Can anyone compare / contrast the cruise lines of Windstar and SeaDream? There will be a couple traveling who are in their late 30's and celebrating their anniversary. They would like top of the line boat with luxury finishes, linens, food, etc but with no attitude and a casual atmosphere including dress code causal to elegant casual. They also love water sports. Experiences on either cruise line would also be very helpful.
Windstar or SeaDream
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Have never been of the SeaDream. Have done the Windstar (several of their ships and excursions) and have loved it. Going to do the Windsurf again in the fall.
We also have not been on SeaDream but were on WindSpirit.We were in the Virgin Islands and down to St. marteen. The ship is 20+ yeaars old but is maintained in excellent condition. that said you can tell that more than 10 coats of paint have been applied over the years to make it look that good. So I call it old-top-shelf. The cabins are nice but not luxurious as I understand the SeaDream are. The food is consistently very good and a few dinners were outstanding. Because the WindSpirit has only 120 passengers there is basically no entertainment other than a pianist who on ur 7 day trip was pretty good. The biggest complaint I had was the quality of the vendors they selected for the shore excursions were not very good, in our opinion. Also, my wife was disappointed that only once in 7 days were we actually sailing during the day and they announced it so that guests could see we were on a sailboat. That did not matter to me but my wife likes sailing but I do not think you really get the relaxed feeling on a 400+ft. ship as you do on a 44ft. sailboat.
No SeaDream for us either but did sail with Windstar on the Wind Surf from France through Italy and it was the best ever. We have cruised many times. Especially liked the intimacy of the ship and it's guests. Only 2 entertainment areas with the same band day in day out but they changed their themes and were fun to listen to. Food was very good and on the last day we had Lobster grilled outside as a snack, imagine that. Fair pricing and everyone who works on board will know your name. We swam in the Mediteranean and they had Kayaks and water sports were available when we stopped in ports. Scuba and snorkling were available on board, rather in the water
No SeaDream for us either, but it looks lovely. We have sailed several times with Windstar and Star Clipper and loved the small, sailing atmosphere.
My suggestion is if you choose the sailing ships, choose the Windsurf from the Windstar line, or the Royal Clipper from the Star Clipper line. They are just a bit bigger at around 300 guests, but that gives you more room, restaurants, etc. What we liked was the casual, country club dress (no formal nights), the ability to eat at any time either by yourself or with others, the fantastic staff and food, and being a smaller vessel it went into ports the larger ships can't.
We found the Windsurf to be luxurious enough for us, but I have to admit that the SeaDream looks above that.
www.windstarcruises.com
www.starclippers.com
Suggest you look at both cruise lines on cruisecritic dot com and see what is said there. SeaDream and Windstar are different types of cruises and only you know what you are really looking for. I dont' think I, personally, would put Windstar in the luxury category - old ships, very small cabins but a sailing experience that is different from motorized ship.