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The question nobody asking: How did you manage to get on that ship?! I’ve long had the thought in my head of going on a different kind of “cruise” where inste

The question nobody asking: How did you manage to get on that ship?! I’ve long had the thought in my head of going on a different kind of “cruise” where instead of getting on a cruise ship I manage to make my way onto a container ship or another type of work boat. Getting to spend time on a Soviet ice breaker sounds even more exciting!

sib 6y ago
If, for example, you go on a voyage to the North Pole, you will travel on a Soviet / Russian nuclear-powered icebreaker: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/50_Let_Pobedy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/50_Let_Pobedy You'll also end up with a lot less $$ in your wallet: https://www.quarkexpeditions.com/expeditions/north-pole-the-ultimate-arctic-adventure https://www.quarkexpeditions.com/expeditions/north-pole-the-...
- mycall 6y ago
  Those prices say one thing: you better be serious.
  - ses1984 6y ago
    I thought they said you better have a lot of money.
- ptero 6y ago
  Going with a US outfitter is the most efficient option, but is also expensive. A poor student with little money and a lot of time could try joining a research team as an unpaid helper. It has been years since I toyed with the idea, but when I did there were university groups of all sorts, from military-funded data collectors to environmentalists. University teams are often interested in saving limited grant money by paying fewer workers. This is a lot less glamorous option and one would need to do some work, but the ticket becomes free.
- telesilla 6y ago
  This is also another option, including the antarctic. https://www.heritage-expeditions.com/ https://www.heritage-expeditions.com/
lopmotr 6y ago
There are companies that organize booking of passenger cabins on container ships so that seems to be fairly easy.
- whytai 6y ago
  Can you provide any recommendations or links?
  - muratk 6y ago
    https://www.langsamreisen.de/en/ https://www.langsamreisen.de/en/ (no affiliation)
    - ahmedalsudani 6y ago
      That is very useful. Thanks!
madaxe_again 6y ago
I went to the Antarctic on a (refitted) soviet era ice-hardened (anything up to ~1m thickness) ship a few years back, as a paying tourist - a lot of the more niche operators who go to more remote corners run old Soviet ships - in fact, the only other ship that we saw in a month down there was a similar vintage soviet ship - Akademik someone-or-other. The bridge had largely been refitted to modern standards and design, but the engineering control room was a thing of beauty - blinkenlights and dials and levers and buttons like goddamned pornography. The aesthetic (cream, green, black, chrome, domed lamps, tactile light-up buttons) was almost identical to that of a soviet missile silo I visited a few years back near Pervomaisk, Ukraine - which isn’t altogether surprising, as they were likely built in the same shipyard - soviet control bunkers were basically submarines turned on end, mounted on shock absorbers, and shoved down a silo. Fun aside: our guide was one of the button-men back in the day. He explained that two keys, spaced eight feet apart, had to be turned simultaneously to arm the launch controls. He then explained and demonstrated that the slot in the tip of the flag standard which stood proudly behind the control chairs was designed and curved such that you could hook the key in the control lock through it, sit down at the other key, hold the end of the standard, and give it a pull, which would turn the “out of reach” key as you turned yours. It was “officially unofficially official” in his (translated) words, to be done in the case of the incapacitation of the other launch control officer.
- qubex 6y ago
  What you’re saying is that there was a deliberate mechanism by which a single man could turn both keys and trigger a launch? That’s WarGames-level horrifying. Incidentally I’ve always deeply respected Soviet officers for being very level-headed in situations that should have precipitated a ‘retaliatory’ launch, such as during the Cuban missile crisis and when one of their satellites mistook glints off lakes for the IR sigantures of a first strike launch.
  - coldtea 6y ago
    >What you’re saying is that there was a deliberate mechanism by which a single man could turn both keys and trigger a launch? That’s WarGames-level horrifying. Isn't the opposite mostly a security theater? As if a single person couldn't do it with some ingenuity anyway even on mechanisms that need two persons? For starters, they could always point a gun to another person to make them turn the other key...

sib 6y ago

If, for example, you go on a voyage to the North Pole, you will travel on a Soviet / Russian nuclear-powered icebreaker: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/50_Let_Pobedy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/50_Let_Pobedy You'll also end up with a lot less $$ in your wallet: https://www.quarkexpeditions.com/expeditions/north-pole-the-ultimate-arctic-adventure https://www.quarkexpeditions.com/expeditions/north-pole-the-...

mycall 6y ago
Those prices say one thing: you better be serious.
- ses1984 6y ago
  I thought they said you better have a lot of money.
ptero 6y ago
Going with a US outfitter is the most efficient option, but is also expensive. A poor student with little money and a lot of time could try joining a research team as an unpaid helper. It has been years since I toyed with the idea, but when I did there were university groups of all sorts, from military-funded data collectors to environmentalists. University teams are often interested in saving limited grant money by paying fewer workers. This is a lot less glamorous option and one would need to do some work, but the ticket becomes free.
telesilla 6y ago
This is also another option, including the antarctic. https://www.heritage-expeditions.com/ https://www.heritage-expeditions.com/

lopmotr 6y ago

There are companies that organize booking of passenger cabins on container ships so that seems to be fairly easy.

whytai 6y ago
Can you provide any recommendations or links?
- muratk 6y ago
  https://www.langsamreisen.de/en/ https://www.langsamreisen.de/en/ (no affiliation)
  - ahmedalsudani 6y ago
    That is very useful. Thanks!

madaxe_again 6y ago

I went to the Antarctic on a (refitted) soviet era ice-hardened (anything up to ~1m thickness) ship a few years back, as a paying tourist - a lot of the more niche operators who go to more remote corners run old Soviet ships - in fact, the only other ship that we saw in a month down there was a similar vintage soviet ship - Akademik someone-or-other. The bridge had largely been refitted to modern standards and design, but the engineering control room was a thing of beauty - blinkenlights and dials and levers and buttons like goddamned pornography. The aesthetic (cream, green, black, chrome, domed lamps, tactile light-up buttons) was almost identical to that of a soviet missile silo I visited a few years back near Pervomaisk, Ukraine - which isn’t altogether surprising, as they were likely built in the same shipyard - soviet control bunkers were basically submarines turned on end, mounted on shock absorbers, and shoved down a silo. Fun aside: our guide was one of the button-men back in the day. He explained that two keys, spaced eight feet apart, had to be turned simultaneously to arm the launch controls. He then explained and demonstrated that the slot in the tip of the flag standard which stood proudly behind the control chairs was designed and curved such that you could hook the key in the control lock through it, sit down at the other key, hold the end of the standard, and give it a pull, which would turn the “out of reach” key as you turned yours. It was “officially unofficially official” in his (translated) words, to be done in the case of the incapacitation of the other launch control officer.

qubex 6y ago
What you’re saying is that there was a deliberate mechanism by which a single man could turn both keys and trigger a launch? That’s WarGames-level horrifying. Incidentally I’ve always deeply respected Soviet officers for being very level-headed in situations that should have precipitated a ‘retaliatory’ launch, such as during the Cuban missile crisis and when one of their satellites mistook glints off lakes for the IR sigantures of a first strike launch.
- coldtea 6y ago
  >What you’re saying is that there was a deliberate mechanism by which a single man could turn both keys and trigger a launch? That’s WarGames-level horrifying. Isn't the opposite mostly a security theater? As if a single person couldn't do it with some ingenuity anyway even on mechanisms that need two persons? For starters, they could always point a gun to another person to make them turn the other key...