Posted on 03/11/2020 6:01:34 AM PDT by C19fan
The cruise ship industry is reeling. The outbreak of the new coronavirus has made the basic fundamentals of the business medically inadvisable to the point that the State Department has issued a warning to U.S. travelers—chief among them the elderly—to stop taking cruise ships until the threat has passed.
And yet, even as thousands of people have found themselves stuck on ocean liners, in close confines with others suffering from a deadly virus, not everyone is ready to bag their cruise ship getaway. Indeed, while some shudder at the prospect of enduring severe flu-like symptoms and a 14-day quarantine, others see the vacation deal of a lifetime materializing before their eyes.
Kenny Human, a 33-year-old lawyer from Kentucky, is one of those deal seekers. Five days ago, in the height of the coronavirus scare, he decided to purchase a Carnival Cruise trip leaving New Orleans in May for a venture through the western Caribbean. He doesn’t believe the coronavirus is a hoax. He doesn’t think fears of it are overhyped. And his girlfriend tried to convince him it was a bad idea. But, in the end, the price—about $400 per ticket when counting taxes and cancellation insurance—was just too damn good.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
My manager is in Cancun with his family. Do I want to be in the same room as him when he comes back..hell no
This whole thing is bullshit. If the virus, and cruise ships in particular, are so dangerous then why aren’t people who are currently trapped on cruise ships passing it around to each other?
Interesting!....and kind of a sad! We set sail during a hurricane, and were rerouted to Aruba, Bonaire, and Curaçao. Most of the service crew were worried sick about their families trapped on the islands being hit by the storm. I took one guy’s phone number to call his family when I got back to Colorado, so I could at least tell them that he was rerouted. They were thankful. This was October 2004. I didn’t find out until a year later that Rodney Dangerfield had died. Anyway... I need to see if my genius wife remembers our ship name! I’m curious if we had the same ship!
I have been on 6 cruises. LOVED most of them, enjoyed them all. Never got sick. (my wife did TWICE).
I no longer cruise. Mostly due to the NAZI airlines and Gestapo TSA. I REFUSE to fly! I’ve become a John Madden. If I can’t drive there I don’t go.
NOW, with illnesses becoming rampant and the quarantining of passengers, I would NEVER take a cruise again.
Meh. If it’s widely assumed that most people are going to get this virus (and not die) then why not go ahead and take advantage of cheap cruises and airfare?
RegulatorCountry wrote: “What put me completely off was all the norovirus outbreaks. Being stuck on a boat with explosive diarrhea is pretty low on my list of life experiences.”
Noro isn’t a cruise ship phenomena: Each year, on average in the United States, norovirus: causes 19 to 21 million cases of acute gastroenteritis. leads to 1.7 to 1.9 million outpatient visits and 400,000 emergency department visits, primarily in young children.
A friend and his wife are on a cruise right now. God for them. Don’t give in the the hysteria.
He and I are meeting for dinner next week. Nice knowing yall
Our ship was based out of Road Town, Tortola, BVIs. Captain Adrian was the skipper
I do not think it was the same one.
Ours made a loop around Tortola. It stopped at Peter Island, Salt Island, Cooper Island, Virgin Gorda, Jost Van Dyke, and then back to Tortola.
We went 23 years ago last week. My wedding anniversary was March 1st.
Wow! You have an extraordinary memory! Thanks to you, we discovered that our vessel was the Yankee Clipper. :)
there’s that - and there’s also the risk to the port that the cruise ships do not come.
Then you still get to hang out on a gigantic, beautiful cruise ship.
I've done several cruises on Royal Caribbean ships, and they were immaculately clean. Hell, being held onboard for 3-4 weeks sounds amazing right about now.
My wife and I just pulled out the album on our anniversary last week. However, we have been back to the BVI’s twice since then. Each time we rented a house on Tortola. I also have friends that have rented sailboats out of there several times.
I seem to remember that the Yankee Clipper was the smallest ship.
Also, that it sailed out of St Vincent/Grenadines and those islands down near Dominica. That was one of the other trips we considered.
I just looked this up on the Google:
“What became of the Yankee Clipper”
When the Yankee Clipper’s owner, Windjammer Barefoot Cruises went out of business in 2007, the ship retired and she is permanently docked in Trindad.
In service: 1927–2007
Notes: Permanently docked in Trinidad
Absolutely, gator. Shiny cat toys, whatever they got, ain't gonna work.
Check this out:
Windjammer Barefoot Cruises
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Windjammer Barefoot Cruises
Former type
Cruise line
Industry
Transportation
Fate
Went bankrupt in late 2007. Assets were liquidated in September 2008.
Founded
1947
Defunct
Services: 2007
Company: 2008
Headquarters
Miami Beach, Florida
Products
Cruises
Website
windjammer.com
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.
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.
Contents [hide]
1 Fleet
2 Issues 2.1 Loss of S/V Fantome
2.2 2007 financial difficulties
3 References
4 External links
Fleet[edit]
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.
S/V Legacy
S/V Polynesia sold to Portuguese Navy
S/V Mandalay
S/V Yankee Clipper in Trinidad
Issues[edit]
Loss of S/V Fantome[edit]
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[edit]
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]
AND THIS:
https://first-draft.com/2015/09/14/the-fall-of-the-flying-cloud-and-captain-burkes-dream/
It shows a picture of the SV Flying Cloud half sunk in Trinidad.
Lastly this:
According to the “internet” this is now the Windjammer SV Mandalay
https://www.visitgalapagos.travel/sailing-cruises/mary-anne/
last one:
Apparently, this is where he S/V Mandalay ended up:
It says that 2020 will be the last year for passenger cruises.
I wanted to circle back and thank you for those links and the info. I remember those ships being old and somewhat historic. I’m glad at least one entrepreneur kept one of them going as a cruise. Thanks again and stay healthy!
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