Posted on 02/14/2021 9:51:54 AM PST by sodpoodle
Cruise prices fluctuate wildly based on the time of year, the destination, and what type of room you're booking. But it's possible to find rooms for less than $100 per day per person. If you're living on a cruise ship full-time, $3,000 per month can seem expensive. Keep in mind, though, that you'll also be saving money in other areas.
For example, most food and drinks are included in your cruise fare. So unless you're splurging on specialty drinks or fancy restaurants, you won't need to budget much for food. You also won't need to worry about other costs you're used to paying at home, such as gas and other commuting costs. If you dive into the cruise living lifestyle headfirst and sell your home and car, you won't even have a mortgage or car payments to take care of. Even if you still want to have a primary address, you can downsize your home just for a place to crash between cruises (and even rent it out while you're away at sea). As a bonus, the extra money you'd save by selling or downsizing and/or renting it out can go toward your retirement fund.
The biggest benefit, though, is essentially treating your retirement like one long vacation. While retirement is already a permanent vacation of sorts, with cruise ship living, you no longer need to worry about housecleaning, yard work, or other chores that you'd still be stuck with at home. And as you age and those things become more difficult, spending the majority of your time on a cruise ship is likely more appealing than moving into an assisted living facility.
Cons: A potentially expensive retirement lifestyle Although cruise ship living has its financial perks, that doesn't mean it's always more cost effective than retiring on dry land.
One of the biggest considerations you'll need to make involves healthcare. Medicare doesn't cover healthcare expenses outside the U.S., although there are some exceptions if you need medical care aboard a ship. For example, you may be covered by Medicare if you incur medically necessary expenses while in territorial waters adjacent to the U.S. However, if you're more than six hours away from the nearest U.S. port, Medicare won't cover you.
You do have other options, such as a Medigap Plan or travel insurance, but it's important to do your research and talk to an insurance provider to make sure you're choosing the right plan for your situation. If you go without insurance, you could face some hefty medical bills in the event of an illness or accident. This is especially important as you age, because although they may be more affordable than nursing homes or assisted living facilities, cruise ships aren't equipped to provide specialized care.
You'll also need to iron out a few legal and financial details before you go, such as where your Social Security checks should be sent and how you'll handle your taxes, which will likely require the help of a financial planner. Plus, retiring at sea requires a lot of careful planning. You very likely won't find a cruise that will let you live on board 365 days a year, so you'll instead need to book many shorter-term cruises back-to-back. Expect to spend a lot of time researching the best deals and finding cruises that align with your schedule, then double-checking that all the dates line up -- the last thing you want is to mix up your arrival or departure days and end up stranded in a foreign country.
Retiring at sea isn't for everyone, but for the adventure seeker who is looking for an out-of-the-box retirement, it just may be the ideal way to live. Just make sure you do your research ahead of time and plan accordingly so that you can enjoy your retirement to the fullest.
“Retired on 125 acre cattle ranch in county that voted 83% for trump. Tractors, Polaris ranger, cows, barns, creek, woods, pasture, edge of mountains.”
I have pretty much the same deal sans amount of acreage, cattle, Polaris ranger and edge of mountains but make up for it with a good well, nice spring fed creek and other improvements. However, little things like rattlesnakes, prickly pear, heat, scorpions, wasps and eternal maintenance makes the cruise ship option appealing.
Saw that flick on an airline flight when it was new-ish. I think of it as an interesting companion piece to the director’s more famous “Cinema Paradiso.” If CP was about the bittersweetness of leaving a place (Sicily, in that case) and looking back, 1900 was about the perils of NOT leaving.
Can you be stateless and avoid taxes?
How many steam-powered ships are out there these days? Most of them use steam turbines and don’t use coal for fuel.
Bartender for an age appropriate clientelle of widows .....
Just sayin’
The piano duel...;>)
someone that doesnt want to retire on a cattleranch .
Ping
About $175,000 a year. We looked at this.
Well with the Fauci (biden) {harris} [0bama]lockdowns continuing indefinitely, it may not be long before you can pick up your own Cruise Ship at bargain prices, and live on your own luxury ship.
Although staffing and fuel will be pretty expensive.
I retired at 58 and we went cruising on our own ship. I am sitting in the lagoon in Vero Beach, Fl. It’s a nice 83 deg, breezy and quiet.
Once the Covid restrictions are lifted, we can go to the Bahamas, the Caribbean, and the rest of the world. The Cap’n wants to go to Fiji for a 3 year stretch. We make it work on my moderate pension, and, soon, her moderate SSI, and, then mine.
We choose our ports of call, our neighbors and our meals. It’s quite nice
Yup.
Now... Add being in a floating petri dish of covid.
This would be a prison ship for me.
YEAH, MORE OFTEN.
“You smoke it....I don’t know how”.
Checked out the expense the last time this was posted. Way too $$$$ for for this wallet. Watched way too many murder on the high sea shows.
My partner and I have thought of it often. It is actually economic. And a great way to live. In fact, we have spoken with many Princess cruisers who live on the ships. One day, maybe. I would miss my doggies. But I do believe some folks smuggle dogs on board.
My outlook also...Have you had the chance to do the loop or any part of it?..I took a 32 foot coastal cruiser from lake Michigan to Tampa Florida...a slow 7 week trip (intentionally)....grew up on Cape Cod and other coastal towns in Massachusetts....oceans to me are relaxtion...a great way to decompress.
Having been on several cruises, I have some things figured out. First: get in early and go straight to the cabin. Hybernate until all the other passengers get on board. Then venture out. May require a Xanax or 3. Depending on the elevators.
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