Travelling from the US to Europe in the latter half of the 1890s

[unvarnishedtale]

Oh, god, but my Google-fu has failed me, and my search through the tags of this splendiferous comm has been fruitless. Even Google Advanced searching hasn't yielded anything. Perhaps you good gentles can help me with a few questions

Comments

[janewilliams20]

My immediate feeling is that the shinies aren't even close to the fare.
Can he work his passage in some way? Steward, crewman, cook...? I don't know enough about ships of that period to know how feasible this is, but others may.

[unvarnishedtale]

No, I don't imagine they'd come close to the fare on one of the big, swanky ocean liners, but perhaps he could hitch a lift on a mail/cargo ship or something? IDK. My Google-fu is still proving fairly useless, but I continue to search ;)

[pengolodh_sc]

The big, swanky ocean liners were also the mail ships. In a number of cases, governments paid passenger lines quite lucrative mail contracts for the fastest steamers. Speed and regularity of service are important factors for mail service as well as for passenger service.

[lilacsigil]

A list of prices and various ships for 1887.

[unvarnishedtale]

GENIUS. Thank you so much!

[pengolodh_sc]

Steerage was the cheapest accomodation available on passenger liners of the day. It generally meant bunk beds in large dormitories set up on the lower decks, and which could be removed to make room for cargo if necessary. Conditions in steerage on ships sailing between North America and northern Europe often were rather better than on those going to southern Europe and the Mediterranean. The price of steerage was low enough to allow poor families to migrate from Europe to the new world, but compared to the level of service it probably was significantly overpriced - second class might cost two to four times as much as steerage, but there was a world of difference in the standard of service.

lilacsigil's link is part of a bigger site - it has a whole section about ships' fares, including an article about fares in 1894-95. From this one can glean that in May 1895, steerage fare on North German Lloyd's service to the Mediterranean was $20 and upwards going to Italian ports - this price includes wine and bedding (1st class cabin $80 upwards).

[houseboatonstyx]

I don't know how realistic this needs to be, but he might luck into going along with some well-to-do family to help with their luggage, mind their children, etc.