Windstar Cruises announced plans to resume cruises to the Caribbean in June and to move the cruise line’s office from Seattle to Miami in 2022.
Windstar Cruises pushed back their restart from May to June and the new timeline for each cruise ship resuming cruises is as follows:
- Wind Spirit – June 10, 2021 – Tahiti
- Star Breeze – June 19, 2021 – Caribbean
- Wind Star – June 19, 2021 – Mediterranean
- Wind Surf – June 29, 2021 – Mediterranean
- Star Legend – July 4, 2021 – Mediterranean
- Star Pride – July 14, 2021 – Northern Europe/Iceland
The cruise line announced that after carefully assessing multiple factors it was canceling May sailings and would restart operations in June 2021. The decision was made after reviewing current information on COVID transmission rates, travel restrictions and government regulations. The line will re-start cruise operations in a phased manner with initial cruises at a reduced guest occupancy, some modified itineraries, and enhanced health and safety protocols.
Windstar’s new Miami office will accommodate mostly cruise operation functions and some direct supporting teams to operations. Other functions such as marketing, revenue, accounting and IT will have the opportunity to move to parent company Xanterra’s Denver office to collaborate with team members there. Windstar Cruises is owned by Xanterra Travel Collection, a group of global hospitality and travel companies, based in Denver.
Windstar Cruises plans to open the new Miami office and transition shared/support services to Denver in June 2022. Windstar expects some employees will choose to work remotely from the Seattle area and others to relocate to Miami or Denver depending on job function.
Prelog says that as the center of the cruise industry in the U.S., a Miami office will be beneficial for building industry relationships and attracting new talent. It will also enable operations employees in Miami to be closer to the cruise line’s ships and crew as they pass through Florida and shorten up flight times to the ships in Europe and the Caribbean.
