Atlantica - 01.02.2006, Side 25

AT L A N T I CA 23
BEFORE YOU GO
Traveling by freighter may be a more streamlined experience, but
that doesn’t mean it’s cheap. A summer voyage from Montreal to
Northern Europe, for example, will take 9 or 10 days and cost close
to USD 2,000 one-way.
Fred Cherney advises passengers “not to wait too long” to live out
your maritime dream: most freighter companies exclude passengers
over 75 or 79 years of age. Infants and pets are not allowed, nor
are ships equipped to accommodate the handicapped. Passengers
require insurance, a valid passport, and visas in some cases.
WHAT TO EXPECT ONBOARD
Ursula Mattern recalls that on her
first ship in 1980, she traveled with
“ponies, emus, soya flour, car parts,
and explosive goods.”
Nowadays, one is more likely to
spy stacks of standardized containers,
resembling boxcars, as far as the eye
can see. Fred Cherney says that the
most important thing for prospective
voyagers to keep in mind is that you
should be “very happy with your own
company. If you’re the kind of person
who needs to be entertained, forget
it.”
Nevertheless, devotees claim it isn’t
dull.
“I never wrote the letters I wanted
to write,” says Mattern, or read the
books she carried along. “Board life
was too exciting.”
Passengers aboard have free run of
the ship, literally from stem to stern.
You can expect to stay in a private
cabin, including an en suite bath with
shower, and in some cases, the services
of a steward. An entertainment center
or lounge, shared with the crew, is
usually amply stocked with movies
to watch. Duty-free alcohol can be
purchased aboard. Passengers do
their own laundry and, depending
on the ship, may be able to unwind
in the ship’s saltwater swimming pool
or fitness center (some have them,
some don’t).
“The ships I have sailed on have
been spotless on the inside,” says
Ahern. “On the outside, by virtue of
the weather and residue from the
engines, things can get a bit dirty on
deck.”
Mattern puts less of a fine point
on it. When seeing her first cargo
ship in port in 1980, her first thought
was, “‘Oh dear, what a rust bucket!’”
Once onboard, though, she came to
appreciate the ship’s strength, skill,
and “impeccable beauty.”
Invariably, passengers take their
meals with the captain and the
officers in the officers’ mess, though
individuals in search of variety are
welcome in the crew mess, too. The
quality of the grub varies with the
skill of the ship’s cook. Shipboard
cuisine often reflects the ethnicity of
the crew.
O ff icers general ly hai l f rom
Germany or Scandinavia and can
converse in English; crewmembers
may be learning the language and
want to chat for practice. On popular
routes, such as summer crossings of
the Atlantic, there could be a handful
of paying passengers aboard. On other
routes it’s unlikely that passengers
would encounter another landlubber
soul.
Port stops are shorter now than they
were before the days of containers
and powerful cranes to move them off
the ship. Most times, a freight ship will
be in port for less than a day, though
there’s usually time to explore the port
itself or make a quick dash into the
city center.
GLORIOUS UNCERTAINTIES
Not that it’s always smooth sailing.
During his first trip, from Los Angeles
to New Zealand, Ahern was awakened
by a gale in the middle of the night.
He recalls “sliding forward and aft in
my bunk,” a situation that he made
the best of by padding the bed with
cushions from his cabin sofa. What
really worried him, though, wasn’t the
pitching but “the shuddering of the
ship,” accompanied by “a sound I can
only describe as creaking metal. This
being my first storm, I just knew the
ship was about to break up.”
It didn’t, and Ahern has returned to
the sea again and again.
Ursula Mattern recalls a ship’s
captain who once referred to the
shipping business as “the ‘surprise
industry of glorious uncertainties.’”
If ‘glorious’ and ‘uncertainty’ would
never appear on the same page of
your personal lexicon, it’s better to put
yourself into the hands of a capable
airline.
“A freighter is a working ship,”
says passenger Frank Morgret. “The
fascination for me is watching the
officers and crew get that big hunk of
metal from one port to another. If that
does not sound interesting, maybe try
a cruise instead. If, on the other hand,
seafaring is something that you’ve
always wondered about, this is the
way to go.” a
BOOKING YOUR TRIP
TRAVEL AGENCIES BOOKING FREIGHTER TRIPS:
• Freighter World Cruises, +1-800-531-7774
• Maris Freighter Cruises, +1-800-996-2747
• Hamburg Süd, Germany. Hamburg Süd is a large shipping company that also has an affiliated travel
agency organizing freighter travel for passengers. www.hamburgsued-frachtschiffreisen.de
• Zylmann, Germany. Another German travel agency booking trips on freighters. www.zylmann.de
• The Cruise People, Ltd. +1-800-268-6523. www.thecruisepeople.ca
• The Cruise People, London. www.cruisepeople.co.uk
“If seafaring is something that you’ve always wondered about, this is the way to go.”
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