swimming pools
The swimming pool and hot tub are so small you’d think people would complain, but they don’t. They aren’t that interested in them anyway, since that’s just not why they are on this particular ship. The tiny pool is saltwater and the same temperature as the sea, which in the case of the Aegean in spring is cold. The hot tub is small too: If more than two hefty people get in, it overflows onto the deck.

Shore excursions
Shore excursions vary by itinerary. In tropical climates they’re geared toward activities, while in Europe they’re more cultural and historic. For the truly luxury-minded, there are gourmet dinners at onshore restaurants where namedropping is de rigueur (and the meal could set you back around $500 per couple), or a day at a villa on the Turkish coast ($1,200 per couple). Best on the Athens-Istanbul cruise? The Ephesus Tour included knowledgeable guides and entry into an actual archaeological dig not seen by most visitors. The gullet (wooden ship) ride at Bodrum is a must as well.

Weddings and vow renewals
There are plenty of honeymooning couples, but the captain cannot perform weddings. In fact, it’s just too casual for anything quite that organized! Wind Spirit is a little more attuned to romance after (or before?) the ceremony.

Looking for…

• Quietest spot: The Lounge during the day -- when it’s windy on deck, there are a couple of tiny corners by the rear windows where benches with cushions invite a nap or quiet reading.
• Liveliest spot: Pool bar -- always.
• Most popular activity: Meeting new friends for dinner and/or drinks is what the Windstar experience is all about.
• Best view: Almost anywhere -- there are no inside rooms on Wind Spirit, so the sea and views are all around all the time.
• Best show: At the BBQ dinner, waiters wear tropical shirts and do a dance routine; but the best show is how the whole small deck becomes transformed into a rockin’ picnic.
• Best drink: Vanilla-tini -- a vodka martini with just a taste of vanilla bean.

Tips:

• If you plan to go to the beach in a port, don’t take the pool towels. As you disembark, you can grab a beach towel from the wooden box by the gangway. Ask if you don’t see any.
• After a day of sightseeing ashore, you are welcomed back by a container of cool washcloths in the reception area -- a nice touch.

There are few children onboard, with good reason: There’s nothing for them to do. Not only are there no organized children’s activities, but this is a sailing ship without a lot of safeguards for children. Leave them home with grandma.

Spa and salon
The tiny Salon doubles as a spa and beauty venue. It’s not really a spa, but the massage services are plentiful, including Chakra stone, aroma-lymphatic drainage, and even an exotic scrub. There is only one masseuse, however, so you have to synchronize your schedule with hers. A second beautician offers a few facials and hair treatments, but the most popular services are the manicures and pedicures. Treatments are a little more expensive than on land: About $100 for a full-body massage, for example, and $59 for a very expert pedicure with foot massage. This is strictly a friendly treatment without those dreaded product pushes common in most cruise spas. In fact, most often the two therapists will become engaged in lively conversations with the customers and you quickly learn all about them. The treatment becomes a ship experience you’ll remember.

Fitness areas
The small gym on the second deck is amazingly well-equipped, with Nautilus equipment, stair steppers, and treadmills, plus free weights. It formerly housed a sauna, which was removed when the area was recently refurbished. Beware of two things: First, it’s small and easily crowded; and second, the scale (it’s honest).

Tips:

• Do get at least one spa or salon service. The young women who run the shop will tell you all about shipboard life, both its frustrations and its attractions. They usually room together, and they can tell you where the rest of the crew sleeps (forward of the passenger cabins on all decks) and eats (a mess hall in front of the galley -- hard to imagine on the small ship).
• Need exercise, but don’t want a gym? You can speedwalk around the decks, using stairways in the middle and both ends and get quite a workout. There’s a hidden stairway down to the water sports platform that means you can make a fairly complete loop. After the 10th time around, the crew and other passengers will all be waving as you go by.

The tiny gift shop is slightly larger than the one on the flagship Wind Star, and there are sales whenever the shop is open (it’s closed when in port). There is an Inch of Gold workshop, where you can learn how to make your own necklace or bracelet, and a Champagne and Diamonds sale, where discounted diamonds are exhibited in the library. There’s also a very popular sale on ship logo items by the pool on an at-sea day. The shop also offers items such as sunscreen, sunglasses, and beach gear.

Wind Spirit is usually in the Caribbean in the winter and the Mediterranean in the summer. She starts the European season along the Costa del Sol in Spain, then on to the Italian coast, eventually working her way to the popular Greece and Istanbul itinerary where she remains through September. Some passengers book the entire cruise from Spain to Istanbul in spring, but most choose the Athens to Istanbul or reverse cruise.

Side note: Wind Spirit holds the sailing-only speed record for the Windstar ships. On a trip from Istanbul to Athens, Spirit hit 15.4 knots while under sail without the engines. You will definitely hear about this if you ask the crew – there’s a healthy competition among captains to try to top it.

Tips:

• Port information is gathered in two ways: The host or hostess gives a port talk every evening, and there are very complete descriptions and maps in the reception area (and delivered to your cabin) the afternoon before a port call. The descriptions include cultural and historic notes, and often there are shopping tips on a separate sheet. The maps are very accurate and actually are all you need for the most part for a port call. You can almost leave your guidebook at home, and you can certainly leave it in your cabin.
• Be sure to watch a pilot board the ship when you enter local waters. The crew lowers a swinging, wooden ladder down the side of the ship and the pilot, aboard a churning tugboat brought alongside, grabs hold of the ladder and climbs aboard. It’s a harrowing sight.

• Cruise line - Windstar
• Ship name - Wind Spirit
• Type of cruise - Casual Elegance
• Total cabins - 74
• Private balcony cabins - 0
• Total crew - 88
• Passenger capacity - 148
• Ship size - Small
• Officers nationality - British
• Registry - Bahamas
• Tonnage - 5350
• Year entered service - 1988
• Ship length - 360

Copyright 2005, The Independent Traveler, Inc. All rights reserved.