When it comes to our golden years, we all have an idea about the kind of luxuries we’d like to enjoy. Fine dining, worldwide travel, top shows and exotic experiences. We picture our every whim catered for by attentive staff, for whom nothing is too much trouble. But how do you live such a lifestyle without compromising on one element to achieve another?
Taking up residence in a fine hotel gives you part of the experience, but without the travel. Yet travelling the world can soon become a tiresome regime of airports, transfers and varying qualities of accommodation. If only there was a way of enjoying the best of both worlds.
Well actually, there is. You can have everything you’ve ever wanted for your retirement by taking to the high seas and living aboard a cruise ship. Whether you enjoy back to back cruises, or take up permanent residence on a single liner, cruising into retirement can be a very satisfying and sophisticated way to live.
A self-contained luxury lifestyle
Life aboard a cruise ship offers a level of luxury rarely found elsewhere. You can dine in the finest restaurants any time of the day or night. You can enjoy top class entertainment every night. You’ll have access to spas and salons, health clubs and swimming pools, along with cinemas, theatres and even casinos. And best of all, you’ll have all of this right on your doorstep.
And that’s not all; as a cruise ship passenger you’ll get maid service and laundry included, with fresh towels and sheets every day. All repairs and maintenance are taken care of, and you’ll have access to on-board medical care, a concierge service to get you anything you want, and a host of other staff ready to help you in any way you need.
Travel the world in comfort
Perhaps the best thing about living aboard a cruise ship is the chance to see the world in style, without any of that tedious time spent in airports. You’ll wake up every day with a new view from your window, as the ship travels around some of the most visited destinations in Europe and the wider world.
With some cruises, such as the Cunard World Voyages, you don’t even have to choose your destinations, because they literally travel the whole globe, visiting dozens of ports in a huge range of countries over the course of 100, 120 or even 180 days.
Your own floating home
For the ultimate luxury lifestyle, you can buy your own apartment onboard The World – an exclusive floating luxury yacht comprising 165 exquisite apartments which are owned outright by their residents. Rather than following a pre-planned itinerary, The World residents choose where they want to explore next, delivering the ultimate adventure at the very top end of the cruise retirement scale.
Worth the spend
With all meals and entertainment included, and no utility bills, living aboard a cruise ship is a luxury that is affordable for many people with a decent pension pot. The top line price can be up to £100 per day, and there is very little else you’ll need to pay for.
There are no gym fees or show tickets to find the money for and no transport costs to get there. And with no carers or personal assistants to employ, a study by Dr Lee Lindquist, from Northwestern University in the US, found that cruise liner life can often work out better value than assisted living such as retirement villages.
Surprisingly, the cost of a cruise compares very favourably with funding similar fun in a major city. According to Planet Cruise, living onboard ship and seeing the world for a year would cost almost £6,000 less than living a similar lifestyle in London, and over £13,000 less than living it up in New York.
So what are you waiting for?
With new rules allowing you to draw down a lump sum from your pension pot, and rising property values on the home you’ll no longer need, retiring to a cruise ship is well within your reach. Whether it’s rightsizing, equity release or using the services of a prompt, professional house buyers, you could be sailing away in no time. After all, you’ve worked for this all your life, you shouldn’t have to wait for months on the market when the world is out there waiting to be explored.
So forget the hassle of piecing together your perfect retirement. Check out the simplicity and sophistication of life on a cruise ship, and you can enjoy everything in one place that’s in a different place every day.
