The Dark Side of Living on Cruise Ships: By Those Who’ve Done it!

Living On Cruise Ships Isn’t as Great as People Think. Here’s Why!

For many people, the idea of living part, or full-time, on cruise ships sounds like a dream-like paradise. But having spent time closely following several people that have recently tried it, I saw the harsh reality is that dream comes with some darker aspects , nightmare challenges and unwelcome problems. I think you need to know about these too.

Welcome aboard. I’m Gary Bembridge. In another video, I looked at the options and what it REALLY costs to live on cruise ships today but in this, I pull back the curtains on the downsides.

To do this, I closely followed people living on regular cruise ships.

That included Mario Salcedo, known as “Super Mario”, who’s lived on Royal Caribbean ships for years and years, Kevin of the “30 And A Wake Up” YouTube Channel ( https://www.youtube.com/@30AndAWakeUp ), Lynelle of the “From Poverty To Paradise” YouTube Channel (https://www.youtube.com/@PovertyToParadise ), Rob and Allie of “Grounded Life Cruises” ( https://www.youtube.com/@GroundedLifeCruises ) and Fraser of “Fraser At Sea” (https://www.youtube.com/@FraserAtSea).

The first thing I noted is they speak about strains on their well-being.

Groundhog Day

Another thing which I found is easy to underestimate looking in from the outside, is the repetitiveness and boredom of living on regular cruise ships. Again, everybody spoke about this issue, and none seem to have foreseen this.

To live on cruise ships at a decent cost means cruising where it’s least expensive. That means most focus on cruising in the Caribbean. But in this region, the ships basically repeat the same itinerary every seven or 14 days.

Living on a ship means you largely keep going round and round to the same ports, which gets a bit tiresome.

Also, the way that cruise ships work is because most people are only on for 7 or 14 days (or even less), everything is done on rotation. The menus and food repeat, as do the shows, daily program activities and so on.

All talk about this. For example, Rob and Allie of “Grounded Life Cruises” spoke about how they found living on ships in the Caribbean so repetitive that they had to shake things up and added in repositioning cruises when they were available as they tend to be good value.

They also then moved between cruise lines to get different experiences, so would switch between Carnival, Norwegian, and Princess.

Also, in terms of well-being when living on cruise ships, I found the issues and strains here can be underestimated.

Alone At Sea

I heard all speaking about periods of loneliness and homesickness, especially because most are doing it solo.

Of course, when we go on a cruise, we love being surrounded by and meeting people. It’s very social, and we get to make new friends.

However, when living on a cruise ship, people are coming and going roughly every week. It’s difficult to build friendships and relationships, and people living on ships are also far away from friends and family and missing out on being a part of family events or developments, good or bad.

Some of those I followed have spoken frankly about this issue.

For example, Lynnelle of “From Poverty to Paradise” has made videos on this issue, including one entitled “Revealing the Secret of Living Alone On a Cruise Ship”( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hy75xfnZSRw&t=414s) and another “Exposing The Dark Side Of Living On A Cruise Ship” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dkv3i4Ch71U&t=803s).

While Fraser of “Fraser at Sea” posted on social media, spoke about it in livestreams and made a video entitled “Living on CRUISE SHIPS Dealing with Homesickness” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fjI8KwjwfOo&t=2s) addressing this as well.

Health Matters

I have heard many people saying living on cruise ships would be a great retirement option, particularly as an alternative to going into assisted living centres.

However, I heard first-hand this is something the cruise lines do not want people to do.

A few years back, I had dinner during a cruise with the Hotel Director and asked him about someone I heard had been living on the ship for some time.

He told me they were working to tactfully get the person to leave the ship, as the guest was older, frailer, and increasingly expecting and demanding more help and care from the crew.

He said cruise ships are not designed for assisted or help with care living, but for short-term vacation travel. They’re not set up for people to live permanently, and they don’t really want people living on the ships because that’s not what they’re designed for.

They’re not retirement homes, and don’t have the medical, care facilities, or the support.

I found health issues also weighed on some of those people I followed.

All were younger, healthy, and did not have any ongoing medical issues.

This is important because the medical centre is not only costly, but it does not provide care for ongoing health issues and is designed to just deal with immediate injuries or small medical flare ups. It will not offer pharmacy services to fill regular prescriptions.

It’s also important to consider that if you’re living on a cruise ship and have a major injury or significant illness occur, you will be disembarked into medical care in the closest port, wherever in the world you are.

Teething Problems

Another medical challenge when living on cruise ships, is that there is no dental care on them.

As those people I followed noted, when they had an issue, a cracked tooth, a filling fallout or toothache, they had to find emergency dental care in a port, with no assistance from the line who have no local dentists to refer passengers to.

It may mean trying to navigate a dental system in a foreign language and where you may feel less comfortable with the practices.

But there is another challenging and costly matter when it comes to health all had to factor in.

Getting Cover

All found that overcoming the hurdle of getting insurance to cover lengthy periods living at sea was not simple. And, having it was essential for all the reasons I mentioned about health.

It’s not easy get insurance for long trips. Based on my experience, and listening to those I’ve followed, most insurers only insure people for trips of around 60 days, and some up to 90 days. And premiums are high.

Kevin at “30 And A Wake Up” and Fraser at “Fraser at Sea” spoke about this at some length.

Fraser solved the issue by breaking up his living on ships after 60 to 90 days with short periods off ships usually back home, partly to break up his trip and attend some family events, but this meant he could buy insurance to cover 60 or so day trips at a time.

He did stress anyone planning to live on ships to budget for this, as long-trip insurance is very costly. His annual costs were well into four figures, and he’s a young, fit and healthy guy.

In terms of more unexpected consequences that everybody raised, I want to cover a few that stood out for me.

Cabin Lottery

First, cabin issues. Most spoke about having issues with their cabins at various stages.

In the video that I made around how all of those I followed were able to make living on cruise ships affordable, is they cruised on Inside Cabins and booked guaranteed fares, which meant they didn’t get to choose their cabin and location.

All reported on some of their trips that had less than ideal cabins.

Lynnelle of “From Poverty to Paradise” has spoken in some videos about cabin issues such as being near noisy venues or machinery and from the people next door.

Fraser of “Fraser At Sea” made several videos and posted often on social media about some unusual and problematic cabins he was allocated on some trips. While he would hit the jackpot sometimes and get great cabins, he also showed how he had some of the smallest cabins ever and challenging ones too. Sometimes having to fight to change cabins.

It’s important to understand that you don’t have control of your cabins if you want to be able to live on cruise ships and do it in an affordable way. You will be mostly travelling Inside Cabins in guaranteed fare ones and so it can be a bit stressful, or at least uncertain.

Constantly Moving

Next, in that video that I made around how to live at an affordable cost, and have variety, everybody living on regular cruise ships keeps jumping ships chasing the best fares.

It means most were jumping ships up to 25 to 30 or more times a year.

All talk about how it can be a bit tiring. There is regular packing and unpacking, the need to travel with limited clothes and possessions both because there’s limited storage, and to have less to lug around every week or so changing ships.

Logistics

I had not really appreciated until studying this about the large logistical challenge and work it takes to live on regular cruise ships. This is because moving between ships is key to making it work for cost and added variety reasons.

Even for “Super Mario” who just lives on Royal Caribbean ships, he still spends time looking and finding the next set of cruises to go on, comparing to find the best price and ones that fit neatly into his schedule.

As both Kevin of “30 And A Wake Up” and Lynnelle of “From Poverty to Paradise” book free cabins through casino offers to enable them to live on ships, they not only have the logistics of making sure they gamble at just the right level to keep getting offers, but the logistics of working out and booking them are large.

For example, Lynnelle has spoken of booking 60 cruises to cover a year living on ships. That sounds like a lot of work!

Keeping It Clean

A slightly more lighthearted, but key one, that everybody spoke about, is laundry.

Not all cruise ships have free-to-use guest laundries, and sending laundry to be done is costly and would add significantly to the cost of living on ships.

Some go to some interesting lengths to solve this

For example, Rob and Allie of “Grounded Life Cruises” admitted that in some ports they take laundry to a local laundromat, while “Fraser at Sea” would book an inexpensive Airbnb with washing machine if he had a day or two in between ships to do laundry.

Being Connected

Talking of managing costs, many spoke about when living on cruise ships it is prohibitively expensive to buy the Wi-Fi packages for a whole year as it would dramatically increase costs.

Several, including Lynnelle and Fraser, said they did not buy the Wi-Fi package, and relied on free Wi-Fi when in port or some ad-hoc day purchases when they really needed it.

Therefore, many spent quite a lot of time not connected, which they did say was challenging because if they were feeling a bit lonely, had some logistics to do around finding future bookings, checking in for the next cruise and so on, it was not ideal not being connected all the time.

Also, in another form of connectivity, those who are big sports fans found ability to watch matches limited or keep up with their favourite soap or show as the TV channels are limited.

But taking all this into account, I found it remarkable and fascinating how all the people I followed made living on cruise ships possible and uncovering what it REALLY costs. You too can find out all that by reading my blog post A Peak Inside What It REALLY Costs Living On Cruise Ships.