Star Legend, along with her sister ships Star Breeze and Star Pride have recently had newly constructed 25 metre sections added to them resulting in more suites and more facilities on all of Windstar’s Star class of ships. Star Legend was originally launched in 1990 and has had a glittering ultra luxury career, including a starring role in the Hollywood action blockbuster ‘Speed 2:Cruise Control’. Rather than waiting for new ships to be built, Windstar took the decision to invest in enhancing their current fleet to upgrade both their capacity, technology and facilities. We were invited by Windstar to spend some time on the Star Legend and experience their new Star class of ships. In this blog we will take you around the public areas, starting on deck 3 and working our way up the decks.

The newly stretched Star Legend

She's still small compared to most others!

Deck 3:

Before the refit there were no suites on deck this deck. However, the stretching has allowed for ten new entry level porthole suites. At the rear of the ship on Deck 3 is the Marina Platform, where you can enjoy complimentary water sports directly from the rear of the ship. Unfortunately, as we were sailing from Barcelona to Lisbon via the Canary Islands and much of our time was spent in the North Atlantic ocean, we didn’t get the chance to use the water sports facilities.

Also on deck three is the completely relocated Amphora Restaurant, the main dining venue on the ship, which has been created from scratch to provide an even more luxurious dining experience. The restaurant is open every evening from 7-9pm and offers open seating for guests to dine when they desire and with whomever they choose. There are plenty of tables for two as well as larger tables for guests who would like to dine in larger groups. We particularly liked the cosy little secluded booths located around the edge of the restaurant.

Leaving the Amphora restaurant you will find the main feature circular staircase which starts on this deck and cuts right through the ship to deck 7, topped with a glass atrium. We believe this to be the original feature staircase that has been faithfully preserved.

Deck 4:

This deck is completely dedicated to Ocean View Suites, with the new section comprising of Star ocean view suites, similar to the French balcony suite we stayed in which you can read about here. There are also original layout ocean view suites towards the front of the ship.

Deck 5:

Around the atrium staircase on deck five you will find the Reception desk and the Destinations Office where the crew are readily available to sort out any issues, answer any questions or book shore excursions. The Future cruise manager also has a desk in the atrium for guest to find out more about sailing with Windstar again.

Either side of the Future cruise desk are two corridors leading to the Lounge. The one on the left hand side has a small venue off of it called the Screening Room. This room has a handful of comfortable cinema style seats, a few card tables at the rear and a screen for showing movies. Unfortunately due to current restrictions this room wasn’t in use on our voyage but we assume it would also be used seminars or hosted activities.

Through the corridors and right at the back of the ship on deck five is the Lounge, the main venue for shows, presentations, port talks and guest entertainers. The lounge has a variety of seating including long sofa style seating and individual chairs. Our one word of warning would be to not be tempted by the comfortable looking sofa style seating, which due to the gentle sloping in the Lounge and the fact that the chairs are taller than the sofa style seating, mean that if you choose to sit here it is very difficult to see what is happening on the stage. This can be made even more challenging by the number of posts dotted around the Lounge.

Walking through the corridor towards the front of the ship you pass the French balcony suites which lead you through to a lovely small sun deck with a whirl pool, ideal for witnessing those gorgeous warm evening sail aways.

Deck 6:

Just off of the atrium brand new addition to the ship is one of the complimentary, reservation only, speciality dining venues, Cuadro 44, seating only 36 guests, with a menu designed by Michelin Starred chef Anthony Sasso through Windstar’s partnership with the James Beard Foundation. This is a tapas style restaurant serving lots of Spanish favourites. For more information on the food available here look out for our Star Legend dining guide.

Opposite Cuadro 44 is the Signature Shop, selling Windstar Apparel and all those little essentials you forgot to bring on board. Walking passed the shop leads you to Compass Rose, the main cocktail lounge that opens early evening until late. It’s where most of the evening musical entertainment takes place and you’ll find the resident musicians here nightly, tempting you to dance off those evening calories. It has an unusual feature in the beautiful raked windows which you would usually expect to see at the bow of a ship but this venue is at the stern with a wake view from the panoramic windows.

Deck 7:

Deck seven is dedicated to public areas with many new and redesigned features following the ship’s lengthening. Starting at the atrium is the Veranda buffet restaurant which at breakfast and lunch offers the usual buffet style fare as well as made to order hot dishes and themed lunch dishes. There is plenty of indoor seating along either side of the venue as well as at the rear leading out onto the large la fresco dining terrace. At night, this venue transforms into the second speciality dining venue, Candles, offering a steak and seafood menu.

The other side of the atrium towards the middle of the ship is the new outside pool deck, featuring not only a vastly improved open sun deck area with room for many more sun beds but also a brand new terraced infinity pool and hot tub area with a waterfall feature. We love how much of the external decks on the Star Plus Class ships are real teak, making you feel you are on your own ‘private super-yacht’. We love real wood decks and they are quite rare these days.

Back across the sun deck towards the front of the ship we go inside to the brand new $3million Spa and Fitness area. There’s a really well equipped Fitness Centre, featuring a mixture of new cardio and resistance training gear and across the corridor from the the Fitness Centre is the new Motion Studio for the complimentary yoga and pilates classes. Further along is the Beauty Salon and Spa area, which alongside a number of treatment rooms, also features a relaxation room, a hot stone bed room, a sauna and a steam room, all available for guests to use on a complimentary basis during the Spa opening hours

Also, on deck seven is the Bridge, and Windstar has an open bridge policy, meaning guests can go and visit the bridge at any time, except very busy times like when manoeuvring in port etc. The bridge crew are very friendly and will love to chat to you about aspects of their roles and the ship. This is quite a rare treat these days and shouldn’t be missed. The stretching of the three sisters under the $250m Star Plus Initiative actually cost over $320m as there were many improvements under the skin too, including replacing all seven engines in each ship with four brand new environmentally friendly power units. Less pollution, less fuel, more efficiency - these yachts really are next gen, wrapped beautifully in their original sleek, sporty outer skin.

An open door policy

The Bridge in action

Early......

.....or late

They even have 'passenger seats'

Steps down from the bridge deck to deck 5

Deck 8:

Finally the highest deck is deck eight, where there is plenty of sun deck space for relaxing on chairs and loungers and towards the front is the Star Bar which pre-stretch fans might be disappointed to discover no longer overlooks the pool. However, the newly installed Star Bar and Grill are well placed to enjoy an al fresco lunch, dinner or drink, with a lovely new large bar and a new dining venue with a menu designed Steven Raichlen. Raichlen is a multi award winning grill and barbecue master, who hosts many TV programmes and has written an incredible 31 books on his smokey speciality. This is another example of Windstar’s partnership with the James Beard Foundation and results in lunch and dinner menus focused on BBQ specialities. The Star Grill has dining tables on one side and comfy seating and casual tables on the other with live music there most afternoons and early evenings, making it a perfect place for enjoying a pre-dinner cocktail whilst the sun sets in the background.

Finally, located behind the Star bar and right at the top and the front of the ship is the beautiful Yacht Club Cafe and Library. This stunning venue is THE place to chill during the day and not only features these incredible 270degrees of floor to ceiling windows but also an outdoor deck area to watch the world sail by from your lofty position. It is decorated in a lovely contemporary Scandi style with large comfortable cream sofas interspersed with gorgeous blue velvet chairs. There is a little bar in the corner serving teas, coffees and cold drinks alongside a small food cabinet offering light breakfast, lunch or snacks throughout the day. This venue is open from early morning until early evening and is the perfect spot to enjoy a seaday if the weather outside is a little less than friendly.

Thank you to our preferred travel partners Panache cruises and Windstar Cruises who invited us to join the Star Legend on a 12 day Spain, Portugal and Canary Islands cruise from Barcelona to Lisbon in November 2021. Windstar cruises paid our cruise fare, drinks package and wifi package, all other costs were covered by ourselves and neither Windstar or Panache had any editorial control over any of our content, either before, during our after our voyage.

If you enjoyed this blog why not take a look at our Regent Seven Seas Explorer ship tour.

If you are interested in booking a cruise with these or any other luxury cruise lines then we would recommend contacting a connoisseur at our trusted cruise partners Panache cruises - please mention that you have been referred to them through Visit With Us.

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