Think Winter, Not Windjammers

I live in Colorado and had a fantastic few days at Beaver Creek last weekend and a great day of midweek skiing at Copper Mountain yesterday, with dry pavement on Interstate 70, no traffic, no liftlines and no crowds. My husband and I are looking forward to a few days between Christmas and New Years at Snowmass, where good friends have a home that we are fortunate to visit now and again. It's snowing in Boulder right now, and snow accumulations and ski conditions at Colorado resorts are fantastic as I write this.

Unlike a poorly run small cruise ship company, all ski resorts are regulated by various state and federal agencies, and no big resort is going to stop operating its lifts, even if it is in financial straits or legal hassles over ownership. Personally, I really do love snow season and rarely have a desire to leave it for the tropics.

Meanwhile, those who have wanted to sail through tropical islands on a tall ship have increasing been, to put it crudely, screwed. I have reported previously on the meltdown of Windjammer Barefoot Cruises (go to Labels on the left side of this page, click on "Cruise Ships" and scroll down to relevant posts).

A couple of days ago, the Miami Herald ran a story called "Windjammer Woes Worsen." Reporter Patrick Danner wrote:

"The financially ailing Miami Beach company had planned to resume sailing
one of the ships this past weekend, but canceled after it failed to ''overcome
the vast difficulties and roadblocks that have hampered [its] operation of
late,'' the company said on an online message board popular with Windjammer
aficionados.

"It's the fifth time a sailing on the Legacy has been canceled since a son of Windjammer's legendary founder Mike Burke announced the cruise line would restart on Nov. 3.

"The company has set a Jan. 5 target date to resume sailing the Legacy, but
it's not supposed to sell trips because its state license has expired. More than
100 customer complaints have been filed with Florida agencies. Meanwhile, Windjammer's vessels still are detained in various Caribbean ports, encumbered by liens....

"Joey Burke, who has been trying to revive the business started by his
father 60 years ago, said he had been advised by an attorney for the family
trust that now owns Windjammer not to say anything because there is a
reorganization in the works that involves outside investors. Previous attempts
to land investors, however, have not panned out. One purported investor has even
sued Windjammer, accusing it of 'double-dealing'' by negotiating with
other parties."

Here are excerpts from five posts to message boards and from the Herald's discussion board responding to the hardly unexpected news (names unnecessary):

"How Sad! I noticed it a while back but then the site came back and working
so I thought.... well maybe they pulled it off but I guess not."

"No Windjammers for me this year. [A co-worker] has not gotten her money back from booking with the Poly, but luckily she arranged her airfare separate and got
that transferred. has not gotten her money back from booking with the Poly, but
luckily she arranged her airfare separate and got that transferred."

"I certainly hope that Windjammer can get started again. I purchased a
'sail 5' package and used only one sail. They still owe me four more sails. I'm
not happy about the possibility of losing $4000."

"Well, they still have 9K of my money......... Sigh..... Well one of those
Burke kids has it..:( "

"Seperation by many states is good, if I lived in Florida, Id knock on the
owners doors every day until my money was returned, If the steal this amount
from me, what did they do to the crew? dump them in port and fly home? evry one
that is owed money from this company needs to be aggresive for the return of
paid monies. the great diservice to these ships and crew members passengers,
give these ships and pirates a bad name."