What would it take to retire onto Royal?

[beachnative]

For our first 4 years after retirement we spent about half of each year on cruise ships. We did all but three of the Royal Caribbean ships and sailed most of their itineraries. When we sailed from homeports outside continental U.S. we combined the cruises with land vacations.

 

We have had a wonderful time.:)

 

Cruising is still enjoyable but we would not want to live on a cruise ship….too many other fun things to experience.

Edited February 8, 2016 by beachnative

[Pumbaamd]

Unless Mario is now part of the crew, getting off the ship is a US CBP requirement, not a cruise line requirement.

Mario most often gets his next cruise SeaPass card the night before and disembarks early in the morning, with his proper docs. He's 99% of the time in MIA or FLL. He'll drive to MIA where he lives, check his mail, calls, walk the dog, etc. and be back on board in time for the next sailing.

R&D

[kalliekae]

Well, for the last 18 years there is one cruiser that has been called Super Mario that cruises 350 days of the year.

 

From what I've read he gets 2 free cruises a year (700 C&A points), stays in an inside cabin and spends less than $70,000 a year for his room.

 

Do a google search of Super Mario for more info.

 

On our last Allure cruise, RC aired an interview with him on TV. It was very interesting. He normally cruises on the Liberty, but also sails on other ships He stated that Royal asked him to cruise on one of the mega ships (Quantum or Athem??) this past December and indicated the cruise was free. I'm sure he gets a lot of perks since he's been doing it so long. The five days that he doesn't sail are spent with his daughter and her family.

 

On HAL, we met a woman several years ago who lived on the HAL ships. She occasionally rotated ships, but mainly stayed on the Amsterdam. She had the cabin furniture changed so she could bring her own recliner and other things when she sold her home. I'm not sure if she is still alive or not since it was over 10 years ago and she was elderly at that point. It is indeed an interesting lifestyle.

[Johnamac123]

Mario most often gets his next cruise SeaPass card the night before and disembarks early in the morning, with his proper docs. He's 99% of the time in MIA or FLL. He'll drive to MIA where he lives, check his mail, calls, walk the dog, etc. and be back on board in time for the next sailing.

R&D

 

I also read he gets the same perks as any other Pinnacle cruiser, 150% single supplement, etc. He does have his own office on one of the ships he frequents...

Edited February 8, 2016 by Johnamac123

[MrsPete]

Bottom line, it's 3k a month to live in an assisted living here, I'd rather be on a cruise ship.

To be argumentative, people don't tend to go into assisted living until they're having some age-related medical problems ... and once you're having those problems, living in a small room without access to a variety of doctors and other medical services might not be so realistic.

 

Extended cruises might be realistic for the "newly retired" people in their 50s, 60s, 70s ... but probably not as a substitute for assisted living.

 

Additionally, I could imagine such people "living" on a cruise ship in the off-season, but it'd be very expensive to do this in summer. The ships also become crowded in summer, and I can see that'd be a bummer for someone who was used to a more modestly populated ship.

Assisted living means different things to different people.

 

In many cases, the person in "assisted living" is someone who is still essentially "intact" physically and mentally, but unable to do things like cook, clean, mow the yard, shovel snow off the driveway, drive / shop for groceries, etc.

 

Someone like that could live very easily on a cruise ship -- they'd have new guests to meet at dinner every week, they'd have regular visits from familiar faces with the crew, they have all kinds of entertainment options to choose from, they have someone to cook and clean for them, etc.

Eh, not so much. My daughter worked at an assisted living facility when she was in high school, and the clients at her place had emergency call buttons in their apartments, doctor visits on-site, RNs to make sure medications were taken properly, and staff who come checking if you don't report to meals. According to my daughter, everyone who lived there had some type of medical problem (or the spouse did); people just don't give up their homes and move into these expensive places if they haven't had some type of a medical scare.

 

In contrast, people who are physically and mentally "intact", to use your wording, tend to stay in the home they've had for years and "hire someone in" to do the cleaning and yard work.

Edited February 8, 2016 by MrsPete

[davekathy]

Cruising is our favorite way to vacation so we'll leave it at that. Now that we are both retired it's time to start living. Worked hard know it's time to play harder.

[Disneycruisers]

Cruising is our favorite way to vacation so we'll leave it at that. Now that we are both retired it's time to start living. Worked hard know it's time to play harder.

 

Love your way of thinking :) 12 more years of work for me.

[brillohead]

Eh, not so much. My daughter worked at an assisted living facility when she was in high school, and the clients at her place had emergency call buttons in their apartments, doctor visits on-site, RNs to make sure medications were taken properly, and staff who come checking if you don't report to meals. According to my daughter, everyone who lived there had some type of medical problem (or the spouse did); people just don't give up their homes and move into these expensive places if they haven't had some type of a medical scare.

 

In contrast, people who are physically and mentally "intact", to use your wording, tend to stay in the home they've had for years and "hire someone in" to do the cleaning and yard work.

 

There's a difference between assisted living and a nursing home. People in assisted living need "assistance" with certain things -- some might need help with basics like bathing and dressing, others might just not be up to managing a household anymore. People live in a nursing home when they need actual "nursing care" for their medical issues.

 

Like I said, "assisted living" means different things to different people. There can be a huge difference between not cooking and cleaning, and needing an RN to handle your medications and various treatments.

 

Most people, upon first retiring, are not completely physically debilitated and in need of going straight from work and into a nursing home.

Edited February 8, 2016 by brillohead

[RJB]

Be interesting to try it and see how it goes. Love to cruise but could be too much of a good thing.

[griffy116]

Reading the link to the couple's blog certainly makes it sound wonderful. Not boring in the least. I'd certainly be willing to give it a try. Why not?

[bouhunter]

Mario most often gets his next cruise SeaPass card the night before and disembarks early in the morning, with his proper docs. He's 99% of the time in MIA or FLL. He'll drive to MIA where he lives, check his mail, calls, walk the dog, etc. and be back on board in time for the next sailing.

R&D

 

Supposedly he almost lives on cruise ships. What would be the point of owning a dog..............:rolleyes: As for "checking calls", I'm sure he is connected onboard...

Edited February 8, 2016 by bouhunter

[bouhunter]

Assisted living facilities have many more services available when needed than a cruise ship. No comparison between the two.

Edited February 8, 2016 by bouhunter

[insidecabin]

There is lady uk based that has recently done a deal with a cruise line and also got an apartment in the UK home port.

She will be running a business but can skip a cruise if needed back in the office. Cabin guest or substitutes allowed if not using it, no idea on price.

[runawaysoul]

Have MBA in Accounting and Financial Management, and well aware of the tax benefits of running a home based business, but I know nothing if there's any tax benefits for Super Mario's set up. I'm not an Accountant nor a financial planner (yet). That'd be interesting to see how that is set up.

[Nana57]

What do these cruisers do for insurance? It's pricey.

[awestover89]

We've (somewhat jokingly, but only somewhat) talked about it, but we're a good 40 years from retirement. Our plan if we were to do it would be to stay mostly in interiors and wouldn't do a lot of excursions, if any. Monotony would be a concern, but we probably wouldn't stick to one ship/one itinerary. A lot of options around Florida, could easily enough schedule like one month per ship and just rotate. Do a one way car rental or fly to a different port if we wanted a little something different.

[TravelerThom]

Assisted Living was not mentioned in the Original Post or the next 14 posts. What I consider the new norm in the US for non-owned-house retirement is a Continuing Care Community (CCC) which starts with Independent Living and progresses through Assisted Living and on into Nursing Care and Memory Units.

 

Cruise Ships offer MORE than Independent Living (which has you doing at least some cooking and basic cleaning). People who are looking to move out of their owned home and into Independent Living in a CCC would indeed be candidates to move onto a cruise ship, and quite likely at cheaper cost than a CCC (even in non-urban SC, I question the quality of $3k per month Assisted Living:eek:).

 

I think that doing the identical cruise (albeit with a new cast of characters) every week or two would rather quickly become boring. Sailing on a line with a greater variety of ports would generally mean going up-market from RCI, but could still be cost effective, especially for a couple. On a Cunard cruise some years ago I talked for quite awhile to a woman who had been on the ship (not in a suite) for years; even as a single she said it was distinctly less expensive than a CCC in urban New Jersey.