How to retire on a cruise ship

Table Of Content

• Cruise Season Underway for Scotland’s Largest Port
• How Much To Live On Cruise Ship Full Time
• Buying a Permanent Cabin for Retirement
• Keeping up a healthy and productive lifestyle on a ship requires personal discipline
• Potential for seasickness
• What Is the Cost of Retiring on a Cruise Ship?
• Seattle Begins Milestone Alaska Season With Norwegian Cruise Line Ship

Living on a cruise ship costs between $2,800 and $6,000 per month for most mainstream cruise lines, including drinks packages and WiFi. Luxury cruise lines can cost more, up to $40,000 per month for a typical suite. I’ve looked into some real-life examples of people who have lived on cruise ships, and there are some notable examples that prove it is a lifestyle within reach.

Cruise Season Underway for Scotland’s Largest Port

However, there are often exclusions if you spend less than a set number of days residing in the country, so it’s worth checking your local tax laws and speaking to your accountant for advice. The second tax consideration is if you decide to work while you cruise. Even if you cruise on a ship permanently, you’ll still need to have a home country of residence, and you’ll need to obey the tax laws for that country. Salcedo isn’t a retiree – he works on the ship, managing investments for various high-worth individuals.

How Much To Live On Cruise Ship Full Time

You’ll learn how much it costs, and what you’d need to think about if you wanted to try it. Living on a cruise ship might sound like a dream to some of us, but the reality is that there’s a lot more to retiring on a cruise ship than just packing your bags and setting sail. Here are the pros and cons of living on a cruise ship that you should know about.

Buying a Permanent Cabin for Retirement

Families of full-time cruise residents may visit onboard for a day (with prior authorization) and often opt to sail with full-time cruise residents. Morton Jablin's family sails with him one month per year onboard Seven Seas Navigator. People living at sea can pay bills automatically from a credit card or checking account. Many U.S. property tax jurisdictions allow you to pay bills online to avoid mailing payments from overseas or remote locations. Organizing bill payments and planning ahead will assist in keeping financials current and not falling behind on bills.

A retired couple sold their home to live on a cruise ship. This is how much they’re saving - CNN

A retired couple sold their home to live on a cruise ship. This is how much they’re saving.

Posted: Thu, 02 Nov 2023 07:00:00 GMT [source]

Keeping up a healthy and productive lifestyle on a ship requires personal discipline

Whether you’re seeking retirement bliss or remote work opportunities, the cruise ship life can be an exciting and fulfilling choice for those ready to embark on their own personal sea adventure. However, it’s important to note that additional expenses such as gratuities for staff members and port fees are not typically included in the initial price. Living on a cruise ship full-time can be a cost-effective choice, as the initial cost covers your accommodation and meals. However, it’s important to note that there are additional expenses to consider.

It is possible for someone to write to you at a cruise port via the port agency, but this requires you to reach an agreement for them to hold your mail. Just be careful, though because you may also be paying other benefits at home that you could miss out on if living on a ship. For example, in the UK, if you don’t make National Insurance payments, you won’t get the full state pension later in life.

So, by living on a cruise ship permanently, you may not have to pay tax at all. Perhaps the most famous case is of Mario Salcedo, nicknamed Super Mario. Mario has lived continuously on Royal Caribbean ships since 2000, with an average of 15 days a year spent on land to handle life admin.

However, there are other expenses -- and logistics -- that you should consider about retiring on the ship. In fact, major news stories have covered retirees that have doing exactly that. Instead of having a traditional retirement, they’ve opted to instead live their golden years on a cruise ship.

Not only will you get an idea whether this is a desirable lifestyle for you, you can compare different lines and get a feel for which lines would work best as a new home. For that, we decided to lock in on an option that we think would appeal to the broadest amount of people by being a mid-tier cruise that’s realistically affordable without having to skimp. Think of retiring, and you’re likely picturing a life of relaxing, traveling, eating good food, and with plenty of time to do whatever you want. "It's amazing to have the opportunity to travel and get paid for it as well," Nolan said.

Even luxury lines like Silversea and Seabourn offer top loyalty members discounts and free nights. A feeling of confinement is tops on the list of reasons people I talked to said they couldn't retire on a cruise ship. Even on a large ship, you can only go where it goes, plus the room you call your own is likely to be far smaller than what you are used to.

And still more embark on lengthy around-the-world cruises that can last six months and circle the globe. According to CruiseFever, a website that provides statistics about the ocean cruise industry, the average person spent approximately $237 per day aboard a cruise ship in 2022. This included the ticket price and onboard spending for food, entertainment and miscellaneous purchases. Based on that number, the average cost of living aboard a cruise ship year-round would total a little more than $77,000 for retirees taking a nomadic approach. So if you were planning to spend 20 years in retirement, you could spend $1.54 million to live on a cruise ship. When living on a cruise ship, it’s important to calculate the cost of living, including the cruise fare, onboard expenses, relocation fees, and personal expenses.

If you live or work on a cruise ship and would like to share your story, please email It's become a big family, and I don't want to rebuild those relationships on another ship — I joke that I have 1,300 roommates. Mondays through Fridays, on the ship, I do the exact same routine I'd do on land. I do meetings in the morning and afternoons, but I can also go to lunch and socialize or meet people at the gym. I've even met people that I stay in contact with and that have come back and cruised on this ship with me multiple times since. Morton Jablin has no regrets and offers advice to those who wish to follow in his unique retirement footsteps.

You can book yourself onto a traditional cruise ship for the long term. Speaking with a financial planner ahead of time will help you maintain your living expenses on land without going overboard at sea. Both of these strategies will make it easier for you to switch to living on the cruise line full time. If you want to take more of a DIY approach to living on a cruise, you can follow in the footsteps of Mario Salcedo and simply book back-to-back cruises. With this plan, you’ll need to be prepared to fly from port to port every now and then.

That fare includes meals, beverages, and other amenities onboard, as well as airfare to the ship’s port. Assuming two cruises booked per year at that rate, the annual cost of retiring on a cruise ship would be $71,798. That, indeed, looks like a cost-saving over a traditional retirement – assuming you’re okay with having less space to yourself than you would on land. It’s no mystery that cruise ships are expensive, and if you’re planning to live onboard a ship permanently you need to be prepared for those extra expenses.