Written by Gary Bembridge, October 4, 2022 for Tips For Travelers
Editor’s Note: While this story and subject do not apply to many of us with health issues and long term disabilities, there may be people in our sphere that might be interested.
Despite all the cruises I have done, I only once came across someone living on a cruise ship. I tried to find out from the cruise industry how many people live or retire on their ships – but no-one knew. It seems very few do, despite how attractive the idea seems. It got me wondering: why do so few people do it? Is it the cost? The practicality? Or do the cruise lines make it hard to do?
I have the answers.
Living or retiring on a cruise ship is a story that newspapers love to cover.
They’ve written frequently about Beatrice Muller, who lived for 14 years on Cunard’s Queen Elizabeth 2. Lee Wachtstetter, known as “Mama Lee”, who lived on Crystal Serenity for over 12 years. Morton Jablin, who lived for 13 years on Regent Seven Seas. And Mario Salcedo, known as “Super Mario”, who has been living on Royal Caribbean for over 20 years.
So, I started by exploring roughly what it was costing these well-known residents to live at sea.
How Much!?
The person who does it at the least cost is Mario Salcedo, “Super Mario”. He revealed the costs in various interviews, including Washington Post and with the vlogger Alanna Zingano. And the 5 steps required if you want to live cheaply on a cruise ship
First, if you want to live as inexpensively as possible on a cruise ship, you need to decide which line you’re going to live on. He chose Royal Caribbean because it’s a mass line and offers lower fares than premium and luxury lines.
Look at your chosen line’s loyalty scheme. He chose Royal Caribbean, as their Crown & Anchor programme offered a perk critical to him as a solo passenger: a lower surcharge of 150% versus 200%. And then other perks like drinks vouchers, which save him more money.
Secondly, decide the cabin you want to live in. He chose an inside cabin. Living in a small inside cabin is not appealing to me, but may work for you. Remember that on many lines you pay 100% surcharge to travel solo.
Thirdly, decide if you are going to stick to one ship or use multiple ships within your chosen line.
The way to keep living costs down is to constantly jump ships within a line. Mario says, he keeps his costs down by chasing the itineraries on various Royal Caribbean ships with the lowest price.
Fourthly, and linked to this, is stick to the Caribbean for most of the year.
Mario says 80% of all his cruises each year are in the Caribbean, as it is the cheapest place to cruise.
Around 15% of his cruises are repositioning cruises. Again, these tend to be inexpensive cruises. For example, Transatlantic Crossings and East-West Coast Repositioning.
He hardly ever cruises in areas like Alaska and Europe because they are much more expensive.
The fifth decision is how low can you keep your outgoings going out?
There is no escaping taxes, port fees and gratuities. However, Mario hardly ever leaves the ship in ports and almost never pays for excursions. He doesn’t do specially dining, go to the casino or buy drinks packages, but he does have WIFI.
