Florida to UK by boat/ cruise ship? Direct route

MoneySavingMamma

Had a crazy idea today, but probably not available!

Is it possible to travel from Florida to the UK by boat? Like a cruise ship or similar?

We've been to Florida a few times, but the flight home has wiped out 1/2 the rest each time! Tired, stressed & often ill!

I was wondering if we could float home instead? :-)

Not super fancy, just your Dover to Calais standard, with a room, so somewhere to eat, something to do?

Aso how long would it take?

I do apologise if I'm being completely thick here, as I'm poorly today & probably losing it! Ha

Gloomendoom

It's usually possible to get anywhere by boat but you may have to rough it.

For example...

https://www.freightercruises.com/voyages.php

You will get a room and something to eat. They might chuck in a few dog eared paperbacks too.

Dogger69

Gloomendoom wrote: »

It's usually possible to get anywhere by boat but you may have to rough it.

For example...

https://www.freightercruises.com/voyages.php

You will get a room and something to eat. They might chuck in a few dog eared paperbacks too.

The passenger cabins on freighters tend to be pretty nice, as does the food - you get the same as the officers. However, it is by no means a cheap option, it would usually be cheaper to fly.

mcfisco

Aso how long would it take?

7 or 8 days at cruise ship speeds or a couple of weeks at typical freight ship speed
A really fast ship could do it in 5 days maybe

meer53

MoneySavingMamma wrote: »

Had a crazy idea today, but probably not available!

Is it possible to travel from Florida to the UK by boat? Like a cruise ship or similar?

We've been to Florida a few times, but the flight home has wiped out 1/2 the rest each time! Tired, stressed & often ill!

I was wondering if we could float home instead? :-)

Not super fancy, just your Dover to Calais standard, with a room, so somewhere to eat, something to do?

Aso how long would it take?

I do apologise if I'm being completely thick here, as I'm poorly today & probably losing it! Ha

Do you get sea sick ?

I'm usually tired for a couple of days when we get back but thats all. I's prefer that to spending 5 days possibly being sea sick ! Imagine a couple of weeks

alanrowell

At the right time of the year you might find a repositioning cruise, otherwise the other other option is to head to New York for Cunard

Probably cheaper though to fly home and check yourselves into a spa or 5 star hotel for a few days

Idiophreak

Something like this would be an awesome journey...but taking a little longer than flying

http://www.cunard.co.uk/cruise-search/book-a-cruise/cruises/qv/530-v402-fll2-sou2/

pelirocco

Do you fly economy? Upgrading the flight will help

Sailing home would be my idea of hell

Idiophreak

Idiophreak wrote: »

Something like this would be an awesome journey...but taking a little longer than flying

http://www.cunard.co.uk/cruise-search/book-a-cruise/cruises/qv/530-v402-fll2-sou2/

Ooh...or this!

Even more of a detour, though

http://www.cunard.co.uk/cruise-search/book-a-cruise/cruises/qv/376-v402-fll1-sou2/

Shimrod

Here's one that's a bit more sensibly priced! Although at 13 days, it is really a holiday in its own right. http://bookings.royalcaribbean.co.uk/findacruise/cruiseDetails/itinerary.do?hasSenior=&hasMilitary=&hasFireandPolice=&cruiseType=CO&state=&packageCode=ID13T060&date=201404

When searching for cruises, you want to look for 'repositioning cruises'. These are when the cruise company is moving a ship from one location to another (e.g. from the US to Europe for the summer season). They are normally cheaper as there will be few or no ports of call, but they will only happen at certain times of year, so you would have to plan your holiday around that.

Mands

MoneySavingMamma wrote: »

Is it possible to travel from Florida to the UK by boat? Like a cruise ship or similar?

Yes, it's sometimes possible.

Some cruise lines keep their ships in the Caribbean in winter and in Europe in summer; twice a year they move them between the two locations. Those regular movements are known as repositioning cruises and in many cases are quite a bit cheeper than regular cruise fares.

Broadly speaking they move to Europe in the spring (March, April, May) and move back at the end of autumn and the trip takes a week or two depending on the speed of the ship and the itinerary.

Cunard is the unusual in that it has regular crossings through the year between UK and US. That's less than a week.

It sounds like a lovely way to come home but, Cunard aside, would rely on you wanting to finish the holiday in late spring, be able to find a repositioning cruise out of Florida and have an extra week or more you could tack onto the end of the holiday.

Would that work for you?
Mandy