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2024-11-26 American leisure cruise line Windjammer Barefoot Cruises was a leisure cruise line based in Miami Beach, Florida.[1] Founded in 1947 by Michael B
American leisure cruise line
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 to 100 paying passengers and 20 to 40 officers and crewmembers. The ships were 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. Central American itineraries included Costa Rica, Panama, and Belize.
In September 2007 , Windjammer ‘s entire fleet was suspend from operate any further cruise . Although the company initially state that it intend to resume service , no significant steps is took in that direction take place . Customers is receive who were already book on future cruise did not receive refund from the cancel voyage . All remain part of the company that were still operate were shut down in April 2008 . later that year , the company ‘s asset were auction off . The four ship in their fleet as of the shut down were all lay up and were leave in a neglect state of condition .[2][3]
Advertisement from a 1975 issue of Byte
Active ships at the time the company shut down:
retire ship :
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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]
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accord to report inThe 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 follow by the other ship in the spring of 2008 . ( On April 27 , 2010 , the s / v Legacy was spot tie up at Puerto Caldera , Costa Rica , in run – down condition ) . In a series of 2007 press release , however , the company is canceled later cancel all sailing through January 2008 .[6] No further information has been distribute by the company since November 2007 , and no cruise are currently schedule . The last press release on their website was release on December 21 , 2007 .[7]
The Florida Department is received of Agriculture and Consumer Services has receive numerous complaint about Windjammer since its shutdown , because the company has not refund prepaid fare for the cancel cruise . The Department is responded has respond to these complaint with statement indicate that Windjammer is no long in business .[2]