Windstar is making the final cut to Star Breeze's hull to stretch/rebuilt the first of its 3 Star Ship liners and begin the process of inserting an 84-foot (25.6-meter) midship section.
The first Windstar vessel to emerge from the transformation, Star Breeze, will sail out of Barcelona to Lisbon on February 20, 2020, and re-inaugurated in PortMiami on March 19.
The works on Breeze (and sisterships Legend and Pride in 2020) also involves removing and replacing the powerplant/diesel engines (with Wartsila) running on the cleaner ULSD (ultra-low sulfur diesel) fuel.
This is the first of 3 new midship sections to be built and inserted as part of Windstar’s USD 250 million "Star Plus Initiative" drydock reconstruction and refurbishment program. In addition to the “back-of-house” investment and propulsion system, what passengers will welcome most are the new restaurants including the Spanish-styled Cuadro 44 by Anthony Sasso and an alfresco Star Grill by Steven Raichlen.
That additional space translates into a new retail shop, a new whirlpool and enlarged swimming pool (on deck 8), enlarged wellness complex (spa and fitness). Every bathroom will be rebuilt. The new midship section will have most of the new 50 staterooms. With it, Star Breeze's passenger capacity will increase to 312 passengers (from 212). The enlarged cruise vessel will also accommodate more crew/staff to maintain the 1,5-to-1 guest-to-crew ratio.
Windstar is transforming all its Star-class ships (Star Breeze, Star Pride, Star Legend) and renovating each vessel at Fincantieri’s shipyard in Palermo, Italy. The 3-ship drydocking program will be completed in November 2020.
The second to be drydocked ((Star Legend) is scheduled to debut in Barcelona on July 2, next year. The final ship, Star Pride, will be completed in the fall of 2020, with her first sailing from Barcelona on November 20, 2020.