Man lives on Royal Caribbean cruise year-round because it’s cheaper than paying rent and bills
A man spends most of his year living on a cruise ship because he reckons it's cheaper than the cost of living he'd rack up from his rent and bills.
Ryan Gutridge was working in IT as a cloud-solution engineer and had experience working from home since 2012, but when the pandemic hit his whole team had to get used to not having an office to go to.
In 2021 he decided to test an idea of his when he booked a pair of four-night cruises on board Royal Caribbean's Freedom of the Seas cruise ship, going on both of his trips in September that year.
The man told Insider he wanted to 'try taking my job with me on a short cruise' so he could test the WiFi and how well he could do his job from on board the ship.
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Florida man Gutridge discovered that he could do his job from a cruise ship and after crunching the numbers he worked out that the cost of spending 300 nights a year on board the Freedom of the Seas was 'almost neck-and-neck' with the cost of his rent.
On top of that, living on the cruise ship for most of the year got him free WiFi and free drinks, so he was saving money compared to life as a landlubber.
He set is 'base fare budget' at around $30,000 (£22,000) and given that his ticket on board the cruise ship covers his WiFi and drinks, while Royal Caribbean says a ticket also pays for 'most meals onboard', he found it worth the change.
"My drinks and internet are free," Gutridge told Insider of the change in lifestyle.
"If people are going to do something like what I do, I recommend trying different brands because they all offer something different. But once you commit to one, you should stick to it so you reach those loyalty levels.
"I found that Royal Caribbean has, by far, the most valuable benefits to me - discounts, free internet, and free drinks."
On top of all of that he obviously gets the big benefit of living on a cruise ship, that he is able to travel around wherever the ship may go so in his free time he gets to enjoy all of the extras.
He's also been able to rack up perks on the loyalty scheme in his free time so his voyages have become even more affordable.
The Florida man isn't the only one to do this, a number of people have sold off basically all of their possessions and decided to live as a near-permanent fixture on a cruise ship.
Some of them have said there are a few downsides to this, namely that the food can get 'monotonous' while it's hard to make friends because most of the other passengers aren't planning to live on the ship.
However, several people trying this agree that it has turned out to be cheaper than life on dry land.
Topics: Cruise Ship, Cost of Living, Travel, Lifestyle, Royal Caribbean, Money
Joe Harker