Living on a Cruise Ship

Danielle & I took our first cruise in 1996 – a week in the southern Caribbean aboard Carnival’s Inspiration. We were immediately hooked and have taken over a dozen more since then, but never longer than 8 days at a time, which always seems too short.

So when we started planning our mini-retirement, taking a looong cruise was high on the list from the beginning. Sure, they have cruises that go all the way around the world, but we knew that wouldn’t work because:

1. those cruises usually only last 3 months or so & cost nearly our entire budget; and
2. they’re always on smaller ships with nothing for the kids to do (I guess there aren’t quite enough families taking trips around the world – yet.)

Eventually, we decided to start our adventure by living on a cruise ship for 12 weeks. We’re sticking with the Caribbean for seasonal and financial reasons, and just to keep it from getting too monotonous, we’ll split our time between 3 ships: Freedom of the Seas, Emerald Princess, and Carnival Valor.

When we thought about how to tackle Europe & the Mediterranean, cruising seemed like a good fit, too: we can pay for our food & lodging in US dollars & only have to unpack a couple of times. We can even take a cruise from South America to Europe in the spring. So, we booked a transatlantic cruise aboard Royal Caribbean’s Splendor of the Seas, to be followed by cruises aboard Brilliance of the Seas & Ruby Princess. Over 2 months these cruises will visit all the Mediterranean highlights from Barcelona to Istanbul, plus northern Africa and Egypt. Cool!

Of course, these cruises will make our world tour a bit more expensive than most, but it’s what we want to do. Plus, starting out in familiar territory with meals and lodging all taken care of for the first 3 months should make the transition to vagabonding a little bit easier, especially for the girls. And it will be FUN!!!

Weeks ago when our trip was still a secret, I was having lunch with a couple of clients when the subject of cruising came up (it often does).

One of them said to me, “Marc, I could see you living on a cruise ship someday.”

Well, as a matter of fact, so can I!