This week I was lucky enough to take a cruise on Club Med’s Club Med 2. I booked a three-night cruise departing from Nice, stopping at Portofino and Corsica before returning to Nice.

Club Med 2 is a very unusual cruise ship, marketed by Club Med as a legendary French sailing yacht. It was built in 1992 at the same yard as Windstar Cruises fleet – Wind Star (1986), Wind Song (1987-2002), Wind Spirit (1988) as well as sister ship Wind Surf (1989). Wind Surf was completed as Club Med 1, hence the naming of Club Med 2, but was sold to Windstar in 1998. Club Med 2 was reported to be called Wind Saga if it had been delivered to Windstar. In principle, Wind Surf and Club Med 2 have the same basic design – however nearly 30 years of separate ownership have led to differences onboard.

Club Med 2 is a five-masted cruise ship carrying just over 350 passengers, using automation to manage the sails, the ship also has a traditional engine. Club Med operates these cruises on an all-inclusive basis and they are popular with Club Med’s majority French-speaking clientele.

There are two restaurants onboard, four bars, two swimming pools, a spa and a gym. The ship has no internal cabins and has a traditional cruise ship layout with cabins on the lower decks with public areas on the upper decks. This means that none of the cabins have balconies either, I don’t see this as a big issue as Club Med 2 is quite long at 187 meters for its low amount of passengers, which means that there is an abundance of deck space with the comfortable steamer deckchairs easy to find around deck. It was also easy to find a place to eat and drink and no queues anywhere.

Cabins are a very good size, mine being on Deck B, with two porthole windows and a double bed made of two singles. The cabins are slightly more dated than the rest of the ship but are clean and elegant in the way that you would imagine a yacht. It is the most spacious cabin I have had and the bathroom was large and well-equipped too. If you were taking a longer journey there is a lot of space to put your belongings.

Boarding was so easy, you basically turn up to the ship when you want and they check you in. My cabin was ready so I put my belongings in and had a look around. An emergency evacuation was conducted at 18:30, which was probably the most comprehensive I have been to. Not being the best French speaker I was taken aside and given my instructions in English. At 19:00 we backed out of Nice and headed out into the open sea, sadly it had started raining which put a dampener on the sailaway party.

The next day we arrived at Portofino, with service for a tender to this port. The ship carries two of its own tenders to move guests around. I woke, showered and had breakfast before heading on to the tour I had booked. Bit of a rookie mistake by me as the tour was French language and I had very little idea what was going on, but I did have a nice hour-and-a-half walk around Portofino. I spent another hour or so in Portofino myself before heading back to the ship where I went up to use the pool on the top deck, I spent until departure chilling and reading my book. The ship had another sail away, this time with good weather and it used its sails.

The next day we arrived at Corsica and docked outside L’Île-Rousse, again this was tendering to the port. The waters and landscape were wonderful however there was a bit of wind and sea swells. This meant that the watersports activities from the ship’s Nautical Hall would be unavailable. This is a small marina which folds out the back of the ship, it’s a great concept. This was actually my main plan for the day but instead, I hopped on the tender to L’Île-Rousse and had a look around, there is a pretty old town and a wonderful beach from which I got a good few photos of the ship.

We returned to Nice the following day and there was only the ask to leave our cabins by 10am and to be off the ship by 4pm, so there is no rush and scramble to get off the ship. I got off around 12:30 to head to Monaco for the Formula 1 but would have happily stayed longer.

The ship, like its predecessors, is special due to its design. It is unusual for a cruise ship to have such an interesting design incorporating sails into a ‘modern’ cruise ship. I have been fascinated by this concept for as long as I can remember, I would love to see Eoseas (read more here) built and I have read the book about the building of Wind Star (read more here). When Club Med 2 unfurled its sails while leaving port I was wowed, all the passengers onboard were excitedly taking photos, it really is a special occasion.

The oldest of these sail cruise ships is approaching forty years old, Wind Star will be in 2026, which is getting on for a cruise ship. The QE2 was withdrawn after 39 years of service. Windstar and Club Med have continued to invest in the fleet and Windstar’s ships all have comprehensive refurbishments planned in the next two years. Hopefully, this continuous investment by the operators and the unique appeal will continue to make them viable in to the future.

Before joining I was quite nervous about Club Med’s style of cruising, French focus, laid back attitude and when I booked the cruise there was very little English language content about the ship. In reality, I should not have been so nervous, I found the onboard experience brilliant and a ship I would love to cruise on again.

This was my first ‘luxury’ cruise, but it was the warm hospitality and friendly nature of this ship left a lasting impression, more so than the ‘exclusive’ branding that Club Med includes the ship within.

Have you been on Club Med 2 or one of her predecessors?

Thanks,

Liam