Travel Blogger: Some Europeans Retire Aboard Cruise Ships Instead of at Home

A Russian travel blogger has described a retirement trend among some Europeans: living out their pension years on cruise ships rather than in a house on land. Writing on his personal blog "Letayem Sami" on the Dzen platform, he called the phenomenon Cruise Ship Retirement.

The most radical route, he said, involves selling a home and either buying a cabin-apartment outright or taking a long-term lease of 15 to 50 years on residential ships. Such vessels circle the globe continuously and stay in ports for three to five days instead of half a day, giving residents time to explore cities like Paris, Tokyo or Rio, the blogger wrote.

Buying a cabin starts at $120,000, he said, with monthly maintenance fees on top. For a European who has sold a house in a London or Berlin suburb, he noted, that sum is within reach.

More common, according to the blogger, is the back-to-back approach, with retirees booking ordinary cruises one after another. He cited an elderly Australian couple who calculated that traveling was cheaper than paying utility bills and upkeep on a home. They booked 51 consecutive cruises and spent more than 450 days aboard Princess Cruises' Coral Princess without a break, he said.