Florida Widow Lives on Cruise Ship

[ltt]

http://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/cruises/2015/01/19/woman-pays-164k-per-year-to-live-on-luxury-cruise-ship/22030011/

I read this, had absolutely no idea a person could do this, but somehow, since she has the money to do it, am glad that she is living to the fullest in her later years.

[MayDay]

I wonder what the dance hosting thing is.

Good for her, and honestly it isn't that expensive when compared to say a nursing home or assisted living. If it keeps her young and happy, and she can afford it, why not?

It seems like it would be lonely though, no lasting friendships.

[MandalayVA]

I've seen other articles about her in the past.

Dance hosts are guys hired by the ship to dance with female passengers, since they make up the majority.  I doubt you'd find them on, say, Carnival Cruises, but if the line caters to the older crowd they'll be there.  I'm glad she's having fun.  There are actually cruise ships that double as condos too.  They're not cheap to say the least.

[Capsu78]

Yes, pricewise it comes in under the monthly cost of many a nursing home. As for friendship, the crew becomes her cast of friends and the ever rotating passenger list becomes the interesting people she meets up with.  Life in a nursing home sadly involves a lot of turnover as well.

[J'onn J'onzz]

I met a retired guy once that did something similar but rather than staying on the same ship all the time he would book something last minute, when they are giving discounts to try to fill the ship, that was leaving out of the port he was in. Said sometimes he would have to stay in a hotel for a night or 2 but most of the time he could find something heading out soon after he docked, he did say you just can not care where you are going, just take whatever is about to leave.

[Metta]

Until last year when my father became too ill to do it, my parents would take several cruises a year and they said that they saw the same friends over and over on their cruises, so apparently there is a sort of cruise fraternity on the high seas. (My job gives me Interline rates, which extend to my parents so they've travelled a lot without spending too much.)

[zhelud]

A former colleague of mine retired and became a dance host on cruise ships!  (he had done it occasionally before, but now I think he's making a life out of it.)  He is an excellent dancer, and very "distinguished looking" and stylish, so I bet he's popular.

[Cpa Cat]

I met a lady on the Queen Mary 2 who was doing it on that ship (which is quite expensive!). She had tales to tell about what happens when you die on the ship and such. She was a lot of fun. She would sometimes cruise alone, or sometimes pay for a family member/friend to come and sail with her for awhile.

We also met a few of retired couples who don't have a set residence and just scout last minute cruise deals and spend most of their lives on board. Apparently there's a whole community of those people out there. They seemed to be split between people who also owned RVs and people who rented a cheap apartment near a major port every year and people who live with their kids when they aren't cruising.

[Nords]

This has been going on for over a decade, and the media periodically recycles rediscovers it.

http://www.snopes.com/travel/trap/retire.asp

As for cruising for a dance host gig or an enrichment theme, I think it's a great deal.  On one Hawaii interisland cruise a woman gave a series of talks on navigation at sea from the Polynesians up through GPS.  She was a former airline pilot with considerable navigation experience (including celestial) so she had the credibility.  Her talk was a combination of my Navy navigation textbooks combined with a display at the Bishop Museum.  Free cruises for a little instructor duty, perhaps with sea stories?  My spouse and I looked at each other and thought "Holy crap, we could SO do this."

It turns out that the cruise lines have spawned a collection of talent agencies to actually book their clients around the world during the entire year.  It's usually a comp for the cruise, perhaps a little extra money if you're in high demand.  I hear the dance hosts are in high demand because the burnout (or the marriage rate) is so high. 

[retired?]

worth a topic and 900 views?

[Nudelkopf]

I did a Pacific Island cruise over summer/Christmas, and there were heaps of old people! One couple lived on that ship. We paid $100/night for our cruise, and the more cruises you do, the more discounts you get. When you're on, like, you're 150+ trip, surely you'd be getting a fuck tonne of discounts.