Reminds me of the movie "The Legend of 1900"...where a baby is born on a cruise ship and never leaves it...
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.
This is excerpted some.
Except what does one do in the midst of a pandemic when cruise lines are shut down?
Besides I would think you would have to be a multi-millionaire to afford it in the first place.
I would want to work though.
Bartender. Or play in the band.
This is like a floating independent living facility.
And when the boot you off the boat in Bangladesh, what do you do?
Retired on 125 acre cattle ranch in county that voted 83% for trump. Tractors, Polaris ranger, cows, barns, creek, woods, pasture, edge of mountains..... who the heck wants to live on a cruise ship?
$3000.00 a month? Did you read the article???
My sister works at an assisted living facility. She has told me about older retirees doing this.
I'll come live and work on your farm.
We probably have work for you! SE Oklahoma
Especially with all the coronavirus nonsense.
Reminds me of the movie "The Legend of 1900"...where a baby is born on a cruise ship and never leaves it...
:-)
“Retired on 125 acre cattle ranch in county that voted 83% for trump. Tractors, Polaris ranger, cows, barns, creek, woods, pasture, edge of mountains..... who the heck wants to live on a cruise ship?”
That sounds like paradise.
Whatever you do, don’t accept a job as a stoker. It’s not as exotic a job as it sounds.
Squeezing it in before the assisted living and medical care are needed.
This topic was specifically addressed in the article.
Definitely not for me. I could see a couple perhaps trying it out for a year or two. Being confined around a lot of people for extended stays is not my idea of fun. I can’t stand being in a noisy hotel at night to begin with sometimes with morons yelling, screaming, carrying on or playing TV’s loud in the overnight hours. I wanna dwell where they ain’t around.
Wanna live in a nation or place without godless, noisy, leftards around or their moronic ways influencing the place. That would be a tad, little slice of heaven on earth at this point.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.