Catching Up with Windstar Cruises’ Christopher Prelog

Travel advisors have never been more important to Windstar than they are right now. With added capacity in Tahiti and Greece, and all-new itineraries to promote, the cruise line is laser focused on its partnerships with advisors.

On Star Breeze’s recent debut in French Polynesia, Windstar invited about a dozen advisors, several of whom had never sailed the line before, to come along and experience the product. Travel Market Report was also onboard and had the time to sit down with Windstar’s president Christopher Prelog to talk about what’s new with the cruise line and what might be in its future.

“Tahiti is in our DNA”
Seeing as how TMR spoke with Prelog aboard the Sea Breeze in the South Pacific, it’s no surprise that Tahiti was front of mind for him. Immediately before our sailing departed, the captain of Wind Spirit handed over the flag of French Polynesia to Sea Breeze’s commander, a symbolic gesture representing a new era of cruising in the area for Windstar, which has been sailing there for 36 years.

With the changeover, Windstar added 164 berths per cruise to each sailing. But it wasn’t only the ability to bring more guests to French Polynesia that spurred Prelog to bring Sea Breeze to the region.

“One of the reasons why we put the Breeze here is it allows us to expand the sailing footprint and allows us to go to the Marquesas, which is tougher to operate with the sailing ship because it doesn’t have the speed.”

But Prelog added it’s not the end for Wind Spirit (or another sailing ship) in French Polynesia. He foresees having two ships (one sailing and one motor) in the region sooner rather than later.

“The team is literally working on a plan to figure it out and as I have full trust in the team, I know they will eventually figure it out,” he said.

In the meantime, Prelog told TMR that Windstar needs travel advisors to help the cruise line fill the added capacity in Tahiti.

“Tahiti, in particular, allows for the trade to bring new-to-Windstar and new-to-cruising guests into the market, because a week in Tahiti in a land-based hotel is a very different price than sailing around the islands,” he said. “We are super reliant on our partners to get that message out and bring us those customers.”

New to Windstar or new to cruise?
Though Windstar hopes travel advisors will bring more new-to-cruise guests to the brand, the company is equally focused on finding new-to-Windstar cruisers, something he said they’ve been seeing in large numbers since the cruise industry opened back up in 2021.

“Our influx is a lot from people who have cruised before,” he said, adding that many have been cruisers who previously stayed in suites on contemporary or premium brands.

Another piece of the market that he sees a lot of crossover with is river cruising.

“We see a lot of overlap where guests are trying out the inland on a river cruise then coming to us.”

Will Windstar purchase a river ship as a result? No, Prelog said, but he is open to finding a company to partner with.

“There’s a natural overlap and no competition, because you’re showing the destination through a very different lens on either side,” he said.

As for the other luxury cruises, he doesn’t see much of a comparison between Windstar and the other lines, which also leads to less crossover between clientele.

“There’s all this comparison with the ultra-luxury brands, but I don’t think we fit in there. We’re much more casual and laid back.”

High demand fuels record Wave Season
After turning the corner in 2023, Windstar is seeing its best-ever Wave Season, Prelog told TMR.

“It will be a really strong performance this year… For ’24 we are in good shape but 2025 is filling more than ’24,” he said.

Prelog attributes the high demand to a new understanding of the cruise proposition, not revenge travel or pent up demand.

“I don’t think it’s pent up demand anymore. Cruising overall has picked up in demand – we are seeing that. There’s more demand because people really realize what an incredible deal it is.”

Room for growth
Despite strong numbers for 2024 and 2025, Prelog told TMR there’s still room to grow. And still travelers who don’t understand the value of cruising, including how easy it is.

He pointed to Windstar’s new winter Mediterranean deployment as an example.  

Trying to combine air, hotel, trains between cities, getting museum tickets (often months and months in advance), and eating out is more expensive and stressful, he said. He joked about how the crew doing the winter sailings in the Mediterranean love them because they can get pizza in Italy for half the price they pay in the summer.

“For people inside cruising, we all understand it really well. Something so simple [not having to clean your cabin or getting laundry back in a day] is actually what you need to get out there. People who don’t know cruising perceive it with the stigma of this is for old people or you have to dress up and wear a jacket… The more we can ask our travel agent community to help us get that message out, the easier they’ll have to sell it,” he said.

Future growth?
While Windstar is currently focused on filling the extra capacity that was added to the fleet during the stretching of its three Star Class ships (now called Star Plus Class), as well as raising awareness of its newest itineraries – winter Mediterranean, Canary Islands, two ships in Greece – the line always has its eyes open for growth opportunities.

“Growth could be different things,” Prelog said. “It could be a newbuild. It could be buying other ships… We are always looking for opportunities to grow Windstar… It just hasn’t solidified on anything at this point in time.”

Growth can also be adding new destinations, something Windstar tried to do with the Middle East, and is doing with the Canary Islands. While the Middle East didn’t work out, Prelog has high hopes for the Canaries.

“We are trying this for the first time, a dedicated cruise around the Canary Isles. I personally like to see this because I spent a lot of time as a child in the Canaries because it’s where the Europeans go for winter. There’s a reason they call it the Hawaii of Europe.”

Just as important as its beauty, culture, and food is that it’s different from the traditional winter itinerary.

“This is the sort of thing we’re looking for. Yes, you have to have the mainstream destinations, but you have to also offer that experience where people come away and say, I didn’t realize this is so beautiful, I want to come back here.”

If you don’t offer something new and different, past guests will go with someone else who does, Prelog said.

He added that he hasn’t ruled out the Middle East permanently.

“I will tell you the destination, the people, the friendliness, it’s a beautiful destination needing to be explored. There’s absolutely a fair reason why other cruise line have gone there, because it’s incredible… I’m hopeful that eventually it’ll be back.”

Message for advisors
When asked about the importance of the travel advisor community to Windstar, Prelog did not quibble.

“It’s incredibly important. There’s not a day where we don’t have any interaction with our trade partners… We want to be their partner and we absolutely can be… We are listening and we want to partner with them.”