Windstar Cruises will make a second attempt at a local deployment in Australia and New Zealand in 2022/23 after abandoning its 2020/21 program due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Windstar Cruises has taken back possession of Star Breeze following a near 12-month-long extension and modernisation of the vessel by shipbuilder Fincantieri. Star Breeze is one of three ‘Star Class’ ships operated by Windstar to undergo the enhancement as part of the $250-million Star Plus overhaul.

Work on the first of three Windstar Cruises’ Star Class ships to have a 25.6-metre insertion added is underway in Palermo, Italy. Star Breeze had the final cut to its hull last week ahead of its ‘stretching’ exercise which will see it  transformed into a larger and more versatile ship with additional deck space and new restaurants.

Windstar Cruises has announced its 2021 Alaska season will feature nine different journeys from June through September on four itineraries, including a new seven-day option from Vancouver to Juneau and the reverse. The program will feature coastal wilderness cruising along the Canadian Inside Passage, as well as time in Alaska’s Misty Fjords, Tracy or Endicott Arms, with stops in Ketchikan, Sitka, Skagway (a first-time port for Windstar), and Juneau.

Shipbuilder Fincantieri has cut the first section of steel for Windstar Cruises’ second star-class ship extension as part of the small ship cruise line’s US$250 million Star Plus initiative.

Windstar Cruises has announced a new culinary partnership with grill expert Steven Raichlen. The arrangement will see Windstar introduce a casual outdoor restaurant called Star Grill by Steven Raichlen, offering a modern, casual, alfresco eatery dishing up grilled, smoked and rotisserie specialties including seafood, meats and vegetables.

Windstar Cruises will operate a series of sailing to Australia and New Zealand for the 2020/21 winter-spring season, offered aboard the newly renovated Star Breeze.

Windstar Cruises this week unveiled further details regarding the US$250 Million Star Plus Initiative.

At Fincantieri’s shipyard in Trieste, Italy last week, Windstar Cruises’ John Gunner, Vice President of Expansion Project, triggered the button to activate the torch to commence the first cut in the new steel that will become the first of three new ship sections.