Does anyone know if there are any companies/organizations that offer the possibility to sail the Atlantic by boat as a passenger (so not as a (more or less) experienced crew member). Are there any? Or announced plans or something like that?
(I’m not talking about being a passenger on a large cargo ship. I’m curious about the possibility to cross the Atlantic with a low carbon footprint).
Hear me out. The thing with cruise ships is that they sometimes relocate from North America to Europe operations and vis versa. Those cruises don’t get tourists because the whole point of a cruise is to visit different places, no one wants that trip. But the relocation is going to happen anyway, so they sell tickets super cheap (and it’s stripped of entertainment like comedians, shows, etc). Because the relocation is going to happen anyway, you’re not exactly adding to any carbon footprint. You’d have to Google what exactly they’re called.
But I get you if you want to sail. That does exist too.
Findacrew.net - Typically private boat owners looking for a hand on crossings. No experience might make this a bit of a push and I havent used it for about 10 years so…
A better chance might be to try and get ahold of the merchant navy.
Plenty of big ships that take a volunteer crew, especially for ship delivery. They can be picky about who they make shipmates, so dont sound fucking useless if you contact someone. Competition to be crew can get fierce.
Depending where you are, most seem to do the business on Facebook.
I also haven’t looked at findacrew.net for years, but I remember seeing a few “M looking for F (>30) for crew/FWB” ads, which seemed kinda creepy. Especially, you know, because of the implication.
I mean, Cunard does transatlantic sailings with the QM2, but your environmental impact for doing so would be high. Your impact would be far lower (per kilogram) if you did travel passenger on a cargo ship.
Those are regular cruise ships, right? Yeah no, not interested in that either. Those are incredibly polluting and wasteful things.
It’s the last ocean liner in existence and it’s more efficient than a cruise ship but yeah it’s still pretty fuel hungry. There aren’t any commercial sailing ships left anymore though even in a cargo capacity, companies don’t run them because their speed is so inconsistent that they can’t run on a regular schedule.
There are a handful of commercial sailing vessels for both cargo and cruises, although they are hard to find. Here is one I found that still seems to be in service. A fairly complete list of sailing vessels can be found here. Some that are listed as currently sailing actually aren’t, but it’s still a place to look. The Royal Clipper seems to do the occasional transatlantic cruise, so that could be relevant for the OP. I didn’t take price into consideration, they could be quite expensive.
It’s generally really hard if you have no experience. But if you’re willing to pay, maybe. Check this out: https://hitchwiki.org/en/Hitchhiking_a_boat
Looks like the main options are the things you’ve already ruled-out:
- Lowest impact travel: passenger on a cargo ship.
- Zero-emissions vehicle: £6000 trip on a sailing boat, but any normal-sized boat is going to expect everyone on board to take shifts.
Maybe you can find a “tall ship” that’s big enough to have passive passengers (example), or pay the small boat to bring a higher ratio of paid crew to let the passengers sleep.
Thanks. The tall ships look amazing.
I don’t understand why there arent more commercial options around. Aren’t there armies of rich tourists and digital nomads struggling with their CO2 footprints?
Wouldnt it be possible to have WiFi on such tall ships? Wouldnt it be possible for people to work online for some weeks?
It might be a trope by now, but when you mention “rich tourists and digital nomads”… have you read For The Win?
When Cory Doctorow considers this question, … His character, an archetype of the subcultures you mention, voiced by the most cyberpunk author you ever read, chooses a cargo ship.
