I recently was introduced to passenger passage on freighter ships. 
I'm looking for a good agent who handles such things in the United
States for ports in Florida going to "anywhere".  Anybody but Maris
who, although trying to learn  English for 50 years, has not learned
the language and is very touchy about it when you find them hard to
understand.

Greetings Dood:

What a cool way to travel!  I've just learned much more about in
researching your question.  :)

I discovered a few resources for you for freighter information in an
article titled "Good news for devotees of the meandering cruise by
freighter" and located at http://www.msnbc.com/news/793674.asp#anc_1 -
after perusing the leads given there, I discovered:

Freighter World Cruises, Inc.
"...Ms. Deel derides the widely held notion that freighter capacity is
incapable of meeting the demand. “There is always space around if you
don’t care where you go,” she says. “We can move a person in two
weeks. Only when you insist on, say, New Zealand, or hot-weather ports
in winter, must you wait three or four months for a ship.”  To prove
the point, Deel’s 24-times-a-year “Freighter Space Advisory,” a
smartly edited six-page newsletter, devotes itself to photos and
descriptions of ships leaving in the next month or two from both U.S.
and foreign ports..."
180 S. Lake Ave., Suite 335
Pasadena, CA 91101
Phone 626-449-3106 or 800/531-7774
http://www.freighterworld.com

Please note the notice at
http://www.freighterworld.com/places/short.html regarding "short
notice tramp services" - they list a Florida departure from Tampa to
Australia which has just passed - they stated for the date "about Mar.
31-Apr. 04, '03".  However, this is promising as it does seem to prove
a way to get more Florida port information from the FreighterWorld web
site.

***********

TravLtips
"...combination freighter-travel agency/newsletter company, except
that its publication, a bimonthly, is a slick and elaborate 32-page
magazine (TravLtips), devoted not only to “freightering” (through
first-person accounts by subscribers of their own recent trips), but
to exotic or long-term sailings by ordinary passenger ship, tall ships
and riverboats—the kind that would appeal to the heavily traveled,
sophisticated devotees of freighters."
25-37 Francis Lewis Boulevard
PO Box 580188
Flushing, NY 11358
Phone 718/224-0435 or 800/872-8584
http://www.travltips.com

On that site I located three Florida departure references (see all
listings at http://www.travltips.com/freighterdirectory.html):

"H. Buss - Seaboard Pride departs Miami for Barranquilla, Santa Marta,
Cartagena & Puerto Bolivar, Colombia; Puerto Cabello, Venezuela; Rio
Haina, Dominican Rep.; Fernandina Beach, FL; returning to Miami. About
14 days. 2 passengers. Age limit: 79. $1,400-$1,540 single. (No double
cabins.) Add $262 taxes/deviation ins./ fees."

"Mare Schiffahrtsgesellschaft - REVISED - Mira J departs Miami for
Willemstad, Curacao; Oranjestad, Aruba; La Guaira and Puerto Cabello,
Venezuela; Rio Haina, Dominican Rep.; returning to Jacksonville, FL.
About 12 days. 4 passengers. Age limit: 79. $1,080 double; $1,150
single. Add $312 taxes/deviation ins./ fees."

"Mare Schiffahrtsgesellschaft - ARA J departs Pt. Everglades, FL for
Kingston, Jamaica; Oranjestad, Aruba; Curacao; Puerto Cabello & La
Guaira, Venezuela; Guamanche, Margarita Is.; Point Lisas, Trinidad;
Paramaribo, Suriname; Georgetown, Guyana; Kingston (2nd call);
returning to Pt. Everglades. About 18 days. 3 passengers. Age limit:
79. $1,800 single. (No double cabins.) Add $262 taxes/deviation
ins./fees."

There are other Florida references regarding stopovers in the state
but you'd need to see if they returned to each port where they picked
people up or make arrangements to fly back to Florida.

*************

I found two other sources that may be of assistance:

Freighter Travel Club of America
"A monthly eight-page newsletter...send $20 (for a one-year
subscription), or $32 for two years"
3524 Harts Lake Rd.
Roy, WA 98580
ATTN: Leland J. Pledger

R.F. Ahern freighter travel website
"...a helpful Web site, produced not by a travel professional, but by
an avid aficionado of freighter travel, R.F. Ahern. On his site the
author covers average costs, how to book, food, pets, languages,
visas, agents to contact and much more."
http://www.geocities.com/freighterman.geo 


Should you require clarification of any of the links or information I
have provided, please request it and I will be happy to respond.


SEARCH STRATEGY:

passenger freight liner travel
passenger freight liner agent
passenger freight liner service florida

One of the websites listed as the only Stateside agent, Maris, the
very one I will not deal with.  Otherwise, good search!

Greetings again, Dood:

I left out the results I found that were *labeled* as Maris so I
apologize that they trickled in under another name.  Please know that
you may always choose to request clarification *before* rating an
answer so that Google Answers Researcher may endeavor to completely
satisfy your needs before you rate their performance.

Thanks for asking this very interesting question and I hope the other
companies I providied will assist you in having a great voyage
someday!  :)

Hello Journalist,

I'm sorry I didn't do it right.  I had already researched the question
pretty thoroughly, but you did better.  I had such a rotten experience
with Maris, that it clouded my judgement.  Your answer was worth more
than 3 stars.  Thanks for waking me up! :-)

Dear Dood:

Thank you for your additional gracious words.  :)  I did locate that
Maris name and believed I steered clear of it but you recognized
something in the text of the listings that I didn't, that pointed to
Maris.

I'm very happy you posted the question because it's an area I wanted
to learn more about.  It seems such a unique way to travel and it
certainly fits my budget better than those cruise liners.  lol  In my
younger years, I lived in Florida and when I saw your question, I
thought "Why didn't I know about doing that when I was in Florida??" 
Talk about a fun thing to do with a bunch of my college buddies...we
would have had a ball.

I do hope you find a responsible agent/company to book your passage
and that you have many wonderful and memorable adventures!  :)