Windstar cruise line returns to Southeast after 20-year break

As estimates for cruise ship tourists this year seem set to break records in Alaska, a new vessel will be making Wrangell a port of call this summer.

Fresh from a six-month tour of Asian waters, the 212-passenger ship Star Legend will be arriving for the day this Friday. It will be the first of nine passes through Southeast for the vessel this summer, and the first season Seattle-based company Windstar Cruises will have operated in the state since its sailing ship Wind Spirit departed its waters in 1998.

Windstar public relations director Mary Schimmelman explained the company’s return to the...