Arriving in Thailand as a passenger on a freight ship

[lonelywombat]

In the last month or two I read an article about taking a sea voyage to get to Thailand. I discussed this with a friend last night, but cannot seem to be able to locate the post for him.

He will be traveling in Europe finishing at Instabul in September. He is open to making more than one trip if necessary to make Bangkok.

Any suggestions. He has not thought of this before and likes the idea a lot.

[francois]

There was a post on GayThailand regarding sea travel to Thailand.

http://www.gaythailand.com/forums/topic ... nd-by-sea/ (http://www.gaythailand.com/forums/topic/8856-arriving-in-thailand-by-sea/)

[lonelywombat]

Thanks for that it was not in the main forum, but in beer bar.

The thread of 5 posts was not as big as I expected . Maybe Sawatdee might get some more info.

[RonanTheBarbarian]

I think his hopes may be rather poor.

It is possible to cross the Atlantic on freight ships, and also there are some ships that regularly cross from Japan to the USA that take paying passengers.

However, with the upsurge in piracy in the Indian ocean, freight shipping companies are unwilling to take passengers on that route. Also, India has prohibited people (other than employed sailors) arriving in India by sea since the Mumbai attacks, unless they are on one of the big cruise liners.

Some cruise ships sail from Dubai to Singapore and Phuket. If he is trying to avoid flying, actually getting from Istanbul to Dubai might be awkward.

So if he is willing to go on a cruise ship rather than a freight ship, there are some options. Otherwise it will be well-nigh impossible from that embarkation point, i am afraid.

[rincondog]

I don't think he can get to Thailand on a freighter cruise. Probably the closet would be Malaysia or Singapore, depending where he is planning to start. Here are some websites with info.

https://www.freightercruises.com/
http://www.travltips.com/cruises/freighter/fareast.php

Also keep in mind that freighter cruises have age and health restrictions.

[cdnmatt]

I don't know, and I could be wrong, but I'm guessing going inter-continental by freight ship is one of those ideas that seems really great at the time, but something you'd never do again in your life, even if someone paid you for it.

Reminds me of one time when we were taking a 16 hour ferry from Newfoundland back to the mainland, and decided taking sleeping pills during the trip would be a great way to pass the time. Turned out to be an absolutely horrible idea. We just ended up really tired and stoned most of the trip, but couldn't sleep because there was no where to lay down, or chairs with head rests. No fun at all.