Here’s Why People Are Living on Cruise Ships | ‘The Opportunity to Travel and Get Paid for It’

People are looking at all sorts of solutions to evade the rising housing costs everywhere in the US. From considering moving to resorts to people moving into tiny homes, it seems like everybody is trying their hands on unconventional ways of living. Now, people are turning to an option that was so far reserved for people with disposable income. Yes, many are now taking to the high seas, and abandoning the decision to live on land. While going on a cruise may seem like it will burn a hole in your pocket, the reality is that when it's planned properly it can cost you less than what you would pay on dry land. Among these people is Ryan Gutridge who spent almost the entire year on a cruise ship after he realized that he was able to work from the cruise. 

He began his new life on the Royal Caribbean cruise ships in 2021. In a chat with Insider, he said, "I work in IT as a cloud-solution engineer for a cloud-solution provider and started working from home in 2012."

"But because of the pandemic, my team was able to work from home and access the data they needed from anywhere," he added.

During this time, Gutridge decided that when cruise lines would resume their operation he would be taking his job with him 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," he said.

He initially booked two four-night cruises on Royal Caribbean's Freedom of the Seas in September 2021, to test out if he could work seamlessly from the ship. "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.

"I've been told I'm crazy for trying to live full time on a cruise ship, but it's not just for retired people," Gutridge told Insider. 

Gutridge, who was from Fort Lauderdale Florida, found himself paying $300 per night which was almost the same as what he was paying for his apartment and trash service back home, and while his base fare budget is $30,000 for the year, the cruise comes with extra perks including free WiFi and free drinks, which means that he is also saving money on those expenses. 

He also said that his good relationship with the crew members on board is also one of the reasons why he is considering letting go of his apartment in Florida permanently by 2025 as he only spends a short time on land to see friends and have doctor and dentist appointments.

Gutridge is not the only one who is living their sea life. Musician Jack Nolan is another great example of people traveling around the world full-time on cruise ships. Nolan has lived for more than seven years as a guitarist on cruise lines. "It's amazing to have the opportunity to travel and get paid for it as well," Nolan said. "Our drummer already knew the process of how to get a cruise ship gig, so he led the way," he told Business Insider.