Seabourn Legend and Seabourn Spirit will be two of the three ships to join the Windstar fleet. |
Seattle, February 19, 2013 - Windstar Cruises announced today that its owner, Xanterra Parks & Resorts®, has reached an agreement with Seabourn, a cruise company that operates six luxury cruise ships, to purchase three of their ships: Seabourn Pride, Seabourn Legend, and Seabourn Spirit. Under the project name Global Windstar, the expansion will double the size of Windstar’s recently renovated, three luxury sailing yacht fleet, making the company the market leader in small-ship cruising with 300 or fewer passengers, with a total of 1,230 berths. The purchase on February 15, 2013, is one of several recent Xanterra Parks & Resorts® acquisitions, including VBT, an adventure travel company, and The Grand Hotel in Tusayan, AZ, adjoining the South Rim of the Grand Canyon.
“Windstar
Cruises has experienced four straight years of revenue growth. This
expansion is the perfect way to build on the momentum following our
recent fleet-wide renovation, providing us with the much needed
capacity to match the accelerating demand for our intimate style of
yacht cruising,” said Andy Todd, chief executive officer of
Xanterra Parks & Resorts, owner of Windstar Cruises. “Global
Windstar enables
us to extend our unique small-ship experience throughout the world.”
The
delivery of the three 104 all-suite ships, which hold 208 passengers
each, will take place over the next two years in the Mediterranean.
The Seabourn Pride will be the first ship to enter
into Windstar’s luxury fleet in April of 2014. Following a
Windstar branded renovation, which will give the ship a new name and
casually elegant look, the Pride with set sail a
month later in May 2014; voyages are expected to go on sale in May of
this year. Windstar Cruises will take possession of Seabourn
Legend in April 2015 and Seabourn Spirit in
May 2015. These two yachts are scheduled to start sailing in May of
2015 following their dry-dock period.
“Windstar
is proud of its heritage in sailing, but what our guests are most
enthusiastic about is our intimate, yacht style of cruising. This
style is the core of our brand experience and the new ships are a
perfect fit to build on that foundation,” added Hans Birkholz,
chief executive officer of Windstar Cruises.
The
fleet expansion will provide Windstar Cruises access to new
destinations such as Asia and South America, in addition to the fifty
countries the company already sails to. Known for visiting hidden
harbors and secluded coves of the world, Windstar will continue to
focus on the unique destinations that large ships cannot call on.
The opportunities of Global Windstar are already
evident with the recent announcement of Windstar’s return to Tahiti
in May of 2014. Tahiti has been one of the top destinations requested
by Windstar guests and travel partners.
Windstar’s
shoreside operations will continue to run out of the company’s
Seattle, WA headquarters. Additional details, including itineraries,
onboard experiences, and renovation details will be released in the
coming months. For the most up-to-date information, please
visit WindstarCruises.com,
Windstar’s Facebook page, and blog.