Meet the Aussies who live on cruise ships
They’re swapping the suburbs for a life on the high seas.
For the past two years, Gayle Doe and her husband Vic have spent their days like many sixty-something Australians. She, working part time as a nurse at the local hospital in Yamba; and he, a former QLD Health employee, enjoying a low-key retirement.
It’s in stark contrast to their pre-Covid life of leisure and adventure.
“Our beds were made, and we had fresh towels every day; everything was cleaned for us,” the 62-year-old reminisces. “The hardest decision we had to make was where to eat breakfast.”
In the years leading up to the pandemic, the couple spent much of their year enjoying wine tastings, trivia, live shows, date nights, and of course, travel. Lots and lots of travel.
Doe and her 67-year-old husband are among a small group of travellers who, when not confined to land by a pandemic, live for much of the year on cruise liners.
Prior to 2020, the pair clocked up thousands of nautical miles at sea, enjoying 1111 days on various Princess Cruises and Royal Caribbean ships. Doe explains it involved a mix of back-to-back voyages on the same ship and, to use the lingo of cruise devotees, “side-by-side” itineraries where they would disembark one ship and almost immediately board the next.
Aside from a brief stint at home over Christmas, the pair will return to sea until mid-next year, with their itinerary covering the Australian coastline as well as a 40-day voyage visiting ports in the US and Alaska.
“It will be the biggest back-to-back session we’ve ever done”, Doe says, adding that she hopes this is one of many more extended cruising voyages the couple will take over the coming years.
“The hardest decision we had to make was where to eat breakfast.” — Gayle Doe, cruiser
Like many other full-time cruise enthusiasts, the couple intends to keep their home as a base for stints between voyages. Even the world’s most famous cruiser, Mario Salcedo, better known as ‘Super Mario’, has a home in Miami Florida, where he spent some time during the peak of Covid.
The US businessman’s 20-year continuous stint on various Royal Caribbean ships has made him a legend among passionate cruisers, with threads on sites such as Reddit dedicated to tracking the 73-year-old’s continuous at-sea journey.
Mama Lee Wachtstetter is another perennial cruise passenger whose at-sea life has made her a legend among the cruising community. The 94-year-old has circumnavigated the world 23 times and in 2017 published I May be Homeless, but You Should See My Yacht, a memoir documenting her decade aboard Crystal Cruise ships.
While we may not all share the same fervent passion for floating hotels as Super Mario or Mama Lee, the lure is strong for many Australians. Pre-pandemic statistics show we take more cruises per capita than any other country, with the average traveller voyage length around 8.8 days.
“It takes you out of that busy everyday life,” says Arlene Mack, a cruise consultant from South Australia. Having taken 61 voyages herself, she can understand the appeal, especially for Australians wanting to travel without the rigmarole of multiple flights and accommodations.
“All your meals are cooked for you. My (clients), they say ‘oh it’s so nice; I don’t have to do any housework, or cooking, or cleaning’. Who wouldn’t want that? And there’s the safety and security of if it.”
Floating condos
While standard holiday cruise liners generally don’t offer rooms to purchase, the allure of waking up to a brand-new view each day without the hassle of physical travel has sparked a new appetite for permanent residences at-sea.
The World, a 12-deck luxury residential ship which was launched in 2002, is the only one of its kind, but not for much longer. Four more floating condo vessels are expected to launch in the next two years, offering digital nomads and high-net worth individuals the ultimate floating holiday home.
While a net worth of $10 million is required to purchase one of the 165 residences on The World – which are worth upward of US$3 million, a home on Storylines’ MV Narrative – set for completion in 2024 – will be more affordable.
Powered by liquid natural gas, the Narrative will boast a helipad, library, accredited education program and even an organic farmers market for residents as they travel, with the vessel circumnavigating the world every 3.5 years.
Studios on the 533-residence ship start at US$835,000, while a four-bedroom home is priced at around US$4.6 million.
You’ll pay a lot more for a home on the Njord, a smaller LNG-powered ship also set for launch in 2024, with it’s 118 residences starting around the US$8 million mark.
Somnio, which is described as a “yacht liner”, is also offering apartments in a similar price range ahead of its scheduled 2024 launch, but you’ll need an invitation to buy.
Mack says there will always be people who would love nothing more than spending the rest of their lives at sea. “I know for myself, you go into this bubble for a while and just relax,” says the Cruise Focus owner, who has worked in the industry for almost 30 years. “Even just sitting on the deck chair and starting out at the ocean, it’s like therapy.”