Mandalay Back in Service

(I can't find a category for Windjammer Sailing Adventures in the member reviews section, I'm posting here. Moderator: Please let me know if there's a better place to put it.)

My wife and I cruised on the Windjammer Sailing Adventure's S/V Mandalay the week of 1/20/2013.

For context, we were married on one of Mandalay's sister ships (Legacy) from the old Windjammer Barefoot Cruises (WBC) days. We were dismayed when WBC went bankrupt back around 2007. We spend a total of 5 weeks with WBC. (Legacy x 3, Mandalay, and Polynesia.)

When we found out the Mandalay was back in service with Windjammer Sailing Adventures (WSA) , in her old sailing grounds in the Grenadines, we got back aboard as fast as we could. The reservation process was easy, and Wendy and Stephanie were both extremely helpful and responsive.

Everything about the trip was wonderful. It was just like the old days, before WBC started having issues. They even handled the one thing that WBC tended to fail on, which was making it easy to find our ground transfers at the airport (although I'm sure Mandoo had a lot to do with that.)

The itinerary varies with the weather and the whim of the captain. This trip, we sailed from St. Georges, Grenada. We visited Union Island (Chatham Bay and Clifton), Mayreau, the Tobago Cays, Bequia, Carriacou, and Sandy Island. The itinerary was beach-day heavy, but we also had a few town days.

This is our third trip to the Grenadines. We visited on the Mandalay with WBC in 2005, then again on a bareboat charter in 2011. Both times were in the rainy season. This was our first trip in the dry season. The weather was absolutely perfect, with sunny days, and a few night time showers. On top of the perfect weather, the Mandalay has upgraded it's a/c system to do a much better job of keeping up with the tropical heat and humidity. (Not to mention having plenty of hot water).

I am happy to say the return cruise met our expectations in every possible way. The crew was comprised of some of the best from WBC. The Mandalay has been restored, and is looking better than ever. All of the old WBC traditions were maintained, from raising sails to "Amazing Grace" to the Mayreau "Cultural Tour", to the sea hunt and costume party.

For WBC veterans--everything you miss is back. For those who haven't gone before--this is a small ship cruise. It goes places the big ships can't go. There's no showing up at port with 1000 of your closest friends. There's no casinos, stage shows, or on-board water parks. It's a tall ship with a fairly small number of passengers. The onboard entertainment is provided by the passengers themselves, with lots of coaching from the activities mate. The food is not fancy in the big ship sense, but does a great job of capturing the flavors of the West Indies.

This was our 6th windjammer style cruise, and we were still the babies of the group. (I heard one passenger had spend something like 140 weeks on windjammers).

Every member of the crew was wonderful. In particular, Captain Sly really captured the spirit of windjammers. Amy, the activities mate and purser was extremely helpful. Mashup and Conrad kept us in beverages. Boston kept us fed. While it didn't affect us personally, we were extremely impressed how hard the galley crew and stewards worked to accommodate the dietary restrictions of some of our fellow passengers. Grandpa and Rocky tended all our other needs. There were many more crew members who added to the experience, whose names I cannot recall.

WSA is a new, small company. They are doing a great job, but they need all the help they can get. I encourage any old or new windjammer fans to cruise on them now. The weather is perfect this time of year, and they have plenty of cabins available.

thanks for the really good report. We sailed Mandalay in 2003 when she sailed the San Blas Islands off Panama and it was all you say. We were set to sail on Legacy in late 2007 when Windjammer Barefoot Cruises died. We watched the demise of Legacy in the Costa Rican harbor and have been following the ownership changes for Mandalay, when Fiddi Angemeyer bought her and refurbed her and then when Windjammer Sailing Adventures bought her and finished the refurb. We are looking forward to planning a trip aboard.

We were so lost when WBC fell apart, but we lucked out and found the tall-ship Arabella and sailed her around New England and later, out of St. Thomas. When she was put up for sail in late 2011, and we once again found ourselves dockside.

Then we discovered Island Windjammers, which has the tall-ship Diamant, a crew all former WBC crew, including Capt. Matt, and ownership made up of longtime WBC sailors/fans. We've enjoyed sailing Diamant twice and will sail on IWJ's newest tall-ship, Sagitta in May. All you say about Windjammer Sailing Adventures can be said about IWJ, too.

It's just so dang cool for those of us who love tall-ship sailing and have little interest in the "floating condos" to have these TWO fantastic options! Your review helps underscore our interest to sail away on Mandy next....thanks again!

from your mouth to God's ear,,, we're sailing this coming 5/17/15 from st. georges, grenada,,, anyone else ?

will post on return !

we just got back from the grenadines cruise - GREAT experience ! recommend to all IF sailing interests you !

Ahhhhh, tall ship sailing. It IS spectacular. We've left the big foo-foos far behind. Glad to hear Mandalay sailing was fabulous. With her brand new foremast, she should be gliding across the waves in full glory!

I LOVED the old WBC....Ok well except for dealing with the company:mad:

Yes I went down with the Legacy in Costa Rica in late 2007 too. Had I known what was about to transpire I would have gladly paid full price instead of scooping up any discount they offered. In the end they were giving trips away. The bright spot is that although I still have 2 of my SAIL5's at least I didn't take out a 30 mortgage to fund a cabin on La Mer like one of my Flotilla friends did.

I am SO GLAD the most beautiful ship in the fleet is alive and WELL!!!!

We went last Sept. and are boarding again in May for a REPO from Antigua to Grenada.

Any recent info about Antigua would be appreciated.

Fair Winds......

AND TO

Lying

Cheating

Stealing

and Drinking

:cool:

And to update my above posts on Island Windjammers: they now have three Island Girls:

10-passenger sailing ship Diamant, just out of a major refurb last fall; 24 passenger motorsailer Sagitta, and now the 26-passenger sailing ship Vela (the former Tole Mour). IWJ spent a year refurbing Vela and has been sailing her for the past year. Just today returned from a French West Indies week aboard Vela. Was great fun. Windjamming is alive and well!!