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Anyone ever do freighter/cargo ship travel?

AK_F250

Red Rocket
Joined
May 19, 2020
Member Number
178
Messages
742
Loc
Alaska
I'd looked into it a few years ago and am looking again. I'd really like to do the panama canal, no real reason why other than it seems cool. I did a 7 night cruise out of Florida 10 years back and hated it. Way too many people packed into a small space, tiny room, all that shit. The cargo ship thing is intriguing, 3 square a day with the crew, 12-20 crew and maybe half or less in passengers. Seems like the rooms are good size and there's a duty free for booze and snacks, some ships even have a pool. I'd much rather hang on the bridge or read and take in the sights than spend all day fighting for a chair on the deck or blowing money in a casino.

Anyone done it?

https://www.langsamreisen.de/en/freightertravel/
 
If the capitan looks like this guy RUN

310
 
wait. you can travel aboard one of those as just a passenger?

that is freaking cool. i am interested.
 
When I was a kid, I would spend most of my summers with some of my parents friends who owned a restraunt, bar and hotel in a small town on the Rhine River in Germany. One of the waitresses boyfriend was an oil tanker captain. I got to ride the oil tanker with him from just outside of Cologne to I believe Rotterdam and back.

it was fun, super noisy. The ships bridge would raise and lower to get under bridges. We went through half a dozen locks or so. I watched every single James Bond film that was out on VHS at the time in German. I'd do it again as an adult, but would want to be able to stop and explore some of the castles that line the river valley.
 
wait. you can travel aboard one of those as just a passenger?

that is freaking cool. i am interested.

That site I linked even has round the world trips using a combo of the trans Siberian and cargo ships for stupid cheap.

From my limited research it looks like $120/night give or take with everything provided, beats the fuck out of a cruise ship for people like me. Bs with the crew and check out the inner workings of the ship as much as they'll let you, sure seems like a complete win to me.
 
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