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FAQ: What’s Windstar’s Star Collector Program?

An increasing number of, when vacationers start to speculate, first in planning a visit after which by taking it, they’re desirous to spend extra time within the locations they’re going to. In actual fact, longer journeys to long-haul locations is an enormous development in 2025.

In a traits report revealed by Zicasso Journey, we’re instructed that “demand spans all traveler sorts — from households and {couples} to solo vacationers and multigenerational teams — highlighting the necessity for adaptable, personalised itineraries that cater to various pursuits inside single journeys.”

What if, says Janet Bava, Windstar’s chief business officer, “every week simply isn’t lengthy sufficient?”

Certainly, even Windstar-loyal vacationers inform us that they’re extra incessantly planning journeys on the again of journeys. In a latest weblog put up on ocean crossings, Brooke Harwood instructed us that the precise voyage was only one side of the journey: On a crusing from Lisbon, he and his spouse, Trish, first traveled round northern Portugal, together with Porto, Fatima, Coimbra and the Douro Valley. “We really spent a couple of days in Barcelona, sailed Wind Surf from there to Lisbon, did 10 days of touring in northern Portugal and Lisbon, then boarded Legend for the crossing,” Harwood says.

One couple constructed three totally different journeys — together with two cruises — primarily based in Lisbon./Cloudinary

That’s simply why Windstar’s created a Star Collector sequence of voyages that supply worth, breadth of regional exploring, and many perks. Basically, a delegated Star Collector voyage combines two (or extra) itineraries for a 13-plus day journey. And there’s this: “We solely make one thing a Star Collector if there’s minimal overlap,” says Jess Peterson, Windstar’s director of vacation spot expertise & itinerary planning.

If you happen to’re contemplating stretching your trip with a Star Collector bundle, listed here are our three key issues to know.

These will not be merely back-to-back cruises with a brand new title

Whereas back-to-back cruises, through which vacationers merely guide two sailings in a row, are all the time a preferred choice, Star Collector is a bit totally different. The designation implies that the back-to-back prolonged sailings are nonetheless two or extra in a row — however these are specifically designed to remove repeating the identical ports (other than a turnaround metropolis).

So as an illustration, the Star Collector Adriatic Previous Cities and Aegean from Venice to Athens, a 17-day journey, is a seamless mix of two fairly distinctive areas of the Mediterranean. The one repeating port is Athens, the place the ship turns round on the finish of every crusing. 

Onboard Star Legend within the Mediterranean in January, I used to be crusing on my common seven-day itinerary, and I couldn’t recover from what number of different vacationers have been staying on, as a part of Star Collector, for not simply one other cruise however a 3rd. One night time’s eating companions traveled, as I did, from Venice to Rome, went on from Rome to Barcelona, after which cruised southern Spain. Each itinerary was distinctly totally different.

Star Collector provides unique perks and advantages that you just don’t get with back-to-backs

Complimentary every day laundry is among the Star Collector bundle’s hottest perks./Shutterstock

On that very same voyage, the perk that individuals bubbled about probably the most was the free, every day laundry — a symbolic signal of the indulgence of a real trip.

The place are you able to go together with Star Collector?

Combining an Alaska voyage (pictured: Wrangell) with a Pacific crossing to Japan is a complete bucket-list expertise./Shutterstock

How does Asia, the Caribbean, the Canary Islands and Northern Europe sound? Personally, the subsequent one on my want record is a 21-day Star Collector journey that mixes the better of Tahiti with a run to the distant Marquesas. Or possibly it’s an Alaska to Asia voyage. In any case, you’ve traveled all this option to see a few of the most iconic locations on the planet.. Why not keep longer?


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