A dream of travel after retirement led them to decide to live on cruise ships, which not only fulfilled their love of travel but also proved to be more affordable than owning a home with a mortgage.
Just $43 a day, or $15,696 a year, the couple spends on a cruise ship life.
The secret is to live your best life in retirement. At least it should.
Coincidentally, so does #cruiselife. For their retirement, Richard and Angelyn Burke decided to put two and two together.
The 50-year-old couple from Seattle, Washington had always planned to take a road trip after retirement.
They decided to hop from cruise ship to cruise ship because they liked it. Plus, it costs less than a mortgage. Yes! According to FOX 56 WOLF, the couple barely spends $43 a day ($15,696 a year) to live on a cruise ship. CNN estimates the amount between $89 and $100 a day. According to Angelyn, she also sometimes allows herself to spend up to $135 every day, or $49,275 a year.
This year, according to Angelyn, “we have 86 cruise days booked at an average total cost of $89/day for both of us.” That includes transportation, hotel, meals, entertainment, gratuities, port fees, and taxes. That’s nicely within our retirement budget.
Angelyn took her first cruise in 1992. After they were married, she and Richard began going on annual and even biannual cruises.
They can maintain their new cruising lifestyle with their combined money and the expected sale of their property. They started gathering data and making retirement plans in the early months of 2021. After realizing they could just sail for the rest of their lives, they started their new sailing lifestyle in May 2021.
“Our original idea was to stay in a few countries for a month and eventually go on cruise ships when we were older,” Angelyn told 7 News Australia. We love to travel, so we were looking for a sensible plan to continue traveling after retirement.
They brought only one piece of luggage on the trip.
They plan their journeys in such a way that one voyage ends in a certain port and another departs from there. When their schedules don’t match, they spend some time on land. several meetings with relatives and friends.
However, Angelyn can count it on one hand.
They also have no immediate intentions of returning to the mainland permanently. They want to visit every country in the world. The Burkes have visited the Bahamas, Canada, Iceland, Italy, and Singapore, on occasion more than once.
Angelyn and I have always been frugal, saving money and investing to get where we want to go. Experiences are more valuable to us than material things.
According to Angelyn, with careful planning and proper money management, many individuals could become frequent cruisers.
next, Make sure you’re ready for the travel lifestyle and interested in spending days at sea, she advises. Don’t forget to sign up for rewards programs and keep track of offers from different cruise lines.
You’ll need to be flexible about the dates of your vacation and try to stay put as long as you can if you want to save money between boarding the ship. You should also be mindful of your spending limits, refrain from buying drink packages and book the cheapest accommodation options. You shouldn’t spend money on gambling and other activities on a cruise because it’s more of a way of life than a vacation. In addition, it is important to travel light. You can always find everything you need when you travel.
As cruising becomes more of a lifestyle than a vacation, it is advisable to avoid unnecessary spending on activities such as gambling. Packing light is also essential as everything you need can be easily purchased on the go.
Overall, The Burks have found a unique and affordable way to fulfill their dreams of retirement living on a cruise ship. By carefully managing their finances and prioritizing experiences, they can enjoy life on the road while keeping costs within their budget. Their inspiring story serves as a reminder that with creativity and smart financial planning, it is possible to turn retirement dreams into reality.