Windstar cruises is ditching Seattle, will call Miami home in 2022

Cruise company Windstar is moving its offices to Miami in 2022.

The small ship cruise company announced Friday it is leaving its longtime home base of Seattle. Cruise operations will be based in Miami starting in June 2022, and marketing, revenue, accounting and tech functions will move to Denver, where Windstar’s parent company, Xanterra Travel Collection, is based.

Windstar president Christopher Prelog said South Florida’s cruise industry talent stood out to him when considering post-pandemic office plans.

“Our lease is up and we looked a little bit more holistically at how are we best set up?” he said. “You cannot look away from Florida or Miami to be the center of the universe for all things cruise. It is a really connected place for the industry. The travel agents, all the services are there.”

Windstar has six cruise ships ranging in size from 148- to 342-passenger capacity. Three of the company’s ships are sailing ships. The ships are not based in any one port for a long period of time as other cruise ships are, except for Wind Spirit in Tahiti. Two of its ships — Star Legend and Star Pride — plan to visit Miami and Fort Lauderdale next winter.

The company has canceled all cruises through June 9 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Prelog said Windstar plans to have around 50 employees based in Miami by 2022, and will soon begin looking for Miami-based candidates to fill positions left open by the pandemic.

The company has not yet determined where in Miami its offices will be located.

“We gave ourselves a lot of time to do that,” Prelog said.