I could live on a cruise ship for 3 years at $30,000 per year, could you ?

[steven100]

On 7/11/2023 at 8:26 PM, steven100 said:

Life at the seas is offering 3 years around the world cruise at $30,000 dollars per year ...  including food

I could gladly spend 3 years cruising around but it's not for everyone ......

 

could you do it   ?

 

https://www.businessinsider.com/life-at-sea-around-the-world-cruise-ship-photos-2023-2?r=US&IR=T#the-new-company-will-use-mirays-cruise-ship-workers-and-the-gemini-one-of-its-three-ships-11

 

Thank you Scott for adding the link.  

[save the frogs]

Just as I thought. It's partly designed for digital nomads. 

There is wifi, meeting rooms ...

Half the customers are under 60 ... some folks in their 20s. 

Rooms look nice. 

128 countries. 

 

 

[save the frogs]

2 hours ago, HappyExpat57 said:

eating the same food as the guests,

I just thought about the food situation. 

 

You can eat outside the cruise ship at local destinations, so it would be hard to get bored if you didn't eat on the ship every day. 

 

But the food on the ship is already paid for, so then you would be paying extra to eat outside the ship. 

 

 

[HappyExpat57]

18 minutes ago, save the frogs said:

I just thought about the food situation. 

 

You can eat outside the cruise ship at local destinations, so it would be hard to get bored if you didn't eat on the ship every day. 

 

But the food on the ship is already paid for, so then you would be paying extra to eat outside the ship. 

 

 

The food on a cruise ship like Royal Caribbean is exquisite. I would regularly have smoked salmon, eggs, toast, and some of the best coffee in the world for breakfast, other meals just as tasty, and there were also hot dog palaces and pizza slices available almost all day long. My job allowed me to eat with the guests. It wasn't the food, it was the routine. Same damned thing every day. Pull in to a port, go look at the city (I worked at night so I could go out every day), then pull up anchor and do it all over again in a different city. UTTERLY BORING after a month or two! And to think of doing it for three years? Nope.

[save the frogs]

13 minutes ago, HappyExpat57 said:

Pull in to a port, go look at the city (I worked at night so I could go out every day), then pull up anchor and do it all over again in a different city. UTTERLY BORING after a month or two! And to think of doing it for three years? Nope.

going to a different city every day gets boring?

the stimulation of different sights and sense doesn't do it for you?

i dunno. never been on a cruise. 

maybe the type of travel where you stay in one place for a long time is better for me. not sure. 

 

[Gottfrid]

On 7/12/2023 at 1:10 AM, OneMoreFarang said:

I go relative often to a 5-start hotel buffet.

That´s really sick! Giving a buffet a star rating? All the Michelin chefs are laughing

[HappyExpat57]

23 minutes ago, save the frogs said:

going to a different city every day gets boring?

the stimulation of different sights and sense doesn't do it for you?

i dunno. never been on a cruise. 

maybe the type of travel where you stay in one place for a long time is better for me. not sure. 

 

I believe the OP is quoting a lower-to-mid-level cabin, basically a closet with a bed squeezed in and tiny stand-up shower stalls. The ports are all tourist traps. There isn't enough time to travel beyond and be sure you'll get back in time to make the debark.

 

Go on a cruise, they are a GREAT way to spend a week or two. Again, three years? HELL no!

[Yellowtail]

3 minutes ago, HappyExpat57 said:

I believe the OP is quoting a lower-to-mid-level cabin, basically a closet with a bed squeezed in and tiny stand-up shower stalls. The ports are all tourist traps. There isn't enough time to travel beyond and be sure you'll get back in time to make the debark.

 

Go on a cruise, they are a GREAT way to spend a week or two. Again, three years? HELL no!

I thought the OP indicated about a week in each port, no?

 

Not something I would want either. 

[save the frogs]

20 minutes ago, HappyExpat57 said:

The ports are all tourist traps. There isn't enough time to travel beyond and be sure you'll get back in time to make the debark.

ok, thanks for the heads up.

i might try a 2 week cruise at some point just to see what they're like.

 

[Henryford]

I'd be bored after the first 3 days, never mind 3 years. Who wants to do nothing but eat ?

[Skeptic7]

Yup. No prob. Something to consider actually. ????

[save the frogs]

This guy who wrote this article thinks cruises suck.

 

One of the reasons is the same as the reason HappyExpat gave - the port stops are too short and you end up just visiting tourist traps.

 

Did anyone else mention seasickness? 

 

https://lifehacker.com/12-reasons-why-cruises-are-terrible-vacations-1848945802/slides/13

 

In my whole life, no one who has returned from a cruise has ever told me an interesting story about their trip. According to David Foster Wallace, in his book A Supposedly Fun Thing I’ll Never Do Again, on a cruise, “Your troublesome capacities for choice, error, regret, dissatisfaction, and despair will be removed” and absent those, without the possibility of failure, real fun is impossible.

While I’ve listed a ton of unexpectedly awful things that can happen on a cruise, there are no corresponding unexpectedly awesome things. Best-case-scenario is that everything goes as planned and you have a bland week full of the kind of weak-ass hedonism where you say things like, “I can’t believe how much shrimp I ate at the buffet!” You can’t decided to spend another day in Puerto Vallarta because you met a local in a bar. You can’t decide you’d rather camp than stay in a hotel. You’re not going to discover a little off-the-beaten-path restaurant. You’re going to do what Carnival Cruise Line has determined their target market will enjoy. And that, in a word, sucks.

 

 

[HappyExpat57]

3 minutes ago, save the frogs said:

This guy who wrote this article thinks cruises suck.

 

One of the reasons is the same as the reason HappyExpat gave - the port stops are too short and you end up just visiting tourist traps.

 

Did anyone else mention seasickness? 

 

https://lifehacker.com/12-reasons-why-cruises-are-terrible-vacations-1848945802/slides/13

 

In my whole life, no one who has returned from a cruise has ever told me an interesting story about their trip. According to David Foster Wallace, in his book A Supposedly Fun Thing I’ll Never Do Again, on a cruise, “Your troublesome capacities for choice, error, regret, dissatisfaction, and despair will be removed” and absent those, without the possibility of failure, real fun is impossible.

While I’ve listed a ton of unexpectedly awful things that can happen on a cruise, there are no corresponding unexpectedly awesome things. Best-case-scenario is that everything goes as planned and you have a bland week full of the kind of weak-ass hedonism where you say things like, “I can’t believe how much shrimp I ate at the buffet!” You can’t decided to spend another day in Puerto Vallarta because you met a local in a bar. You can’t decide you’d rather camp than stay in a hotel. You’re not going to discover a little off-the-beaten-path restaurant. You’re going to do what Carnival Cruise Line has determined their target market will enjoy. And that, in a word, sucks.

 

 

At the time I was working for Royal Caribbean, they had some world class entertainment. Cirque du Soleil performed nightly (and OMG do those folks know how to party!!!) as well as great large and small musical treats. Sadly, the biggest draw was always karaoke. Blech!

 

Then I went on a cruise as a guest - the entertainment went downhill, and this was pre-Covid. any more, it is a week of gluttony and staving off boredom after the first few days.

[Robin]

Have you ever spent a long period of time living on a ship?

[Yellowtail]

"There is a principle which is a bar against all information, which is proof against all arguments, and which cannot fail to keep a man in everlasting ignorance—that principle is contempt prior to investigation."

[ujayujay]

Waste 3 Years of my life.....No thanks! 

[Hamus Yaigh]

Looks more dodgy than buying one of those yet to be built Thai condo units.

[Tropposurfer]

Nah I don't think so. 

Maybe in some years, when we are older and less agile. 

 

I enjoy driving, golfing, sailing gardening way too much to spend years on the same cruise ship.

 

Maybe a nice QE2 ultra-lux styled number would be cool at an older age, some shorter cruises like the river cruises in Europe seem to appeal to me looking into older age.

Maybe some more private motor yacht cruising e.g Greek Islands, Corsica, Sardinia (gorgeous place to sail around and anchor). Haven't cruised in the Caribbean as yet (bucket list). 

[4MyEgo]

On 7/11/2023 at 8:33 PM, steven100 said:

yes ....  working online would be a bonus ..... they renovated the ship and removed the casino and installed business offices for onboard tenants.

They do their calculations, i.e. how many people would want to get off after xyz months, doubt someone would last a year, i.e. unless they are accustomed to being on ships, meaning having worked on them for years.

 

The odds are not the only thing stacked against you, so would be losing your money if you got off earlier than the 3 years, in other words, read the fine print.

 

Intending passenger: Here's my $90,000 up front for the 3 years rent.

 

Passenger after 3 months, I want to get off.

 

Crew: Sure thing.

 

Passenger: W-T-F do you mean I can't get a refund on the balance of the $90,000 that I paid up for 3 years.

 

Crew: Read the fine print

 

 

[PB172111]

Lock me in Eddy.

I just need conformation of the 18 hole on board golf course course ????????????

[Lacessit]

On 7/11/2023 at 11:33 PM, Yellowtail said:

I like cruising, but three years? I'd weigh 500 lbs by the end of the first year. 

 

 

A 5% increase isn't much.

[FritsSikkink]

No way that I get stuck in a small cabin on a boat where I wouldn't like most entertainment anyhow.

[Zapitapi]

its an option..somehow appealing 

[scorecard]

On 7/12/2023 at 1:10 AM, OneMoreFarang said:

Any food in any restaurant on that ship?

I go relative often to a 5-start hotel buffet. I like it. But I am sure if I would only go to that place every single day for years, it would become boring. On the ship, I guess it would be faster boring.

 

And about living on such a ship and (I guess) every few days another tourist city: Today 3h in Rome and tomorrow 5h in Venice. Is that holiday? For me, I don't think so.

3 hours in Rome, or 5 hours in Venice.

With such limited ime I guess it would be a planned bus tour to a couple of tourist 'highlights' but nothing more, except perhaps herded into a suvenir etc., shop and quickly back on the bus and back to the ship.

 

In reality no individual 'exploring' at all.

 

Brain numbing. 

 

[Nemises]

Only if there are no other passengers. 
 

 

[steven100]

1 hour ago, 4MyEgo said:

They do their calculations, i.e. how many people would want to get off after xyz months, doubt someone would last a year, i.e. unless they are accustomed to being on ships, meaning having worked on them for years.

 

The odds are not the only thing stacked against you, so would be losing your money if you got off earlier than the 3 years, in other words, read the fine print.

 

Intending passenger: Here's my $90,000 up front for the 3 years rent.

 

Passenger after 3 months, I want to get off.

 

Crew: Sure thing.

 

Passenger: W-T-F do you mean I can't get a refund on the balance of the $90,000 that I paid up for 3 years.

 

Crew: Read the fine print

 

 

don't quote me on this but I think you can either pay by installments or yearly,  I don't think you have to put up $90,000 to get onboard,  and I'm sure they wouldn't structure it that way either,  folks don't like parting with 90k before services are given.   I just remember reading something about that ...

[VocalNeal]

On 7/12/2023 at 12:19 AM, still kicking said:

I don't mind for a week or 2 but after that it gets boring but the food is always good.

Longest I have spent on a ship is 6 months. The longest without being in port was 17 days, if I remember correctly. 

I would only get bored with some of or all of my fellow passengers. But not with the voyage.

Good for the soul. leaving port is a magical experience, esp. if you have never been to the next port. It's all about the future not the past or present.

[Yellowtail]

29 minutes ago, scorecard said:

3 hours in Rome, or 5 hours in Venice.

With such limited ime I guess it would be a planned bus tour to a couple of tourist 'highlights' but nothing more, except perhaps herded into a suvenir etc., shop and quickly back on the bus and back to the ship.

 

In reality no individual 'exploring' at all.

 

Brain numbing. 

 

It costs a good bit of money to move the boat, the more time it spends in port, the cheaper it is. 

 

Still, 375 ports in 135 countries, how many have you been to in the last three years?

 

It's a balcony with a different view every day. 

[PETERTHEEATER]

On 7/11/2023 at 2:35 PM, steven100 said:

i hope there a gym on board ....  i'm sure they have

Then you don't need to hope.

[PETERTHEEATER]

The last cruise I went on I was told I would be dining at the Captain's table. I refused, telling the purser that having spent ten grand for the cruise I did not expect to have to eat with the crew.