"Trip -Sea voyages 2012"

The long, dark winter evenings are here and many of you will be thinking of next year’s holiday – where to go, how to get there… Have you thought of a sea voyage on board a cargo ship? There are certain advantages: no airports to negotiate, your baggage stays with you and you never have to carry it!

Many major shipping companies are now taking passengers, especially on their container ships. They may have up to five spacious cabins available, each with its own bathroom. As container ships are a fairly recent invention, they are almost all well furnished and clean. Also, as they carry such huge, heavy cargoes (some can transport around 1300 containers), they are all very stable: no need to worry about being sea-sick!

Of course, these are working ships so there is no organized entertainment on board – don’t expect to dress for dinner, have cocktail evenings or fancydress parties. Meals are taken in the officers’ mess, with a set menu produced by “cookie” and served at very set times. Cookie has to produce meals for the whole crew according to their different watches so punctuality is very important. But, apart from meal times, your time is your own. Visit the bridge and see how navigation is carried out, marvel at the precision required to “park” a 350m. long ship alongside its berth, watch the changing coastline, count the variety of other ships taking their cargoes around the world – or simply look at the changing face of the sea, watch out for whales or try to recognize the occasional bird that hitches a lift on board. Otherwise, just relax on deck or in your cabin, with a good book (an electronic book is this century’s best invention for the traveller, with a library’s worth of reading compacted into one paperback-sized volume). A trip up the Baltic can take 7-8 days, a journey round the world maybe 3 months, you could spend a day in Helsinki or a few hours in Singapore, depending on the ship’s itinerary and loading times.

And do get to know the crew. Often from the Philippines, they spend months at sea away from their families, have very little free time, especially on shore, and yet always seem to be happy, helpful and willing to answer the “tourist’s” questions. Don’t forget that without them, we would have to do without many of the necessities and luxuries we take for granted in our daily lives!

Hello Jill,

Yes, this is a good idea. We could examine this opportunity next time we plan our next holidays.

Cargo ships are also useful if we consider that, without them, we would have hundreds of lorries congesting our motorways.

Hello Jill
Thank you very much for this text. The way you wrote it is perfect and makes us dream about our next Holiday. I enjoyed  reading it. Life on board a cargo ship is very different  from every day life when we have to hurry up all the time . That sea voyage must have been very relaxing.
When you want to write about anything, don't forget "Le café polyglotte sur le net "Thanks a lot.