On 18th of November over 100 digital nomads will meet up in Las Palmas to escape the winter on a repositioning cruise ship to Brazil. Learn all about the trip and how you can join us in this post.
Latest News (Updated 15th of October)
1) Tickets available to Santos (next stop after Salvador):
There are still tickets availbale for the cruise. While Tickets to Salvador are not available anymore you can still join us and exit the cruise in Santos (near Sao Paulo). Many digital nomads will stay on the cruise until Santos so you won’t be the only one to board there. To book the trip you have to call Pullmantur directly (English hotline: +34 91 4187008 or +34 90 0 839 049) to get your ticket for the cruise (online bookings are not possible).
2) Digital Nomad Program
We will organize a special program for over 100 digital nomads on the cruise. If you would like to join us for conference talks, workshops and other meet-ups before we join the cruise simply fill out the this form and we’ll get back to you with the latest info as soon as possible.
Original Article:
I’d like to invite you on a cruise ship from Canary Islands to Brazil. The 9 day trip starts from only €236 (€100 for the cruise,€54 for taxes & €82 for tips). Over 60 100 120 digital nomads from around the world have booked their ticket already and will escape the winter to South America.
Find out more about the the first digital nomad cruise, in history, below.
Background
“Wouldn’t it be amazing if we could escape the winter together with a large group of digital nomads on a cruise ship? We could organize mastermind sessions, hold talks and really get to know each other. And then when we arrive in Brazil we would have so many new, like-minded friends we could meet in places like Rio, Buenos Aires, Medellin or go kitesurfing up in the north….We could probably have the best workation of our lives….”
These were my first thoughts when I found this crazy offer on Holidaypirates a while ago. Nine days, full-board, on a cruise ship to Brazil for only €154 (it’s a bit more expensive when you want a few extras, like booze, included).
I’ve never been on a cruise ship before and thought that it was about time. So I posted it in the Digital Nomad Network and created the event so we could connect to other nomads on the boat.
Seems that I wasn’t the only one who liked the idea. Talking to a few friends we quickly had a group of 20 of us joining this super cheap repositioning cruise to Brazil.
Then, more and more digital nomads began booking the trip everyday.
And now, also thanks to the promo of Conni from Planetbackpack and Marcus & Feli from DNX Global (who will join us as on the cruise as well) it seems we’re already over 100 digital nomads on the cruise ship, and more are joining every day! Read on if you want to join us as well!
It’s going to be amazing!
What’s the program on the boat?
The internet is super expensive so I guess many of us will go on a long expected digital detox. It’s been ages since I’ve been offline for a longer period so I’m really looking forward to that ;-).
But with so many digital nomads on board we can surely stay productive in a different way.
We’ll organize mastermind groups, sport activities and talks – all while cruising to Brazil!
Furthermore you can also join dutch author Esther Jacobs who will organize daily workshops on the boat.
No matter what the program is, I think it’s going to be epic!
Just think about all the inspiring conversations and business opportunities you could get from joining this trip.
Not to mention all the things that we can do as soon as we get to one of my favourite countries, Brazil.
What’s happening after the cruise?
It would be a shame to cruise to Brazil and then just fly back, so I expect that many of us will hang out in Salvador for a few days and then head south towards Rio and Buenos Aires, go kitesurfing up north or head towards Peru and Colombia.
Furthermore Feli & Marcus will organize a DNX Camp in Jericoacoara. And Elmar from Flaks and I will organize an event a New Years’ Party in Rio de Janeiro (more about that soon).
I’m also putting together a few options for things you can do with other nomads in Salvador, Rio and near Fortaleza for the Digital Nomad Network. Please let us know if you want to organize something as well!
Sounds great? Then make sure that you get your ticket very quickly. This trip has been going viral for a while and the boat is filling up fast. It’s only €50 to reserve your ticket and the full payment is only due in October.
There have been many questions about the booking process. So I’ve put together a short guideline on how to get on board, including a few questions…
How to book your trip
Trip Overview:
Departure: 18th of November – Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain
Destination: 26th of November – Salvador de Bahia
Nights on boat: 9 days at sea.
Ship: The Sovereign at Sea (all info about the ship here)
Cost: From €236 incl. meals, taxes and a service charge for tips.
Additional charges apply depending on your drinks, insurance.
IMPORTANT UPDATE: Tickets to Salvador are not available anymore, but you can still join the cruise and exit the cruise in Santos (near Sao Paulo). Many digital nomads will stay on the cruise until Santos. Booking online is not possible but you can call Pullmantur directly (English hotline: +34 91 4187008 or +34 90 0 839 049) to get your ticket for the cruise and join us on the trip to Brazil.
Important things to know about your booking:
Step 1 – Choose the cabin
You can choose between many different cabins starting from €100. Make sure you change the setting to 1 passenger if you’re travelling alone (see red circle in image above)
Deck 6, where most digital nomads are staying is sold out already, but there’s still some availability on Deck 7.
Dinnershift
Choose between two dinner shifts. Most digital nomads are taking the 19:30 shift.
Drinks
If you would like to consume alcohol on the ship and order drinks outside of ordinary dinner times. You can choose between a package for 15 or 23 euros per day (Upgrading on the boat is possible, but will be more expensive).
Insurance
You can choose between two different types of insurance.
I didn’t take any of them. You only need to pay a €50 deposit when you book the trip, so there’s not much to lose. The full amount is only due in October. But it’s up to you to decide.
Once you booked the trip, you’ll receive a confirmation email but it will take a few more days until you receive the final confirmation for the trip.
IMPORTANT: Even if your payment wasn’t successful you’ll receive a confirmation email. The cruise ship company will come back to you within a few days and ask you to make the payment via phone or bank transfer.
Short FAQ
Who’s going to be on the boat?
This trip will be very different to the ordinary cruise crowd. Expect to see more of a backpacker vibe on the ship. It’s been going viral for a while now – especially in travel blogs and Facebook groups.
What can I do on the boat?
There are endless possibilities for things that you can do on the boat. You’ll find a running track, outdoor climbing wall, jacuzzis, disco, pool, casino and so much more. Find all leisure activities here.
What’s the price for the internet?
Internet on cruise ships is usually super expensive and slow. That’s why many of us plan to go on a digital detox or focus on offline work.
250 minutes: 50€ (0,20€/min)
100 minutes: 30€ (0,30€/min)
60 minutes: 21€ (0,35€/min)
30 minutes: 12€ (0,40€/min)
Why is the trip so cheap?
The main reason that the trip is so cheap is that it’s a repositioning trip. Most cruise ships that operate around the Mediterranean in summer time move to the Southern Hemisphere or Caribbean in winter. They often fill up the cruise at very low prices in order to cover the costs for the repositioning.
More details about the cruise:
Official Event Page
Summary by Mandy
Important Pullmantur Info
Cabin Info
Leisure Activities onboard
Photo Gallery of the ship
Official FAQ section of Pullmantour.
If you have any more questions please leave a comment.
Looking forward to meeting you on the cruise!
So it’s actually not EUR 145 when the tips are enforced. Why didn’t you say it’s EUR 234? Internet and alcohol are also extremely expensive and I am guessing that if you want your own cabin that you’ll be paying a whole lot more.
I love the idea, I just think you should be more upfront with the costs and not be like large corporations who do this all the time.
You’re right. I didn’t keep the tips in mind when I wrote the headline. I’ve mentioned all in more detail in the article though.
You’re joining ;-)?
Got the ticket! Thanks so much for organising this johannes , it’s gonna be great!
Awesome, great to have you onboard!
Wow, I am seriously considering it :)
Come join us Christoph ;-)!!!
I just booked, Johannes. Can’t wait :)
Id like to go, depending on the costs for small children 3 and 5. If its free for them Im 99% sure we would go! Couldnt see any info about kids. Does anyone know?
Hey Caroline. I’m meeting with Pullmantur next week and will check this for you.
we are also thinking about joining this cruise with our daughter of 2 1/2… it would be important that there are other young kids on board..
I’m quite sure there will be quite a few kids on board. Will double check for you as well.
thanks! I found this URL with a deal from pullmantur cruises: http://pullmanturcruiseline.com/callback.cfm?deal=13890 is that the correct deal?
Our girl with almost four years is also coming to the ship. I guess there will be more :)
We booked the cruise yesterday (2 adults + 1 child 3 years old) and only had to pay the taxes (54€) for the child. So one (or possibly 2) children shouldn’t have to pay the 100/150€ for the cabin.
Hello :) This sounds incredible! Could you please help me with the cabin choosing? I am a bit confused and in the description it says for example 1-4 people. Does it mean that if I book it, more people will be in the same cabin (along with the 2 of us)? Thanks! Can’t wait :D
No, don’t think there’ll be anyone sharing the cabin with you. Looking forward to have you on board!
Hello, we have booked our places on board :) Currently working on visa application and other trip planning. Can’t wait to meet you all :)
No, it means there will be a pulldown bunk bed or pull-out sofa in the room for 2 kids.
Hey Johannes, thanks a lot for organizing ! Just got a ticket ;-)
Perfect ;-)
Hi there! This sounds nothing short of amazing! I am in the middle of clicking for the reservation for me and my husband, however it seems that the website doesn’t want to accept the reservation at all. It either says error or your reservation has not been made. If you can help us that would be great, because we would really like to go :)
Hey Eva, sometimes the booking site is down and can give you an error. I would just try again a bit later and it should be fine!
I tried it from two different computers 3 4 or 5 times, it doesn’t seem to finalize my booking. Is there something else maybe I can try or something that I am doing wrong in the booking process?
It should work well. What exactly is the problem with your booking? Maybe I can help.
Ok so, the last page of the reservation is the conformation page. There it says that the total price for the two of us is 308 Euros.(insurance and alcohol not inlcluded) When I put in all the personal information and the credit card number and I click Booking- it loads and it says: Your reservation has not been made, please contact us.. and then the number. So am I doing something wrong, because i guess the prices should be bigger or is it something else?
Hello Eva, I’m not sure what could be the problem. Best if you call Pullmantur directly. They also speak English and I’m sure they’ll be able to help you: +34 91 418 70 08.
Great. Thanks for bringing this up Natascha.
Brazil immigration requires proof of onward travel. Do you know if we’ll be asked for this? Since I’m going all that way I’m thinking about spending three-six months in Southern America. I’d rather not buy a flight back until nearer my leaving date.
Has anybody looked into getting back to Europe? Any tips on cheap flights? Or even a cruise back next year?
Hey Chris, it’s always good to have proof of onward travel. Not sure if you’ll be asked on immigration though but also a bus ticket to Argentina might help. I believe Pullmantur will forward all the most important info prior to departure.
I’m thinking about a bus/plane ticket to Paraguay since I’ll be heading that way to Iguazu falls. I just don’t know the dates yet. Hence I’m wondering if I have to get one now or if I can wait.
I’ve only been asked for an onward ticket a couple of times. Luckily I happened to have one on those occasions. It tends to be the airlines that care since they’re responsible for bringing you back. Since this is a one way ticket Pullmantur may care. So I’ll see what their requirements are.
The cruise from Cartagena looks tempting (Colon will be harder to get to). It’s 6 days longer than our cruise and has three stops (and so fees to pay) so I doubt it will drop to as low as €100.
For anybody who’s interested it’s €279 + €163 taxes = €442 for the cheapest room. They offer insurance but no additional food/drinks package.
This is definitely an option. I’ll be checking it out nearer the time. Thanks for the tip.
We paid around € 400 for our return ticket mid December with Condor from Recife to Frankfurt (we will be backpacking from Salvador to Recife). But you will get more for the €400 15 days on a ship with full board than on a 10 hour flight in economy with a rather average airline:) If you have the time, go for it. I’ll let you know if I see anything else interesting on one of the cruise sites I follow.
We are not booking any additional drinks packages, since in the past (this will be our 6th cruise) we calculated it is not worth our while. That is personal of course. Problem is that the package can only be bought per cabin, and if one is not a heavy drinker, or does not drink alcohol at all, the other person can impossibly drink for 2 without ending with the ships doctor. We did a soda package once, but we had to drink insane amounts of Coke per day just to break even. During meal times, tea, coffee, water and juice is included, and we have always managed to find a free coffee/tea machine near a buffet or pool where we could get our caffeine fix outside meal times. Also, you can take 2 bottles of wine per person on board on embarkation day ( just wine, no hard liquor!) to drink in your cabin. I don’t drink wine, so my partner can drink half a bottle of wine per day on the 8 day cruise.
Hey Johannes, thanks for organizing! We just booked our tickets starting from Berlin :-)
Fantastic. See you soon ;-)
The cruise is now officially sold out.
There will be a group of Dutch people on board in your age and even younger, so don’t worry. We will have fun
Siegfried,
Do you know anything about this company – cruisetravel.be? Just booked through them and they’re now requesting payment. Are they legit? Tried searching for reviews but nothing coming up…
Sorry, no personal Experience with cruisetravel.be. This booking portal is a very big online travel agency from Belgium and nevertheless reputable. Have fun on the cruise! :D
Dear fellow cruisers. I just thought I would share this information for those who did not buy the all-inclusive drinks package. I emailed Pullmantur to ask about their bring-your-own policy, since some cruiselines allow you to bring your own beverages on board to drink in your cabin, whilst others are extremely strict about not accepting one drop (Pullmantur parent company Royal Caribbean falls in the latter category!). I had already read somewhere on Cruise Critic that you could bring 2 bottles of wine per person on board, and Pullmantur confirmed this to me.
This is their response:
“Dear Natascha,
We would like to inform you that it is allowed to bring two bottles of wine (not other alcoholic drinks) of 750 ml each one.
Also if you want to uncork the bottle there is a fee of 9 eur per bottle (only allowed in public areas like restaurants).
If you need more information please contact to us.”
Of course, if you have a drinks package, this is totally uninteresting information, since all the wine you can drink is already included. If you haven’t, it can be a good idea, because wine is generally fairly expensive on cruise ships.