Couple in their 30s live permanently on cruise ships for a little over $10K a year - Upworthy
Back in the 2008 to 2012 period when people pulled back on spending, I did a 7-day Adriatic Sea cruise from Venice for $480. It was almost cheaper than staying home. That’s fantastic if this couple can do it for $10,000/yr.
intercst
There used to be reports of people who retired on cruise ships to take advantage of their good food and services and medical service. Might be cheaper than a typical retirement community.
I wonder how many actually do that and how they are doing. Still at it? Would they recommend it to friends?
Medical service aboard a cruise ship is pretty rudimentary, and if you show any signs of a medical problem, they’ll disembark you at the next port.
intercst
Yes, might be equivalent to independent living. Not equivalent to assisted living or nursing home care. Depends on your health, how able you are, your needs, etc.
$10k? Till you see the bar bill.
The entire thing sounds a like a drunk joy ride.
Brawl on Carnival cruise. Man just came to the buffet to get some pizza.
intercst
Another reason I don’t travel. Why would I risk locking myself up on a boat with “people” like that? And I’m including the “person” doing the inane prattling.
You’re more likely to see that on Carnival.
I did most of my cruises on Holland-America and Celebrity, though Carnival now owns a lot of the upscale brands and is in the process of Carnivalizing them. {{ LOL }}
intercst
That’s one knock I always had about apartments. Even the higher scale /higher price ones still have a lot of riff-raff making renting it,in the end no better, or barely better than trying to buy a house. Cruises used to be mostly an upscale thing for maybe older types who fought their way out of the trenches, the night-quite-wealthy, and the occasional contest winner. Now the Main Streeters bring their Man Street behavior and ruin it. Flying was the same way. 1970’s: flying fun, comfortable, good food. Then they democratized it and we all know where it went. Even the internet. 1990’s - Mostly erudite, well-read people, people with an intellectual bias. The biggest problem was teenagers “hacking” into a chatroom (which was easy) and just being annoying. Then it became democratized and everybody’s doing it and we know where that went.
geez, that was ugly. Do cruise ships check for guns before boarding, cause that could have been a massacre if somebody had a gun. No where to run, no where to hide.
As far as I know, there is only one US flag cruise ship. All the rest are flagged somewhere else, which means no Second Amendment.
Steve
Yeah, they now weigh 300 lbs each from all the food. . . .
Notice the guy with the camera, telling the staff, who are staying away from the row, “Welcome to America. This is how it is in America”. As noted on this board, from time to time, the US is becoming a very brutish and violent place.
The news this evening was reporting on two or three more shootings, including one on a Chicago El.
“the solution to gun violence, is, in every case, more guns”, says the NRA.
Steve
Yep. You and your baggage go through TSA-like screening looking for both guns and alcohol. They’ll let you bring your own wine, but then levy a “corkage” charge of $30/bottle.
While cruising has a reputation of being a wealthy pursuit, if you pick your spots, it’s very easy to find cruises for 90%-off their list price if your schedule is flexible and can arrange an airline flight to the embarkation port within a 2-3 week time frame. You can do even better if you live at a large cruise port like Fort Lauderdale or Miami. If you can jump on a ship with 24 to 48 hours notice, you can get a rate as low as $30/day. They don’t want to sail with any empty cabins.
Here’s a 21-day South America & Antarctic cruise that’s close to the one I took back in 2008 (My cruise added 2 days in Rio de Janeiro at the end) . I paid about $4,600 for it back then as a solo traveler occupying a 2-person room. (2-person rate was $3,000/each.) I wouldn’t be surprised if you can get this cruise for about the same price by late October or early November.
https://www.vacationstogo.com/fastdeal.cfm?deal=26013&disp=107
intercst
Seriously if I wanted to tie on a feed sack at the hungry heffer.
I looked that up. This is hilarious. And it ends up being about cheap.
I have posed the bit about British sausage before, so everyone can dig into their memories to replay it.
Steve
All the river cruises are US flagged and US crewed. Ditto the ship that circles the Hawaiian islands. I think thats Norwegian. This is required by the Jones Act, which helps the US maintain trained crews in the event of a national emergency.
Pretty tame compared to European/British Soccer Games
Yeah no cars were flipped and set on fire. That’s the bar.
Scows on a river are not “ships”. The one in Hawaii is the sole US flag cruise ship I know of. Hull built in the US, due to the Jones act, then towed to Germany for fitting out.
Steve