I've made a few freighter trips. The first one was with my family in a little older freighter from Finland to Denmark. Our cabins were standard crew cabins, seaman style. Our breakfasts and lunches were served with the crew, our supper in the officers' mess. There was a ping-pong table on the crew cabin floor and a tv with a 5.1 dvd player combo in the officers' mess. It was a different experience in a positive way. What we found best was learning about the freighter seamen's work.
The second trip was on a newish freighter to Germany and back, actually on two different identical ships. There was about half a dozen truck driver cabins with bunk beds and my Dad and I were given a personal cabin. There was a salon with a satellite tv and a bunch of dvd's, and a dining room where we were served three meals a day. On the way out we only met the mess girl serving our meals speaking hardly anything. On the way back on the sister ship the captain took us around the entire ship and showed us where the brandy was being kept. We also had company: two Bulgarian truck drivers who spent almost the entire trip in their cabin, only showing up at meals. The only activity was warming up the sauna a couple of times a day.
On the other hand, those trips don't differ much from the half freighters with some 300 passengers between Finland and Germany, only that the meals aren't included to the quite expensive price. There's a sauna with a jacuzzi, a cafe, a bar and the buffet restaurant. Some slot machines on the aisle.
