Travel by boat : commun price

Hi everyone,

Lvl 3 characters on my table will have to take soon a big trip, about 1000 miles (about 3 weeks if i'm correct) on a ship (commercial brick type).

It's a commercial but quite dangerous road to a young colony.

They're passengers (they don't know sailing) and i don't really know how to fix a decent price for this trip. i'm sure it ll be costly, but no more.

Any hint will be very welcome .

How strict are you on prices for living?  If the characters always seem to have money, and you don't really charge, why start on the trip?  If you are constantly nickel and diming them, then do you really need to ask?  You would already know because food/lodging is X and multiple it out by the voyage length then add between 50%-200% fee for the boat.

What is the purpose of charging the characters?  See how much money they have and base it on that.  Or tell them they don't have enough money and they have to be part of the crew.  The last option is just hand way the cost.

What’s the economy like in your world? For example, in general, does the average commoner makes 1 silver piece a week, or do they make 1 gold piece a day?

Then price it at something like 2 week’s wages. (Which for most modern Americans would mean one paycheck.) That will be pretty expensive for the average person. PCs are usually crazy rich, so it might not matter to them, though.

Think of it this way.

How many days would it take them to go from point A to point B?
What life style do they plan on traveling in? Luxury or steerage. Steak and wine or gruel and water. Your own state room or find a spot with the cargo.
Charge them 3 to 4 times what you normally charge per day.

The boat is providing efficient smooth transport, food and lodging.

15 days travel. 1 gold a day, X3. Soooo 45 gold.

But set your prices how ever you want.

From the PHB, Equipment chapter --> Services --> Travel:

Drivers or crew hired to conduct passengers to their destinations charge the rates on the Travel table, plus any tolls or additional expenses.

"Ship's Passage:  1SP per mile"

That cost is probably meant to be per passenger, but that's not 100% clear.  Additional Expenses might be estimated by using Lifestyle Expenses and the ship might provide a couple of options for that.  Tolls might include additional fees based on the situation such as fees for transporting mounts or vehicles or other bulky cargo that the party might be bringing with them, and so on.