More About Working the High Seas
Cruise Ship Employment A crew member tells you how to land this job on ships.
What is it like to work on Ships? A complete lifestyle change. Something you have to do to really understand
How much do Cruise Ship Crew Make? It can be good money if you can handle all the drinking.
Cruise Ships Photos of cruise ships in various world ports.
How to get fired from cruise ships
10 true tales from a crewmember who lived it.
Crew a Sailboat. Less for the money, more for the experience, this is another awesome way to travel by sea.
Crew a yacht. They work hard. They play hard. And they do it in cooler places than you.
How much do Yachties make?
Let's find out
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How to Travel Across an Ocean
Having already decided to take a nice long trip overseas, you now need to get there. While the less popular options of being a drug mule or smuggling people probably should be over looked(I said probably) a lot of alternative forms of travel exist and are within the more modest of budgets. Here we will focus on traveling by sea to your next destination.
An option for those who live or are near large sail boating communities is walking the docks and talk to sailboat captains about crewing for there next voyage. Sailboat captains are always looking for quality crew who can offer a helping hand at cooking, taking watch, or offering some other service which they might need.
As you talk to captains get a feel for him and his experience as you will need to trust each other while on the open sea. Any expenses should be minimal for food and water and may run between $5-$25 a day depending on the boat.
Downsides of sail boating are that you cannot schedule or plan too rigidly as a lot of the travel times are dependent on the weather. You must also be flexible as to where you are headed as you hitch hike the seas. Keep your luggage to a minimum if you choose this route as space onboard is limited.
This is a great way to meet other people and the old salts will have stories to tell. You also find yourself going to smaller ports that are often overlooked by their more popular sister cities. Find A Crew is a well known online resource which connects potential crew with boats around the world.
For those that like the seas, but want more security of a larger vessel and a slightly stricter schedule, look into riding on a freighter or cargo ship. Many freighters do carry passengers to their destinations for a fee.
While onboard you will be allowed in crew areas and get to eat with and talk to the crew. Freighters can get rocky when the seas get rough, so bring some form of motion sickness medicine.
Cargo ships operate year round in many parts of the globe, so do your research to find the one that will get you to your destination.
While we are on the high seas, consider taking a step up in the luxury department on cruise ships for a one way repositioning cruise. There are dozens of cruise ships operating from the worlds most beautiful ports.
When they change up itineraries they need to move across oceans for days at a time. While onboard expect your entertainment and food to be free, but you have to pay for any drinks and souvenirs.
To find out what itineraries are available go to any cruise lines official web site or talk to your local travel agent. Repo-cruises often don't fill to capacity so this is where you will find some of the best cruise ship value, paying as low as 50 USD per night depending on the cabin.
For a 14 day repo to Europe it might run as low as 1200 USD, which is very competitive to what a flight might cost. As for scheduling, look for most ships to be taking a repo cruise in the shoulder seasons of April-May and September-October.