CARNIVAL CORP. will sell its Windstar Cruises brand to Ambassadors International for $100 million. Seattle-based Windstar Cruises is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Holland America Line, a unit of Carnival Corp., and it operates three sailing vessels with a total lower-berth capacity of 772. Carnival CEO Micky Arison praised the Windstar product but said that it did not fit into the company's future growth strategy, which is now focused on expanding "core growth brands and opening new markets." The transaction is expected to close in the second quarter of 2007.
