Living on a cruise ship?

[Hlitner]

38 minutes ago, navybankerteacher said:

There is a massive difference between “living on a cruise ship” (which implies that it is your home) and taking long cruises, perhaps mixed with land stays, away from your HOME (which I happen to enjoy as well).(or 

 

This thread started (at least) contemplating on “living on a cruise ship” — which I continue to feel would be a dismal existence.

Perhaps!  We have limited ourselves to about 100 days a year on ships.  Not sure how we would handle 300+.  But when we used to cruise about 14 days a year we wondered if we would hate 100.  The first time we took a longer cruise it was a 62 day voyage on HAL's Prinsendam (with about 600 passengers).  After 60 days, DW summed it up when she said, "I could do another 60 days!"

 

Hank

[njhorseman]

4 hours ago, ads321 said:

Wonderful! Where are you now and how long is your current trip? Do you find many others doing what you do, any ever from UK? I read about it in the newspapers here but have yet to chat to someone who lives this kind of life...

At present we're at home. Our next cruise will be "only" 23 days as we're easing back into cruising after a prolonged absence due to the COVID pandemic. Our last cruise, which ended just as cruising was about to shut down was (I think) 55 days. For 2024  we have a 180 day around the world cruise booked.

We've met many people from the UK on our cruises .

[njhorseman]

1 hour ago, navybankerteacher said:

There is a massive difference between “living on a cruise ship” (which implies that it is your home) and taking long cruises, perhaps mixed with land stays, away from your HOME (which I happen to enjoy as well).(or 

 

This thread started (at least) contemplating on “living on a cruise ship” — which I continue to feel would be a dismal existence.

Yes, there's a massive difference between living on a cruise ship and taking long cruises, but what you said in your earlier post that I had a very negative reaction to was not about living on a ship at all, it was about taking a long cruise of a month or so.

 

You said: "Anyone capable of stopping to think (who had any sort of worthwhile life at home) would quickly realize that living a month or so on a cruise ship would quickly make them yearn for a real home."

[cruisemom42]

1 hour ago, sanger727 said:

Just like the crew aren’t ‘friends’, they are staff paid to look after you.

 

So you're suggesting that passengers and staff can't and don't become friends due to some invisible line?  I beg to differ. 

 

My parents were frequent cruisers on Sitmar cruise line in the days before cruising had expanded exponentially (e.g., 1970s, early 1980s), and staff often served for long periods on the same line and even same ship. They became friendly with several cruise directors and their staff members on Sitmar and (once they had retired for Fort Lauderdale) would often socialize with them when they were in port and had time off. 

 

My sister and BIL also cruise frequently and have friends who do it even more often, mainly RCCL and Celebrity. These friends have friends among the crew -- they are so close that they have gone to visit them at home in SE Asia and have even been invited to be godparents of one of their children.

 

I imagine someone who actually lives on board would be even more likely to have such examples.