Cargo ship holiday trip

jakedude182 · 24 Jan 2020 at 18:01

Hi i'm posting for a friend who is looking at travelling to save money to arrive at a location to then have a holiday.. link

His message to me:

I had an idea...I wanna run it by you guys

This summer rather than get a long haul flight somewhere exotic I could pay to travel by cargo ship...to say, the US or somewhere in South America.

Voyage might take a couple of weeks but then the journey becomes part of the holiday

Is this a silly idea?

My first thought is it might be a bit boring. Has anyone been on a cargo ship holiday before?

Malevolence · 24 Jan 2020 at 18:06

Four months on a cargo ship for just over £11k

https://www.cargoshipvoyages.com/VoyageDetails/?SCID=46&VID=279&SGID=677

Mr Badger · 24 Jan 2020 at 18:08

Depends how keen you are on rowing...

SideWinder · 24 Jan 2020 at 18:09

I was expecting it to be much cheaper...

Mcnumpty2323 · 24 Jan 2020 at 18:12

There's some guy been doing it on container ships
For free usually
He's seen 122 countries so far
Guess it's the old
Work your passage idea

Deleted member 77746 · 24 Jan 2020 at 18:19

If you want you can travel by fridge for free.

dowie · 24 Jan 2020 at 18:29

SideWinder said:
I was expecting it to be much cheaper...

Yeah I think it has been overdone a bit.

Also not exactly feasible for most people as the actual time off itself is much more valuable than trying to save a few quid on some longer journey.

Probs more suitable for an eccentric retired couple with time on their hand or some students with a long summer vacation.

Nitefly · 24 Jan 2020 at 18:30

Surely that is going to be dull? I don’t see the appeal.

Maybe spice it up with the addition of The Thing?

To be fair that is an excellent sequel idea. Sort of a mix between The Thing and... Ghost Ship? Yeah.

I’d watch it.

dowie · 24 Jan 2020 at 18:33

I'd rather go on a long train journey tbh... like some train across Russia/Far East etc..

hornetstinger · 24 Jan 2020 at 18:34

Locked away in a shipping container doesn't seem fun

Skidder · 24 Jan 2020 at 18:50

God that sounds awful. Slightly better than a naff cruise with loads of retired builders in dinner dress and swarowski.

jakedude182 · 24 Jan 2020 at 18:55

Yeah i've said to him that you'll need a lot of laptop entertainment and books, and things as I guess many would become bored with nothing to do.
My friend says Aye, cruise ships are floating coffins..

Maccapacca · 24 Jan 2020 at 18:56

Has he got to take turns in the barrel?

Rroff · 24 Jan 2020 at 19:06

There are a few people on YouTube who've documented doing it so you can get quite a lot of information from there on the experiences and what you need to do, etc. potentially if you want to get away from it all for a week or so some of them seem to have quite nice facilities and relative isolation but could be pretty boring otherwise.

robfosters · 24 Jan 2020 at 19:12

Maccapacca said:
Has he got to take turns in the barrel?

If it’s a package holiday, I’d imagine that’s an optional extra.

opstrat · 24 Jan 2020 at 19:20

do you pay extra for the pirate show?

Scania · 24 Jan 2020 at 20:25

Mcnumpty2323 said:
There's some guy been doing it on container ships
For free usually
He's seen 122 countries so far
Guess it's the old
Work your passage idea

Yup, pretty much this.

I know of a couple of now former truckers who now work the container ships, not for me but one hell of a life experience if you’ve got few ties.

Efour · 24 Jan 2020 at 21:13

I might do it for free but to pay? No way. Worked off shore and there is nothing romantic about being stuck on a ship that inst a floating casino/bar/hotel/shopping center.

The Funktopus · 24 Jan 2020 at 21:25

I work 3 months on 3 months off as an engineering officer on LNG carriers, where I find myself at the minute. Off duty, there’s little to do other than watch stuff on your laptop/tv room, read or use the rather limited gym on board, so time tends to drag. I’ll usually do paperwork in my own time, such as updating the preventative maintenance system, permits to work for the next day etc just for something to do. As a passenger with no official duties, I can only imagine it would be worse.

Might be interesting if you do, say a week passing through somewhere interesting, like Suez or the Bosporous, but otherwise, it’ll get tedious, fast.

NVP · 24 Jan 2020 at 21:32

Mcnumpty2323 said:
Guess it's the old
Work your passage idea

dowie said:
I'd rather go on a long train journey tbh... like some train across Russia/Far East etc..

Become a doctor and they'll let you ride for free. My sister does it every year, lucky!

Cargo ship holiday trip

Tea Drinker