Peace, Quiet and Luxury Under Sail

When in the tropics, the standard advice is to throw away your watch.

But don’t take it literally, which is what my wife did.

It happened this way: We were among a group of cruise passengers picnicking on Tatu Motu, a smidgen among the sandy knobs barely above water near Bora Bora in French Polynesia, when a surprise rainstorm chased us off the beach.

In the scramble of snatching our belongings and dashing for cover, Diana tossed her watch, or dropped it, or something.

An hour later, back on board the Wind Song, Diana discovered, with a shriek, that the watch was missing--not just any watch, mind you, but the one that her grandfather had given her for her high school graduation.

Panicked, she raced to the reception desk to see if it had been turned in. No such luck. On the deck, she ran into the second officer, Knut Gullbrandsen, and blurted out that she had lost her watch.

Without hesitation, Gullbrandsen offered to take her back to the island in an inflatable speedboat to find it.

He did; she did. All’s well.

Can you imagine one of the gigantic cruise ships delaying its schedule while an officer takes a passenger back to a port-of-call to pick up lost belongings? Obviously, things are a little different on the Wind Song. Many things.

For one, Carnival Cruise Lines’ 440-foot, 5,350-ton ship looks different. With its handsome sails and tall masts, the Wind Song is more like a luxury yacht than a small cruise ship. No towering smokestacks and acres of decks here. Just the rolling sea under your feet and the flutter of sails in your ears.

Then, too, the ship has been placed in an absolutely stunning setting--the blue lagoons and red sunsets of French Polynesia. Romance with a capital R.

Oddly, the 3-year-old Wind Song is the only cruise ship of its size that serves Tahiti and neighboring islands. Its seven-day excursions call in at Papeete, Huahine, Riatea, Bora Bora and Moorea.

The itinerary is leisurely, with plenty of time to explore. The schedule is year-round, except for June and October when the ship takes 14-day cruises from Papeete to the Marquesas Islands and back.

Unlike the Caribbean, for example, where huge cruise liners unload thousands of tourists, the Wind Song’s 148 passengers have the islands virtually to themselves--without the jangle of traffic noise, vendor pleas and tourist haggling. All is sedate. Slow. Sleepy, even.

Because Wind Song cruises are expensive, the passengers tend to be upscale, veteran cruisers looking for something different. The average age on our voyage was about 45.

Everyone goes first-class. The 74 staterooms are similar in size, layout and furnishings, and are priced identically. Each is spacious at 185 square feet and has plenty of storage space.

Standard cabin furnishings include a color television set, VCR, multichannel radio, direct-dial ship-to-shore telephone, air conditioning, fluffy bathrobes, two twin beds that convert to a queen-sized bed, and a wood-trimmed, off-white unit that incorporates a pull-out vanity table, hidden safe, refrigerator and mini-bar.

All are outside cabins with a porthole. The modular bathrooms contain teak flooring, mirrored medicine cabinet, circular shower, full-sized sink, toilet, shampoo and hair dryer.

The ship’s social center is the Wind Song Lounge, which can easily seat everyone on the passenger list. This skylighted room has bay windows on three sides, a wooden dance floor and a slightly raised stage. It is decorated in light grays and pinks and is furnished with natural leather chairs and couches.

The room serves as a registration center on embarkation, a quiet sitting area during the day, a lounge during cocktail hours and an evening showroom for programs by local native dance troupes.

Next in importance is The Restaurant, decorated in muted blues and with wooden ceiling and walls, ample windows and tables that seat four, six or eight people. All passengers can be easily accommodated in one sitting. Open seating is the policy. None of that early- or late-seating nonsense. Just dine where you want, either with friends or by yourselves. The cuisine is international.

Between the restaurant and lounge on the same deck is the ship’s version of a shopping plaza. On most cruise ships, the shopping district is the piece de resistance, the showplace, the hub of activity. But not here.

Jammed into the center of the ship are a jewelry shop specializing in black pearls, a reception desk that functions as an excursion sign-up center, a post office, a lost-and-found desk and a video shop; a closet-sized boutique with a smattering of film, toiletries and Wind Song souvenir clothing; a two-table casino that offers slot machines and blackjack, and a whisper of a library/game room with a small supply of books, cards and board games.

Oh, yes, there’s also a second restaurant, The Veranda. With its curved wall of floor-to-ceiling windows, it is used a breakfast bar and luncheon area in the day and a disco at night. And overlooking the small swimming pool and surrounding sunbathing area aft is an open-air piano bar outfitted with teakwood, white walls and accents of blue.

Among the shipboard facilities are a beauty salon/barber shop, masseuse, doctor, laundry service (no dry cleaning), gymnasium and sauna.

Water sports are the ship’s hallmark. Equipment available includes inflatable motor launches for water skiing and beach landings, sailboats, water skis, windsurfing boards and snorkeling and scuba-diving gear. The ship often stops in mid-ocean to allow people to play in the open sea, an occurrence unheard of on most cruise ships.

Sound too good to be true? Alas, not everything about the Wind Song gets a high rating. Without elevators, handicapped access is downright difficult. And poor ventilation in the cabin bathrooms can leave a shower-taker groping in a fog bank.

Well, that’s what the ship is . Now, let me tell you what it isn’t . It isn’t a party-hardy fun ship. It isn’t a floating casino. It isn’t a neon shopping mall. No group fun and games here. No fancy dress, no bingo, no horseracing, no Broadway shows, no skeet shooting, no steel drum bands, no golf ball driving, no ice-carving demonstrations, no midnight buffets.

Just peace and quiet.

The Wind Song is well-suited to the traveler who simply wants to get away from it all. Organized activities, except land excursions, are nonexistent. The days and nights are blissfully quiet. Public-address announcements are rare. Travelers spend their shipboard time sun bathing, chatting, swimming, reading or counting the islands passing by. Casual attire is the norm, although shorts and T-shirts are out in the dining room.

The Wind Song’s high ratio of crew to passengers (87 to 148, or one crew member for every 1.6 passengers) provides for attentive service. But unlike some cruise ships where the crew is a show unto itself, the Wind Song crew functions in such a quiet way that it is nearly invisible. Service is as exemplary at breakfast and lunch as it is at dinner--which is remarkable on a ship that has a no-tipping policy.

What’s more:

--Passengers can visit the bridge 24 hours a day--without an appointment.

--The captain is constantly checking things out around the ship and is always ready for a chat.

--Use of water sports gear and video tapes is free.

--The ship is so compact small that it is impossible to get lost.

--Passengers tend to be on the quiet side, so sleep is sound and not interrupted by late-night revelers.

--The waiters speak good English.

Not only that, just ask and one of the officers will help you pick up a nice watch. For free.