Prologue

"Without a measureless and perpetual uncertainty 
the drama of human life would be destroyed." -Winston Churchill

In the summer of 2019, my wife Ellen and I travelled from Baltimore, Maryland to Hamburg, Germany on a cargo ship.  During the planning and preparations for this voyage, I found there was not a lot of of information of the sort I would like to have had  available.  At the start, almost every aspect of the prospective voyage was fraught with uncertainties.

This travelogue is meant to document some of the things we learned before and during the voyage that might help others plan and prepare for similar trips.  As such, it is meant primarily to be informative and to reduce some of the uncertainties that we faced, while hopefully not destroying too much of the dramatic fun of such a trip.  

With that in mind, if you are interested in planning such a trip, I suggest starting with the next post and reading all the way through. On the other hand, if you're only interested in reading about the voyage, you might skip ahead and begin with "Nautical Terminology" (that's where the photos and fun begin).

Finally, one of our fellow passengers -- Sebastien -- kept a blog (and provided some photos to this travelogue).  If you would like to see and read more about this voyage, you might consider checking out his blog: Sebastien's blog.

Background

Sometime back in the heyday of alternative lifestyle catalogs -- the late-60s and early-70s -- I came across a catalog called "The Great Escape Book," or something like that. It was loosely modeled on The Whole Earth Catalog, except it focused on providing information about adventures: land adventures, sea adventures, air adventures, nomadic adventures, and a few more categories that I forget.  There was an interesting article in it about traveling by freighter.  I liked it at the time, and although I rarely thought about it over the years, the idea never quite left me.

Then last year I had to occasion to recall it.

Ellen and I had been living in Paris since the summer of 2018, and we needed to return to the U.S. in late-May 2019 to get new visas.  We had come over on round trip tickets, and had our return tickets to the U.S. on hand.  But once we got our new visas, we would only need one-way tickets back to France.

When we looked, the price of a one-way ticket was nuts; it was something like $1,300 each.  So we felt compelled to look for alternatives.  Somewhere in the thought process the idea of traveling by freighter (or cargo ship) popped up, and I started Googling...

Beginnings: October 2018 - July 2019

The initial Google results were a bit scattered and unorganized, but I was fortunate to have noticed a company called Cargo Ship Voyages.  I contacted them via e-mail on 11 October 2018, and reached Colin Hetherington, the Director.

My email records show that between that first e-mail and our embarkation in late-July 2019, Colin and I had over 130 exchanges. That in itself should be a testament to how confusing it was for us, and how patient Colin was in helping us sort it all out.

I won't describe each and every e-mail; rather, I'll summarize the major points that we were able to sort out:

Cost/Benefit

The price of a one-way airline ticket was about $1,300 when we started looking.  That would have been about $2,600 for two tickets, and at least $100 (and almost certainly more) for all the additional luggage we intended to bring back.

The cost of the cargo ship was approximately the same (although the required health insurance bumped it up a bit).  But we also got two weeks room and board thrown in, which would have cost us an additional $1,500 or so in Paris.

So on balance we realized that from a purely financial point of view the cargo ship was a bit better.

Choosing an itinerary

When we started we had a vague notion that all we had to do was tell Colin that we wanted to leave from an East Coast port and land somewhere in Europe, and that he would provide us with a menu of options from which to choose.  Nope.  We had to neck it down to specific embarkation and disembarkation ports.  And we did that after a few back-and-forths.  Baltimore, Maryland to Hamburg, Germany ended up being the itinerary that made the most sense.

Health Insurance

This was complex, and it was one of those issues where Colin really earned his money.  He was not allowed to recommend companies, but he gave us the name of a company that he said others had used.  So far, so good.  But it turned out to have required 4 - 5 applications and cancellations until we finally got all the details right.  Once we had that down, Colin advised us to wait until close to the last minute to actually purchase it in case there were further changes. (More details on the health insurance thing in the next post.)

Rescheduling

We had originally booked passage on the Atlantic Sail, scheduled to depart Baltimore on 13 July and arrive in Hamburg on 28 July. As spring advanced and we started looking with more granularity at the various things we needed to be doing in the U.S., we realized that 13 July was probably going to be too tight.  Once again, Colin came through.  He was able to get us rebooked on the Atlantic Sky, which was scheduled to depart Baltimore on 27 July.

Atlantic Container Lines (ACL) interactive web site

Colin introduced us to the ACL interactive vessel schedules website. Although this turned out to be not entirely accurate as we got close to departure, it gave us a warm and fuzzy to at least think we were on top of the schedule. And up until the last week it was accurate enough.

And so 130 emails and 9 months later, we had tickets in hand and were ready to go...

Health Insurance

As I said, the health insurance thing was a bit complex.  

First, we had to have insurance from 10 days before the earliest departure of the ship until 10 days after the latest arrival.  For planning purposes the earliest departure date was a week before the scheduled departure date, and the latest arrival was a week after the scheduled arrival date.  So we actually had to insure ourselves for something like a total of 48 days: 14 days (the transit) plus 14 days (earliest departure plus earliest arrival) plus 20 days (10 days on either side).

Then we had to have the right coverage.  This included medical expenses, emergency evacuations, repatriation of remains, etc.  At Colin's suggestion, we also opted to include trip cancellation.

Finally, the coverage had to be worldwide.  

It took us a few tries to get it right.  Fortunately the company we used -- World Nomads -- was great about working with us as we cancelled and cancelled and cancelled until we finally got it right. And Colin was very patient in helping us get it right.

Of note, Colin recommended that we hold off on finalizing the insurance until we got relatively close to departure.  Once we got to that point, he said that we could tighten up the dates a little.

When all was said and done, the total cost for both of us was about $670 USD.

One final note...if you are doing this, once you submit your application and payment information for the health insurance, you will receive two document almost immediately: a receipt, and a health insurance policy package.  Neither of these is particularly important for the shipping company.  Be patient and wait a bit.  Within 30 minutes or so you should be receiving a one page insurance letter that spells out everything.  This is what the shipping company wants to see.

Wednesday, 18 July

According to the ACL interactive web site, we were scheduled to arrive in Hamburg on 11 August.  In the absence of any other information, Ellen and I booked a room in Hamburg for a few days starting 11 August, and arranged a rental car through AAA in Virginia.  We planned to spend a few days in Hamburg, pick up the car on 14 August, spend that night somewhere in Belgium, and arrive in Paris on the 15th.

Although Colin had been able to help us work through a lot, at this point there were some uncertainties that gnawed at us.  Specifically:

• How would we get to the ship in Baltimore?  Would our rides be able to enter the port and drive us there?  And how would we get all of our luggage onboard?  
• How could we contact the hotel and/or AAA if our arrival time changed significantly while we were underway?
• How would customs and immigration work in Hamburg?  Would we have to drag our luggage to some customs and immigration center in the port?  Would the customs and immigration people come onboard the Atlantic Sky before we could get off?  
• What if the ship arrived in Hamburg at, say, 1:00 am?  Would we be required to disembark then, or would we be able to stay until the morning?
• How would we get from the ship to our hotel in Hamburg?  Would there be a phone onboard that we could use to call an Uber or taxi?

These weren't life or death issues, and we weren't lying awake at night staring into space wondering about them, but they were producing a certain amount of low-level anxiety.

Thursday, 19 July

I called ACL for the first time (the phone number was on our ticket), and I spoke with someone who said that an organization called Norton Lilly would actually be providing details such as time, location, etc., for our embarkation.  Whoever I spoke with gave me the phone number of Norton Lilly.

Apparently Norton Lilly is ACL’s local agent.  Norton Lilly would also make sure our names were at the terminal gate so we could get in, and they would make sure we had transportation from the gate to the ship.

I called Norton Lilly and the operator I spoke to said that the agent handling the Atlantic Sky was not in at the moment, and that I needed to call back.

I would add that at this point the ship’s departure had changed several times.  It had fallen back to 2:00 am on Tuesday, 30 July at one point, and then moved up to Monday, 29 July.

Tuesday, 23 July

I called Norton Lilly again, and again was told that the agent I needed to speak with was not in.  This time the operator took my name and phone number and said he’d have the agent call me back.

The operator also took a few moments to discuss the ship’s schedule.  When I told him it was currently scheduled to depart on Sunday, 28 July, he laughed.  He said that in the shipping business the five days between now and then was a lifetime, and that we really wouldn't know for a few more days.  More specifically, he said that the arrival time in Baltimore wouldn't be known until the ship departed from Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Thursday, 25 July

I called Norton Lilly again and finally got through to the person I needed to talk to.  His name was Walter Celario.  Before I reached Walter, however, I talked to some guy named Gordon who had answered the phone.  Gordon was friendly and as helpful as he could be (given that the Atlantic Sky wasn’t his thing).  In the course of the conversation, when I mentioned that ACL had told me we would need an escort from the gate to the ship, he mused out loud, “I wonder who’s going to pay for that?”  Hmmm...that did not give me a warm and fuzzy.

When I finally got through to Walter Celario he answered that question: Ellen and I would be the ones paying.  It would be about $55, which I didn't think was a big deal.  But it was still a bit of a surprise (and, as I learned later, probably a bit of a scam).

That aside, Walter said the ship was supposed to arrive at about 4:00 am on Monday, 29 July, and depart about 24 hours later.  He told us we should be there to board at noon on the 29th, and he gave me the address of the gate at Baltimore's Dundark Marine Terminal.

Walter also gave me his cell phone number and an e-mail address.  I gave him my cell and e-mail, and he said he’d be in touch with additional information when it was available.

Friday, 26 July

I sent Walter an e-mail with a copy of our Atlantic Sky ticket, as well as a recap of what I understood him to have said when we spoke.  Walter replied almost immediately that a 12:00 pm arrival was correct, because there would be no loading activity going on at that time.  It was good to know he was checking his e-mail and was taking us seriously.

I also called ACL to ask a few questions about things related to our arrival in Hamburg.  I figured since Norton Lilly was just a local agent for Baltimore, no one there would have any knowledge about Hamburg, but that ACL might.

I spoke with a guy named Kristopher who really made my day.  He was smart and patient, and he made a real effort to explain things to me and answer what he could.  The things I took away from that conversation were the following:

• There might not be any Internet connectivity on the ship, but we could debark at the various ports (e.g., Liverpool) and contact our hotel in Hamburg to modify reservations as necessary.
• If the ship were to arrive in Hamburg at, say, 1:00 am, we would not be obliged to disembark at that point.  We would be able to sleep through the night and disembark the following morning.
• From a customs/passport control point of view, we would be treated like crew.  We would probably fill out forms and give them to the Master, and then the customs people would come on board to review things.  
• The crew would help us with our luggage.

Kristopher also confirmed that the Atlantic Sky would be pier side on Monday, 29 July, even though the interactive online website was not reflecting that.

Sunday, 28 July

Walter sent me a text asking for our full names and passport or drivers license numbers so he could arrange for us to get in Dundark terminal.  I took this to be a sign that he was on top of it, and that getting into the port and getting to the ship would be taken care of.  I felt good.

Nautical Terminology

For those of you who do not have much nautical experience, here are some common nautical/maritime vocabulary terms I will be using from here on out:

• Port – the left side of the ship  
• Starboard – the right side of the ship    
• Bow – the front of the ship  
• Stern – the rear of the ship  
• Fore – towards the front of the ship  
• Aft – towards the rear of the ship  
• Beam – the side of a ship.  Thus, the port beam is the left side of the ship, and the starboard beam is the right side of the ship.  
• Deck - floor  
• Bulkhead – wall  
• Ladder – stairway  
• Head – bathroom/restroom  
• Galley - kitchen  
• Chow hall - dining area  

If I inadvertently use a term that I forgot to define, you can check the Wikipedia article of nautical terms.

Also, I will be using the 24-hour clock from now on to note times.

Monday, 29 July

Our friends Jon and Pat drove us to the Dundark Terminal Entrance, but they were not allowed to enter the terminal and take us to the ship.

Dundark Terminal Entrance

Ellen and me with our luggage

There was a fellow named Patrick who was expecting us -- courtesy of Walter Celario -- and who drove us to the Atlantic Sky (for $55).  

Patrick, our escort

Actually, Patrick didn't just drive us there, he drove right up the ramp and into the ship and dropped us off in front of a crew member.

The ramp into the ship

First glimpse of the interior

Once Patrick dropped us off the crew member checked us in, gave us Atlantic Sky visitor badges, and called a couple of other crew members to help take the luggage to our cabin.  Two guy came and grabbed most of our luggage, and away we went.  There were two elevators to get us to where we were going, so it was actually pretty easy.

Our cabin was cozy (read: small), but actually a little better then either of us had envisioned from the online photos.  There was a desk (which was not in the online photos), and both beds -- yes, we would be sleeping in separate beds -- had bulkheads (walls) against which we could prop a pillow to sit up and read.  This was not exactly what the online photos had indicated, either.  

One of the cabins

The bathroom was sufficient, and the shower was more than sufficient with nice, hardy streams of piping hot water.

Bathroom (shower curtain on left)

And I was also pleased to see that all the electrical outlets were standard European outlets.

Shortly after we had arrived it was lunch time.  Passengers had three meal times a day:

Breakfast: 08:00 - 08:30  
Lunch:      12:30 - 13:00
Dinner:     17:30 - 18:00

We met our two current fellow passengers at lunch: Roland and Wilke.  Both Roland and Wilke were German fellows -- not traveling together -- who had boarded in New York.  They both spoke excellent English, so we all were able to introduce ourselves and get to know one another.

We had had some trepidations about the food, having heard mixed stories.  In fact, the food was OK.  There was a soup -- some sort of spicy vegetable broth -- that was delicious.  The main course was chicken fried steak and mashed potatoes, with a tomato and mozzarella salad on the side.  Dessert was fresh fruit, and there was a good pot of coffee.  Again, not bad.  

(Note: I am not going to describe each and every meal of this voyage in detail.  I'll describe the first few, and then later dedicate an entire post to the overall dining experience.)

After lunch one of the crew members gave us an orientation brief as well as a safety brief.  The first part consisted of some dos and don'ts, e.g., don't try to hang out on the bridge of the ship when it's underway.  The second part was a quick overview of how to don immersion suits, use the life jackets, where to muster in an "Abandon ship" situation, how to get into the life boat, and so on.  We had another fuller version once all the passengers were onboard (after Halifax, Nova Scotia), but this was deemed to be sufficient for now.  All in all it took about an hour.

The ship had a pretty decent exercise room, with a treadmill, some free weights, a universal machine, a rowing machine, and a ping pong table.

Exercise Room

And there was a sauna just next door to the exercise room.    

Sauna

There was also a passengers' lounge with a couple of tables and chairs, some books, a DVD player, some DVDs, a small refrigerator, a coffee maker, and a few other items to make life at sea a bit easier.

Passengers' lounge looking aft

Passengers' lounge looking forward

A little while later we were back in our cabin and there was a knock on the door.  One of the Second Officers told us he needed our passports.  He said he'd make photocopies for us to take ashore in Halifax and Liverpool, but that the ship's Master would hold our passports until we reached our destinations.  We thought that was a bit weird, but we didn't have much choice so we did it.

We took some short naps in mid-afternoon, then showered, and soon enough it was dinner.

Dinner was spicy meatballs with a spicy tomato sauce on fusilli pasta, along with a lettuce, tomato, and cucumber salad.  Again, not bad.  That said, it appeared the meals would be mainly protein and starch; fresh vegetables would probably be rare.  Fortunately, we had brought along some Citrucel and a bag of pitted prunes for fiber.   

And it was soon thereafter that we pulled anchor -- so to speak -- and left Baltimore.

Leaving Baltimore

Our impressions at the end of the first day were generally positive.  The only real downside was that there would be no WiFi.  WiFi was just for the ship's crew.  The only time we would have Internet access would be if we could get it from somewhere else while in a port.  I supposed there are worse things in life than no Internet access for a few days.  We had both brought a lot to read, as well as a lot of downloaded podcasts to listen to.  And we each had a lot of writing to catch up on that would keep us busy.  

Tuesday, 30 July

Ellen and I both woke up at about 05:00.  The rumbling noises of the engine had stopped, and I guessed we were in Portsmouth, VA.  I was sort of right: we were entering the Hampton Roads harbor area at a very, very slow speed.  By about 06:30 we were pier side in Portsmouth.

I took a shower and then went to the exercise room for a stretch and light workout with the free weights before breakfast.

Breakfast had a range of options: bacon, eggs (to order), pancakes, oatmeal, and a few other things.  And coffee, of course. 

At this point we were in port and had T-Mobile connectivity, so we spent some time online.

At about 11:00 the ship got underway for Norfolk (just a few miles away).  We didn’t do any loading or unloading in Portsmouth that I could see, so I’m not sure why we were there.  We arrived pier side in Norfolk at 12:30...just when passengers’ lunch began.

Approaching Norfolk

Lunch was decent.  Again, a nice soup that I’ll describe as a chicken borscht.  By that I mean, there was chicken and chicken broth, but the rest of the ingredients were right out of the borscht playbook (minus the beets).  After soup we had a baked fish of some sort topped with sliced tomatoes and cheese, boiled potatoes, and a side of carrot/apple salad.  I skipped that potatoes but had a pear afterwards because pears are supposed to be high in fiber (and if ever a daily diet demanded lots of fiber, it is this one).  And I would add here that there was a nice selection of fresh fruits available at all the meals.

After lunch we took naps, and then I tested the treadmill in the exercise room. 

The air on the ship was very dry, and we were sucking down water.  The steward gave us a six-pack of big carbonated water bottles (carbonated water apparently being the drink of choice here). 

Meanwhile, the longshoremen spent the entire afternoon loading and unloading 40-foot containers and such.  It was really a sight to see from the inside of the ship.  These giant cranes were swinging boxes right outside our stateroom in an incredibly accurate and delicate manner.  And it was very cool to look out on the docks and see what I can only describe as the industrial ballet of getting the containers to and from the ship.

Part of the industrial ballet from the mess hall window

We got underway at about 19:00, and passed Norfolk Naval Base as we left.

Norfolk Naval Base

It was a long, slow transit from the Norfolk terminal out through the Hampton Roads channels and into the Atlantic Ocean.  It took about two hours, but it was a beautiful transit.  Ellen and I went out on deck and the air was an absolutely perfect temperature: not too hot, but not chilly.  The sun was glowing softly in the west as it set.  We leaned against a railing and felt good about life.  I was reminded of a scene in the movie, “The Last Detail,” in which the crusty old sailor (played by Jack Nicholson) is trying to pick up some hippy chick at a party in New York City and he’s describing the feeling of being at sea with the wind blowing on your face.  I think Ellen got a first taste of what’s so great about being at sea, and how cool this voyage was going to be.

Leaving Hampton Roads...and the U.S.