Is there a mid-level way to cross the Atlantic by ship?

January 17, 2005 12:51 PM

Airbus will announce their new "flying cruise ship" (see pictures) this week and it will probably be beyond the cost for most people. But it made me think that we all ideally want to travel like that, but put up with crowded planes because they are fast and relatively cheap. Ships used to be the way to travel across the Atlantic, is it possible to travel by ship across the Atlantic without spending a lot of money? It seems the choices are high-end cruise ship, or low-brow freighter travel. Does an affordable, middle-market quick human transportation by ship service exist across the Atlantic?
posted by stbalbach to travel & transportation (21 comments total)

I have no idea what the answer to your question is, but holy cow those pictures are amazing!
posted by josh at 1:06 PM on January 17, 2005

Actually flying on the A380 will be the same price as any other airliner, perhaps even cheaper. With a state-of-the-art airplane with highly efficient engines and 500+ passengers on board, the cost per seat/mile (the general measurement for an airline's cost per flight) decreases. More often than not, those savings can be passed onto the consumer

Of the many airlines that have ordered the a380 most of them have decided against installing bowling alleys, movie theaters, malls, etc and instead have opted to just put the maximum number of seats on the plane.
posted by cubedweller at 1:06 PM on January 17, 2005

I'd also like to add that the a380 will NOT carry 800 people; the standard three class configuration will hold 555 people.
posted by cubedweller at 1:12 PM on January 17, 2005

People on the A380 will be travelling just as crowded as they would be on a 747.

No airline in their right mind is going to have that little shop from the article on their airplane. They're especially not going to have a little shop full of glass bottles of volatile, flammable liquids (ie, booze and alcohol-laden perfumes) ready to get smashed in the next bout of turbulence and catch fire soon after.

Likewise, they don't want to encourage passengers to be up walking around shopping, only to get brained or otherwise injured when the plane bounces unexpectedly.

It's almost certainly going to have the same sorts of seats as you'd find on a 747 or 777, just more of them.
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 1:41 PM on January 17, 2005

Does an affordable, middle-market quick human transportation by ship service exist across the Atlantic?

AFAICT, no. Airlines killed ocean liners as simple transportation. If you have to spend 4 days crossing each way, or call it a week for both directions -- which would be about record pace for the old liners -- you're not making any money then, and that adds up real fast. Unless you have an extra few hundred implicit dollars for the trip, crossing by boat doesn't make much sense. From what I've seen and read, it was dreadfully boring in any case, especially as going through the north Atlantic means that going outside sucks.

ISTR that some of the repositioning trips of cruise ships -- moving a ship from the Mediterranean in summer to the Caribbean in winter, etc -- are about the same price as a normal cruise of the same length.
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 1:43 PM on January 17, 2005

Though the images at Luxist suggest otherwise, they will indeed pack them in on this monster of a plane. Still, I'd love to fly on one. I'm fascinated by the interior design and architecture of planes.

As for the ship travel question; the answer lies, I believe, in the seat/mile equation that cubedweller mentioned above. Even with minimal amenities the space and fuel required for travel by sea makes efficient passenger transportation rather untenable. Thus you have only the luxury and freight ends of the spectrum.

An "economy class" room on a boat for two or three days would cost far more than a seat on a massive jet for 10 - 12 hours.
posted by aladfar at 1:44 PM on January 17, 2005

Maybe a little offtopic, but the Pan Am Clipper was a luxurious air boat with an interesting history.
posted by SPrintF at 1:54 PM on January 17, 2005

As a side note, here's a pic of the real thing, A380 #2, just prior to its official public unveiling (which I think is later this week). The first model built was an engineering and airframe testbed, and won't fly. This one will.

Another pic. And another.
posted by killdevil at 2:03 PM on January 17, 2005

If I ever had several billion dollars I would definitely bring back the zeppelins. That was style, except for the explosive paint.
posted by TheOnlyCoolTim at 2:15 PM on January 17, 2005

And the explosive hydrogen...
posted by killdevil at 2:42 PM on January 17, 2005

Yeah, but you exploded in style man.
posted by substrate at 2:57 PM on January 17, 2005

Oh - the humanity [sic].
posted by jmgorman at 3:10 PM on January 17, 2005

the Cunard ships are not that expensive considering it's a vacation in itself--i've seen 999/per person for one way trans-Atlantic and a flight back.
posted by amberglow at 4:04 PM on January 17, 2005

(granted, that's more than the price of my entire vacations usually, but not out-of-reach)
posted by amberglow at 4:06 PM on January 17, 2005

They're especially not going to have a little shop full of glass bottles of volatile, flammable liquids (ie, booze and alcohol-laden perfumes) ready to get smashed in the next bout of turbulence

Every international flight I'd been on has all sorts of duty free booze and perfume on board for inflight hawking.

Not to pick on you but:

it was dreadfully boring in any case

I was on the last crossing of the France, still (I think) the biggest ever liner, and had a blast. Of course I was just a kid and there's nothing more fun than a big ship to explore. But my parents did the crossings a lot when they were young and they said it was terrific. You relaxed, met lots of interesting people, lounged in the library, ate great food etc....When they retired, they tried to recapture that shipboard experience by taking a Caribbean cruise but came home shell shocked by how vulgar everything was.
posted by CunningLinguist at 4:37 PM on January 17, 2005

Every international flight I'd been on has all sorts of duty free booze and perfume on board for inflight hawking.

In a little store, with all of it out on little shelves and passengers milling around it, or available through the flight attendants with the goods stowed? It's not the sales I doubt, it's the store. But I'll admit that I haven't flown transatlantic since 1981.

I was on the last crossing of the France, still (I think) the biggest ever liner, and had a blast.

Happy to be corrected; just what I gathered from shows, magazine articles, etc.

I'd suggest to you or your folks that they might try a trip on the Norway, which used to be the France, but it's apparently laid-up after a fire.
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 5:01 PM on January 17, 2005

What oil crisis?
posted by tidecat at 5:24 PM on January 17, 2005

the Norway, which used to be the France

I thought it got turned into a hotel or something - your comment led me here, which has the whole history of the liner, with funkalicious pix of the 1970s chic I remembered. Funny how that style looks cool again. Thanks!
posted by CunningLinguist at 5:44 PM on January 17, 2005

We recently had a pretty informative thread over in the Gray on this topic too.
posted by billsaysthis at 7:05 PM on January 17, 2005

Thanks, billsaysthis. I missed that one and I really enjoyed reading it.
posted by cali at 9:31 PM on January 17, 2005

I'm sure the terrorists are excited too.
posted by Fupped Duck at 8:19 AM on January 18, 2005