Travel from the USA to Slovenia by boat???

Have you thought about an airline credit card and with the bonus miles you get it could be $200 not $2000 for a round trip ticket to Europe.

other than paying close to $2,000 for a plane ticket

Originating where?

I found $1200 2 stop and $1500 one stop tickets (ORD-LJU)....cheaper than "the boat" by Ufkak

Well, you could travel on a cargo ship. Some offer passage for travelers at a cost of around $100 per day. It won't save you much (if anything) though because the trip to a major cargo port will probably cost around $1,400 and then you would have to get to Slovenia from there.

That seems high - pick another nearby city - and then catch a train or a local flight to Slovenia.

Ships are going to cost more - we are hoping to do SF-Barcelona by cruise ship and then will fly to Eastern Europe

Try Zagreb; it might be considerably cheaper and is only about 2-1/2 hours from Ljubljana by train or bus. And Zagreb's quite a nice city.

You could also check fares to Venice. From my origin it's not terribly cheap, but your home airport may be different. It will be more complicated to get from Venice to Ljubljana but not impossible.

Vienna is also a good option for Slovenia, a much larger airport and an easy train ride to Slovenia.

Slovenia is a small airline market (it only has less than 1/4 of the populaiton of London). Fly (roundtrip) into a large city first, then take a train or budget carrier to Slovenia.

The simple answer to the question is that there is likely no passage by boat from the US to Slovenia. However, depending on when you go there's a slight possibility of taking a trans-Atlantic cruise from a US port to Venice (repositioning cruise) and then a train/bus from Venice to Ljubjiana. The time involved would be extensive, probably at least 2 weeks or more but it may end up costing less than $2000 if you got a deal on the cruise. The other posters have given you some options and alternatives to check for cheaper air fares.

We flew in and out of Venice on a trip several years ago, and rented a car to reach Slovenia. We did return the in Venice before flying home.

As mentioned, a boat to central Europe will take some time, whatever the cost. For some people, time is money. Some have more time than money. Evan at $100 a day on a cargo vessel, it could add up to a hefty cost. Kidding, of course, but a rowboat would be low cost, but you’d have to tow a second boat to haul your drinking water (or desalination device) and food. Or catch fish, and have sushi for every meal.

You can generally find flights within Europe pretty inexpensively. Find which major hib is cheapest and easiest from your city london, Amsterdam frankfurt paris etc..then see what a connection costs on a budget carrier. Just leave time enough to deal with a late flight or something. We have done this and saved hundreds on more expensive tickets.

Another possibility: take a cheap flight from US to Venice (as mentioned above) then a GoOpti car or van from Venice airport to Llubjlana. It's about a 3 hour drive. You book GoOpti online ahead of time, with options for different times and prices. When I did the trip Llub to Venice Marco Polo airport in 2017, it was approx. $35. USD.

A few years ago, I found that Trieste Italy turned out to the closest, cheapest, and best flight schedule option for an open jaw trip that ended in Slovenia. Piran Slovenia is about 40 minutes by car, bus or ferry from Trieste. I took the ferry (but neither ferry nor bus ran every day). Trieste is a very small airport but for some reason the connections worked well and it was much cheaper for me than Ljubljana. Venice could also be a possibility but maybe more expensive.

Kidding, of course, but a rowboat would be low cost, but you’d have to
tow a second boat to haul your drinking water (or desalination device)
and food. Or catch fish, and have sushi for every meal.

There is no need to tow a second boat, one will be enough. But the trip will take at least a month in each direction, and the scenery will not be that exciting. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ocean_rowing#Atlantic_crossings A sail boat sounds easier though…

You can generally find flights within Europe pretty inexpensively.
Find which major hib is cheapest and easiest from your city london,
Amsterdam frankfurt paris etc..then see what a connection costs on a
budget carrier. Just leave time enough to deal with a late flight or
something. We have done this and saved hundreds on more expensive
tickets.

The problem is that since Adria went bankrupt, connections to Slovenia has been limited. And there are not that many low cost airlines flying there either. But, it is a small country so the easiest is probably to find a flight to a nearby airport and make the last part of the journey on the ground. I'd suggest Zagreb, Venice or Vienna. Klagenfurt and Trieste are closer, but those airports are even smaller than Ljubljana.

Rowing, especially solo, looks like a lot of work, and going to Slovenia - not just an arrival at the western edge of Europe, would probably make that a new distance record in that Wikipedia article. The equipment and costs for preparing for those towing feats might well have exceeded $2,000. Flights aren’t exactly cheap either, and after the pandemic, might not be getting cheaper any time soon.

I'm coming from west coast in the US. No row boats thank you! Lol

Thank you for all the replies. Yes I've since found that cargo ship rides would take far too long and probably expensive as well in the long run. So the credit card with airline miles sounds like a good bet, also trying a different city or nearby country to land seems like a better plan. I really appreciate all your help 😊

I'm coming from west coast in the US. No row boats thank you! Lol

Then it would make more sense to start with a bike :-)

Munich, Budapest, Zagreb, Prague are all not far from Slovenia. Trains go all over Europe.

My wife just looked at our points from our credit card, and our next trip to Europe will be $0.

In normal times, a repositioning cruise could get you from Miami to Rome, but it could be more expensive. I met some on my Miami to Barcelona cruise that said it was cheaper for them than flying