The Costs of Spending Retirement Living on a Cruise Ship

Table Of Content

• Protect Yourself With Private Health Insurance
• Now You Can Live On An All-Inclusive Cruise Ship For Just $83 A Day
• Internet and Business Facilities
• Christine Kesteloo lives on a cruise ship half the year for free as a 'wife on board'
• Understanding Cruise Fare
• Make Plans to Stay in Touch
• Booking Long-Term Cruises
• Full-Time Cruising Appeal

You own your residence and so you’re able to welcome guests onto the ship if you wish. Cruises are available to book around 18 to 24 months in advance, so you’ll need to plan ahead. I have been cruising since 2004 and have sailed on dozens of cruises all over the world.

Protect Yourself With Private Health Insurance

Further, they’re guaranteed to have the same cabin for the entire duration of the sailing. "I've been told I'm crazy for trying to live full time on a cruise ship, but it's not just for retired people," Gutridge said. Besides the health aspect, you'll always need to have a solid backup plan. Things like mechanical breakdowns, disaster-related shutdowns and cruise line business decisions can drastically affect your plans — more so than in most land-based living situations. You would need annual travel insurance as well as enough available money to cover hotels and transportation from almost anywhere on the globe. Plus, the cabin you book might not be designed for senior living, the way apartments at a retirement home or senior living community would be.

Now You Can Live On An All-Inclusive Cruise Ship For Just $83 A Day

Many cruise lines, including Disney Cruise Lines, Carnival and Royal Caribbean, offer weddings and wedding renewals aboard the ship or at scenic tropical locations. Most people know cruises offer a great value and are nearly all-inclusive with good food, accommodations and entertainment. Add to that exotic ports of call and shore excursions that strike all fancies, from beach bums to adrenaline junkies. Plenty of family-friendly cruise ships have waterslides, but few have six — or even one that requires a multi-person raft. Taking these factors into account, the cost of living on a cruise ship can range from $60,000 per year to upwards of $150,000. Living on a cruise ship brings a unique set of perks and hurdles that we must carefully consider before taking the leap into ship life.

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Internet and Business Facilities

The outright purchase price for one of the accommodations starts just shy of $1 million and will go up to $8 million. Like any other home, the residences can be rented out or sold in whatever manner the owner chooses. A select few abodes are also listed for 24-year leases (starting at $600,000, or roughly $25,000 per year). After the initial purchase or lease price, each unit will also be charged a yearly fee, ranging from $65,000 to $200,000, to cover meals, amenities, and maintenance.

Guests can also purchase seasonal residency, splitting their apartment with others at different times of the year. Most people who live on cruise ships rarely pay for extras like specialty dining and shore excursions. As mentioned before, reaching the highest tiers of cruise line loyalty programs can help with this. Some include a set amount of alcoholic beverages or a specialty dining meal per cruise as loyalty program perks. Here’s an idea of what you might pay for a voyage on a mainstream cruise ship in the Caribbean.

Understanding Cruise Fare

A few trendsetters have altered the reality of normal living by packing up their life on land and moving it to a cruise ship on the sea. How to live on a cruise ship starts with proper financial planning, additional health insurance, and awesome deals from cruise liners. Keep reading to learn how your ocean-living dreams can become a reality.

Make Plans to Stay in Touch

There are three swimming pools, along with a mammoth 20 restaurants to choose from. You can also borrow from the 10,000 books in the library, or enjoy a drink brewed in the ship’s own microbrewery. The cruise is all-inclusive with beer and wine served at meals, complimentary healthcare, free high-speed WiFi, selected free excursions, and free laundry. For the money, you get use of the aft deck – the main hub of the yacht where you can enjoy a large lap pool, two spa pools and various bars and seating areas.

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Booking Long-Term Cruises

Morton Jablin, affectionately nicknamed ‘Captain’, is another long-term cruise passenger. As of 2018, when Jablin was 94 years old, he had spent 13 years living on Seven Seas Navigator, enjoying a life of luxury. Wachtstetter remained on Crystal Serenity until 2018 when she apparently had to return to land due to ill health.

We, digital nomads, value connectivity, flexibility, and experiences over traditional work environments. Cruise ships have adapted to our needs by providing high-speed internet and workspaces. This means we can work from anywhere on the globe while indulging our wanderlust. Also, take into account the broader list of amenities to determine whether a cruise line offers the features that interest you most. For example, you may be looking for an on-deck walking track, gym, or yoga studio so you can keep up your fitness routine.

"It's an alternative to that second home in Florida, or someone who would like to live at sea full time, as a lifestyle." If you’re planning to live full-time on a cruise, you’ll need to make good nutrition a priority. You can try asking for sauces on the side or swatching out the fries for a plate of salad. However you choose to do it, it’s important to make your health a priority. If you’re planning to live on a cruise full-time, creating a schedule can help you fit into the cruising lifestyle.

Have you ever dreamed of life on a cruise ship, spending your days coasting with the motion of the ocean and watching the sun set on the horizon each evening? They take up residence on cruise ships by booking consecutive cruises for months and years on end. In this article, we’ll outline how much it actually costs to live on a cruise ship.

If you’re paying with a credit card, remember to call your credit card company to inquire about the travel insurance they offer and what it covers in a scenario where you live on a cruise ship. Ask your travel specialist for recommendations and put the question to your financial planner. Ships are required to maintain medical staff on call 24/7, including at least one physician and two nurses. Similar in model to assisted living facilities, cruise ships are equipped to handle most medical emergencies in the short term.

Another option for anyone looking for a permanent shipboard residence is to buy a cruise residence. Ships such as The World offer private studios, one, two, and three-bedroom apartments on board. Be sure to clear it with your doctor before signing up to live or retire on a cruise ship. Doing so can prevent you from getting sick on a cruise and being stuck at sea without access to the help you need.