Ship Us Off to the New World
August 26, 2015 1:57 PM Subscribe
What's the best way to get an adventurous family from the UK to the US that does not involve an airplane?
We (two parents, three kids (5, 8, & 13) & some cats*) will be returning to the US in the summer of 2016. I would like to learn more about our options to do so via ship as an extended farewell to our UK home of the last five years. Surely we can go from the UK to US on a ship without having to sell kidneys or the children: what are some options I'm overlooking or that the glut of cruise company googlefluff is obscuring?
Difficulty: we are not cruise people. At all. We are also not wealthy, so I'd like to spend approximately what I would for airline tickets. Thanks.
* Not actually looking for simultaneous passage for cats.
We (two parents, three kids (5, 8, & 13) & some cats*) will be returning to the US in the summer of 2016. I would like to learn more about our options to do so via ship as an extended farewell to our UK home of the last five years. Surely we can go from the UK to US on a ship without having to sell kidneys or the children: what are some options I'm overlooking or that the glut of cruise company googlefluff is obscuring?
Difficulty: we are not cruise people. At all. We are also not wealthy, so I'd like to spend approximately what I would for airline tickets. Thanks.
* Not actually looking for simultaneous passage for cats.
(A friend of mine moved to the UK this way in order to accommodate an elderly cat, so cat passage may well be an option too)
posted by corvine at 2:06 PM on August 26, 2015
posted by corvine at 2:06 PM on August 26, 2015
There's cargo ship travel, but some very quick browsing makes me think it might not be cheaper than the QM2 - but the sites I quickly found might also be marking this up heavily. This site has a few UK and US side lnks, for example.
posted by ftm at 2:07 PM on August 26, 2015
posted by ftm at 2:07 PM on August 26, 2015
"Repositioning cruises", but not cheaper than flying.
posted by TWinbrook8 at 2:07 PM on August 26, 2015
posted by TWinbrook8 at 2:07 PM on August 26, 2015
It depends on the line, sometimes repositioning cruises are really, really cheap. However, they're assuming they will sell you lots of booze and spa treatments and specialty restaurants and casino time and merchandise and extortionate satellite Internet, because there's nothing to do on a repositiong cruise. Plus a lot of the cheap rates don't include mandatory port taxes, and almost none include gratuities. We don't go crazy with the extras, and still budget about 50% of the cruise fare for on-ship purchases and tips.
The cargo ship thing would probably your best bet, but your kids are too young to be permitted on most of the ships. We're talking climbing up a 100-ft / 30m ladder to get on the ship, for starters. Also take into account time of year and whether you get seasick. For an interesting account of transatlantic cargo ship in 2008, try Grounded: A Down to Earth Journey Around the World. Think about what you'd do with the kids if you were stuck in fog for three days.
posted by wnissen at 3:24 PM on August 26, 2015 [2 favorites]
The cargo ship thing would probably your best bet, but your kids are too young to be permitted on most of the ships. We're talking climbing up a 100-ft / 30m ladder to get on the ship, for starters. Also take into account time of year and whether you get seasick. For an interesting account of transatlantic cargo ship in 2008, try Grounded: A Down to Earth Journey Around the World. Think about what you'd do with the kids if you were stuck in fog for three days.
posted by wnissen at 3:24 PM on August 26, 2015 [2 favorites]
Could you explain a bit more about why you're wanting to do this?
For example, you really like being on the open sea?
Because, in a week long voyage, you'll be in sight of land for only the first and last couple of hours. The rest of it will be entertaining 3 kids for a week in a hotel room, essentially.
If it's really just a break between countries thing, have a little holiday first?
Further ideas here - http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=1515159
I like the idea of signing up on a sailboat, but not so much with the kids.
Really hard to get in for anything approximating the cost of a flight though, as you can get flights for London to Boston via Reykjavik for under £250.
posted by Elysum at 7:43 PM on August 26, 2015 [1 favorite]
For example, you really like being on the open sea?
Because, in a week long voyage, you'll be in sight of land for only the first and last couple of hours. The rest of it will be entertaining 3 kids for a week in a hotel room, essentially.
If it's really just a break between countries thing, have a little holiday first?
Further ideas here - http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=1515159
I like the idea of signing up on a sailboat, but not so much with the kids.
Really hard to get in for anything approximating the cost of a flight though, as you can get flights for London to Boston via Reykjavik for under £250.
posted by Elysum at 7:43 PM on August 26, 2015 [1 favorite]
I took the QM2 from Southampton to NY about three months ago.
I don't know how you define "cruise people" but the passengers on our crossing were very different from the passengers we have been on ships with in the Caribbean. It wasn't a party vibe at all.
It was expensive compared to flying. It wasn't really expensive for a week of vacation with most everything included. Daily afternoon tea was where I (American) learned that clotted cream is key to a happy life.
The QM2 is a different experience than a repositioning cruise. First, because it does regular crossings, there are a lot of activities planned to keep you amused for a week. Second, the ship itself was built as an ocean liner, so the effects of waves and weather are different than on a cruise liner.
There were FOUR formal nights for our trip, so there was a lot of expense in getting outfitted before we left.
Arriving in NY by boat and sailing past the Statue of Liberty was magical. It was a very cool experience, although it happened REALLY early in the morning.
Feel free to MeMail me any questions.
posted by Sheppagus at 1:45 PM on August 27, 2015
I don't know how you define "cruise people" but the passengers on our crossing were very different from the passengers we have been on ships with in the Caribbean. It wasn't a party vibe at all.
It was expensive compared to flying. It wasn't really expensive for a week of vacation with most everything included. Daily afternoon tea was where I (American) learned that clotted cream is key to a happy life.
The QM2 is a different experience than a repositioning cruise. First, because it does regular crossings, there are a lot of activities planned to keep you amused for a week. Second, the ship itself was built as an ocean liner, so the effects of waves and weather are different than on a cruise liner.
There were FOUR formal nights for our trip, so there was a lot of expense in getting outfitted before we left.
Arriving in NY by boat and sailing past the Statue of Liberty was magical. It was a very cool experience, although it happened REALLY early in the morning.
Feel free to MeMail me any questions.
posted by Sheppagus at 1:45 PM on August 27, 2015
I came to the UK via the QM2 in January of this year. The price was higher than a plane ticket would've been, but it wasn't higher than the price of plane ticket + baggage fees for all my stuff including bicycle + having to ship some other stuff, and I was able to leave my place in the States a bit earlier and save some money on rent that way. It's possible to take pets on the QM2 for an additional fee, which I would suspect is less than it would cost to have a service fly them.
We had a few people on the voyage who had planned to take a cargo ship out of New York, but ended up on the QM2 at the last minute because it was cheaper.
I'd never been on a cruise before this crossing. There is a very strong service culture on the QM2 and it made me uncomfortable to have other human beings act like my servants, but other than that, the experience was pretty good. I'd do it again if there were some kind of low-service, no-really-I-can-make-my-own-bed option.
posted by yomimono at 2:47 AM on August 28, 2015
We had a few people on the voyage who had planned to take a cargo ship out of New York, but ended up on the QM2 at the last minute because it was cheaper.
I'd never been on a cruise before this crossing. There is a very strong service culture on the QM2 and it made me uncomfortable to have other human beings act like my servants, but other than that, the experience was pretty good. I'd do it again if there were some kind of low-service, no-really-I-can-make-my-own-bed option.
posted by yomimono at 2:47 AM on August 28, 2015
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by corvine at 2:02 PM on August 26, 2015 [1 favorite]