Tradewind Voyages has appointed cruise industry veteran Alan McGrory as its new chief executive following management changes at the yet-to-launch line.
McGrory (pictured) joins UK-based Tradewind after two years doing consultancy work within the travel and hospitality sectors and more than four years at Windstar Cruises where he held the role of vice president of operations.
In 2012, he joined Windstar as its vice president of marine hotel operations.
McGrory’s appointment comes a month after former chief executive Stuart McQuaker and product director Oliver Hammerer chose to leave the line after its initial start-up.
McGrory said: “I am delighted to be joining the team and look forward to working with our trade partners to promote our beautiful ship.”
Prior to Windstar, McGrory held positions at Royal Caribbean International and Renaissance Cruise Line. He started his career with luxury hotel chain, The Doyle Collection, which is headquartered in Dublin.
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Jeremy McKenna leaves Tradewind Voyages
McGrory’s predecessor, McQuaker, was first approached to take on the position of chief executive at Tradewind in October 2019.
In his role, McQuaker recruited Jeremy McKenna, formerly of Norwegian Cruise Line and P&O Cruises, to oversee sales, ex-Royal Caribbean sales chief Amanda Norey to run the marketing department and Hammerer.
Nearly a year and a half later, he has left the business along with Hammerer and McKenna, whose last day at Tradewind was on April 9.
A Tradewind Voyages spokesperson said: “We are immensely grateful for Stuart and Oliver’s contribution and wish them every success for the future.”
In a letter to the line’s business partners, McQuaker expressed his pride at what the line had achieved over 17 months before adding that it was the “right time to move on to new opportunities”.
The line’s 272-passenger Golden Horizon ship left Split, Croatia, on Thursday on its way to the UK and is set to sail its maiden voyage from Harwich next month.
The world’s largest square-rigged sailing vessel was built and is owned by Brodosplit, a subsidiary of Croatia-based DIV Group.