Is this the end for Windjammer cruises?
by The Cruise Log on 4 Oct 2007
Windjammer - Ciampaglio SW
Things are looking grim for fans of Windjammer Barefoot Cruises, the much-loved sailing line.
Cruisecritic.com reports that the 60-year-old, family-owned company, which has been struggling to survive for several months, has canceled this week's sailings, and the company isn't returning calls. All four of the line's ships are stranded in ports from Aruba to Costa Rica.
A Web site for Windjammer fans, jammerbabe.com, says one of the line's ships, the Mandalay, is 'under arrest' in Panama. It says the ship is out of fuel and there's no money to pay for garbage removal. 'The remaining crew must step over bags of rotting garbage, worms and maggots to get to their quarters,' the site says. Some crew already have abandoned ship, although 14 crew members remain on board, it adds.
The Wall Street Journal reported in August that crewmembers had been going weeks without pay, and quoted emails from one of the Windjammer captains saying the financial situation had become so bad that they didn't have money for food or clean linens. But at the time, it appeared the line would be getting a savior, with the Journal reporting that an investment company was in the process of buying the sailing company and would be injecting much-needed cash into the operation.
That deal appears to have 'faded away,' according to a story this morning at modernagent.com, but the travel agent-focused publication cites sources who say another investment firm has shown interest in investing in Windjammer. The question: Is it too late to save the line?
'The situation continues to deteriorate,' one source tells modernagent.com. 'There are no ships operating and yet there is no committment to make a deal.'
If you want to link to this article then please use this URL: www.sail-world.com/37973
