Hi there!
We are a Canadian couple who live on cruise ships!
Our names are Kirk and Tori, and we would like to share with you our STORY of how we retired early to make the most of our lives by traveling on cruise ships.
Please click on the following YOUTUBE video for the full interview.
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There have been a few articles about us in early 2024, outlining some of the most popular questions that people have about living on a cruise ship. If you had read any of the articles, you would know that we had decided at a "pre-mature" retirement age, that life is just too short for us to sit around and wait to do what we WANTED to do.
We had repeatedly heard the same stories from people around us, who simply waited too long to do things, and therefore they either couldn't afford to do something; they were too sick or not physically capable of doing things; or they would die too early before accomplishing what they wanted to do.
Both Kirk and I thought that we would do what we wanted to do NOW, while we still can, and if we HAVE to go back to work for whatever reason, we will do it later! Our big pushes that sent us over the edge were my back accident; the sudden death of my best friend; and the sudden endings of our jobs. The timing just seemed right, and natural, and we bit the bullet to just try out "living our dream".
So, at the end of 2022, we had sold our house, while, ironically we were on a cruise ship, and haven't really looked back.
WHY LIVE ON A CRUISE SHIP?
Kirk and I started cruising back in 2006. In fact, our first real "date" was us going on our first cruise ship!
I had "won" a 3 day Bahamas trip on a cruise leaving from Florida, and asked Kirk if he wanted to drive with me to Florida, to do this time-share cruise! The cruise was on a small ship, but everyone was so friendly. We had a great, and memorable experience!
It wasn't until a few years later, that we decided that we would try another cruise vacation. Because I was a teacher in the TDSB, I really did have limited times of when I could get away. When you factor in the time you need for the itineraries, the flight cost, the hotels, and all of that, the time felt rushed, and of course, every aspect of a vacation was way more expensive, as every other family would have the same time off!
We started traveling on Princess Cruises, as at the time, it was known for being more "adult" oriented. So, once a year, we started going on 10 day cruises to exotic places around the world! We loved it, and always thought that the cruise went by so quickly! Our days were packed with day time tours, evening shows, daily trivia, exercise, games, meeting people, eating, events, dancing ... we didn't have time to do everything we wanted to do!
Generally speaking, the majority of your costs are taken care of while you are on a cruise ship. You have a cabin, unlimited food, snacks, entertainment, activities, exercise, and more. You don't have to pay for heat, hydro, water, or anything like that. What you may have to pay for though is specialty dining, communication costs, excursions, laundry, or other services... but those are additional things you would likely pay for on land anyway.
In our opinion, living on a cruise ship could be a less expensive way to travel the world than other ways of traveling the world. For example, you could travel the world by living in hotels, or Air B and B's, or ways like house sitting, Rv'ing, staying with friends, backpacking, buying or renting properties around the world... it really depends upon what YOU want to do, and what YOU feel the value is.
So, yes, if you have a huge mortgage, or high rent, then the cost of cruising could be cheap in comparison, but if you are living in a home that is completely paid for, the price could be similar, or less.
For us, we like the fact that everything is easy for us. We don't have to spend our time cooking, or doing things that we don't want to do. We can decide what we want to do, when we want to do it, or even IF we want to do it. Cruise travel makes it easy. We don't have to drive in our car, fly, buy gas...
To date, we have been to 90 Countries around the world, 10 different cruise lines, and almost 50 different cruise ships.
We like to share our information about cruising on the different cruises that we have been on. You will find YouTube, Facebook and Blog posts about our cabins, the ships, ways to save money on travel, pictures of our destinations, information about our excursions and a lot more.
FLOATING CITIES
A cruise ship, in of itself, is its own destination. We don't really stick to one cruise ship or one cruise line for that matter, because all of them are so different and offer something unique.
Many people have asked us "What Is Your Favorite Cruise Ship?", or "Which Is Your Favorite Cruise Line?"
That is such a difficult question to answer, so I would always ask the person what they feel is most important to them, when going on a cruise?
So, for example, if you want to find a cruise ship that ONLY caters to ADULTS ONLY with a really energetic, unique and fun vibe, then I would say go on a TransAtlantic Cruise on Virgin Voyages. But, on the other hand, I would also like to say that DON'T like Virgin Voyages in the Caribbean as it is a completely different experience passenger wise!
I would say that if you are looking for some of the most spectacular PHYSICAL shows, with acrobatics, huge casts, professional circus performers, and a high budget for executing the shows, I would say go on a COSTA CRUISE SHIP in the Med.
If you are looking for a quieter, older, more adult vibe that includes more traditional music, trivia and entertainment, I would say that you should try HOLLAND America or Cunard.
There are many factors involved in trying to figure out WHICH cruise lines are our favorite. We always like to hear about people's experiences, and we also like to share ours.
These floating cities have so many differences too. This is why we like to experience different ships. It is just like visiting a new country. There is so much to explore!
On ships we have seen, or participated in a rollerskating rink, a planetarium, bumper cars, a flo rider, a roller coaster, a tv studio, silent discos, midnight chef parties, secret parties, skydiving, ice skating, just to name a few!
SHIP HOPPING
Not only that, but the cruise ships take you to different parts of the world!
We have taken ships that start in one port, end in another, and then we just continue on the next ship to take us somewhere new! We try to weave our itineraries together in a way to minimize the additional costs of flights or hotels in between the ship itineraries.
So, for example, we came back from Barcelona, Spain, and it brought us to Miami, Florida. The morning that we arrived in Miami, we just called an UBER, and an hour later we were boarding another ship in Fort Lauderdale! We have several experiences of just walking or taking a shuttle from one ship to the next. It is a relatively easy process overall.
We have walked from one ship to another in Barcelona, Buenos Aires, Fort Lauderdale, Los Angeles, Vancouver, San Diego, New York, Quebec City, Sydney, Brisbane and Yokohama. We have also stayed overnight in hotels for a night or two, waiting for our next ship to pick us up in San Francisco, Barcelona, Buenos Aires, Yokohama, Los Angeles, Sydney and Brisbane. Although hotels are great, we also opted to do HOMEEXCHANGES to stay in homes around the world with points that we had accumulated from when we owned a home in Canada. We have stayed in a few places in Canada, and Australia for literally no money.
There have been itineraries that we have been on, where you would literally be stuck in a "loop" for months unless you make the decision to get out another way. So we have had to fly out of locations to get to the next as there simply would be no other option. We never really wanted to just repeat the same itinerary on the same ship over and over, so sometimes we would stop for a few days in between for hotels, home exchanges, road trips, or just plane rides.
OUR FAVORITE ITINERARIES
There have been so many wonderful places that we have been to while travelling and living on a cruise ship. We have been to 90 countries, and we could easily list all 90 places for you, as each place has something wonderful to offer.
Some of our most memorable itineraries that we have been to include:
Isreal on Princess Cruises.
Antarctica on Princess Cruises
Brazil on Costa Cruises
Portugal on MSC Cruises
Japan on Holland America and Princess Cruises
Greenland on Princess Cruises
Canada on Princess Cruises
New Zealand on Princess Cruises
Namibia on Cunard
Australia on Royal Caribbean
11. Russia on Princess Cruises
12. New York on Princess Cruises
13. Singapore on Cunard
14. Estonia on Princess
BUY A CRUISE RESIDENCE?
Of course there are many good reasons that one SHOULD buy a residence on a cruise ship, but the idea of it never really excited us as much as our being able to cruise hop.
We really love seeing the different ships, and we also like the idea of change. We have been on ships where we literally couldn't WAIT to get off because of noisy or disrespectful cabin neighbours, and we would we think to ourselves, that we didn't want to be tied down to just one ship, and maybe even stuck next to someone who turns their TV up to full blast each day, or coughs all through the night.
Going from ship-to-ship is a lot of fun, and if you don't like your neighbour, well at least you don't have to stay in that same cabin for years. The idea, to us, of owning a residence at sea, would be like having a time share. You kind of have to use it to get your money's worth, so if something else came up, you would probably hesitate to do it. Lastly, I think that some of the residents CAN rent out their cabins, so again, you will just be stuck with not knowing who your neighbour is, and it could be uncomfortable.
IS RETIRING ON A CRUISE SHIP MORE AFFORDABLE THAN RETIRING ON LAND?
The costs for each ship, date, and itinerary really do vary. There are many factors that have to be considered when adding up the cost of cruising full time.
Some of the factors include:
The difference in cost between an interior cabin, ocean view, balcony, or suite.
The cost of the daily gratuities vary depending upon the cabin type.
Additional Costs that aren't included in your fare: WIFI, Excursions, Specialty Dining, Drinks, Special Activities, Incidentals
The transportation to go and leave from the cruise: Hotel, UBER, Cab, Flight, Buses
The cost of your Travel Insurance
Your Personal Costs: Cell phone plan, Day To Day things like haircuts, etc.
At Home Costs: Mail forwarding, Insurance, Maintenance, storage, fees
HOW WE KEEP COSTS DOWN
We have created list of tips on how to get FREE things on Ships; how to get FREE onboard Spending money; how to get FREE cruises; Tips On How To Pay Less For a Cruise all on YouTube. We also have ideas on cruise hacks that involve saving money on a cruise, or strategies to get the most bang for your buck on your cruise (Elite in 19 days)
When we book our cruises, we have tried many different strategies from booking on the cruise ship itself, to waiting for sales, and to booking older ships. We have found deals in these different ways.
Another way to save money is by cruising on Trans Atlantic or Trans Pacific Cruises, by travelling on Older ships, and by travelling in off peak seasons in places like the Caribbean.
HOW WE AFFORD TO DO THIS
We watch our budget and like to maximize some of the benefits that we have to keep the costs down.
We have small investments that help carry our costs.
We maximize points on our credit cards
We have the stockholder perk
We use Home Exchange
We minimize the costs of flights and hotels whenever possible
We try to do a few back-to-back sailings
LIFESTYLE CHANGES AND CHALLENGES
Living on a cruise ship full time does have its pros and cons. There are things that you may take for granted, that you may not get to do as much of, anymore.
For example, on a cruise ship we don't get to drive our cars, we don't get to grab our bikes and go for a ride, and we don't have a huge space to do our own crafts, or projects.
On the other hand, we do get taken TO different locations around the world, we can make use of the free gym or some of the exercise classes around the ship, and we can participate in activities or use the spaces of the ship to do puzzles, or listen to a lecture or learn to play an instrument.
We treat the cruise ship daily life as IF we were "at home", because essentially we ARE at home. So, this means that we are still eating the same way by not over indulging in the many rich food choices that are on the ship, we make use of the ship's facilities to exercise our bodies and minds, and we make time for just ourselves as well as make time to meet new people and learn new things.
Another challenge of living on a ship is that you don't see your family and friends very often either. Most of our communication is over ZOOM or WhatsAPP, and depending upon where we are in the world, the internet could be very costly.
We do love meeting new people, and having a great time in a casual environment. Most people who are on a cruise ship are there to relax, unwind, and just have fun. Those are the kinds of people that we like to be around.
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