The dream of the really wealthy seems to be to spend the rest of your life on a cruise ship. Every morning when you awaken, you eat as much breakfast as you like. Spend the afternoon lounging by the pool or seeing a wonderful city like Dubrovnik or Rome.
Have a drink in the lounge at night while enjoying a comedian or jazz band, then go to bed and repeat the process the following day. For the typical person, it seems too good to be true, right? Think again.
Austin Wells, a 28-year-old San Diego resident, told CNBC that he can make it happen because traveling the world is more affordable than living in Southern California on land. Wells told CNBC, “The thing that most excites me is I don’t have to upend my daily routine, in order to go see the world.”
He added: “I’m going from this model where you want to go somewhere, you pack a bag, you get on a flight, you rent a room, to now my condo, my gym, my doctors and dentists, all of my grocery stores travel the world with me.”
On the MV Narrative, which is being constructed in Croatia and will set sail in 2025, Wells bought an accommodation.
Wells’ fantasy makes complete mathematical logic. For $300,000, he secured a 12-year lease on the ship. If he didn’t have to take out a loan, that would amount to around $2,100 every month. In comparison, the majority of San Diego’s apartments have monthly rent prices that exceed $2,100.
All-inclusive services, which cost an additional $2,100 per month, come with meals, drinks, alcohol, a gym membership, regular medical checkups, onboard entertainment, and laundry.
So, Wells may live a life that is completely paid for for as little as $4,200 per month. Additionally, there is no need to spend money on a car, time on grocery shopping, or money on transportation. All of it is on the ship.
Because Wells’s employment with Meta is entirely remote, he is able to work from the ship.
“What I’m probably most excited about is going to places that ships can only uniquely go,” he said to CNBC and added that ships can travel to “unique ecological parts of the world or beautiful dive spots that are a few miles off land or caves to dive through and the ship will do a number of overnight stays in those areas.”
Not everyone has made the decision to live like they’re on vacation all the time, even Wells. Earlier this year, Upworthy spoke with a couple in their 50s who choose to live on cruise ships rather traditional housing because it is less expensive.
Depending on the vacation, Richard Burk and his wife Angelyn are spending about $100 per night living the good life while jumping from ship to ship. Richard told Upworthy, “Cruise costs vary quite a bit, our goal is to average about $100 per night, for the couple, or less across an entire calendar year.”
The Burks use loyalty programs to keep the cost of cruising down. Angelyn said 7 News, “We love to travel and we were searching for a way to continuously travel in our retirement that made financial sense.”
The Burks and Wells may be exceptions in society. They have made the decision to trade in the convenience of living at home for the convenience of being catered to constantly. Their stories serve as a beautiful reminder that, with a little imagination, we can design the ideal lives for ourselves whether on land or at sea, even though the majority of us probably won’t choose to take the huge leap and live life at sea.