How Does One Book Ship Travel Rather Than Air Travel?

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SternAAlbifrons
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Re: How Does One Book Ship Travel Rather Than Air Travel?

Post by SternAAlbifrons »

My info ^^ is a bit dated now - but for sure there will still be sailors looking for fee paying crew to subsidise their own travels.
You have to be slow traveling yourself - being prepared to put in days combing the sailing docks.
The local yacht club is the first thing to look for, they have noticeboards for this kind of thing.
Or there will be smalll local eating/ cold beer spots where the yachties hang out.
I went looking for online stuff -and got distracted by this...
Catamaran sailor 2004

On our June arrival at Townsville my companion Jean informed me she was returning home to a more normal life. This required me to begin picking up crew along the way as it is unsafe to make passages alone. The need for rest does not allow an adequate watch to be kept. With friends from Minnesota joining me in Townsville and leaving from Cairns I began my search for crew in Cairns. This has been a new experience, some good some not so good. I have been very fortunate in finding individuals who made good crew.
At Cairns I found three - Erin, an Israeli, Kim, a Dutch and Rob, a Brit, all wishing to learn to sail. With a need to make many day sails inside the reef, they had an opportunity to learn in short lessons. It was a good experience for me to again teach raw beginners the operation of a boat. All participated in sail trim, cooking, steering and learning about cruising. They all left the boat at Darwin after three weeks.
At Darwin I found two - Teal, an Aussie, and Phil, a Brit, both wishing to make the whole trip to Thailand. Teal learned quickly, was conscientious, a pleasure to be around and stayed with me to Thailand. Picking up crew will now be another responsibility before each new segment of my travels. Repair the boat, get provisions, find crew, plan the passage and on and on. Such is the relaxed cruising lifestyle.
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Re: How Does One Book Ship Travel Rather Than Air Travel?

Post by Electric Earth »

That sounds amazing and perfect. Learning sailing would be one of those cool experiences that I'd probably never end up utilizing after that one trip, but would be so awesome to experience and learn about on a boat crossing the ocean.
Do you think the parents of baby boomers whined so much when the boomers started changing society? And yet the whiney ones like to call young people "snowflakes." Hmm...
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Re: How Does One Book Ship Travel Rather Than Air Travel?

Post by samrong01 »

I have travelled from Europe to Asia by cargo ship and am booked to go around the world by cargo ship in August. I have found that the booking agents are generally unreliable and I now book directly with the shipping line. The cost may seem high but generally its about half the cost of a cruise ship and roughly the same as a business class airfare. I had a luxurious cabin twice the size of a cruise ship (32 sq. M) and a private deck space of about 80 Sq. M. One of the big benefits of travelling by cargo ships is that once aboard you spend nothing. On a cruise ship they try and squeeze more and more money from you every day. Also on a cruise ship they only accept round trip travel - a cargo ship allows you to choose where you embark and where you disembark. You eat in the officer's dining room and can go to the bridge whenever you like. There is no airport-style security but you have to supply a medical certificate that you are capable of climbing stairs. You also often need to book months in advance (depends on route).

Note that only 1% of cargo ships carry passengers and most of these are CMA CGM ships. There are no passenger carrying cargo ships to Cambodia but its possible to travel to Laem Chabang from Australia. There are plenty of services to Singapore / Port Klang from Europe, Australia, and America.

Cargo ship travel is not for everyone and flying by cattle class will always be cheaper but it suits me. Cost and time are not issues for me.
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Clemen
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Re: How Does One Book Ship Travel Rather Than Air Travel?

Post by Clemen »

Re: yacht travel
Probably not for awhile
""Everyone's on hold, waiting for some idea of when the season will open," says Romagnoli.
"I believe there are no yachts out there. Some crew members are being released from their duties. Captains and first mates are losing their jobs.
"Some boats are coming out of the water and being wrapped up."
Connor also notes that most of his company's charter fleet have "taken up long term dockage."
"The docks in Fort Lauderdale (and everywhere in the world) are full and crew are bunkered down onboard, if they are fortunate to have been kept on contract.
"Our main charter season runs from spring to late September, so we are projecting that coronavirus will decimate our 2020 revenues.
"Any charters already booked for the summer are nervously waiting for good news but realistically face cancellation."
But although almost all sailing has stopped, work is continuing at shipyards across the world."
Buried in an article about whether billionaires were self isolating on yachts
https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/bill ... index.html
up to you...
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Re: How Does One Book Ship Travel Rather Than Air Travel?

Post by Ghostwriter »

SternAAlbifrons wrote: Sat Apr 18, 2020 9:40 am I found three -all wishing to learn to sail. With a need to make many day sails inside the reef, they had an opportunity to learn in short lessons. It was a good experience for me to again teach raw beginners the operation of a boat. All participated in sail trim, cooking, steering and learning about cruising. They all left the boat at Darwin after three weeks.
My goodness, i would soil my underpants to the idea of sailing thousands of miles from Cambo to US with newbies. I wouldn't sleep, thinking about the rogue waves and sharks videos i've seen on youtube....
Not for me at all....minimal size would be a container ship, or nothing.
I'm definitely not a sailor.
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phuketrichard
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Re: How Does One Book Ship Travel Rather Than Air Travel?

Post by phuketrichard »

i crewed on a 38' sailing boat from the uk to Barbados with 2 others
Just about the worst month of my life
In a nation run by swine, all pigs are upward-mobile and the rest of us are fucked until we can put our acts together: not necessarily to win, but mainly to keep from losing completely. HST
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SternAAlbifrons
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Re: How Does One Book Ship Travel Rather Than Air Travel?

Post by SternAAlbifrons »

Not sure why, but give me the 20,000 islands and 200 million reefs of SEA rather than keel surfing across the wide open deep blue ocean.
I've got short legs and if the boat goes down at least i've got a fighting chance around here. the Pacific floor would be a bit of a stretch.
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Re: How Does One Book Ship Travel Rather Than Air Travel?

Post by WineOxley »

Ghostwriter wrote: Sat Apr 18, 2020 4:57 am That was a good idea though...i suppose prices are rising there too, due to increasing demand ? Anyway, i'd like to too.
[media] [/media]

Wow. that was cool.
Lands and cities are left astern,your faults will follow you whithersoever you travel.
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jaynewcastle
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Re: How Does One Book Ship Travel Rather Than Air Travel?

Post by jaynewcastle »

phuketrichard wrote: Sat Apr 18, 2020 5:03 pm i crewed on a 38' sailing boat from the uk to Barbados with 2 others
Just about the worst month of my life
Which decade was that in ?, I'd imagine it wasn't in recent years to be fair :)
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Re: How Does One Book Ship Travel Rather Than Air Travel?

Post by Cruisemonkey »

When a cruise line re-positions a ship from one part of the world to another there can be some incredibly good deals. It all depends on supply and demand; and certain repositioning itineraries have a low demand. The cruise lines never want to sail with empty cabins... because the passengers pay the crew through gratuities. They will drop fares to as low as $40 per person per day (all cruise pricing is based on double occupancy - single supplements range from 0 to 100%). Mainstream lines will automatically add daily gratuities to your onboard charges. If you're a 'cheap Charlie' you can have these removed by request. Gratuities on: drinks and spa services range from 15 -18%, are automatic and cannot be removed. Luxury lines are usually 'all inclusive'... unless you order something very special.

If you avoid all the inducements for on board spending: stay out of the bars, don't gamble, don't use spa services, don't book specialty (extra charge) restaurants etc., a repositioning cruise can be less expensive than a one-way economy class air ticket.

Of course, due to COVID-19 no one knows when the cruise lines will be in operation again.
You could be next.
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