Hey guys,
Let me preface what I am about to say with a few caveats. First, I know this is a pipe dream, for many reasons. But I have always wanted to discuss it with someone, and neither my wife nor my friends are particularly interested in hearing me ramble about it. I am also a member of a few online communities, but encyclopedia titanica is the only place that I know actual mariners frequent, and in which people who are interested in the history of passenger ocean travel congregate.
In any regard, I have felt since I first learned Cunard would be replacing the QE2 that the passenger shipping market--not the crushing market--is entirely unrepresented today. I know why it originally disappeared, and generally have a grasp of the economics of the transatlantic trade in the late 60s, but I've always been curious as to why nobody but Cunard offered the service over the last 20 or so years.
My thought is that a line could offer regular service and be profitable--and I mean just that. Such service would be necessity (at leat at first) consist of one or two relatively small vessels rated for international ocean travel. You could either charter these, or buy older vessels that were built for ocean travel and converted to cruisers, and then reconvert them. It would also be a year round service, unlike cunards, and voyages would not be needlessly lengthened.
As I side note I travel a lot, and have thought about crossing on the QE2 and later the QM2 a number of times. The thing that really frustrates me though is that i don't want to sail then fly-- I'd like to go both ways! This is impractical with Cunard if you actually want to continue your trip on "the other side of the pond" because even when "on season" these ships schedules weren't regular. They will make on quick crossing, followed by a meandering 20 day crossing stopping all over Scandenavia at 3 times the cost--or something similar.
It's difficult to plan your holiday around something like this for most people with limited means (like this poor grad student.)
So my thought is that one ship in the Atlantic (you can expand on this later if feasible) and maybe one in the Pacific later who focused on this would be competitive. I'd also like to keep prices competitive with airfare (within a few hundred dollars). And before you complain and say its not possible, inside staterooms on QM2 are already near the price of taking a plane!
Obviously you won't attract a lot of business travelers. Who you would attract is people like me, or people who take QM2, interested in participating in the romanticized "crossing," those inclined to the adventure of freighter travel (business is good for companies who specialize in this,) and college students! I actually think you could attract a lot of young people to a tourist class if you could keep it cheap. The hostels in both the United States and Europe are thriving, and knowing undergrads like I do it would be so easy to market to them.
Anyway, I've rambled on enough. Do any of you have any thoughts on this? Am I mad for imagining something like this could work?
Let me preface what I am about to say with a few caveats. First, I know this is a pipe dream, for many reasons. But I have always wanted to discuss it with someone, and neither my wife nor my friends are particularly interested in hearing me ramble about it. I am also a member of a few online communities, but encyclopedia titanica is the only place that I know actual mariners frequent, and in which people who are interested in the history of passenger ocean travel congregate.
In any regard, I have felt since I first learned Cunard would be replacing the QE2 that the passenger shipping market--not the crushing market--is entirely unrepresented today. I know why it originally disappeared, and generally have a grasp of the economics of the transatlantic trade in the late 60s, but I've always been curious as to why nobody but Cunard offered the service over the last 20 or so years.
My thought is that a line could offer regular service and be profitable--and I mean just that. Such service would be necessity (at leat at first) consist of one or two relatively small vessels rated for international ocean travel. You could either charter these, or buy older vessels that were built for ocean travel and converted to cruisers, and then reconvert them. It would also be a year round service, unlike cunards, and voyages would not be needlessly lengthened.
As I side note I travel a lot, and have thought about crossing on the QE2 and later the QM2 a number of times. The thing that really frustrates me though is that i don't want to sail then fly-- I'd like to go both ways! This is impractical with Cunard if you actually want to continue your trip on "the other side of the pond" because even when "on season" these ships schedules weren't regular. They will make on quick crossing, followed by a meandering 20 day crossing stopping all over Scandenavia at 3 times the cost--or something similar.
It's difficult to plan your holiday around something like this for most people with limited means (like this poor grad student.)
So my thought is that one ship in the Atlantic (you can expand on this later if feasible) and maybe one in the Pacific later who focused on this would be competitive. I'd also like to keep prices competitive with airfare (within a few hundred dollars). And before you complain and say its not possible, inside staterooms on QM2 are already near the price of taking a plane!
Obviously you won't attract a lot of business travelers. Who you would attract is people like me, or people who take QM2, interested in participating in the romanticized "crossing," those inclined to the adventure of freighter travel (business is good for companies who specialize in this,) and college students! I actually think you could attract a lot of young people to a tourist class if you could keep it cheap. The hostels in both the United States and Europe are thriving, and knowing undergrads like I do it would be so easy to market to them.
Anyway, I've rambled on enough. Do any of you have any thoughts on this? Am I mad for imagining something like this could work?
