Windstar’s Star Legend is docked in Málaga, Spain.Lori Rackl/The Globe and Mail
Before boarding my Windstar Cruises ship in Barcelona, I struck up a conversation with a young man named Pere. He works at this notoriously busy Spanish port, handling passengers’ luggage.
I asked him how the cruise terminal looked on this February afternoon compared with peak tourist season.
“Ah, summer is crazy – lines here, lines there,” Pere said, motioning to various parts of the sparsely populated pre-embarkation waiting room.
“For us,” he added with a smile and a shrug, “this is a vacation day.”
The same can be said for a growing number of cruise passengers. More people are opting to ply the waters of the popular Mediterranean during the least popular time: winter.
They’re lured by the siren song of lower prices (for both cruises and airfare), mild weather and thinner crowds. The latter has become especially important in an era of overtourism.
The epidemic of loving places to death made headlines last summer when a small group of protesters in Barcelona shot water pistols at visitors while others marched through the city centre chanting “tourists go home.”
That same summer, I took a Mediterranean cruise in Greece, another poster child for the plague of mass tourism. Spoiler alert: It was hot and crowded, both of which I dodged by going on a winter voyage. No one fired a squirt gun at me, either.
“I’m sending friends pictures from the trip and they keep asking, ‘Where are all the people?’” said Robert Hudson, a fellow passenger on my recent nine-day sail along the Mediterranean coast of Spain.
Passengers look out to the shore as the Star Legend sails away from Mallorca.Lori Rackl/The Globe and Mail
The Victoria man was one of 57 Canadians – out of 235 total passengers – aboard Windstar’s Star Legend, an all-suite yacht with a spa, gym, multiple restaurants and nightly entertainment.
“We needed a winter escape,” Hudson said, “and the weather is better here than back home.”
Our round-trip sailing from Barcelona took us as far west as the Strait of Gibraltar, the mouth of the Mediterranean where the sea meets the Atlantic Ocean. A shore excursion in this British Overseas Territory included an encounter with Gibraltar’s legendary Barbary apes, bold macaques that aren’t afraid to snatch food out of unsuspecting tourists’ hands. But we had to forgo another Gibraltar highlight: taking the cable car to the top of the limestone promontory known as the Rock. The aerial tramway was shuttered in February for annual maintenance.
Seasonal closures and shorter opening hours are a hazard of winter cruising in the Med. But the biggest thing off-season travellers miss – and few would complain about it – are overwhelming crowds.
We docked in Spanish hot spots such as Valencia (paella!), Málaga (Picasso!) and the island playground of Mallorca, usually sharing the port with only a few regional ferries. Wandering around the naval city of Cartagena, I counted more school children than tourists.
Yet even in low season, during one of the coldest months of the year, Spain’s streets were far from empty. Especially in Barcelona. On a shore excursion to Antoni Gaudí’s Park Güell, visitors jostled for selfie space among the surreal sculptures. And the architect’s most famous project, Sagrada Família, reached capacity for international Mass well before its 9 a.m. start.
The Catalan capital’s pedestrian boulevard, La Rambla, had enough foot traffic to feel busy but it was more pleasant than annoying. The thoroughfare, however, was less photogenic since the sycamore trees flanking it were barren of leaves.
In summer, those leaves provide welcome shade – a commodity that wasn’t in high demand during our trip, given that temperatures rarely topped 20 C.
“People aren’t coming on these cruises to seek sunny beaches and palm trees and such,” said Star Legend Capt. Mark Symonds, who chatted with me in the bridge. “They’re coming for the atmosphere. You feel more like a local, not a tourist.”
Windstar’s round-trip voyage from Barcelona is a new offering from the small-ship cruise line, one of the latest players to sail in the Mediterranean during so-called “quiet season.” Another luxury line, Silversea, is launching winter trips on its Silver Muse beginning in December.
Viking embraced quiet season a decade ago. Three of Viking’s vessels are deployed full-time in the Mediterranean in winter, with another two coming on board in 2025-26.
A woman feeds parakeets near Barcelona’s Arc de Triomf, where a popular promenade isn’t very crowded in the off-season.Lori Rackl/The Globe and Mail
Five MSC Cruises ships are sailing from ports in Italy, Spain, Portugal and Greece this winter. Another ship – the 6,758-passenger MSC World Asia – launches in late 2026.
Celebrity Cruises began wintering in the Mediterranean in 2023. That’s the same year Windstar got in on the action.
“When you get to the winter season, the weather can throw you the odd curveball,” the captain said. “We have occasionally had to adjust the itinerary because of a local storm coming through, but it hasn’t been extensive. Last winter, we missed three ports in the entire season.”
Winter weather didn’t stop the ship from offering live music, afternoon barbecues and other meals outdoors. And it didn’t stop some passengers from taking a dip in the pool, soaking in the hot tubs or laying out on deck chairs – although beach towels often turned into blankets when the breeze picked up.
“At first I wasn’t too sure about doing this because of the weather,” said Patricia Dittmann of Markham, Ont. She was travelling with her husband, Frank. “But then I thought, ‘What am I worried about? We’re Canadian.’”
If you go
Windstar Cruises offers various Mediterranean itineraries aboard Star Legend until March, including a seven-day trip from Barcelona to Rome starting at $3,008 a person, double occupancy. For 2025-26 winter season itineraries, visit windstarcruises.com/canadian-resident-discount.
The writer travelled as a guest of Windstar Cruises, which did not review or approve the story before publication.
