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CRUISES: Wind Surf, Small Ship, Big Experience

Story and photography by
Nancy & Eric Anderson 

 

Even as cruise ships get bigger and bigger (so big they’ve had to expand the Panama Canal) enthusiasm for small ships continues unabated. For some they’re the perfect choice: sailing into small ports and stepping directly down a gangway into a foreign culture without banging elbows with 2,000 other big-ship passengers.

Windstar Cruises’ Wind Surf, for example, the largest of the company’s ships is only 617 feet long and carries 308 passengers; its other ships stretch a mere 440 feet and carry just 148 passengers. The absence of babble and sense of privacy created by small size and personal service may explain this Seattle-based company’s popularity. Wind Surf had only one empty cabin on a recent cruise from Rome to Barcelona and the ship itself often appeared empty because, with the ship seemingly right in the center of small Mediterranean towns, everyone was off exploring. The expense of guided tours may not be necessary when the port-of-call is virtually at your feet.

Our cruise, for example, offered opportunities to wander around Portoferraio on the island of Elba where Napoleon was first exiled in 1814 and to visit the villa from which he escaped, unfortunately for Waterloo. At the next port, Portofino, a boat excursion to the one-time fishing village of Camogli brings passengers to the 12th century church Santa Maria Assunta whose inner walls were once covered in one inch-thick gold. The castle beside it was built to protect the village against Corsican pirates who had stripped the gold from one of the walls. Our excursion boat returns past little San Fruttuoso with its 10th century church and 13th century abbey.

Ports to explore after Italy include Monte Carlo. A short walk leads to the Monaco Cathedral and beyond the grandiose Prince’s Palace. It’s a longer hike to the Casino; you’ll want a cab and men may need a jacket and tie. The little jewel of Monaco although pretty seems pretentious, yet Marseille, the next stop, appears ugly and commercial.

Two French towns that follow are a treat, St. Tropez, one of the glamour spots on the French Riviera, and Sète, a Roman town now France’s most important fishing port. St. Tropez arrives as a blaze of color; its “special light” has attracted artists for centuries and their work is prominently -- and relatively inexpensively -- displayed around the jetty. Above is the Citadel, the path passing a marker for the author Antoine de Saint-Exupery whose photo-reconnaissance plane was shot down off the coast in 1944. (The aircraft was discovered by divers 60 years later.)

Passengers hardly need to buy shore excursions for those last locations but Sète may present a conflict for passengers. A four-hour excursion (cost $89 per person) visits nearby Montpellier whose medical school founded in the 12th  century still exists and celebrated 800 years of history in 1990. But Sète itself is a great ramble: its streets and shops captivate and those who can tackle the 500 steps to the top find a memorable little chapel Notre-Dame La Salette which was converted from a ruined fort destroyed by Richelieu in 1632. Entering this chapel is like stepping into the Middle Ages.

So is Windstar just delightful destinations? No, it has better cuisine than average; more cheerful service than you would expect on cruises of this price; more aggressively priced advance bookings (up to 35 percent off) for early birds and superb air fares if you wish to bookend your cruise with hotel stays in Barcelona or more likely Rome to get over jet lag.

Summer rates are less in Rome -- we got great online prices for the boutique Hotel Barocco. Fantastic cooked breakfasts, amiable staff and perfect location: all within walking distance of major attractions and only 50 feet from the Barberini Metro. It looks out on the fountain in the square, a useful landmark. The Barocco represented that special boutique hotel that Europe does so well, small enough for the guests to get to know you and you them but one where clearly the staff is looking out for the guests’ interests and keeping a kindly eye on strangers in a famous place who are so far from home. 

 
 

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