Travel by freight liner

i've looked into it as well, it seems pretty cool, i have no interest in a cruise, but i think an atlantic crossing would be spectacular

Ditto that. Cruises would overwhelm me - I'd want to hide in my room way too much.

i've also read somewhere about about working trips

Repositioning cruises also have some bargains:

http://cruises.about.com/od/cruisedestinations/a/repositioning.htm

I am interested as well, but I think one needs to be very OK with alone time or couple time if traveling as such. Most of these guys working on the ships are not American, don't speak English very much/well, and have no interest in entertaining the passengers.....or even talking with them.

Or so I have gathered in my limited investigation. I will be looking forward to what you find out.

IrishK, I don't really want to go N-S, I want to go E-W.

Hawkeye, So I've read. I like alone time. I think they have internet via satellite on many of these. I have already started thinking about how many books I'd need to bring.

It was very interesting ... about 30, 40 years ago, when the ships stayed for some time in a harbour.

Today, it's just - as said - a cheaper alternative to cruise ships, but with no "pleasure zones".

We've here in Germany (and Europe) quite a few agencies specialised on such tours.
Larger ship comapnies offer cabins themselves - like the Hamburg-Süd between Germany and USA.

there used to be a few ships that worked Europe over the summer but the Caribbean over the winter. They did offer to take passengers as they repositioned, but this was 5 years ago.

An acquaintance in Boston -- a neighbor, actually -- did this once in a spectacular way. She went to Australia and New Zealand on a freighter. She might have circled the globe, I'm not sure now. She said she had a fabulous time and found it a wonderful way to travel. Adventurous? They were boarded by pirates in the South China Sea! Scared? She said, no, she hadn't been very frightened. The pirates were efficient, well-behaved, businesslike and had no interest in interfering with the few passengers on board.

I crossed the Atlantic by ship once. But that was a World War II troop-ship converted to use for transporting refugees from Europe to the USA. The Gen. S.S. MacRae [Sp.?]. Two weeks from the port of Bremmenhaven, Germany to the port of New York. Agony. I remember it as one of the most unpleasant experiences of my life. I was sea-sick every day of the journey. Of course I was only 11 years old. But since then I've stuck to air travel, leave the ships to the sailors.

I'm pretty sure there are transatlantic repositioning cruises, although it's been a few years since I checked. The problem is, they don't return to your point of departure (you'd most likely have to fly home). Could you get round trip accomodations on a freight liner?

container-ships are in and out of harbours very quickly now - they don't wait for any lost passengers !
often the port of final destination is changed - depending on freight - so your return flight ticket may be useless.
NO STABILERS ! - lots of rolling and pitching while crossing the atlantic !

adventure channel has shown some interesting docus ( michael palin ) - check with your library .

and allow plenty of time in case of delay - be VERY flexible .

and have good sealegs and a sturdy tummy .

Walter, I'd seen that one, but not at that website....

A company named Maris also has some good trips. Often they hit NYC or Boston twice so I could hop on or off without doing the whole route (which could be 20-40 days)

my family (with me) did just that in the mid '50's. We went from Genoa Italy to NYC by frighter, it wasn't, by any means, a cruise ship and it was midwinter in the Atlantic. My parents were both very seasick and stayed in their bunks the entire ship but I roamed about getting to know some of the crew and the few other passengers. We made several port stops and took 14 days for the crossing. I'll never forget it, wonderful experience.

For me, this would go in the plus column.

amen, i don't want to see a magician or bad prop comic, i'd like to go on deck, watch the ocean roll by, and probably catch up on some reading

michael palin's :

around the world in 80 days

http://wapedia.mobi/en/Michael_Palin:_Around_the_World_in_80_Days

great video !!!

If I did the repositioning, I'd have to get to the Caribbean - more $$. But, it's an option.

Merry - I think most of the piracy is in the Indian ocean, yes? Any happening in the North Atlantic? I'd thought about that too.

Hamburger - I wouldn't be flying back. I would take a boat to any port in Europe, travel there by train (to Slovakia, for example), and return by boat from some European port. Ideally, anyway.

I think I've seen that - or maybe parts of it.