Windjammer Barefoot Cruises

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Windjammer Barefoot Cruises


Fate	Inactive Since Late 2007, Possibly Bankrupt


Founded	1947
Defunct	2007
Location	Miami, Florida
Industry	Transportation
Products	Cruises

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

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.

Windjammer's vessels have not operated since September 2007. Although the company initially stated that it intended to resume service, no significant steps in that direction took place, and outside observers now believe that the company is out of business.^[1]

1 Fleet
2 Loss of s/v Fantome
3 2007 financial difficulties
4 References
5 External links

[edit] Fleet

Active fleet (to 2007):

s/v Legacy
s/v Polynesia
s/v Mandalay
s/v Yankee Clipper

Retired ships:

s/v Flying Cloud
m/v Amazing Grace

[edit] 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.^[2]

[edit] 2007 financial difficulties

According to reports in The Wall Street Journal and elsewhere, Windjammer has been in serious financial trouble since 2007 or earlier.^[3] 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. In a series of 2007 press releases, however, the company later canceled all sailings of through at least January 2008. ^[4] 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. ^[5]

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. ^[1]