Woman sells all her belongings so she can live on a cruise ship for 15 years
At 77 years old, Sharon Lane left her quiet life in California behind to spend the next 15 years onboard a cruise ship.
Sharon now lives on the Villa Vie Odyssey, a 600-foot residential cruise ship that will stop at almost every holiday hotspot that comes to mind, from tropical Bora Bora to the Norwegian fjords.
The Villa Vie Odyssey isn’t like the cruise ships we all know and love; this ship provides cabins on a long-term basis, giving travellers the chance to live at sea for up to 15 years, which is the ‘life expectancy’ of the vessel.
How much does this lifetime holiday cost?
Cabins onboard the cruise ship start at a whopping $129,000 (around £93,777) for a cabin on a 15-year lease. However, much like the additional bills on your rental property, there are ongoing monthly fees of $2,000 (£1,453) per person.
If you want a sea view cabin, you can expect to cough up even more.
The monthly fee does cover pretty much all of your expenses. This includes free food, drink (yes, even alcohol), Wifi, medical visits, and 24/7 room service. For this fee, passengers can also expect weekly housekeeping and twice-weekly laundry.
Now, this might sound like a lot of money; however, when you compare it to the estimated cost of living in London, which currently sits at about £4,245 a month (£50,940 a year) for a single person, it doesn’t seem all too bad.
To make the cruise look even more appealing, a mere deposit on a house in the UK stands at £53,414 on average, and in London, this shoots up to a staggering £108,848.
And we’re not even including mortgage repayments, bills, and simple everyday expenses such as food and transport.
The Odyssey set sail in September and is embarking on an ambitious route, a three-and-a-half-year itinerary that spans 425 destinations across 147 countries.
Once the route is complete, the vessel merely starts again, looping for the entirety of its 15-year lifespan.
Passengers on the Odyssey will enjoy trips across North America, Japan, the Philippine Sea, Australia, New Zealand, North and South Asia, Europe, the Mediterranean and more.
Sharon told CNN Travel: “I’m finally able to do what I’ve wanted to do for years.
“I buy the cabin, I live in the cabin, and that’s it. And then there’s no end.”
Even though the interest in residential cruising has peaked, it’s still a fairly recent concept and largely unprecedented. Odyssey’s initial departure was delayed by months.
Sharon had even previously signed up for a different long-term cruise that ended up being cancelled before it even secured a boat.
The Odyssey shares its ‘long-term cruise’ title with one other ship currently at sea, ‘The World’, which has been sailing since 2002.
These cabins, on the contrary, reportedly cost between $2.5 million and $15 million.
The Odyssey is currently sailing up the West Coast, and so far, it seems to be smooth sailing, according to Sharon, as she says she’s enjoying life among her fellow cruisers.
She concludes: “I don’t have to do my laundry anymore. I don’t have to go grocery shopping.
“Living on the ship is much less expensive than living in Southern California.”
