After being accepted to the Semester at Sea program voyagers are given a chance to sign up for field programs. These are fun, educational excursions into the country that the ship is docked in. Field Programs can be anything from a $20 party at a local college to a $1000 flight deeper into the country. Each Semester at Sea sponsored trip will be a mix of students, professors, and even some children. The trips are great opportunities for voyagers that wouldn’t normally cross paths on the ship to meet and get to know each other.
Going on International Day Trips
The ship docks in each port for a certain number of days and each day has it’s own set of trips. Often the same trip will run on different days to give more people a chance to do it. Day trips vary greatly. They can be a guided tour of the port city, a drive further from the port for shopping, or a visit to a local historical site or museum.
Times for day trips vary as well. Many will leave the moment the ship docks in the morning and not return until nightfall, others are only for a couple of hours. The program guide will specify times and give a summary and the price of each trip.
Overnight Trips Into Countries
For a longer, often more expensive excursion, trip voyagers can choose to go overnight. These trips often go deeper into the country, sometimes by plane, for a number of days. They can be only a single night or last for every night the ship is in port. Sometimes these trips go to different places, such as spending two nights in a five-star hotel in a city and then two nights in a cabin in the woods.
It is important to look carefully at the dates for the overnight trips. A voyager can do an overnight trip and also sign up for a day trip before or afterwards if they like. After the trips are confirmed a voyager will have to make sure to pack accordingly. A single overnight trip could bring the voyager from a freezing mountain top to a hot beach.
Accommodations and travel fees are included in the price of these trips and they also often include meals.
Going Solo in Port
Even thought Semester at Sea organizes the trips and takes care of everything, some people choose to go solo. Semester at Sea does provide guidebooks and helps people organize their own trips in each port. It can sometimes save a voyager money to go on their own, but it can also be more inconvenient.
The trips sponsored by Semester at Sea are not only much easier for the voyagers to arrange, they will be able to spend the time with fellow voyagers. If sometimes goes wrong, Semester at Sea employees do everything in their power to fix the trip. A mudslide blocked the road to a resort where a Semester at Sea trip had been booked. They were able to get the entire trip moved to a different resort by the time the ship docked. Solo travelers may not have had as much success.
The Lottery and Trading Trips
Many of the trips have a maximum number of people who can sign up. If that number is exceeded, every person who signed up is entered into a lottery where each person will be picked until the max number is reached. It is important to sign up for a second choice trip.
Overnight trips require hotel rooms, and often travel tickets, so after the initial sign-up period voyagers will not be able to sign up for the longer trips. However, day trips can often be changed and traded. Students are often allowed to wait with the departing day trip and are able to go on it if there is space. Semester at Sea also keeps a binder where students who want to sell or buy certain day trips can write their names and contact information.
Going on Semester at Sea Trips
Every voyage has a wide selection of trips that the voyagers can sign up for. Professors often assign projects relating to things that students experience in the field, so each trip is not only packed full of cultural experiences, but relates back to the things students are learning on the ship. No matter how many hours or days it lasts, every trip is more than worth it.
Katie Ouderkirk - Katie Ouderkirk started working at a barn when she was ten. As the years went on she worked at a number of different barns, two zoos, and ...
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