I’ve looked at several articles about what it cost to live full-time on a cruise ship. We all hear the stories about the people that retire and it costs them $1000 a month or $3000 a month to live on a cruise ship. Cheaper than living in a retirement facility.I’m not sure how realistic that is. According to Royal Caribbean. super Mario, who has spent almost 3 decades living on a cruise ship, the cruise line does not give you a special year-round pricing. You have to book each cruise individually just like everybody else. He says it will cost between $80,000 for an inside cabin up to $200,000 if you want a high end cabin for 50 weeks a year. Those numbers are based on him, cruising solo and paying an average of one and a half times the cabin price.
My husband, Scott and I embarked on a plan to Cruise weekly using the cruise certificates that are given from the casino and the free offers that are emailed to me. Some will call this a free cruise and others will swear there is no such thing as a free cruise, but simply a prepaid through gambling cruise. I say there’s a middle of the road. We had cruised 80 complementary cruises in three years since Covid. They were not weeklong cruises. They have been closer to 2 weeks up to 30 days. Has it cost me to do this? Absolutely. Has it cost me anywhere close to what it would have cost had we purchased the Cruises? No way! To give you a little history, this is where we have been in three years and how we did it
Besides the numerous Caribbean cruises that average 7 to 10 days, we have been on a 14 days TransPacific Vancouver to Tokyo 12 days around Tokyo
32 days South America 15 days Los Angeles to Hawaii round-trip
30 days Australia, New Zealand 18 days Australia to Hawaii
10 day Boston to Quebec city and 10 more back
12 day Iceland/Greenland and 12 more back
22 days Italy/Greece/ turkey
27 day transatlantic port Canaveral to Europe, 14 more to Norway/Iceland
3 transatlantic to Europe
12 day British Isles 2-16 day Panama Canal+ Seven day Alaska
Each of these were given to us from the casinos of different cruise lines. We paid for port charges, taxes and gratuities. We’ve received free Wi-Fi, drink packages, laundry, and majority in either Balcony, Concierge, aqua class or junior suite
At first, I didn’t set a budget. Sometimes I would win, sometimes I would lose. I never spent even half of what it would’ve cost me to buy the cruise, but I soon found that sometimes I was running my credit cards up more than I wanted to. Last year, I decided to start monitoring my wins and losses more closely. I established a budget of approximately $1000 for a 7/8 day cruise. I also decided to start focusing on taking money home with me instead of gambling it back into the machine.. I have found this to be more successful. I am actually bringing money home with me and it’s not costing me for my gambling. My philosophy now is, if I win a couple thousand dollars, put it away and stop gambling. If I go through my thousand dollars, stop gambling. I am still getting enough points to continue cruising complementary.
Celebrity starts their new year on August 1. Having reached Sapphire plus in 2024, I am entitled to $1000 free play with each cruise. I’ve taken 5 on Celebrity so far because we had other ones booked with other cruise lines prior to this. To date, we were on the Celebrity Beyond back to back for 14 days in August 2024 . I left there winning $10,000 At no cost out-of-pocket. We went on the Royal Caribbean Utopia 4 nights and broke even. We went to Be-yond 6 night first week of October. I left losing my $1000 dollars. Second week of October, up $2400 and the Beyond, 3rd week, 6 day cruise up $5000.
Now, what has it cost? We average $350 per week for port charges/taxes for 2. We average $19pp per day for gratuities on concierge class cabins. That amounts to about $266 per week for 2 people.
We currently have 42 cruises booked in 2025 and room for 4 more, including 48 days in Europe. My intention is to continue trying to stay on budget and bring home more than I came with from the casino.
The secret is to start somewhere.
The hardest one is the first because you’re paying for a cruise and having to establish a budget to win your next cruise free. Go cheap if you need to!
2. Decide how many cruises you would like to go on for the year. Whether it’s one or multiple, free is free. 3. Pick the cruise line that fits your style of cruising. Stick with it until you get to the Captains Club level that gives you the rewards you would like. (free drinks, laundry, etc..)
4. Once you start the cycle, it should keep you going and give you more free cruises. I received my 2024 win/loss statement. That’s what the CASINO gives you to tell you how much you have won or lost for the year.
Celebrity- won a total of $26,935
Royal Caribbean- lost a total of $15,229
That’s a net profit of $11,706
When you add the value of our free cruise, Wi-Fi, drink package, Laundry, photos and the many other gifts that are given to us, it is definitely a win-win for us.
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