Has anyone gone on a cruise and shipped their bikes with them? I have been investigating this and have a email ready to send. Its attached for your comments. Am I barking up a wrong tree and would others be interested in the same?

Regards Mark

Hi,

I talked to a reservation consultant with your company and explained that I would like to ship 2 motorcycles along with us on one of your cruises. To give you a little history and an understanding of my request, I would like to give you a brief explanation.

My son and I are planning a trans-America motorcycle journey from Prudhoe Bay, Alaska to Ushuaia Argentina. In the process of planning this trip, I became aware of the need to transport our motorcycles around the Darien Gap in Panama as the Trans-American highway is interrupted. While there are ways to ship our motorcycles around this area, the shipping means can be precarious. It would be my preference, as well as many others in similar circumstances, to accompany our motorcycles instead of traveling separately from their shipments. As I prepare for this trip, it becomes apparent that Adventure Motorcyclists and their journeys are much more common than I had been aware. It appears to me that safe, reliable transport of our motorcycles and persons could be a substantial and lucrative opportunity for your company.

In 2008, my wife and I took a cruise with Royal Caribbean Cruise lines on "Freedom of the Seas" in which we brought our motorcycle on board (along with 36 other motorcyclists) and rode with ETA Motorcycle Cruises. We disembarked and embarked at every stop and rode numerous Caribbean Islands. There were some logistics to this, but ETA was able to organize 37 motorcycles for loading, offloading and storage on the ship. The relationship between ETA and Royal Caribean has proven successful. It appears there is a successful model to work from.

Attached are some links to motorcycle tour companies that could use your services and can give you an idea of future possibilities and volumes.

motorcyclecruise2010
http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/
Globebusters.com | Home
Motorcycle Tours - Europe
[url=http://www.edelweissbike.com/]Motorcycle Tours

These are just a sample of motorcycle tour companies, with a quick 15 minute search on the internet. You will notice that most rent motorcycles. I am pretty sure that given the chance for safe, reliable and economical transport of their rides, many people from around the world would jump at the chance to sail with you, having their beloved motorcycles on board. I know, I would.

Please take this suggestion seriously. This appears to be a win, win opportunity for everyone.

Looking forward to your response.

If there is any way I can help further please feel free to contact me.

Yours truly, Mark

Interesting. Please post when you get a reply.

__________________
Andy Tiegs
https://new.horizonsunlimited.com/ts...lsouth-america

It's a great idea and I wondered why cruise line don't do this other than maybe there has not been much interest.
I didn't know there was a line that did this.

Thanks for initiating this. I am interested in what you get back from them.

Keeping an eye on this for our next trip

Pete

__________________
Vietnam, Cambodia & Thailand 2016
Buenos Aires to NYC 2012-2013: www.facebook.com/curryhunt
India and back 2009-2010:

Sam Manicom did this from S. Africa to Argentina. Read Distant Suns. He took two bikes as luggage ... no extra charge.

Cruises out of the US to the Caribbean and S. America are super cheap. No idea if they would take bikes but my in laws have done dozens of cruises ... never, ever a limit on amount of luggage.

Good luck. Let us know how things go.

Just a quick note about the progress of using cruise ships to transport our bikes.
We have had automated responses from the cruise ship lines and everyone that replied has been very polite, but not interested in the idea.

We are now looking into shipping the bikes via cargo ship and meeting them in Chile.

Mark

Hi Mark and others,
For a possible mini-version of a cruise with bikes you might want to consider a proposal by Captain of the Stahlratte to sail from Panama to Cuba and Jamaica to Colombia/Panama, tentatively commencing in November. I have discussed this with him somewhat, hoping to just get my bike transported from Panama to Cuba so I can do more than 3 weeks biking there (incredible motorcycling country) and then on to Jamaica. His concept is cruise/stay-on-the-boat deal but I am trying to negotiate better price which reflects time NOT spent on the boat but roaming on my own and finding my own digs onland. Re Cuba portion the boat would enter CUba at Cienfuegos and then depart from Santiago de Cuba little over 3 weeks later...I would go solo for that time, ditto for Jamaica though shorter time. It all comes down to what price can be negotiated, and presumably if there are other people like me out there.
Stahlratte gets pretty good reviews for its Panama to Colombia shuttles, and many bikers have shipped with them including you, right Mark?
Americans can visit Cuba by way of other country such as Panama no problem (they do not stamp your passport in Cuba, to make it easier for you).
I suspect we could put together a hell of a bike cruise if there is enough interest. Stahlratte is a big steel boat with tonnes of capacity, and I understand that the Captain (Ludwig is the name if my memory serves me well) is a reasonable character.
Cheers
Larry larrynunavut at hotmail dot com

Hi Larry,

Yah, I took the Stahlratte from Colombia to Panama. Big, comfortable, friendly, reliable. The Cuba trip looks to me like a good way to get to Cuba with a bike....but I think there's lots of work and little bike touring in my immediate financial future. Still, I can report that it's a good boat and that Ludvig and crew are good people....and even if the loading and unloading of bikes is a bit hair-raising, this is probably even more true on smaller boats.

Hope that helps.

Mark

Hi Guys,

Thanks for the info and support. I am aware of using english to talk to corrupt cops, but having an idea of what they are saying may give me a slight advantage. And like all shipments, I am aware they can go awry, so I would just have to take more time learning spanish and visiting Santiago and Valpo by bus, I guess... Antarctica by air sounds like a great idea if a berth can't be secured in a reasonable amount of time.

I actually considered riding Cuba and have an email to the Cuban consulate about what docs are needed to accommodate this. No word so far. I have already booked my flight to Santiago so this cruise crossing would have to be done on the way back. If this works for you Larry, let me know and we can work on this idea together, if you like. Just contacted Captain Ludwig about transport back to Panama yesterday and February looks like the time for me.

Thanks again for the great ideas and info.

Mark

Hi Mark,

Well we could see what interest we can stir up for a trip in February...I suspect if there are 6 or more of us we could get some pretty good terms from Ludvig on Stahlratte (steel rat). My preference is to pay only for transport and accommodations/meals on the boat while shipping to Cuba and back. Maybe Ludvig could get a mixed passenger compliment who would be bike-less and want to stay on the boat, visit ports like other cruise tourists too. If we have some numbers (6+ bikers I suspect) we could probably negotiate better...for me $1,200 to $1,800 would be good for return trip Panama to Cuba giving at least 3 weeks down on the island (I could do without the Jamaica part myself because all that makes for a much lengthier/expensive trip, especially if a couple days in San Blas Islands are thrown into the mix. On the other hand having the option of landing in Colombia or Panama on the way back would be attractive too.
What you think? Other folks interested give us a heads-up.
Cheers
Larry
larrynunavut at hm dot com

for those who don't want to ride all the way to Panama to ship to CUba (especially if you have already been through Central America), and if there are at least 6 people interested, it could be feasible to ship out from Yucatan or other Caribbean port in in Mexico too. Maybe with Ludvig or someone else...

Larry

Dear Mark,
We are in Ecuador about to start our trip, unfortunately, we have been forced to change our plans and will probably have to ship our bike to Chile from Ecuador or vice versa. I would love to chat with you to get some advice, seeing that you are soon leaving and probably have a lot of information. Would you be up for helping us?
Saludos!
Margarita