Post: #1

There are senior citizens who live in cruise ships. NY Times profiled one:

Quote:I first learned about Mario through my grandparents, both of whom are avid cruisers. As several of their senior friends began to spend more time on cruises than on land, my grandparents became aware of an elite cabal of sorts within the cruising subculture: passengers scattered across different cruise lines who choose to live at sea permanently. One such passenger was Mario Salcedo, or “Super Mario” as the crew of the Enchantment of the Seas affectionately calls him. For the past two decades, Mario has been a full-time resident on Royal Caribbean Cruises, accumulating over 7,300 nights at sea.

For nearly two decades, Mario had been living out of his suitcase, traveling extensively for his corporate job as the director of international finance at a multinational corporation. He spent more time in and out of hotel rooms scattered across Latin America than he did at his home in Miami. After working nonstop for nearly 21 years, Mario — burned out — decided it was time to pursue a lifelong goal: to travel around the world, without leaving home. In 1997, he quit his job, packed an even bigger suitcase and quietly disappeared from the lives of his friends and family to pursue a new life on the open water.

The Mario we followed was not living the fantastical dream life of a “cruising king,” as I’d seen him described. The Mario we found lives a life full of paradoxes: while he proclaims his independence from others, he surrounds himself with throngs of anonymous tourists, shaking hands and selling his lifestyle. I was determined to crack through what I perceived to be a facade. But as I floated dreamily across a sea of professional smiles with Mario, I realized that his facade had taken on a reality of its own, that his ongoing voyages to nowhere — and everywhere — provided an overwhelming sense of freedom perhaps not found on land. It is in that freedom that Mario has finally found his home.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/01/opini...ement.html

They made a well-produced video about him:

https://www.nytimes.com/video/opinion/10...l?src=vidm

Usually if someone keeps bragging about how "happy" they are, something is off. Living on a cruise ship doesn't seem that appealing... it's like living in an amusement park.

Post: #2

To each his own

Post: #3

It's not the worst way to live for presumably 3k or less a month incl. food and beverages.

Surrounded by the ocean in upscale surroundings, always some entertainment going on, people mostly in good holiday mood.

In most major cities in the US you're living a pretty bare bones life for that money.

Red pilled euro guys tend to retire in Pattaya instead though where they bang hookers until viagra stops working.

Post: #4

Those cruise ships are 98-99% geriatrics. Floating nursing homes. The live-aboards are usually widows. If you’re already old and alone, I guess it’s a decent life. No place for a young or even middle aged guy.

The only close thing for young people would be semester at sea. Always regret not doing that program.

I know some retirees that cruise a lot. They did an around the world trip that was like 6 months on a smaller boat. Less amenities, but a higher class of people. Lots of exotic islands the big ships didn’t stop in.

Post: #5

Compared to his peers who spend most of their lives isolated in suburban neighborhoods he’s life is probably way more sociable. Also at only 64k a year for everything its not that expensive for him to live this way. Definitely, worse ways to spend your golden years.

Post: #6

A cruise ship might be the only reasonable way to establish a de facto micro-nation, but you'd have a hard-time talking me into living on one long term.

Of course, when I'm old and grey, I doubt I'm going to have all that much interesting in travel to "rugged" destinations.

Post: #7

By the time we’re old the demographic of cruising will have changed dramatically. Compared to your average nursing home even a Carnival ship is a palace. I do wonder if it will be become a more appealing option as more people start doing it.

Kinda funny concept to stick all the old people on a boat and send them seaworthy. Wasn’t that an Eskimo stereotype? Push away the useless elderly on an ice flow?

Post: #8

Hmm, I recognize the Travel Museum style on Choo Choo Train's writing. TM, please stop beating around the bush with your new account and post your bang stories. Thanks

Post: #9

(06-03-2018 09:37 AM)Choo Choo Train Wrote:  Those cruise ships are 98-99% geriatrics. Floating nursing homes. The live-aboards are usually widows. If you’re already old and alone, I guess it’s a decent life. No place for a young or even middle aged guy.

The only close thing for young people would be semester at sea. Always regret not doing that program.

I know some retirees that cruise a lot. They did an around the world trip that was like 6 months on a smaller boat. Less amenities, but a higher class of people. Lots of exotic islands the big ships didn’t stop in.

Damb the semester at sea thing actually sounds kinda cool. Do you think it get weird tho being at sea with the same people for like 5 months? If you start trying to fuck a couple girls you might just get shunned quick from the whole ships community. What do you think the quality of girls on this kind of thing are? Also how do you think black guys would do at sea?

Post: #10

I met a few chicks who did semester at sea once in a hostel. They were 6s. Very few hot girls are going to want to do that kind of thing. I’d forget about pussy on that type of endeavor.

Post: #11

I remember reading somes posts by a guy named Tynan, who was one of those Project Hollywood guys with Mystery and Neil Strauss, and he uses cruise ships as remote working locations.

http://tynan.com/cruisework

Quote:The number one enemy of productivity is distraction, either in the form of entertainment or things like chores and phone calls which feel productive but break up the day. Cruise ships are a remarkable way to eliminate all of those things. Efficiency can be so high on a cruise ship that I schedule things like entire rewrites of major sections of Sett or the writing of a brand new book for the two-week cruise.

On a cruise ship, everything is taken care of for you. No time at all has to be allocated to cooking, choosing your meal, or to cleaning. You show up at the restaurant, in which all of the food is free, order whatever you want from the rotating menu, eat, and then immediately get up and get back to work.

When you get back to your stateroom, it has been cleaned and the bed has been made. Today there appeared, with no explanation, a big platter of fruit, which will make a great snack while working.

Wifi is present everywhere, but very expensive, ranging from twenty to seventy cents per minute, depending on which package you choose. This actually suits work very well because it's reasonable enough to commit code, look something up occasionally, post blog posts, and stay on top of emails, but it's too expensive to check Facebook compulsively or to get caught up in the dreaded Reddit -> Hacker News -> Reddit cycle.

A novel idea, worth considering even if you think it wouldn't work for you.

Post: #12

He is a loner guy who did not have a family. He found a way to remain somewhat content while going into old age without a wife, kids.

It's not a bad option frankly for a guy like him. My guess is that the other ones doing it are shown in the vid as well - the couple which travels around a lot, but visits or gets visited by their children and grandchildren.

Living in a moving hotel always frequenting holiday destinations is indeed an option. If he were any richer, then he would be having a yacht and a constant harem of 20yo girls who were hired to be his girls for 1-2 years. Some very wealthy guys actually do this - pay those girls 30k/month and have constant orgies traveling across the world.

I wonder whether he has to pay for sex or whether there are enough older women traveling alone. There are after all widows and divorcees who are bored out of their minds.

http://www.allaboutcruisesandmore.com/pr...ise-ships/

And cruises do have older male gigolos that they allow to do their trade, so who knows.

Post: #13

I'm surprised how this guy doesn't get bored of traveling on cruise ships 24/7. Even a simple activity that most older folks enjoy such as playing a round of golf, camping, playing tennis, meeting for barbecues, etc. can't really be done on a cruise ship. I would think that by cruise # xx the same cookie cutter activities and shows that all cruise ships engage in would bore a normal person to death...

Post: #14

L Ron Hubbard did something similar. He had his own ships and harem. He founded sea org. Very interesting to read about if you have time.

Post: #15

Triple G,

You seem to be forgetting that the ships do stop places where people can go outside and do a bunch of things in places they may have never been before.

Post: #16

How's this much different than live-aboard sailors who own 50 foot sailboats and hang out in marinas all over the world. Maybe there's something cool about having some Filipino waiter recognizing you at the lunch buffet. At least if you own your own boat you can choose where to head next and what to do. Cruise ships are just glorified resort hotels filled with fanny-pack wearing tourists.

Post: #17

Just checked out whether it's financially prohibitive to do so:

https://www.cnbc.com/2016/07/26/ahoy-mat...-ship.html

Quote:Ahoy matey, more folks retiring on a cruise ship

Quote:Jack and Willi Ross swapped their Vancouver, British Columbia, single-family home for a smaller apartment so they could travel most of the year. Their most recent journey? A 180-day trip with Oceania Cruises.

"The cost of living was, in some ways, cheaper," compared with home, said Jack Ross. The 78-year-old Ross said medical care, fine dining, laundry and internet service were included in his cruise fare. (Rates for Oceania's 2017 around-the-world cruise start at about $40,000, but it's now 2-for-1, including first-class roundtrip airfare.)

Prices similar to land living

So essentially it's possible that it costs the old guy about as much as he would pay while living on land. $40.000 for two for 6 months - maybe you can get a full year for $60.000 for one person. Rent, medical, food, laundry, dining is included - if those cruise ships were inhabited by many young girls, then I might do it one day for a year.

Quote:On the other hand, it costs about $229 daily for a private room in a nursing home and $3,293 per month for a one-bedroom in an assisted living facility, according to LongtermCare.Gov.
Independent living or retirement communities range from $1,500 to $3,500 a month, according to HelpGuide.org.

No wonder that old folks are retiring on cruise ships. It certainly beats living in an old people home and keeps them more active.

Post: #18

Imagine that Love boat atmosphere.

Post: #19

(06-04-2018 11:42 AM)Columbo Wrote:  Imagine that Love boat atmosphere.

Columbo, nice to see you here, after all you did solve your most baffling case on a cruise ship:

Post: #20

(06-03-2018 01:09 PM)TripleG Wrote:  I'm surprised how this guy doesn't get bored of traveling on cruise ships 24/7. Even a simple activity that most older folks enjoy such as playing a round of golf, camping, playing tennis, meeting for barbecues, etc. can't really be done on a cruise ship. I would think that by cruise # xx the same cookie cutter activities and shows that all cruise ships engage in would bore a normal person to death...

Actually, you'd be surprised how many physical activities there are on cruise ships. Climbing walls, etc. I'm pretty sure tennis courts and driving ranges are definitely possibilities on some cruise lines.

Here's a website for a residential cruise ship that apparently has the only regulation-sized tennis court:

http://aboardtheworld.com/

Post: #21

I think they hey day for cruise ships, for young people, was in the 30s (where, from what I've read, reading between the lines, it was one of the few places you could get NSA encounters).

Post: #22

(06-05-2018 04:08 AM)Feyoder Wrote:  I think they hey day for cruise ships, for young people, was in the 30s (where, from what I've read, reading between the lines, it was one of the few places you could get NSA encounters).

I think that is called the Navy when fraternisation occurs.

Post: #23

My mom works in senior care and retirement homes and says this is becomming very popular. Assuming someone is reasonbly heatlhy they get to travel and live in a nice environment, they have their meals prepared, house cleaning, and doctors aboard ship and because senior care facilities are so expensive for probably roughly the same price as being in some stuffy retirmenet home so I can see the appeal.

Another thing some people like to do is cruise between destinations. My folks were on a European cruise and a lot of people would stay on the boat while it cruised from Europe back to hawaii for the next season. From what they said it was very cheap

Post: #24

My flights to South America got messed up cause of hurricane Micheal... Then I started looked at cruises when I was bored and stuck in my hotel. You can get from Florida to Colombia in like a day and for around $500. Has anyone ever took a cruise ship to South America an then just got off? Used it like a flight? I ended up canceling all my itinerary for Uruguay an I'm gonna head down to Florida and take a cruise down to somewhere in South America... maybe take a cruise and just check out some of the more expensive Caribbean spots before heading down to South America

Post: #25

(10-13-2018 09:20 AM)Cr33pin Wrote:  My flights to South America got messed up cause of hurricane Micheal... Then I started looked at cruises when I was bored and stuck in my hotel. You can get from Florida to Colombia in like a day and for around $500. Has anyone ever took a cruise ship to South America an then just got off? Used it like a flight? I ended up canceling all my itinerary for Uruguay an I'm gonna head down to Florida and take a cruise down to somewhere in South America... maybe take a cruise and just check out some of the more expensive Caribbean spots before heading down to South America

what about days when the ocean is wavy? try to get a good nights sleep when the boat keeps tilting left to right every few seconds.