The 224-passenger all-suite yacht will be the first vessel to be named in Tower Bridge since 2003. The last vessel was Minerva II which operated under the Swan Hellenic brand. Seabourn Sojourn was christened in 2010 around five miles further east in Greenwich.
Following the ceremony on 31 May 2027, Explorer will pass under Tower Bridge and set sail on a circumnavigation of Ireland. Star Explorer will complete Windstar's debut call to Puerto Banus in Spain during its maiden season.
The new ship will sail year-round in Europe, with its first full season of Europe cruises running until April 2028.
Windstar's head of UK and Ireland sales Augustus Lonsdale told TTG the decision to christen the ship in London was "two fold".
He said: "There's been an increase in deployment and investment with the arrival of [managing director - global commercial] Helen Beck in the UK.
"The UK is becoming more and more of an important market for us. The other reason is that there's a desire to christen Star Seeker near to our Miami head office but we also wanted to showcase our destinations with [Star Seeker's sister vessel] Star Explorer," said Lonsdale.
"The big thing though was to christen Star Explorer somewhere unusual. It's been 22 years since a ship was christened at Tower Bridge. It's real unusual so the move to christen the ship there aligns with our company philosophy."
Lonsdale couldn't confirm if UK and Irish agents would be invited to the attending the christening celebrations. However, he suggested agents would get to experience the ship while it is docked in London in 2027.
"The vision is to ensure agents to see the ship around that time but they might not get to the christening," he explained. "It's two years away. "The UK is our international focus market right now. After the UK, it's Germany.
"This has been our best year in the UK. Helen and I are just carrying on with splitting our work as we go. We've just past 2024 booked revenue and we past 2024 sailed revenue last December."
