NO signal, no all-you-can-eat buffet and your bed is next to hundreds of shipping containers – it’s certainly not your average cruise.
Yet this didn’t stop passenger Pieter Stroop Van Renen from shelling out £850 to travel for a week on board the shipping boat.
Pieter, 59,said he was stunned to realise you could pay to travel onboard the ships that are usually for cargo rather than leisure.
Talking to The Sun, he said he jumped at the chance to go on one and loved the idea of being the “only passenger onboard.”
Paying around €1,000 (£848) to travel aboard the Elbcarrier, the 140m-long vessel sailing was from Rotterdam to Dublin and back again.
It’s safe to say that the ship is the opposite of a luxury liner – there’s no infinity pool, no cocktail-fuelled small talk with fellow tourists and no breakfast buffet.
The first major difference from a commercial cruise was before the journey even began – as nobody could tell Pieter exactly when the ship would leave.
Even in the week before his holiday, he did not know whether he would depart on the Friday, Saturday or Sunday.
Pieter eventually boarded the Elbcarrier at 4pm on Saturday – but the ship did not set sail until 12 hours later, at four in the morning.
As he waited, confined to his cabin while loading was completed, the reality of spending several days aboard a working cargo ship began to sink in.
Peter said: “I thought, will I get bored, or will I get seasick, or what happens there? Where can I walk? Who are these guys, and do they know I’m coming?”
But that wasn’t a problem for Pieter, who instead spent hours on the bridge watching the captain and officers navigate, studying the ship’s radar screens, chatting to the crew and touring the engine room.
Pieter continued: “The bridge was beautiful at night. They keep the lights off, so it’s pitch black outside and all you can see are the navigation lights and the equipment glowing in the darkness. It was magical.”
At the invitation of the captain, Pieter had one of the best seats in the house as the vessel headed out towards the North Sea.
The journey to Dublin usually takes at least 48 hours by sea, but Pieter’s crossing lasted around 52 hours.
Pieter also couldn’t wander about as he pleased on deck – passengers aren’t allowed to walk between the stacks of containers, which can tower four or five containers high.
Pieter explained: “If something happens [and one falls], then you’re crushed and you’re dead.”
Mealtimes gave him another taste of life aboard a working ship.
Pieter’s ticket included three hot meals a day – there were fried eggs for breakfast and hearty dinners of meat and vegetables in the evening.
What Pieter had not prepared for was getting peckish between meals – but luckily the captain sold chocolate bars and cans of beer.
Sleeping was another challenge altogether because while daytime conditions were relatively calm, it’s a different story at night.
Pieter explained: “You’re just rolling in your bed from left to right continuously. I didn’t get seasick. But I didn’t sleep at all at night.”
He warned that anyone particularly prone to seasickness should think carefully before following his lead – especially as there’s no getting off the boat for excursions like on a usual cruise.
Anyone expecting to spend the voyage scrolling TikTok will also be disappointed as on the Irish Sea, there’s no connection whatsoever.
Pieter had to wait until he was back on dry land before posting about his experience on social media – where clips from the trip unexpectedly took off.
While the internet is impressed with his thirst for adventure, his family, however, were less enthusiastic about joining him on board a working ship.
He said: “I couldn’t get them to come. They would never do this. So, time for myself.”
To see more of Pieter’s container ship holiday, head here.