Permanent vacation
Cheaper than the retirement home: couple goes on a cruise for two years
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Last summer, Marty and Jess Ansen set sail – and are still on board. The couple from Australia booked a cruise ship for two years.
Marty and Jess Ansen love cruises. There is probably no other way to explain how the older couple from Australia spends their time – namely on the water. Both want to travel on a cruise ship for two years.
In June 2022, the Ansens boarded the “Coral Princess,” a cruise ship owned by the Princess Cruises shipping company. After more than a year, their journey is far from over. The couple has booked 51 cruises in a row, without a break on land. The company said they will stay on the ship until at least August next year – unless they decide to end their long-term trip early.
795 days on a cruise
“Cruises offer the ultimate vacation experience,” enthuse Marty and Jess Ansen in the shipping company’s statement. “You get on board, unpack once, enjoy the entertainment, the food and the company and see the world.” So the couple from Brisbane decided to spend 795 days at sea.
The couple doesn’t mind that cruises aren’t cheap. The Australians see it completely differently: Living on the cruise ship is “very efficient,” they told the US magazine “People”: “You don’t have to pay rent or mortgages, you don’t have to shop or do your laundry.” Overall, they say, life on a cruise ship is cheaper than a place in a retirement home. Plus, you can travel the world at the same time.
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They are part of the inventory on the cruise ship
Even before the pandemic, Marty and Jess Ansen had taken 31 cruises. After Corona, they decided to move their entire life to the ship. The two are very happy with this and can even imagine extending their trip again next summer. Now they’re almost part of the inventory: “We’re on the ships longer than anyone else.” They would even welcome the captains on board and not the other way around.
But Marty and Jess Ansen aren’t the only ones who value life aboard a cruise ship in the long term. There is the movement of “Cult Cruisers” who live from cruise to cruise. Some people simply love the atmosphere on the ships, others consider life at sea to be cheaper than on land. And the shipping companies have also recognized this trend: a three-year cruise is scheduled to begin in Istanbul on November 1st.
Sources: Carnival Corporation / “People”