In 2021, a man named, Ryan Gutridge began residing on Royal Caribbean cruise ships after discovering he could effectively work remotely while at sea. Despite the common association of cruises with retirees able to spend extended periods away from home, he emphasized that it presents a practical and budget-friendly lifestyle for those who can continue working while on the move.
“I work in IT as a cloud-solution engineer for a cloud-solution provider and started working from home in 2012,” he told the Insider in an interview. “But because of the pandemic, my team was able to work from home and access the data they needed from anywhere.”
“At that time, cruise lines hadn’t announced when or if they were coming back. I thought that if they returned, I’d want to try taking my job with me on a short cruise. I wanted to see how the WiFi would work and if I could access some elements of my job with heavy security.”
During the summer of 2021, Gutridge reserved two four-night cruises aboard Royal Caribbean’s Freedom of the Seas and embarked on both voyages in September.
“Everything worked great, and since then, I’ve been on a cruise pretty much every week, except for a few weeks due to the holidays,” he said.
Before making the bold decision to adopt a nomadic lifestyle aboard a cruise ship, Gutridge explained that thorough research was crucial Upon careful financial analysis, he discovered that the cost of living at sea for 300 nights was “almost neck-and-neck” with the expenses he was covering for his apartment and trash service.
Moreover, the cruise lifestyle includes additional benefits such as free WiFi and complimentary drinks, resulting in additional savings on other bills and expenses.
Indeed, for anyone accustomed to the frustration of investing in costly internet services at home, only to receive subpar performance, the cruise ship arrangement appears to offer a rather enticing deal in that regard alone.
“I wanted to really look at the cost of cruising full-time before I began,” Ryan told the outlet. “I have a spreadsheet that automatically records all my expenses, which helps. I also set a budget every year. This year, my base fare budget is about $30,000, and last year when I started really looking at the numbers and evaluating how much base fare I paid to be on a ship for 300 nights, I found it was almost neck-and-neck with what I paid for rent and trash service for an apartment in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.”
He continued, “My drinks and internet are free. 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.”
Although Gutridge didn’t explicitly mention his approach to meals, the Royal Caribbean website indicates that the cost of cruise tickets typically covers ‘most meals onboard.’
He mentioned achieving the highest loyalty level with Royal Caribbean, the ‘Pinnacle’ level, a status attained after two years of continuous cruising on the ship. In addition to its practical aspects, the cruise lifestyle has positively impacted his social life.
While Gutridge typically schedules meetings in the morning and afternoons, he utilizes lunchtimes to socialize or meet individuals at the gym.
“I’ve even met people that I stay in contact with and that have come back and cruised on this ship with me multiple times since,” he said. “Working from home was isolating. I don’t have kids or pets, so it’s easy to become somewhat introverted, but cruising has really helped and made me a lot more social.”
Let us know your views in the comments below!
Source: Insider
