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Living On A Cruise Ship: Here's What It REALLY Takes & Costs!
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Apr 7, 2025
After closely following several people living cruise ships for some time and analysing the different options and ways they do it, I discovered many remarkable things like not only how they make it work, and importantly what it really costs, but I also the uncovered there is an unexpected dark side of living on cruise ships that you need to know about Channels mentioned in the video: • 30 & A Wake Up: https://www.youtube.com/@30AndAWakeUp • Poverty to Paradise: https://www.youtube.com/@PovertyToParadise • Grounded Life Cruises: https://www.youtube.com/@GroundedLifeCruises • Fraser At Sea: https://www.youtube.com/@FraserAtSea Links mentioned: * Need To Know Before Playing Cruise Ship Casino: https://www.tipsfortravellers.com/cruise-ship-casino-what-you-need-to-know-before-you-play/ * How To Gamble On Cruise Ships To Unlock Free Cruises: https://www.tipsfortravellers.com/how-to-gamble-on-a-cruise-to-unlock-perks/ For bonus & exclusive content (including videos, articles, eBooks and more) become a channel member or patron: --------------------------------------------------- * Patreon Patron: https://www.patreon.com/tipsfortravellers * YouTube Channel Member: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_qE-Obs2ocdmPXY0TIU-cw/join Check out my cruise-themed T-shirts and products: --------------------------------------------------- * TeePublic Store: https://tipsfortravellers.dashery.com
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0:00
after closely following several people
0:01
living on cruise ships for some time and
0:04
carefully analyzing the different
0:05
options and ways that they do it I've
0:08
discovered many remarkable things like
0:10
not only how they actually make it work
0:13
and importantly what it really costs but
0:16
I also uncovered there's an unexpected
0:19
Dark Side of living on cruise ships that
0:21
you also need to know about more on that
0:24
later welcome aboard I'm Gary benridge
0:27
and here's what I've discovered about
0:29
living on on ships before getting into
0:31
the actual costs I found there are five
0:34
options to live full or part-time on
0:36
cruise ships without actually being a
0:38
crew member each comes with different
0:40
costs and pros and cons first you could
0:44
buy a cabin on a line with residential
0:46
cruise ships but you need plenty of
0:49
money and must be sure that you want to
0:51
make a long-term commitment to living at
0:53
Sea here are the lines that currently
0:55
offer cabins you can buy the world
0:57
residences at C ship MC the world has
1:00
been in service for 23 years making it
1:02
the longest operating residential ship
1:05
it's up market and the 165 cabins range
1:07
from $25 million Studios to $15 million
1:11
three-bedroom suites with annual fees
1:13
between
1:14
$113,000 And1 million a year probably
1:17
one of the best known currently is a
1:18
recent entrant Villa V residences which
1:21
is currently on a threeyear Around the
1:23
World trip The 32-year-old Villa V
1:27
Odyssey was previously Fred Olson's Brar
1:29
it holds up to 650 guests they offer
1:32
full ownership time share or pay as you
1:34
go you basically book different segments
1:36
their cabins ranged from $130,000 inside
1:39
cabins to buy with $48,000 a year fees
1:42
up to
1:43
$440,000 suites with
1:46
$132,000 a year in fees next selling
1:49
from late 2026 Crescent Seas was created
1:51
by former Norwegian Cruise group
1:53
chairman Russell galbert it's a spin-off
1:56
of his real estate business in a
1:57
strategic partnership with Regent 7c
2:00
the first ship is a $50 million
2:02
refurbishment of regent 7's Navigator
2:05
into a 210 residential Suite ship
2:08
costing from
2:09
$750,000 to $8 million the plan is to
2:12
add a further four residential ships
2:15
there are two residential lines with
2:17
further out launches dates you need to
2:19
know about too Dory Lions whose first
2:21
ship is Ms narrative it's much delayed
2:24
and keeps pushing back launch dates
2:27
their website now says it's 2028 it has
2:30
647 Apartments ranging from $1.1 million
2:34
inside cavins to $8 million 3bedroom
2:36
Suites from what I can see there's at
2:38
least $55,000 a year per person
2:41
maintenance fee there's another one
2:42
which many people are skeptical about
2:44
called Clyde bills it's a Scottish
2:47
startup who say they're going to build a
2:48
luxury residential ship in Scotland
2:51
called Dark Island with 236 luxury
2:54
suites from one to three bedrooms it's
2:56
not clear if they have funding and list
2:58
no prices for the cabins yet as these of
3:01
course are way out of most people's
3:03
budget what is the next option that may
3:06
be a little bit more realistic and does
3:08
not require that upfront long-term
3:11
commitment of course you can go on
3:12
cruise line world or grand voyages which
3:14
lost anything from 2 to 6 months and
3:17
then combine them to fill a year now
3:19
looking at examples to give you a sense
3:21
of what it would cost you the kunard
3:24
queenan 179 that's 4month World Voyage
3:27
next year in an inside cabin for two
3:30
would be around $300 a night about
3:32
$37,000
3:35
$18,700 this price is consistent across
3:37
other lines as the MSE Cruises 132 night
3:41
World Voyage next year is $340 a night
3:44
that's $445,000 about $334,700 so if you
3:47
did three of these four-month voyages to
3:50
fill a year that's about £135,000
3:53
£14,000 for the cruise but that's before
3:55
on board cost like gratuities drinks and
3:57
so on that of course will add several
3:59
thousand to that the third option is by
4:02
buying a part-time living on a cruise
4:05
ship pass virgin voyages are the only
4:07
Cruise Line I'm aware of that offer
4:09
these currently they are pretty costly
4:11
because instead of using an inside cabin
4:13
it's for a balcony cabin so next year's
4:15
pass cost
4:17
$199,000 that's about £54,000 and means
4:20
you can sell on any Voyage though on any
4:23
of the ships at any time of the year a
4:26
fourth but not very easy to do one is
4:28
what a friend of mine does does enabling
4:30
him and his partner to spend at least 10
4:31
months a year living on board cruise
4:33
ships he's an artist and runs art and
4:36
craft classes on board ships he's not
4:38
paid for it but gets a cabin but must
4:40
pay most of the other costs this past
4:42
year he ran classes on a world cruise
4:44
for four months then he was on a
4:46
month-long Artisan residence on another
4:48
line followed almost immediately by a 75
4:51
night South America Grand Voyage on yet
4:54
another line and so on but that of
4:56
course is an incredibly unusual and very
4:58
hard way to to live on ships it's what
5:01
about something everybody can do and
5:03
something that costs less than the
5:05
residential ships and by combining World
5:07
voyages together option I've closely
5:09
followed and studied how five sets of
5:12
people have been living at Sea and while
5:14
there are many common things they do
5:16
that you need to know about they broadly
5:18
fall into two approaches determined by a
5:22
common but absolutely critical decision
5:25
they all made before embarking on living
5:27
on ships before they worked out how to
5:30
live at Sea they ask this question is my
5:32
aim to Simply live on a cruise ship at
5:35
the lowest cost and where I go is less
5:37
critical or is my aim to see as much of
5:40
the world while living on a cruise ship
5:41
as inexpensively as possible so in the I
5:45
want to live on a cruise ship with where
5:47
it goes being less important Camp I
5:48
followed and analyzed the very wellknown
5:50
and much reported in the cruising World
5:52
Mario saleto the Super Mario who at the
5:55
time of recording was soaring past his
5:57
1,000th cruise on Royal car Caribbean
6:00
which he's been living on for years but
6:02
even more interesting I followed Kevin
6:05
of the 30 and a wake up YouTube channel
6:07
and Lenell of the from poverty To
6:09
Paradise YouTube channel as they have
6:11
done what Mario's doing but for a third
6:15
a third of his cost more how they do
6:18
that to come up shortly in the I want to
6:22
live on a ship but see as much of the
6:24
world as possible Camp I followed and
6:26
analyzed Rob and Ally of grounded life
6:28
Cruisers and Fraser of Fraser at C now I
6:33
will get into the exact costs of these
6:34
different approaches but to understand
6:36
how they achieve them you absolutely
6:39
need to know what they all do to get to
6:42
the lowest possible costs first they
6:46
cruised in inside cabins because they're
6:48
the cheapest costing as much as half as
6:51
cruising in a balcony cabin now that
6:53
comes with challenges that I will cover
6:55
when I talk about the darker side of
6:56
living on cruise ships also they mostly
6:59
booked using guaranteed faires which
7:01
means they did not choose the cabin
7:03
again coming with some issues like
7:06
location noise and so on all agreed to
7:09
get the lowest cost it's best to spend
7:11
all or most of the time cruising in the
7:14
Caribbean out of Florida it is the
7:16
busiest cruising region by some margin
7:19
so there's lots of competition there's
7:20
multiple departures and it's much
7:23
cheaper than every other region now
7:25
repositioning cruises are the other one
7:27
all included including T from from
7:29
Europe as well as from Florida to Alaska
7:31
now these are longer Cruisers they're
7:33
usually much cheaper per day than other
7:35
Cruisers so for example Super Mario says
7:39
85% of his time is spent in the
7:41
Caribbean and 15% on repositioning
7:44
cruises and that is how he keeps his
7:46
annual costs within his budget while
7:49
both Kevin of 30 and a wakeup and Robin
7:52
Ali of grounded life Cruisers said they
7:54
Ed them those repositioning Cruisers to
7:57
keep anual cost low but they also did it
7:59
to add more variety to their cruising
8:01
fras at se as he wanted to see more of
8:03
the world had the most variety by
8:05
cruising in Europe out of season in
8:07
Winter to get low prices there he then
8:09
used transatlantic to get to Florida and
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then to sell in the Caribbean for way
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less than European prices which are now
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rocketing going into summer most stuck
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to one cruise line for their living at
8:20
Sea one reason they some did it was to
8:23
build up loyalty to unlock perks on that
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line which help push down costs for
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example
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Super Mario only cruises on Royal
8:32
Caribbean to get high status which means
8:35
he pays for example a much lower solar
8:37
supplement 150% not 200% he gets Wi-Fi
8:40
to stay connected and work and he
8:42
receives daily drinks vouchers however
8:45
there is a very different reason that
8:47
Kevin of 30 and a wake up start to
8:49
princess and anel of the from poverty to
8:53
Paradise sticks mostly to Carnival both
8:56
do that as before starting on their
8:58
living on ships they went on a cruise on
9:00
their line of choice and played on the
9:02
slot machines in the casino to hit the
9:04
threshold to start getting free inside
9:08
cabin cruise office they did that
9:10
because they saw they could dramatically
9:12
cut the cost of linging on cruise ships
9:14
free casino cruises only require them to
9:17
pay taxes and port fees LEL of poverty
9:21
to Paradise says she's booked 60 6-0 of
9:24
these fre Cruisers across the year or
9:26
Kevin filled his year with three Casino
9:28
Alpha Cruisers but he went on longer
9:30
cruises Kevin said he found that once he
9:32
started getting offers he could work up
9:34
to three cruises each time he got an
9:36
offer and they kept coming as long as he
9:38
played a little bit on each Cruise
9:40
another big plus is with both Carnival
9:42
and Princess offers they both received
9:45
onboard credit with every free booking
9:49
that further offset onboard costs like
9:51
gratuities as an aside if you want to
9:54
consider using this approach the cruise
9:55
lines to focus on are Carnival Norwegian
9:58
princess and Royal carab in and I have
10:00
links to articles on my blog about how
10:02
playing the casino works in the
10:04
description of this episode while Fraser
10:07
C did not stick to one line he did try
10:10
to use lines that offered status
10:12
matching of loyalty where possible now
10:14
not many people do with MC cruises
10:17
matching even hotel and Airline loyalty
10:19
levels and at times Virgin voyages run
10:22
loyalty matching programs there was one
10:25
thing that everyone did even when
10:27
sticking to one line and that was to to
10:29
keep jumping and changing between ships
10:32
so why did they do this all said that
10:35
first it was to get the best and lowest
10:37
price in any week as fairs do vary based
10:40
on demand on different ships at
10:41
different times but also as I talk in
10:44
more depth in the dark side of living on
10:46
cruise ships to added very much needed
10:49
variety all stressed the need to have a
10:52
ruthless focus on keeping outgoings low
10:55
and how this requires a different
10:56
mindset when cruising for fun on a
10:58
vacation
11:00
while there are no escaping taxes Port
11:02
taxes and gratuities it means not having
11:04
drinks packages going excursions
11:06
especially dining and for many of them
11:09
not even buying Wi-Fi packages and
11:11
relying on connecting when in ports or
11:13
buying it ad hoc when they really really
11:15
needed it also they stressed not
11:17
forgetting when budgeting for the time
11:20
living on ships you need costs like say
11:21
the mobile phone toiletries Insurance
11:24
Plus any costs that you cannot avoid at
11:26
home a good way to cut costs that
11:28
appears only Kevin from 30 and a wakeup
11:31
seemed to use was owning shares in the
11:33
corporation who owns the line you're on
11:35
in his case as it was Princess that
11:37
meant Carnival Corporation by having 100
11:41
shares he could get extra onboard credit
11:44
for every Cruise which rain from $50 for
11:47
cruises under 6 days to $250 for those
11:50
over 14 days which again helped cover
11:52
things like gratuities or other onboard
11:54
purchases like drinks however check the
11:58
terms if going on Casino comp cruises
12:00
because when I looked it suggested for
12:01
some lines that added onboard credit
12:04
would not be given I also noted that
12:07
every single one of them had an income
12:09
stream they could generate while on
12:11
board to help fund their living
12:14
interestingly orbert Mario who says he
12:16
works about 5 hours a day on an
12:19
investment business turned talking about
12:21
their living on ships the ships cabins
12:23
and ports into their income stream Kevin
12:27
use his existing 30 and wakeup Channel
12:29
Robin Ali their grounded life Cruz's
12:31
Channel and Fraser his Fraser at c
12:34
channel while Lenell actually created
12:37
from poverty to Paradise to create
12:39
content about her living on ships in
12:42
fact just as I made this Lyell released
12:45
a video saying that N9 months after
12:47
starting the channel and her journey her
12:49
YouTube income was now covering her
12:51
entire Year's budget to live on ships
12:54
meaning she no longer needed to use her
12:56
savings to fund it but what did a year
12:59
living on ships actually cost all of
13:01
these people not everybody has been
13:04
comfortable sharing exactly in detail
13:06
how much they've spent across the year
13:07
but some of them have shared very
13:09
detailed spreadsheets and cost trackers
13:11
and this is what they
13:13
show Super Mario regularly shares his
13:16
costs which average at the moment $275 a
13:19
night as a Solo Traveler on roal
13:21
Caribbean in inside cabin that's around
13:24
$8,300 a month about $100,000 a year so
13:28
while it's kind of close to the base
13:29
Fair of those world cruises I mentioned
13:31
earlier his costs are including things
13:33
like gratuities drinks and Wi-Fi that
13:36
those World Cruise fairs did not as I
13:38
mentioned many of those are mostly
13:40
covered by his loyalty program status
13:43
however both Kevin from 30 and wake up
13:47
and Lenell from poverty to Paradise who
13:49
share very detailed costs from every
13:51
month on board are doing it for almost a
13:54
third of that by getting those free
13:56
cruises through Casino office both show
13:59
they're out of pocket between $2,000 to
14:02
$2,500 per month living on ships so no
14:05
more than about $30,000 a year of course
14:09
this approach is way more stressful and
14:11
less certain than the approach Mario
14:12
uses which is more akin to what I think
14:14
most of us would likely be looking at
14:17
what I can calculate everyone using the
14:19
casino route average at least $300 a
14:21
night but as you've seen it takes a lot
14:23
of work and effort living on cruise
14:25
ships I could also see from following
14:27
everyone is not always as exciting nor
14:30
enjoyable as it appears looking from the
14:32
outside or when we dream about it all
14:34
talk about a dark side unexpected
14:36
consequences and challenges they had not
14:39
expected you can find out about them
14:41
here in this video where I diage them in
14:44
detail see you over there
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