Welcome to Tauck’s Treasures of Spain and Portugal - Eastbound Forum

Tauck Emily

Welcome to Tauck’s Treasures of Spain and Portugal - Eastbound Forum - Find the answers to your trip questions, answer questions posted by fellow travelers, plus share your Tauck experiences and stories. Stop by often and join in on the discussions.

jdurkin

I do like this web update! This is another region on my hit list! Good work team!

GSamson

Has anyone traveled on this tour?

What's the weather like mid-April to early May?

Thank you

Madge1949

We are looking at this trip for 2019. Can anyone that has been on this trip let me know how the experience is with the ship. It is rough at all, or smooth for the days and nights you are on the ship? How are the rooms and food on this trip? Also, we would probably look at going in the month of May or June. If anyone knows the weather for this time of year, please let me know.

Sealord

Madge1949 wrote:

We are looking at this trip for 2019. Can anyone that has been on this trip let me know how the experience is with the ship. It is rough at all, or smooth for the days and nights you are on the ship? How are the rooms and food on this trip? Also, we would probably look at going in the month of May or June. If anyone knows the weather for this time of year, please let me know.

We are on the 'wish list' for this trip in 2019, and we have cruised many times on Windstar. We have been mostly on the Wind Surf, but we have also cruised on Star Legend, a sister of Star Breeze, and Star Pride. Windstar is known for their good food and service. We went around the Caribbean on Star Legend and we had a good ride. But that depends more on the sea conditions than the boat. I've been on an aircraft carrier when it was taking green water on the flight deck. We have cruised in this area on other boats, and never had a rough ride. Windstar bought these boats from Seabourn and refurbished them. They are very nice, and the rooms are very nice. The dining is open seating, no fixed traditional ship dining, but one of their venues nomally requires reservations.

PaulineM

Madge1949 wrote:

We are looking at this trip for 2019. Can anyone that has been on this trip let me know how the experience is with the ship. It is rough at all, or smooth for the days and nights you are on the ship? How are the rooms and food on this trip? Also, we would probably look at going in the month of May or June. If anyone knows the weather for this time of year, please let me know.

We are also interested in this trip, but in the west to east direction. Too early for much activity on either forum, so will poke in here as well from time to time. We are on the Wish List, and await a phone call about the release of these trips.

Pauline

Sealord

PaulineM wrote:

We are also interested in this trip, but in the west to east direction. Too early for much activity on either forum, so will poke in here as well from time to time. We are on the Wish List, and await a phone call about the release of these trips.

Pauline

We have now booked this trip in July of 2019. In 2019 they are using the Wind Surf instead of one of the “Star” ships. It is the world”s biggest sailboat. In spite of the fact that the rooms are nicer on the “Star” ships, the Wind Surf is in fact our favorite ship. Good food, nice crew, very nice public areas, and sails ... 26,000 square feet of sail on five masts that are 220 feet high. Setting sail at sunset is always an event acoompanied with the appropriate music ... Vangeles 1492 Conquest of Paridise. The ship is ballested in such a manner that it only heels 2 or so degrees at most. The ship has a narrow beam compared to a normal cruise ship, but it is nealy 600 feet long, so the ride is normally quite nice. We have cruised on it at least ten times and consider it our home away from home. Actually, the first time we ever saw the Wind Surf was in Lisbon ... and we gasped, “What the hell is that monstrous sailboat?”. We’ve benn in love with her ever since our first trip on her out of Barbados. I think that was in 2005 and we’ve only missed being aboard her every year once since then.

AlanS

Wow! I didn't know you were such a fan of sailing ships, especially after all the gray 'boats' in your career. : ) Didn't you visit Barcelona, Palma, and possibly Málaga and Gibraltar back then courtesy of your uncle?

Sealord

AlanS wrote:

Wow! I didn't know you were such a fan of sailing ships, especially after all the gray 'boats' in your career. : ) Didn't you visit Barcelona, Palma, and possibly Málaga and Gibraltar back then courtesy of your uncle?

I was strictly a Pacific sailor on the gray boats. We have been to Lisbon, Malaga, and Barcelona before, but most of the other stops will be new, and we have never been to those places with Tauck. So I expect the experience will almost be like never having been there.

PaulineM

Sealord wrote:

We have now booked this trip in July of 2019. In 2019 they are using the Wind Surf instead of one of the “Star” ships. It is the world”s biggest sailboat. In spite of the fact that the rooms are nicer on the “Star” ships, the Wind Surf is in fact our favorite ship. Good food, nice crew, very nice public areas, and sails ... 26,000 square feet of sail on five masts that are 220 feet high. Setting sail at sunset is always an event acoompanied with the appropriate music ... Vangeles 1492 Conquest of Paridise. The ship is ballested in such a manner that it only heels 2 or so degrees at most. The ship has a narrow beam compared to a normal cruise ship, but it is nealy 600 feet long, so the ride is normally quite nice. We have cruised on it at least ten times and consider it our home away from home. Actually, the first time we ever saw the Wind Surf was in Lisbon ... and we gasped, “What the hell is that monstrous sailboat?”. We’ve benn in love with her ever since our first trip on her out of Barbados. I think that was in 2005 and we’ve only missed being aboard her every year once since then.

Thanks for your experience-based info! We also have put down a deposit for June, Westbound, and are waiting to see the final dates, prices, etc. TEN TIMES on this ship - you must really like it. We just hope we stay healthy and that this works out for us - always a consideration when you get to be a Luxury Vintage Model human being!

Sealord

OK ... you made me do an inventory. We have done “Windstar” ten times ... seven were on Wind Surf, one on Wind Star, one on Star Legend, and one on Star Pride. Same conclusion ... we loved all the Windstar offerings, but the Wind Surf is our favorite ship of all ships ... 50+ cruises on various lines mostly large but now always small. We will take the grand kids on a big ship. But, I don’t want to raise anyone’s expectations. Small ships are not for everyone, and there is no “perfect” in the world. Most people who write negative reviews on things that I’ve done and I know are “nice” are people who think that since they paid a lot of money it should be “perfect”. Wind Surf is really nice ‘for us’, but it is not perfect for everyone.

Sealord

The 2019 trips and prices have been posted. I got my trip summary yesterday for the July 5th trip.

Sealord

I have noticed whcih categories of cabins for 2019 are starting to fill up. I know that ‘cost’ is not a big factor with most Tauck guests, but since I’ve been on this ship, the Wind Surf, seven times I thought I would point out that until you get to the ‘suite’ category on deck three, all of the rooms on deck one and two are identical. If you have “motion” problems, the midship rooms might be more desireable. But the most foreward and the most aft rooms are closest to the elevators. In rough weather the water sometimes comes over the portholes on deck one, so that might bother some. In my experience the Mediteranean is mostly a lake except for the straits of Gibraltar. If you are not bothered by the items mentioned above, go for the forward or aft rooms on deck one. The aft rooms have better access to the Yacht Club, the foreward rooms have better access to the restaurants. We are aft on deck one.

AliVK

PaulineM wrote:

We are also interested in this trip, but in the west to east direction. Too early for much activity on either forum, so will poke in here as well from time to time. We are on the Wish List, and await a phone call about the release of these trips.

Pauline

Hi Pauline, we just returned from the Spain and Portugal excursion on the WindStar Star Breeze. Before you book your trip, I would suggest that you check the boat that you are traveling upon during the Spain to Portugal trip. If you are on the Star Breeze, do yourself a favor and pick another trip. That boat is not up to Tauck standards and frankly I am shocked that the boat is still listed under the small ship cruise boats for Tauck. I have heard that Tauck is switching to Ponant for their small cruise ventures which would be a smart move. Bon Voyage!

AliVK

Madge1949 wrote:

We are looking at this trip for 2019. Can anyone that has been on this trip let me know how the experience is with the ship. It is rough at all, or smooth for the days and nights you are on the ship? How are the rooms and food on this trip? Also, we would probably look at going in the month of May or June. If anyone knows the weather for this time of year, please let me know.

Hi Madge - we just returned from this trip with Tauck on the Windstar Star Breeze. On our last night of the trip, we traveled through thunderstorms and the rain poured into several cabins on the 3rd level/upper most level. It was definitely unnerving to say the least to have rain water pouring into your room during a storm. Even though we paid for an upper level cabin, all of the rooms were exactly the same on the boat (on the upper level, we had a balcony which consisted of two doors that could open but you couldn't step onto the balcony unless you are built like a supermodel) even though we paid the higher prices. On the boat, the food was good - nothing spectacular. Off the boat, when traveling on our own, the food in Spain and Portugal is outstanding!
The Tauck excursions on this trip were AMAZING. We loved Portugal and Spain. The beaches - Lagos - in Portugal are most beautiful! We were very lucky with our weather and only had one night of rain - our last day night on the boat - otherwise the weather was amazing.

Sealord

As I said in the previous post, the 2019 trips are on the Wind Surf, not on one of the ‘Star’ ships. The Wind Surf is a six hundred foot long sailing vessel, technically a motor sailing yacht. We have been on over fifty cruises on various many star cruise lines and this is our favorite boat. It is a long ship but being a sailing vessel it has a relatively narrow beam. In most of the public areas you can see out both sides of the ship. So it does move in rough seas, and if you are bothered by that you should get a ‘mid-ship’ room. The food and the service have always been excellent, and in our seven cruises on Wind Surf we have never had any ‘leaks’ in our room, nor on Star Pride or Star Legend. We’ve never been on Star Breeze. (;-)

Sealord

We leave for this trip in 25 days. Almost time to bring out the luggage. Just learning my way around the new forum.

kpetzelt

@Sealord How was your trip? Finally getting a chance to learn my way around this new discussion board as well.

Sealord

We had a great time. We were traveling with two other couples. It is a very full itinerary, and it does not allow much free time. The ship was just as we expected having cruised on it many times before. Great service and good food. I did call Tauck to say that the ‘activity level’ as published should probably be at least a 3 not a 2. We walked more than one or two miles per day, and we encountered more than a few flights of stairs. I had a recent knee replacement and I was able to handle it without a problem, but there were a couple people on the trip that had difficulty. I did skip the last day and just enjoyed the El Palace Hotel which is fabulous. My friend who has a pedometer said they walked 5.3 miles, 14,000 steps, and five floors of steps. I enjoyed the hotel’s roof top veranda.

kpetzelt

Thanks for the update on your trip. Was the 5.3 miles on the last day? That's a lot for one day. We have been on many trips where there are people who sit out activities because of health issues. Makes us glad we decided to start our adventures while we are relatively young and in very good health.

Sealord

According to our friend, that description is a pretty ‘normal’ day. Lots of walking on this trip. There were a couple people that would have been happier with a different trip. Those with a mobility issue should probably skip this one. It is a very popular trip. Some Tauck people have said that they have been unable to do it because it is always full. But, if walking and stairs are an issue, this one might give you some trouble.