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Seattle-based Windstar Cruises, which operates a three-ship fleet of luxury yachts, has announced that it will suspend its fuel surcharge on all sailings departing after January 1st 2009, due to declining fuel prices.

The cruise operator's fuel surcharge applied only to sailings through March 31, 2009.

Windstar has said that it will automatically refund the fuel surcharge to guests in the form of a shipboard credit to use during their sailing for those sailings departing between January 1st and March 31st 2009.

The company said that it reserved the right to reimpose fuel surcharges if fuel prices escalate again in the future.

Windstar is a division of Ambassadors International Cruise Group, LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Ambassadors Cruise Group, LLC. It operates three sailing yachts calling at a number of ports throughout Europe, the Caribbean and the Americas.

The company's decision to suspend its fuel surcharge follows similar moves made by rival cruise operators Carnival Corporation & plc, Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. and Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL), who have also decided to remove their existing fuel surcharge this month following the recent decline in crude and bunker prices.