Windjammer Barefoot Cruises

Windjammer Barefoot Cruises was a leisure cruise line based in Miami Beach, Florida.[1] Founded in 1947 by Michael Burke, the company scheduled one and two week cruises in the Caribbean and Central America, using a fleet of sailing tall ships. The ships were former yachts and commercial vessels that were refurbished as cruise vessels, accommodating 60–100 paying passengers and 20–40 officers and crewmembers. The ships were refitted to resemble 19th century sailing vessels called windjammers.

Windjammer Barefoot Cruises
TypeCruise line
IndustryTransportation
FateWent bankrupt in late 2007. Assets were liquidated in September 2008.
Founded1947
DefunctServices: 2007
Company: 2008
HeadquartersMiami Beach, Florida
ProductsCruises
Websitewindjammer.com

Caribbean itineraries included the British Virgin Islands, French West Indies, Grenadines, the ABC islands and The Bahamas. Recent and former Central American itineraries included Costa Rica, Panama, and Belize.

In September 2007, Windjammer's entire fleet was suspended from operating any further cruises. Although the company initially stated that it intended to resume service, no significant steps in that direction took place. Customers who were already booked on future cruises did not receive refunds from the canceled voyages. All remaining parts of the company that were still operating were shut down in April 2008. Later that year, the company's assets were auctioned off. The four ships they operated are all laid up and were left in a neglected state of condition.[2][3]

In 2014, Sail Windjammer, Inc., a new company not associated with WBC, began operating the S/V Mandalay, which was part of the original Windjammer Barefoot Cruises fleet. The S/V Mandalay is an original 236 ft. tall ship that carriers 58 passengers. It sails out of Grenada for one and two weeks cruises in the Grenadines and the British Virgin Islands.

Fleet

Retired ships:

  • S/V Yankee Clipper
  • S/V Flying Cloud
  • M/V Amazing Grace
  • S/V Fantome (see below)

The fleet listed below were active at the time the company shut down.

Issues

Loss of S/V Fantome

In October 1998, Hurricane Mitch was responsible for the loss of the S/V Fantome, a four-masted schooner operated by Windjammer. All 31 crew members aboard perished; passengers and other crew members had earlier been offloaded in Belize. The story was recorded in the book The Ship and The Storm by Jim Carrier (ISBN 0-07-135526-X). The ship, which was sailing in the center of the hurricane, experienced up to 50-foot (15 m) waves and over 100 mph (160 km/h) winds, causing the Fantome to founder off the coast of Honduras.[4]

2007 financial difficulties

According to reports in The Wall Street Journal and elsewhere, Windjammer had been in serious financial trouble since 2007 or earlier.[5] The Journal article explained that crews had gone unpaid, and the fleet of ships was found to be in disrepair. There were also reports that cruise passengers had complained of being stranded, either aboard the ships or at intermediate destinations.

After ceasing operations for several weeks, the company planned to relaunch cruises on its fleet of ships, starting with s/v Legacy on November 3, 2007 followed by the other ships in the spring of 2008. (On April 27, 2010, the s/v Legacy was spotted tied up at Puerto Caldera, Costa Rica, in run-down condition). In a series of 2007 press releases, however, the company later canceled all sailings through January 2008.[6] No further information has been distributed by the company since November 2007, and no cruises are currently scheduled. The last press release on their website was released on December 21, 2007.[7]

The Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services has received numerous complaints about Windjammer since its shutdown, because the company has not refunded prepaid fares for the canceled cruises. The Department has responded to these complaints with statements indicating that Windjammer is no longer in business.[2]

References
  1. "Contact Us." Windjammer Barefoot Cruises. February 2, 2004. Retrieved on January 9, 2010.
  2. "Windjammer Cruises Officially Out Of Business". April 2, 2008. Retrieved April 5, 2008.
  3. Motter, Paul (November 16, 2007). "Windjammer Barefoot Cruises: The End of an Empire". cruisemates.com. Retrieved December 24, 2008.
  4. Corzo, Cynthia. "A Cornered Ship, 31 Men, and a Date with Doom". Retrieved April 5, 2008.
  5. Keates, Nancy (August 23, 2007). "A Rough Ride on Windjammer Cruises". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved April 5, 2008.
  6. "Press release archive". Windjammer Barefoot Cruises. Retrieved April 5, 2008.
  7. Windjammer Barefoot Cruises – Sail a tall ship to the Caribbean
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