Freighter Cruise UK- Canada/USA

[jocap]

There was a post from someone in Canada who couldn't fly to Europe, on this page.

In yesterday's Sunday Telegraph (Dec 8th) there was an article about Grimaldi Freighter cruises, which are starting a weekly crossing from Liverpool UK to Halifax, NS, with the option of continuing to Newark and Baltimore. There are 12 passenger berths in standard or lounge cabins from $937 (£791)pp, UK-Canada, for 9 nights including all meals.

It does not state about the return, but there are 5 ships running this itinerary. 

The details are with a TA firm, which I cannot mention.

[shipgeeks]

Very interesting; thank you!  The Baltimore option is especially appealing.  Now that you mention it, I've seen Grimaldi ships in the Chesapeake when we've sailed there.

[chengkp75]

Just so everyone knows, a freighter trip is unlike any cruise, or even a European type ferry trip.  The cabins are very plain, there is no entertainment other than a few DVD's with subtitles, the food is plain, hearty workingman's food, the medical officer is a third officer trained in first aid, and you are very limited on where you can go on the ship.  If you are looking for transportation, not a cruise, where you can sit quietly and read a book, then freighter trips may be for you.

[FlyerTalker]

3 minutes ago, chengkp75 said:

Just so everyone knows, a freighter trip is unlike any cruise, or even a European type ferry trip.  The cabins are very plain, there is no entertainment other than a few DVD's with subtitles, the food is plain, hearty workingman's food, the medical officer is a third officer trained in first aid, and you are very limited on where you can go on the ship.  If you are looking for transportation, not a cruise, where you can sit quietly and read a book, then freighter trips may be for you.

 

Thanks for another excellent reality check.

[1025cruise]

Yes, but it sounds like an adventure 🙂

[nybumpkin]

1 hour ago, chengkp75 said:

Just so everyone knows, a freighter trip is unlike any cruise, or even a European type ferry trip.  The cabins are very plain, there is no entertainment other than a few DVD's with subtitles, the food is plain, hearty workingman's food, the medical officer is a third officer trained in first aid, and you are very limited on where you can go on the ship.  If you are looking for transportation, not a cruise, where you can sit quietly and read a book, then freighter trips may be for you.

My in-laws took a number of freighter trips on the Great Lakes. They were boat nerds and just wanted to be on a ship, watching ship operations, going though the Seaway locks, and talking with the crew when they had a chance. (Yes, between DH's folks and my dad the Navy vet, oldest son seems to have had it in his DNA.🙂). You have to be able to entertain yourself and not get in the way.

[pacruise804]

14 hours ago, chengkp75 said:

Just so everyone knows, a freighter trip is unlike any cruise, or even a European type ferry trip.  The cabins are very plain, there is no entertainment other than a few DVD's with subtitles, the food is plain, hearty workingman's food, the medical officer is a third officer trained in first aid, and you are very limited on where you can go on the ship.  If you are looking for transportation, not a cruise, where you can sit quietly and read a book, then freighter trips may be for you.

 

For the right price this actually sounds like a wonderful form of transportation.  By the end of a cruise I am often longing for plain, simple meals so this might be great before or after a busy land vacation with richer food.  I always pack books but usually don't get much reading done since I'm busy with the other onboard events/entertainment, so this would be a great chance to catch up on reading. 

 

Do you still have the opportunity to just watch the sea, or are you mostly confined to interior spaces?

[chengkp75]

8 hours ago, pacruise804 said:

 

For the right price this actually sounds like a wonderful form of transportation.  By the end of a cruise I am often longing for plain, simple meals so this might be great before or after a busy land vacation with richer food.  I always pack books but usually don't get much reading done since I'm busy with the other onboard events/entertainment, so this would be a great chance to catch up on reading. 

 

Do you still have the opportunity to just watch the sea, or are you mostly confined to interior spaces?

Food will be pretty heavy on the carbs.  Typically, there aren't any balcony areas, though there might be a lounge chair or two outside the bridge.  You will be limited outdoors to the stairs and landings on the outside of the "house" (accommodation block), and the deck outside the bridge with permission.  While many container lines try to maintain rigid schedules, most of the lines that carry passengers will have some slack, so don't plan on precise dates for ports or disembarkation, and you will be treated like an alien species in most ports by the officials and the terminal (container dock) operators.

[rkacruiser]

For many years, I subscribed to an interesting publication produced by a travel agency that specialized in freighter travel.  Passenger reports of their experiences traveling by freighter (mostly) comprised the articles in the publication. Traveling by that means attracted me very much.  Pricing, as compared to standard cruise per day pricing, was excellent.  During the years that I subscribed, freighter travel transitioned from lots of break bulk type ships to container ships.  Container ships seemed to offer less potential time for port visits and the pricing increased due to inflation.  This mode of travel became less attractive to me.  A travel regret that I have is that I wish I could have had a freighter travel trip when I first learned about them.  Time and finances at that stage of my life prevented it.  At my current stage of life, travel on a cruise ship makes more sense for me than freighter travel does.  

 

Moral of my post (I think):  Do what you can do when you can do it!   

Edited December 10, 2019 by rkacruiser

[K32682]

On 12/9/2019 at 5:53 PM, chengkp75 said:

Just so everyone knows, a freighter trip is unlike any cruise, or even a European type ferry trip.  The cabins are very plain, there is no entertainment other than a few DVD's with subtitles, the food is plain, hearty workingman's food, the medical officer is a third officer trained in first aid, and you are very limited on where you can go on the ship.  If you are looking for transportation, not a cruise, where you can sit quietly and read a book, then freighter trips may be for you.

 

The mere fact that it is unlike any cruise is the appeal. All the joys of the ocean none of the baggage.  

[chengkp75]

4 hours ago, rkacruiser said:

For many years, I subscribed to an interesting publication produced by a travel agency that specialized in freighter travel.  Passenger reports of their experiences traveling by freighter (mostly) comprised the articles in the publication. Traveling by that means attracted me very much.  Pricing, as compared to standard cruise per day pricing, was excellent.  During the years that I subscribed, freighter travel transitioned from lots of break bulk type ships to container ships.  Container ships seemed to offer less potential time for port visits and the pricing increased due to inflation.  This mode of travel became less attractive to me.  A travel regret that I have is that I wish I could have had a freighter travel trip when I first learned about them.  Time and finances at that stage of my life prevented it.  At my current stage of life, travel on a cruise ship makes more sense for me than freighter travel does.  

 

Moral of my post (I think):  Do what you can do when you can do it!   

When I first started out, there were US flag break-bulk ships that carried passengers, and I sailed on a few.  We did a trip from the US Gulf coast to the Med, all the way to Israel, and it was supposed to be 3 months, and I remember the passengers paid $600 for the trip (fair enough, that is $3700 today), but delays caused us to be nearly 6 months away from the US, and they didn't pay a cent more.

 

The passengers were nearly all elderly, and one old dear had sprained an ankle in rolling seas, and was confined to bed.  Her roommate brought her meals, and it turned out that they were flushing the remains down the toilet.  Now, this was not the vacuum toilets you have on cruise ships, but a more conventional gravity plumbing system, but still, flushing bones down the hopper is not recommended.  When the toilet eventually stopped up, I, as junior man, had to go and clear it, and it resulted in taking the entire toilet off the flange and rooting around down the pipe with a large screwdriver, in the process of which I cut my hand, and had to get a tetanus shot.  Later that day, while eating dinner, I heard one of the passengers asking the Captain "why the plumber ate with the officers".  At the time, I was an engine cadet, in training to be an officer.  Fortunately for me, the First Engineer informed her that it was either going to be him or me, and he was darned sure it wasn't going to be him.

[chengkp75]

1 hour ago, K32682 said:

 

The mere fact that it is unlike any cruise is the appeal. All the joys of the ocean none of the baggage.  

Sorry, been going to sea for 44 years, and I still haven't found the "joys of the ocean"!

[nybumpkin]

1 hour ago, chengkp75 said:

When I first started out, there were US flag break-bulk ships that carried passengers, and I sailed on a few.  We did a trip from the US Gulf coast to the Med, all the way to Israel, and it was supposed to be 3 months, and I remember the passengers paid $600 for the trip (fair enough, that is $3700 today), but delays caused us to be nearly 6 months away from the US, and they didn't pay a cent more.

 

The passengers were nearly all elderly, and one old dear had sprained an ankle in rolling seas, and was confined to bed.  Her roommate brought her meals, and it turned out that they were flushing the remains down the toilet.  Now, this was not the vacuum toilets you have on cruise ships, but a more conventional gravity plumbing system, but still, flushing bones down the hopper is not recommended.  When the toilet eventually stopped up, I, as junior man, had to go and clear it, and it resulted in taking the entire toilet off the flange and rooting around down the pipe with a large screwdriver, in the process of which I cut my hand, and had to get a tetanus shot.  Later that day, while eating dinner, I heard one of the passengers asking the Captain "why the plumber ate with the officers".  At the time, I was an engine cadet, in training to be an officer.  Fortunately for me, the First Engineer informed her that it was either going to be him or me, and he was darned sure it wasn't going to be him.

Son had some KP Sea Year adventures, but fortunately none involved clearing toilets. 😮

[navybankerteacher]

1 hour ago, chengkp75 said:

Sorry, been going to sea for 44 years, and I still haven't found the "joys of the ocean"!

Agreed - I served a lot less than 44 years, but long enough to have come to the educated conclusion that such “joys of the ocean” as may exist are far more likely to be encountered on a cruise ship (hopefully the right sort) than on any commercial or military vessel.

[ldubs]

Isn't this (a berth on a freighter) what is meant by a tramp steamer?  Seems like an old timey kind of thing or something from a  Humphrey Bogart movie.  Haha. 

[chengkp75]

1 hour ago, ldubs said:

Isn't this (a berth on a freighter) what is meant by a tramp steamer?  Seems like an old timey kind of thing or something from a  Humphrey Bogart movie.  Haha. 

Nope.  A "tramp" steamer is one that does not have a fixed schedule, but moves where the cargo takes it.  Tramping is the opposite of a "liner".

[wowzz]

1 hour ago, chengkp75 said:

Nope.  A "tramp" steamer is one that does not have a fixed schedule, but moves where the cargo takes it.  Tramping is the opposite of a "liner".

Indeed, in the same way that some hgv's ( heavy goods vehicles) tramp around Europe,  the drivers sleeping in the bedroom over the cab, and going as and where their company can find loads. I assume the same type of operation exists in the States. 

[MBP&O2/O]

The cargo ships I worked on were classified as ‘liner’ traders or ‘conference’ traders.

one class went where it was sent ... eg the fast reefers followed the fruit 😀 and carried ‘light general’ in between.

Others worked general route patterns ... such as Arabian Gulf to Australasia or Japan with odd ports fitted in where required.

Good fun .... at times ... but always interesting and you learned how to entertain yourself. No manic cruise directors on those boats 😂 

 

 

 

[K32682]

12 hours ago, chengkp75 said:

Sorry, been going to sea for 44 years, and I still haven't found the "joys of the ocean"!

 

Familiarity breeds contempt.  😉

 

For someone living well inland, a sea voyage without the quite often silly trappings of most mass market cruises would be a welcome experience.

 

   

Edited December 11, 2019 by K32682

[FlyerTalker]

1 hour ago, K32682 said:

For someone living well inland, a sea voyage without the quite often silly trappings of most mass market cruises would be a welcome experience.

 

Stop taking mass market cruises.  Plenty of other cruiseline options - no one is pointing a gun at your head and forcing you on those ships.

[shipgeeks]

FWIW (it was a long time ago), here is my freighter experience.

In 1968 we applied to two freighter companies for passage from east coast USA to east coast Australia.  We were put on waiting lists.  In May of 1969 we were notified that we had a booking, leaving NYC sometime in June.

We packed up a relative's car and drove to NY, planning to spend a couple of days with cousins there.  In August we finally got a call that our ship could be boarded that afternoon.  We arrived, got our baggage on the ship, and prepared to return the car to the cousin.  No go, the ship was leaving.  DH left the keys with the guy at the gate, called a friend to pick it up, and we were off.

In King's Bay, Georgia, the ship was loaded with one custom-built boat and many tons of dynamite.  It took four days to load.

We had no ports between Panama and Australia.  42 days voyage.

Our cabin was huge:  bedroom, nice living room, large bathroom.

Three meals a day, few choices, German fare.

Some paperback books were left in the lounge by previous passengers.  We had packed a Yahtzee game, and played that most evenings.  One day they filled a shipping container with no top with seawater, to give us a swimming pool.

Weather was exceedingly rough for a few days; otherwise beautiful.

We loved it so much that we talked of somehow making a life at sea.  It was indeed an adventure.

 

[BlueRiband]

Another aspect of freighter travel: no elevators.  This would be a huge issue for anybody with mobility problems.

 

[nybumpkin]

21 hours ago, navybankerteacher said:

Agreed - I served a lot less than 44 years, but long enough to have come to the educated conclusion that such “joys of the ocean” as may exist are far more likely to be encountered on a cruise ship (hopefully the right sort) than on any commercial or military vessel.

Oldest son (sailed commercial while at Kings Point, Navy since 2013) will tell you that an advantage to his type of sailing is that the cargo doesn't talk back to you. 🙂 

[navybankerteacher]

5 hours ago, shipgeeks said:

FWIW (it was a long time ago), here is my freighter experience.

In 1968 we applied to two freighter companies for passage from east coast USA to east coast Australia.  We were put on waiting lists.  In May of 1969 we were notified that we had a booking, leaving NYC sometime in June.

We packed up a relative's car and drove to NY, planning to spend a couple of days with cousins there.  In August we finally got a call that our ship could be boarded that afternoon.  We arrived, got our baggage on the ship, and prepared to return the car to the cousin.  No go, the ship was leaving.  DH left the keys with the guy at the gate, called a friend to pick it up, and we were off.

In King's Bay, Georgia, the ship was loaded with one custom-built boat and many tons of dynamite.  It took four days to load.

We had no ports between Panama and Australia.  42 days voyage.

Our cabin was huge:  bedroom, nice living room, large bathroom.

Three meals a day, few choices, German fare.

Some paperback books were left in the lounge by previous passengers.  We had packed a Yahtzee game, and played that most evenings.  One day they filled a shipping container with no top with seawater, to give us a swimming pool.

Weather was exceedingly rough for a few days; otherwise beautiful.

We loved it so much that we talked of somehow making a life at sea.  It was indeed an adventure.

 

Interesting - but how many people with anything at all going on in their lives could put everything aside and just hang out for weeks (or is it months) to get the call to spend six weeks or so playing Yahtzee in the evenings.  

 

Like so many other things, the realities of cargo ship cruising is likely to be very different from the uninformed imaginings.

[MBP&O2/O]

What! Only 42 days! 😂

A not infrequent trip, when I worked on oil tankers, was Europe to the Arabian Gulf .... 30 days ‘round the Cape’ ... give or take ... 3 days loading at a sea berth where, on a clear day, you could see the land, the back to Europe at ‘reduced passage speed’ ... which took 45 days .... give or take ... quite often up to 80 days without setting foot on land  to be greeted with 24 hours in Rotterdam .... of which 14 hours were spent working ..... sigh ... an interesting life though.