I thoroughly enjoyed my Windstar cruise onboard the Star Legend! The itinerary was Legendary Winter Mediterranean sailing from Civitavecchia, Rome to Barcelona. We stayed in a category S2 room which is an ocean view with picture window. All the rooms on this ship are suites with a sitting area and walk in closet. Our bathroom had a full size tub which was amazing after walking 20k steps in one day in Rome.
This ship had only 214 guests on board so the experience was incredibly personal and intimate. The staff was always quick to greet you when you walk by and remember your name.
This particular sailing was cold so there were no deck activities everything took place in either the lounge or theater which are both gorgeous and the ship band was great with multiple shows starting at 5pm until midnight. There was a café area called The Yacht Club which provided snacks, pastries, and drinks until 7:30pm. This area also offered panoramic views off the front of the ship, board games, puzzles, verandah, and library. We spent a lot of time here while at sea.
The specialty restaurants which are all included on this ship were Cuadro 44 and Candles. Candles is typically a candlelight atmosphere steakhouse that is outside under a canopy and just beautiful but due to the cold weather they brought it inside to the breakfast buffet area which was not so special but they did what they could to make it just as nice.
This itinerary was incredible with the overnights in port. It gave us time to explore Rome, Nice, and Barcelona. We did one excursion and that was Florence on your own and then we did the hop on hop off bus in Barcelona which I highly recommend over and over. This was an amazing audio guided ride through the entire city and well worth it.
In Nice we participated in Carnaval De Nice and attended the Battle of the Flowers parade. Words cannot describe the amazing atmosphere during this, it was just beautiful and every French woman over 40 was ready to fight a child to catch as many flowers as they could. We took a 30 minute train ride up to Menton from Nice on our second day there to see their Carnaval which is a Citrus Festival where all the floats are made of full lemons and oranges. This town was beautiful with so many colors on the buildings and a lot of shopping and dining but locals did not seem too friendly (at least from our experience).
I did notice they changed the itinerary for next winter and are overnighting in Florence and added Genoa, Italy to the itinerary instead of overnight in Rome. I think that is incredible because my favorite stop on this whole trip was Florence.
I would recommend this experience if you are looking to get luxury while wanting a more immersive experience in the destinations and not just days at sea.