Full-time cruising (Washington Post article)

Seattle has exceptionally high housing costs. How would the math work if they lived in Flatrock? I don’t know.

But good for them if they are happy. They won’t be crowding the place I visit.
 
One of my potential tag lines is: "I can barely run my own life, so why would I try to run someone else's?" With that in mind, I can't criticize the concept of full-time cruising. Many posts here sum up my feelings on the subject. IOW it's NOT for me.

Now, having said that, I've "toyed" with the idea of living full time in a hotel? Realistically, I could move to the mainland, pick a 2nd tier sized city (Knoxville, Cincinnati, Lexington, Indianapolis, Columbus, etc.) and find a nice hotel that would cost LESS than my current digs (on a realistic daily basis.) I'm guessing rates would be negotiable with an "independent" hotel (not a chain.)

I could go the "Innsuites" route but, more likely for me, an older, established, downtown hotel. Service would be key as I also see such a living arrangement as a potential substitution (or at least a delaying action) for assisted living. A "good" service oriented hotel is likely "better" than assisted living in many cases though I've never tried either (but MIL used assisted living with mixed results.)

If you have seen the movie "That Thing You Do" you will recall the character "Lamarr" played by Obba Babatundé. Hotel staff with his impeccable qualities MUST still exist in some small/medium-sized independent hotel. With a service oriented "friend" such as Lamarr looking after your every need, I think the only issue would be the total cost. I could live that way, I think. I'd have to look for a while to find my "Lamarr" and his hotel, but I think he/they must still exist somewhere.

I really enjoyed the TV movie "Always at The Carlyle" which showed a NYC hotel and discussed its service. I think it would be a BIT out of my price range with rooms starting at (IIRC) around $4K! But the concept - translated to Omaha, just might work in leu of a ship on the ocean (or, more practically) an assisted living complex. YMMV

If I had to choose, I'd rather live in a hotel than on a cruise ship. You get a bigger room and are free to come and go as you please.
 
Living in a small cell with lots of Covid exposure? There's a cheaper way to do that...
 
...
Wonder what their plan is for LTC? or if one of them has a major illness/injury on board?...

Great idea for a new business? LTC cruise ship with built in end-of-life option: when you are ready to end it all, just jump overboard.
Tagline: "We'll grieve, but won't retrieve." :):):)

-BB
 
Great idea for a new business? LTC cruise ship with built in end-of-life option: when you are ready to end it all, just jump overboard.
Tagline: "We'll grieve, but won't retrieve." :):):)

-BB

:LOL::LOL: Hilarious :LOL::LOL:

I must admit about 3 decades ago I was a tourist in an all inclusive low cost resort resort in a Caribbean country.
Ocean front, free drinks, swimming pool, 3 meals per day, some nights had activities like dancing/music.
I realized the resort was very cheap and I could retire and live at the resort for the rest of my life....

I didn't and still wouldn't as like the cruise ship, I would be largely cut off from family and friends.
 
Living in a small cell with lots of Covid exposure? There's a cheaper way to do that...

Heh, heh, the only good thing about Covid is that it's made us forget about Norovirus. When I learned how this particular virus is transmitted, it made me think about the other effects that might occur on cruise ships due to poor sanitation among food service employees. Gross! - But YMMV.
 
Here's the earlier article, which includes an interesting analysis comparing the cost of living on a cruise ship vs in a retirement home (hope the link works):

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/24/business/retiring-on-a-cruise-ship.html

From that article:
In total he spends almost all 52 weeks of the year at sea, at a cost of about $70,000 per year.

That's just for himself 5 years ago, I don't see how a couple can get by on $100 a day cost (in the original article), even with deal hunting when you factor in port fees and tips. Not to mention the cost of going port to port between cruises if your next deal leaves somewhere else. It's got to be more than that even if you only book inside cabins.
 
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From that article:
In total he spends almost all 52 weeks of the year at sea, at a cost of about $70,000 per year.

That's just for himself 5 years ago, I don't see how a couple can get by on $100 a day cost (in the original article), even with deal hunting when you factor in port fees and tips. Not to mention the cost of going port to port between cruises if your next deal leaves somewhere else. It's got to be more than that even if you only book inside cabins.


I don't cruise but I'll devils advocate here, Two don't cost much more then one, cruise prices haven't gone up a lot in 5 years and the free perks for loyalty are better. But I agree the 100 bucks a day for EVERYTHING seems like a stretch.
 
I don't cruise but I'll devils advocate here, Two don't cost much more then one, cruise prices haven't gone up a lot in 5 years and the free perks for loyalty are better. But I agree the 100 bucks a day for EVERYTHING seems like a stretch.

For $100 a day my wife and I live comfortably in a 1000 sq ft house on almost 2 acres. We cook our own food and do our own cleaning though. Two of my bands rehearse here but I doubt it's the same level of entertainment that a ship provides... :LOL:
 
I don't cruise but I'll devils advocate here, Two don't cost much more then one, cruise prices haven't gone up a lot in 5 years and the free perks for loyalty are better. But I agree the 100 bucks a day for EVERYTHING seems like a stretch.

The total cost is per person so while the single surcharge makes the base cruise fee twice as much (except for solo cabins), the port fees and tips are per person. It's not just a little more than the cost of one person, they would have to be getting massive discounts to be able to have two people cruise for $700/wk, every week (total cost incl. fees and tips). Then you have to also have to factor in the cost of any shore excursion stuff even if they book with locals. The only way I can see it working is enough cheap long cruises to balance out the cost of more expensive 7 or 10-days, but it's still a stretch.

I think they admitted in the article that they spend a lot of time trying to game out the cruises for the best deals. But if you have a decent retirement fund, I think $200/day is pretty easy to do and close to what Mario was paying 5 years ago (in the NYT article).
 
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