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Windstar Cruises

Small-ship line Windstar to add Alaska cruises

Gene Sloan, USA TODAY
Windstar Cruises' Star Legend.

Add Windstar to the list of cruise lines offering voyages to Alaska. 

The small-ship specialist today will announce plans to operate sailings to the 49th state in 2018 aboard its 212-passenger Star Legend.

Scheduled between May and August, the trips will be lengthier than many of those offered in Alaska by other cruise lines and focus to a significant degree on lesser visited, off-the-beaten-path destinations that only small ships can reach. 

Each of the voyages will include a sail into Misty Fjords, a spectacularly scenic, glacier-carved wilderness area that is off limits to the big ships that account for the majority of Alaska cruises. Also on the schedule is the rarely visited settlement of Metlakatla, home to the indigenous Tsimshian people; little-visited Kenai Fjords National Park; and glacier-carved Tracy Arm.  

"With a small ship like this, we really want to get into the nooks and the crannies of the Inside Passage," Windstar president John Delaney tells USA TODAY in an exclusive interview to discuss the deployment.

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Delaney says Windstar will be adding motorized Zodiac rafts and kayaks to Legend to allow for expedition cruise-style excursions in the Alaskan wilderness. The outings will be led by a new team of on-board experts that include naturalists and glaciologists who also will lecture about the region. 

"We're going to (be taking out the Zodiacs and kayaks) in places like Kenai Fjords and Misty Fjords ... wherever we feel like we can deliver an incredible wildlife or scenic viewing experience," Delaney says.   

As with other excursions at Windstar, the Zodiac and kayak trips will come with an extra charge. But "we'll keep them reasonable," Delaney says. 

The announcement of the Alaska deployment comes just six months after Delaney took the helm at Windstar. It marks one of the first big changes to the company's schedule under his leadership. Windstar traditionally has focused on sailings in Europe during summers and hasn't had a vessel in Alaska since 1998. 

Windstar in November also announced it would offer sailings in Asia starting later this year, something it hasn't done since 2015. Those trips, too, will be on Legend. Legend will remain in Asia until early 2018 when it will re-position to Alaska with a one-time, 14-night sailing from Tokyo to Seward, Alaska. The trip will include stops in Miyako, Hakodate, and Kushiro, Japan. 

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Cruises to Alaska have grown in popularity over the past two years as worries about terrorism and other issues in Europe prompt some Americans to stay closer to home. In adding trips to Alaska, Windstar is tapping into the growing demand for cruises to the destination, but Delaney says the move also is driven by a need for a more diverse array of itineraries as the company becomes more global. 

Delaney says he hopes to eventually draw 50% of customers from international markets. Right now, a large percentage of Windstar's passengers are from North America. Delaney also hopes to add capacity to the brand.   

"To grow the brand, I need to have a more global deployment," he says.   

Windstar will offer three itineraries in Alaska, the shortest of which will be 11 to 12 nights in length. It'll include stops at the little-visited Alaskan towns of Wrangell, Sitka and Haines as well as traditional Alaskan ports Ketchikan, Juneau and Icy Strait Point. The one-way trips between Vancouver, B.C. and Seward also will include cruising into Misty Fjords, Tracy Arm and Kenai Fjords. 

Another itinerary, round-trip out of Vancouver, will be 12 nights in length and include stops at Ketchikan, Icy Strait Point, Juneau, Wrangell, Metlakatla and Prince Rupert, B.C. as well as Tracy Arm and Misty Fjords. 

The final itinerary will be 14 nights in length and include stops at Icy Strait Point, Haines, Juneau, Sitka, Wrangell, Ketchikan, Metlakatla and Prince Rupert. One-way between Vancouver, B.C. and Seward, these trips also will include cruising into Kenai Fjords, Tracy Arm and Misty Fjords. 

Windstar is far from the first small-ship line to launch voyages to off-the-beaten-path destinations in Alaska. Indeed, two small-ship operators, UnCruise Adventures and Alaskan Dream Cruises, were founded specifically to offer such sailings and already have a significant presence in the state. Also offering small-ship cruises in Alaska are American Cruise Lines and Lindblad Expeditions.    

Delaney says there's room for another player, and Windstar offers something different from the other lines with its upscale vessels.

Formerly operated by luxury line Seabourn, Legend is an all-suite ship where the cabins are large with walk-in closets and marble baths, Delaney notes. 

"Our niche is true small ship cruising, but luxury," he says. "It will be the only casual, luxury, small-ship experience (in Alaska) with all suites." 

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Star Legend is one of three sister ships that Windstar acquired from Seabourn in 2014 and 2015. For a deck-by-deck tour of one of the vessels, scroll through the carousel at the top of this story. For a deck-by-deck tour of one of Windstar's three sailing ships, scroll through the carousel below. 

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