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This sounds like a scenario some people could only dream of, but one Washington couple has made the dream of living on a cruise ship, a reality.
A couple has been living aboard various cruise ships for the past year after coming to the conclusion that it would actually be cheaper than their mortgage.
Former Seattle residents, 50-something-year-old couple Angelyn and Richard Burk told 7 News in Australia that they had always dreamed of retiring to a life of travel.
The pair explained that they'd been traveling on cruises around the globe at least once, sometimes twice each year, for years. And in 2021 Angelyn, who worked as an accountant, busted out the books, crunched some numbers, and realized that not only could they retire now, but they could also live aboard cruise ships for about $43 a day, which was significantly cheaper than their mortgage and their general cost of living.
"Our original plan was to stay in different countries for a month at a time and eventually retire to cruise ships as we got older,” Angelyn explained. “We love to travel and we were searching for a way to continuously travel in our retirement that made financial sense.”
That's when they quit their jobs, sold their Seattle home and belongings, and used the funds, along with their savings and loyalty points, to make retirement dreams a reality.
Angelyn confessed, “We have been frugal all our lives to save and invest in order to achieve our goal. We are not into materialistic things but experiences.”
Being able to count the number of times they've slept on land in the past year, Angelyn professes, “We don’t plan to permanently live on land in the future.”
She also noted that living ship to ship requires a lot of planning and when the ship schedules don't match up in their favor, the couple is forced to sleep on land.
They kicked off their nautical new life by going on a 50-day cruise around the Adriatic Sea, touring Europe, then a 51-day cruise from their former hometown, Seattle to Sydney, Australia.
Additionally, Angelyn Burk said, “It is leisurely travel without the complications of booking hotels, restaurants, and transportation while staying within our budget.”
Could you afford to live full-time cruising? Find out below.