Anyone on DU ever travel by Ocean Liner? I did as a child (Europe to US)

[Liberal_in_LA]

Time to break out the ocean liners? Recruit cruise ships? Does travel HAVE to ground to a total halt when planes can't fly?

[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. I never have, but I'll bet it's fun...

I wonder just how many ocean liners ply the Atlantic?

Most people just consider the ocean an impediment, and want to cross it as quickly as possible...

A good question...

[Liberal_in_LA]

6. If this volcanic thing stretches out...maybe it would be worth it to catch a ship even

though journey is much longer

[JI7]

2. do people still travel that way ? other than military, shipping products etc ?

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

3. I travelled on an LST from Japan to Taiwan. Not exactly an ocean liner.

I hate flying, but that trip convinced me that boats, particularly one that found itself on the outskirts of a typhoon, weren't my gig.

[hlthe2b]

4. So, I wonder how long it takes compared to the old days....

to cross the Atlantic (assuming the trip was not a leisurely cruise)....

[csziggy]

15. Check out some of the cargo ships that also take passengers

Some of those travel at a pretty good clip. The biggest problem is that their schedule can be screwed up by weather conditions, customs inspections, changes in loads, delays in loading or unloading, etc.

Someday I'd like to take an ocean trip, but a cruise ship is definitely NOT my style. So I have looked at the possibility of a passenger cargo ship instead.

Here is one couple's cruise around the world on a passenger cargo ship: http://carleli.livejournal.com/ (NOT people I would want to know, by the way, I just kept the link to their journal for a fairly realistic idea of what the experience might be like.)

And here are a couple ofsites for schedules though there are more companies that do the same thing:
http://www.freightercruises.com/
http://www.aws.co.uk/cruises/home.html

[TreasonousBastard]

17. The record is about 2 1/2 days, set by a...

Danish car and passenger ferry sailing NYC to Blackpool for publicity. It averaged about 39 knots for the trip (over 40mph) which isn't easy. The ferry is now working in the North Sea.

The fastest containerships can make it in 3-4 days under good to ideal conditions, but modern cruise ships are built for comfort, not speed, and would likely have a really rough time of it in bad weather.

[hlthe2b]

5. So, I wonder how long it takes compared to the old days....

to cross the Atlantic (assuming the trip was not a leisurely cruise)....

[Kaleva]

7. Queen Mary II bridge cam

http://cunard.com/bridgecam/qm2_cam1.asp

[TransitJohn]

8. Something I was looking into years ago and is still in my bookmarks

Freighter Cruises!

[depakid]

9. dupe

[depakid]

10. A whole lot cheaper to book passage on a freighter

[elleng]

11. I did, returning from junior year, in Britain.

Way to delay end of a great year!



Didn't look like this in 1965!

[Turbineguy]

12. I did.

The Atlantic was rough. They kept children locked up in some sort of prison.

Ships are affected by vulcanic dust as well however.

[Cleita]

13. Yes, many times when going to South America with my parents.

We flew too, but the reason for ship travel was so we could take things with us like furniture and cars. The only trouble with ship travel is that it takes a week or two to go places that airplanes can do in a day or less. I would like to see us bring back the trains like they were in the forties with the pullmans and the good service too.

[Liberal_in_LA]

14. That's right! You could take your car and big stuff.

[hunter]

16. As a kid, New York to Europe, old style.

Loved every second of it.

Flew back on Pan Am. That sucked in comparison, and this was in the days when even the least expensive airline seats were essentially today's first class with leg room, dinner and snacks, blankets, pillows, hot wash cloths, everything.

Too much hurry, hurry today. The only real destination in life is death, so enjoy every minute of the ride.

[nadinbrzezinski]

18. Yes and the Cunnard line still does it

Don't be too shocked if we start seeing a renaissance though, even if the North Atlantic can be nasty.

[kestrel91316]

19. My family sailed from Taiwan to Japan (or was it the Philippines to Taiwan?)

returning from a vacation in the Philippines in the early 60's when we were stationed in Japan. It was a big battleship gray battleship of some sort. I was ill at the time, and will never forget a certain smell associated with their mess hall (pepper??). I remember the close quarters, and the color gray. I was 5.

I'll stay home. Though cruise ships are probably more enjoyable than that trip was.

[southernyankeebelle]

20. OMG, Yes I did on several occasions as a child and teenager. You

know there isn't anything better to come in to New York Harbor at night to see the city of NY and the statue of Liberty shining bright. It make you feel proud to be an american. Now I am older I don't know how I feel. But we had so much fun on board. I remember as a teen they had dances on board and dress contest. I remember one girl dressed as the statue of liberty. If you any of you have a chance try it. Back in the day when I was young that is how the family members of US service men travelled. I remember going from PA cross country by train to SF . We were going to the Phillipine Islands at the time. Then again coming back from Italy to NY habor.

[abbeyco]

21. Did it on the QMII last year

From Southhampton to NYC and it was great. Since the ship doesn't stop at all, you have to be prepared to be at sea for several straight days. I have to say, steaming in to NYC, under the Verrazano bridge just before sunrise was spectacular! I'd do it again in a heartbeat.

[Golden Raisin]

22. Yes. Over and back

(Europe) as a boy on the old Queen Elizabeth and Queen Mary. Absolutely wonderful and a vanished era. I suspect way too slow for the world today and today's younger generation. Flying (and I include the experience on the ground in the terminal) has become so ghastly that I find myself longing for the era of the elegant old ships and even more for long-distance (i.e. cross-country) trains. When are we going to have a viable high-speed train system criss-crossing the U.S.A.? 5% of the bazillions we piss away in Iraq or Afghanistan could make a huge dent, create jobs and improve the infrastructure right here at home.

[SoCalDem]

23. When I was a toddler we took a ship from Miami to Havana

I have no recollections of the trip:)..but it probably was not a very long trip :)

[DFW]

24. I did about 40 years ago

It was on an old WWII vintage Italian freighter converted into a 3rd rate student ship. I took it from New York
to Le Havre in the fall of 1968 and back again in the spring of 1969.

I learned my first word of Swedish during a storm on the trip back: sjösjuk.

[ixion]

25. In a matter of speaking... Bellingham to Petersburg

It took several days, and we slept on the solarium. It was a beautiful trip. I'm all for sea travel.

[Fumesucker]

26. Europe to America on the French liner Liberte'

That was in the mid 1950's, the Liberte' was seized by the French from the Germans after WWII and renamed from her original name of Europa which was sister ship to the Bremen, they were the two fastest liners in the world in the 1930's but the Bremen was broken up during WWII.



Edited due to poster's caffeine deficiency this morning..

[Subdivisions]

27. We are eventually going back to doing things the old-fashioned way

more and more in the coming years. Ocean liners will make a comeback as will steam locomotives.

[IDemo]

France to New York on the SS United States, about 1962

Unfortunately, I was only five years old at the time.

[boomerbust]

28. Cruised the Inside Passage from

Homer Alaska to Bellingham Washington. That was great.

[Liberal_in_LA]

29. Update - Britain is using warships to 'rescue' its citizens (trapped by ash cloud)

[hayu_lol]

31. Made a nice trip on the ...

S.S. Leilani from Honolulu to Los Angeles. Designed to be a budget liner, it was a pretty good trip. 6 days I think it took. (1958)

[defendandprotect]

30. The size of them now is frightening . . . wouldn't want to travel that way!!