Hi, I’m going to Australia next year as an exchange student (for University), but my ticket (roundtrip, Can to Aus) would cost me around $2000, needless to say that this is a lot of money for a student. I have another school session to attend before departing, it will be over in mid december and have to be in Australia by mid february, which leaves 2 months to spare.
Since I’m young (21), in good shape, have decent physical and intellectual abilities, and two months to spare, I thought I could find a job (position and wage don’t matter) on a cruiship or cargo or whatever ship that would bring me from North America (US or Can) to Australia.
So, my question is are there any ships that make the trip , would I have any chance at getting hired for a single trip (and maybe on the comeback trip) and would I have better luck with cargo or cruiship?
I tried a google search but didn’t find anything good, so I thought the teeming millions will certainly help me with this…
It will cost you about $500 to get the appropriate “Z-card” or seaman’s document to work on a ship (as a wiper) plus the cost of joining the union. And then you don’t have the choice of when or where you may go.
A much better idea is to simply book passage on a cargo ship going where you want to go. You could probably do that for the cost of getting certified as a seaman.
You must have the card in most cases - the unions are very strict about such things. The foreign-based ships on which you might get by are such that you really don’t want to go that way! This is true of cargo ships - cruise ships are out of my area of expertise.
It seems to me you’d be better off working on land for those two months and earning the money for the fare. I am also certain you can find better fares.
I’ve considered travelling on a freighter a couple of times.
Here are some of the requirements for employment, as stated by a large shipping firm: “If you are a marine officer, engineer or rating, if you own relevant licensee and certificates according to STCW 95 latest amendments, if you are fluent in English, reliable hardworker and in good health, than you are able to become a part from our big family.”
In terms of trying to get somewhere fast on the cheap, as I recall, it’s not very good because ships won’t necessarily dock at ports you expect them to. And you have to wait for loading/unloading.
Quite unexpectedly, the passenger cabins that exist on most freighters usually surpass the cabins on cruise ships, and for that reason it’s anything but cheap to travel as a passenger.
In terms of cost, you might be better off trying to find some low airfare through the Internet.
I knew a guy in Germany many years ago who used to take a cargo ship one-way to the USA every year and take an used car (European models only) with him. He would drive the car around and then sell it right before his flight back and would come home with more money than when he left on the trip.
Don’t know if that trick still works.
Don’t know if this idea is in your budget.
There is also the “courier” method to travel cheaply, but I think that deals with “iffy” flight dates and times. Depends how flexible you can be with departure. The flights are usually practically free, or at least at a fraction of normal cost - only stipulation is you cannot take any luggage other than “on-board” case.
<shuddering at the thought of bringing a European model car to the US>
DON’T.
Just DON’T.
You have to post bond equivalent to the value of the car, and then you have a finite period of time to bring the car up to US specs for that particular year of car. 30 years ago, the form listing all the things that needed to be done was four pages long, front and back.
Think of all the safety and emission requirements since then!
You can’t work on a cargo ship without getting your Z card, which involves some degree of work, including a phyisical for certification as an able-bodied seaman. You can’t work on a cargo ship without belonging to a union, including payment of union dues. You then have to list your name at the union hall and you will be offered a berth when your card comes up – i.e., when your name makes it to the top of the list. You have no control over when that happens. If you don’t take that berth, your name will likely be dumped back to the bottom of the list.
A cargo company is probably not going to be interested in hiring a deck hand who wants to voyage out but not back; then they have to replace you with someone in Australia. And the union is going to have zero interest in placing you if it knows or suspects you are looking for cheap transportation only, and not a chance to do some legitimate work long-term.
And officers shuffle paper on ships. And cooks cook. Green seaman do work that is more often than not very hot (or cold), filthy, physically demanding, and sometimes very dangerous. And they do it for up to fifteen hours a day at sea, depending on the demands of the ship. That’s why it pays so well. But it’s not something that’s worth doing just for cheap passage, even if you could find a company and a union that would let you.
Do you have any number of frequent flyer miles with any of the major airlines? Read or post to Flyertalk (www.flyertalk.com) and you can probably find some good tips on how to pick up a lot of miles. Even if it costs you $1000 for the miles, it’s less than $2000. For example, recently people figured out they could spend $1200 on magazine subscriptions, but the subscriptions earned points which could be exchanged for a Concorde ticket, which costs thousands of dollars. Good luck, I went to Australia 5 years ago as a student and it was one of the best experiences of my life (I paid US$1500 for my ticket!).
What Jodi said, except for the “pays so well” bit. Are you talking US coastal, Jodi? An ordinary seafarer earns a pittance on international trading vessels.
A cruise vessel as hospitality staff might work but your chances of one going Canada or US to Australia are very low. Most cruises are loops in a limited area, not continent to continent.
Passengers on trading vessels pay through the nose. The problem is the “hotel” cost. That is, an airline only has to provide you with food and a place to sleep for a few hours. But US to Australia takes weeks, and the ship has to put you up for all of that time.
I did a transatlantic on a private yacht, but you usually need a very large amount of time, some sailing experience, and a lot of persistence to find someone who needs crew. And it’s not that cheap as the owner will usually want some contribution to food, and at, say, US$10 per day, that’s going to add up over the voyage. But it’s fun!
Thanks a lot for the insight guys, I guess I’ll drop that idea and do what ‘sailor’ suggested, I’ll work the two months and pay an airplaine ticket:
BTW I’m talking Canadian dollars here, at curent rates it would be $2000 CAD, but I could maybe find as low as $1700 CAD with a lot of searching around, that would be $1100 USD…
So, how does that work? is this when airlines sell very cheap tickets when they have a partly empty plane and want to fill it up? Since I’m going to Australia, it wouldn’t be a direct flight, I would have to stop somewhere in between, so would it still work or would I then need to wait for plane to be partly empty and buy another ticket? and to come back would I need to do the same thing again? Or does it go by package?