| T.R | Title | User | Personal
Name | Date | Lines |
|---|
| 14.1 | | DECLB9::CHAN | | Mon Aug 15 1988 16:28 | 5 |
| rep .0
So what's the good and bad things you have heard?
Susan Chan
|
| 14.2 | Windjammer Honeymoon | GRANPA::JLISTON | | Tue Aug 16 1988 12:58 | 7 |
| ref. -1
I would like to know too. My Daughter will be honeymooning on a
windjammer cruise in October. Windjammer has already changed the
ship they were to sail on, what else can they expect.
Thanks .... Jim
|
| 14.3 | Input requested for... | STAR::APPELLOF | Kathy Appellof | Tue Aug 16 1988 15:05 | 224 |
| The following is a copy of a letter which I received across
the network several months ago. I was afraid that I had deleted
it, but this morning once again located it. Sorry, but I do not
know who wrote this letter. I was not the originator of it coming
across the net - only one of the many recipients.
Personally, I'd prefer believing that Windjammer cruises are exciting
and well worth the time and money spent. Hopefully, some other
person reading this notesfile will have something good to say.
- Kathy
Subj: And you thought YOUR vacation was bad. This one is a TRUE story...
27 January 1988
Wxxxxxxxxx Bxxxxxxx Cruises
P.O. Box xxx
Miami Beach, Florida
33119-9983
Dear Captain Burke,
On the 3rd of January Bxxx Rxxxxx and I embarked on a
Wxxxxxxxxx Cruise that turned out to be the most nightmarish
vacation of our lives. Our booking # was 64081 and the boat
we sailed on, and I use this term loosely since we really
never sailed, was the Yankee Clipper. Here are the
occurrences that took place from the booking up through the
end of the trip.
In early November we called to find out what was available
in the December, January time frame. I talked to someone by
the name of Tim and he informed me that there was a 6 day
cruise on the Polynesia that had available space and left in
December but that if we waited until the beginning of
January there was going to be a 10 day cruise for the price
of the six day. He told us that the name of the boat was
the Yankee Clipper and that this was going to be a
celebration cruise since the boat had not been in service
for sometime and it was going to be a lot of fun. I asked
what the itinerary was and he said he couldn't say exactly
but that we would be sailing at night and stopping at a
different island everyday. It sounded great so we went
ahead and booked reservations. We were also told that we
could get better airfares if we let you take care of that so
we did. Coming up on 45 days prior we received a bill for
the remainder of the cost which we submitted to you. During
the 45 day period we called on several occasions to find out
what the itinerary for the cruise was and when we would
receive our plane tickets so that we could make arrangements
to get to Denver, where we were flying out of. On every
occasion we were told it was too soon to say or that the
person that takes care of the flight reservations was on
vacation and I'd have to wait till the following week.
Finally the week before we were supposed to leave I called
ready to cancel the trip altogether since we had still not
received any correspondence about our flights, no boarding
passes or any sort of an itinerary. The person I talked to
told me that this was the fault of airline and that you
would federal express the tickets right away. We finally
received the tickets on New Years Eve still with no boarding
passes or any other information. Looking at the airline
tickets this is where it became very evident that you did
Page 2
not pass on those wonderful savings that you had told us of
because we paid you $700 and the price printed clearly on
the ticket was $485.
So now we're off, we arrived at the boat about 13:00 on the
3rd of January, after going through a hassle with customs
because we didn't any documentation showing how we were
leaving Nassau since we didn't have any boarding passes for
the boat. We were allowed to drop off our luggage and told
we could not actually board until 5:00 which was fine except
that they would not even allow us the quick use of a
bathroom. Returning back to the boat at 5:00 we got checked
in and we were informed that there were some problems with
the boat; first the boat was fitted with the wrong size
propeller and the wind would be against us so we would not
be stopping between Nassau and Tortola. We were also told
there would be no hot water and that the freezers had broken
on the way down to Nassau, so we would have to be
reprovisioned in the morning. When booking this cruise we
were specifcally told that this boat had hot water. That
night there was no Steel Band Party as advertised in the
brochure as being part of the Stowaway night. First thing
the morning of the 4th we phoned long distance to the
administrative office in Miami and talked to Jeanine. We
explained that a 10 day trip with no stops and no hot water
was not what we paid for and that we did not want to proceed
with this trip. We were basically told that we were already
there and that there was nothing that could be done for us
so our only choice was to go on the cruise and then write a
letter when we got back. Had we known the trip was going to
be worse than we could possibly have imagined at this time
we would have scraped together the money to fly back home
from Nassau ourselves. Which is what we were calling for in
the first place. We left port that afternoon ready to make
the best of a bad situation. That day we discovered that we
would not get the early morning Bloody Mary's because there
was no tomato juice on board. The water was not only cold
but a color that varied from khaki to deep rust depending on
the time of day and this was the water that was being served
at the table with meals. The hors d' oeuvres mainly
consisted of peanuts and goldfish crackers and on the few
occasions that something a bit nicer was served there was
not enough, so if you weren't one of the first few in line
you were out of luck. At mealtimes the servings were sparse
and we usually left the table hungry. The fare itself was
of poor quality, I mean we don't eat hot dogs and hamburgers
at home why would we want this type food served to us on a
vacation that we have spent a fair amount of money on. By
the time we got off the boat green beans were a dirty word
since they were served at almost every meal excluding
breakfast. We were expecting "fresh pastries, rolls and
breads hot from the ovens each morning, a bountiful
breakfast to prepare you for the exciting day ahead,
leisurely family style dinners featuring the chefs choice
creations, and if that's not enough, a late night buffet" We
Page 3
were looking forward to meals in which "the chef adds
intrigue & island specialties to meals that match your
seagoin' appetite". There is nothing intriguing about chili
and beefstew and as for matching our seagoing appetites we
felt like we were on a Weight Watchers cruise. This is the
first vacation we've ever been on in which we lost weight.
As for the midnight buffet there was never such a thing the
whole cruise. One day at lunch I went to get a second piece
of garlic bread and my hand was nearly slapped. On one
occasion during a storytime someone asked if we could have
fruit more than once a day and we were told there was not
enough to have fruit at two meals. About 4 days into the
trip we were told we were running out of water, from that
point on our water was rationed by shutting off the water in
our bathrooms except for certain hours of the day. About
the same time the coolers that held the beer and sodas gave
out so our beverages were kind of a luke cool; a couple days
after that we ran out of ice.
About 5 days into the cruise the boat itself started falling
apart, one day the wood surrounding the mast that also acts
as a smokestack started billowing smoke and catching on
fire. This was remedied by removing the wood that
surrounded it. We watched the plaque on the outside of the
boat with the ship's name fall off and float by one day.
Then at about 3:00 am one morning the brake on the anchor
gave way letting the anchor drop pulling the front of the
boat down in what was already rough water. By this time the
cruise had gotten to be so uncomfortable that an elderly
couple offered the captain $1000 just to be dropped off at
the next island with an airport. This request was refused
and the next day this same gentleman had an attack severe
enough to warrant emergency medical evacuation by the U.S.
Coast guard. This evacuation did not take place until the
morning following the attack. I shudder to think what would
have happened had he needed more immediate attention. By
the 7th or 8th day it was like we were spiritually broken,
it was like there was no reason to get out of the bunk to
face another day of seasickness, bad food, brown water,
rough seas (which I do understand you had no control over)
and other various mishaps. Worst of all we had started to
actually live in fear of what was going to happen next and
if we were going to get to Tortola safely.
All in all despite the fact that the trip was miserable,
probably the most appalling part of the whole ordeal was the
nasty and unprofessional attitude of the staff we spoke with
in Miami and the senior officers on the boat. On the 7th
day of the trip the Captain told us at story time that we
"could continue to bitch about the situation or try to make
the best of it". To begin with we thought the passengers,
to include ourselves, were taking it pretty well considering
the circumstances and even so we had paid a total of $2,700,
did that not give us the right to complaints if conditions
were not satisfactory? On the last day before we left the
Page 4
ship the purser wrote a ferry scheduled up on her billboard
for passengers that were flying out of St. Thomas. The
schedule she put up was clearly incorrect as we had a new
leaflet that had the correct departure location of the
ferry. When we showed this to her she merely shrugged us
off and left the schedule as it was on the board. As a
consequence we made it to the ferry in plenty of time but
quite a few of our fellow shipmates barely did so and as far
we know some of them may have missed because they had gone
to Road Town to catch it instead of West End where it was
really departing from. Then finally the last straw, the day
after we arrived home we called the admin office and got
Jeanine again. We asked to speak with the person in charge
of customer relations and she asked, "What was this in
reference to?". I explained that we had been Yankee Clipper
and she told me that there was no one we could talk to and
that we had to put it all in writing. We persisted and she
still would not let us talk to anyone else and kept telling
us to put it in writing. I can certainly understand
Wxxxxxxxxx wanting us to put a complaint of this size in
writing but this woman was down right rude.
In closing we would just like to say that we planned and
saved for our cruise with the anticipation that it would be
one of the best vacations of our life and it turned out to
be a nightmare, a waste of money and a waste of our two
weeks vacation time. For this at the very least we would
like to be refunded the full amount we spent on the airfare
and cruise.
Cxxx Yxxxxx and Bxxx Rxxxxx
|
| 14.4 | Here's a Yes Vote | CGVAX2::KAZAZIAN | | Thu Aug 18 1988 10:09 | 26 |
| Oh my god! that letter was unbelievable. Does anyone know what
ever happened? That's sad, i get mad if I waste an evening at home
- my time is too precious to me.
But! On a positive note! You wanted feedback on windjammers.
My Manager went on one two years ago with some friends. the boat
only held 18 guests, it was a 'join the crew' kind of thing where
the guests help with sails and such, but don't cook or anything.
he really liked it. He pointed out thefact that because they were
a smaller ship, they could pull into more secluded bays and harbors.
He could just jump off the ship for a swim. The drinks were also
included - completely but i think it was beer/wine. He did say
the sea was more apparent on the smaller ship, although he's never
cruised a biggie.
He wants to go again so that says something. Again though if you
want to just feel waited on and pampered - go the other type of
cruise.
Have a great time, happy honeymoon....wish we'd cruised for ours
last year but $$$ went to the homestead!
angela
|
| 14.5 | Another Yes Vote | PHILEM::SOULE | Pursuing Synergy... | Fri Aug 19 1988 20:58 | 23 |
| My wife and I have taken 3 of these cruises!
April, 1982 - Fantome, out of the Bahamas
June, 1985 - Mandalay, from Grenada to Antigua
Nov, 1986 - Flying Cloud, BVI
Obviously, we had a great time and met some wonderful people. The Mandalay
is the newest ship and had hot water as well as a great Captain. We were
celebrating our 10th wedding anniv. this trip and hope to go back for our 15th.
We took back-to-back cruises on the Flying Cloud in the British Virgin Islands.
I didn't want to come back home after the two weeks!
These cruises are not for everyone! If you expect luxury you will be
disappointed. What I like is the total informality of these old ships. We
were able to go where the larger ships couldn't/wouldn't, consequently, we
experienced many different peoples. Dressing for dinner required you to put
on a tee-shirt!
I was sorry to read about that bad experience. I believe I read where that
particular ship burned while all the passengers were on the beach...
Regards, Don
|
| 14.6 | I was the unlucky one. | CSC32::YEAKEY | | Fri Aug 26 1988 21:02 | 14 |
| What a suprise to see my letter here in the notes file.
I only sent it to a few people in my group and it looks like it
went all across the corporation.
The windjammer cruise for me, was as you can read above, was the
worst experience of my life. I did get my money back but only
after a horrible 7 month battle. Unfortunately my two weeks of
vacation are gone for good and that's all I get a year. Before
I went on the trip I had heard alot good things myself but now
just knowing that not one of their ships pass U.S. fire and saftey
standards is enough to keep me from giving it another try.
Cara Yeakey
|
| 14.7 | good for you | WR2FOR::BOUCHARD_KE | Ken Bouchard WRO3-2 DTN 521-3018 | Fri Nov 04 1988 20:15 | 8 |
| Geez...I've heard of bad vacations but that cruise sounded like
the all time worst.I'm glad you didn't let them get away with it
and got your money back.One question:(although it doesn't matter)
Was the cruise offered as some sort of bargain?
BTW: Who do you go to with complaints about this kind of thing?(I
assume that Windjammer is like most other cruise lines;foreign owned)
|
| 14.8 | I want to go ..but.... | GEMVAX::SAIA | | Wed Feb 15 1989 19:55 | 9 |
| I am planning a windjammer cruise. Your letter scared me. Can
anyone else tell me how they did. This is not much to go on. I
am not looking for fancy, just quiet fun.
What others besides the barefoot exist. So far the travel agents
have not been much help.
Pam
|
| 14.9 | ON THE WAY | IOENG::KACZOR | | Thu Feb 16 1989 14:23 | 16 |
|
-< Flying cloud Feb 19 >-
My wife and myself are adeventuring out on the flying cloud starting
Feb 19 for a week in the BVI. Will let all know how it is when
I return...One thing to remeber that was pointed out earlier...
THESE CRUISES ARE NOT FOR EVERYONE...No pampering, just real relaxation
with no hammering from anyone(do your thing, sorta)...In .3(I think),
that would have been more than enough for a pure mutiny!...That,
I think, appears to be one of the few times I've heard of a laxidazical
(sp) captain..These captains make a life of this and they fail,
they go no further...Bottom line, it sounds as if he just didn't
care or knew how to...I don't blane the ship, I blane the captain...
C..
|
| 14.10 | GREAT VACTION | IOENG::KACZOR | | Fri Mar 03 1989 13:57 | 19 |
| The winjammer cruises are pretty much as advertized. They do go
to some verry desolate areas especially in the BVI's which is a
great way to get arround the common every day husstle and busstle
of it all. We just completed a one week trip on the Flying Cloud
in the BVI's, and it is all that is expected...The ship is constanly
being repaired as would be expected since these boats are in constant
use 52 weeks a year, the living quaters(We had a deck cabbin) were
small as to be expected but by far larger than anything that is
in service here in the NE(by this we made a comparison between the
ships we have been on in Mystic Conn, and Camden ME.). The food
was more than sufficient as serval times the lunch was prepared
aboard ship and brought to the beach areas where we were..And
supprizingly, it was rather fancy as per hot dogs and hamburgs as
what was served was things like stuffed chiken breats etc...Dinners
were wholesome and more than enough with seconds only an asking
away...All in all aside from the beauty of the area, of which the
BVI have to be some of the most natural and most beautiful areas
on earth, the crew(who were verry friendly and helpfull) and officiers
all made the trip well worth the money invested...
|
| 14.11 | Give me some information pleeeeze! | AURIGA::DIGILIO | Lou Digilio | Thu Sep 07 1989 12:16 | 6 |
|
How bout some info. Do all of you contact these ports through
a travel agency? These cruises sound like what I'm interested
in.
|
| 14.12 | Just a phone call away... | FRSBEE::COOPER | | Fri Sep 08 1989 23:38 | 18 |
|
CARIBBEAN Travel and Life, Sept/Oct issue has a section called
"Tradewinds"and there is the title artical Idyll Under Sail, Acruise
on a tall masted schooner is ever so easy. It goes over the "general"
ins and outs of schooner cruising. Windjammer Barefoot Cruises
LTD can be contacted at:
Windjammer Barefoot Cruises
Box 120,
Miami Beach Florida
1-800-327-2601
Hope this is a help.
Good luck
George Cooper
|
| 14.13 | knots knots! | AURIGA::DIGILIO | Lou Digilio | Mon Sep 11 1989 13:13 | 6 |
|
Thanks for the info. Now I'm getting somewhere!
Lou
|
| 14.14 | She Sails with Amazing Grace | VMSDEV::HAMMOND | Charlie Hammond -- ZKO3-04/S23 -- dtn 381-2684 | Wed Jul 18 1990 14:18 | 128 |
| My wife, I and three children -- one of whom just graduated from
college and would be terribly offended to hear herself referred to
as a "child" -- sailed on the S/V Polynesia out of St Martin the
week of 25-June-1990. We enjoyed the vacation very much.
As I think some other replies have noted, the cabins are small.
They have a wide lower bunk, which is marginal for two -- perhaps
two small children? -- and a single width upper bunk. Our three
"children" shared a cabin. Rather than sleeping two on the lower
bunk they brought one of the sunning pads from the upper deck and
made an extra "bunk" on the floor. This proved satisfactory, but I
think that if we had it to do over and knew what we know now we'd
have considered putting one -- or maybe all three -- in the
"Bachelor/Bachelorette" quarters. These are somewhat larger rooms
with six bunks; they seem to be oriented towards singles traveling
either alone or in groups.
There are also "Admiral Cabins" which, on the Polynesia, have
double beds; on other vessels these "Admiral Cabins" may have
differing accommodations; if this is important to you, ask about
the specific vessel. There are only a few -- two on the Polynesia
-- "Admiral Cabins" and the book early.
If the cabins are small, the bathrooms are tiny. There is a
toilet, washstand and shower compressed into an area a bit larger
than a phone booth. The washstand and shower have spring loaded
controls; the water runs only when you hold it on. There is no
"hot" water; water comes out cool at first and becomes luke-warm
after letting it run a bit.
What the above three paragraphs say is that if you expect
luxurious accommodations you're in the wrong place. In fact, a few
of our shipmates were noticeably upset when they were shown their
cabins. I guess our expectations had been set correctly, because
we found things O.K.
The Polynesia is a four masted, staysail schooner. She was built
in the 1930's as a gaff rigged schooner named Argus and sailed out
of Portugal to fish for cod on the Grand Banks of Canada's east
cost. There is an article on the Argus in the May, 1952 (I think?)
National Geographic magazine. The Argus fished until the late
1960's, after which she fell into disrepair.
In the 1970's the Argus was purchased by Windjammer and brought to
Miami. She underwent renovation and was renamed Polynesia. The
hold where 950 tons of salted cod used to travel was replaced by
passenger cabins. (No, there's no smell left!) An upper deck was
added; this is a lovely place for taking the sun and watching the
islands go by. To accommodate the new, higher deck the masts were
extended. The upper sections of the masts, as well as the booms
and gaffs were originally wood; they were replaced with steel. The
vessel was re-rigged as a staysail schooner. To accommodate this
added height, additional balast was placed in the bottom of the
hull, to maintain stability.
Some time after this renovation the original 400+ horsepower
engine was replace with a larger, 600+ horsepower engine, for
greater safety. The Polynesia now sails with 126 passengers and 38
(I think) crew.
When the vessels of the Windjammer fleet set sail they do so to a
stirring, albeit recorded, rendition of Amazing Grace, played by
bagpipes and band. If you have any appreciation for the beauty of
sailing vessels you can understand how moving it is to experience
this. Other evenings there was dancing to recorded music in the
bar/lounge area of the vessel.
Our voyage took us first to St Barts' beautiful Columber (sp)
beach, probably the nicest beach or our trip! The launches ran
right up onto the beach and brought our snacks and rum swizzles to
us. The next morning we motored around to the capital of St Barts
and spent the day sightseeing, shopping or on one or more of the
other beaches on St Barths. We spend the afternoon on a small
beach called Shell beach, about a 15 minute walk from the dock
dock to which the launches brought us.
We sailed on to St Kitts, Stacia, Anguilla, and one or two others
who's names I can't remember. Twice we had brief showers, but they
cleared in minutes. The weather was not as clear as we might have
liked -- it was somewhat hazy all week. Temperatures were warm,
but the constant breeze kept it comfortable. In fact we were told
that the wind was stronger than usual. Even though the captain
never raised all of the sails, the vessel heeled over quite
nicely. On one of the overnight sails we were working into the
wind and it was rough enough that some people became seasick.
Fortunately we had no such problems. (Actually our problem was
that we continued to feel the ground moving around for several
days after we returned home!)
One evening we docked -- actually the only time we tied up to a
dock rather than dropping anchor in the harbor -- next to the MV
Amazing Grace, which is the Windjammer's supply ship. Amazing
Grace also carries passengers and they joined us on the
Polynesia's upper deck for a lively party with a great steel band.
Food was good. Make that very good! A bit better than I had
expected, although there was little or no choice. Breakfasts were
varied -- eggs benedict, French toast, omelets -- and always
included cold cereal and fresh fruit. Lunches were buffets --
burgers, ribs, cold cuts, etc. Wine was served with all dinners,
which were more-or-less "American" cuisine, including chicken,
beef and fish dishes. The last night was sirloin with native
island vegetables and lots of champagne. Snacks and rum swizzles
were served in the late afternoon (~5:00) and a 10:30 snack was
also served in the evening. Coffee and various pastries were
available at 6:30 each morning. There was bar service, at very
reasonable cost, from mid morning until late night/early am.
The worst thing about the voyage was the cabin air conditioning.
It wasn't working all the time as well as it should. It was
completely off one entire night. Not even blowing fresh air. The
cabin was not pleasant that night; lots of people slept on deck.
Of course some people slept on deck even when the A/C was working.
Thats a great way to wake up early, 'cause the hose down the decks
at 6:00am each morning.
We flew from Boston to Newark to St Martin on a Continental flight
arranged by Windjammer. Judging by comments I heard from other
shipmates, Windjammer does a better job of arranging air travel
than many travel agents. Which is an interesting point. The agent
we dealt with was very pleasant and got everything right, but, in
my opinion, she added no value over what we'd have got by dealing
directly with Windjammer. I suspect that because of the relatively
small size of the Windjammer operation there aren't many travel
agents who are familiar with it. Our agent had to make numerous
calls to Windjammer and then call us back to answer our questions.
As I said, she got everything right, but it might have been
simpler to deal directly. The cost doesn't change either way.
|
| 14.15 | Anyone else have an opinion? | MENSCH::MOOTREY | | Thu Feb 28 1991 11:57 | 6 |
|
Does anyone have any more info on these cruises? I called
Windjammer, and they are sending out some information. I am
hoping to catch a last minute vacation near the end of March.
I know this isn't your ordinary cruise. But it looks right for
me.
|
| 14.16 | Had a GREAT time!! | FSLENG::MOOTREY | | Tue Apr 02 1991 17:25 | 23 |
|
I just returned from a week on the Polynisia. It was great!! As
stated before, if you are like to be pampered forget it. But everyone
was really friendly, and it was never boring. By the way, I went
alone, but I had met people before We set sail. I would say its a
great way for singles to travel without the "club med" type atmisphire.
We left out of St. Marteen, and stopped at a deserted island (I
can't remember the name), Saba, St. Kitts, Nivis, Angulla, St.
Barths, and one other that I can't remember right now. We had steel
bands play on deck a few nights. And one night We went to a small
(50' x 100') island for a cookout and dancing to a local band that
came over by boat (generator and all).
And for those of you who like it peaceful, I slept on deck one
night so that I could get up when We set sail at 5:00. It was really
nice watching the sun rise as We were sailing.
I know I have left out alot. But The work is piling up. If anyone
would like to know more just ask.
|