Planning for retirement is something that everyone has to think about, but for one couple they seem to have found the perfect way to hack the system.
Rather than paying for an expensive retirement home, one retired couple realised that it was much cheaper for them to go on fifty-one cruise holidays back to back.
Marty and Jess Ansen first set sail on their mega trip from Australia back in June 2022, and haven’t left the world of cruises since.
The pair have been enjoying all the luxuries that come with cruise holidays, including indulging in the buffets and the included entertainment.
For more than 450 days, the Ansens have experienced travelling the world and meeting all sorts of people on board, and they show no sign of stopping anytime soon.
They spoke to A Current Affair about their trip, with Marty explaining that they told their travel agent to book “whatever comes,” and thus they haven’t left the ship yet.
“The wheels change over but we stay on board,” Marty said.
“We welcome the different captains on board,” Jess added.
The hotel manager of the Coral Princess ship Ren van Rooyen explained how he views the couple.
“We always make a joke that I go away and I come back and it’s like coming to see my family – my mum and dad again – they’re like my second mum and dad on board,” he said, adding that the couple have become “celebrities onboard” the boat.
Before the pair embarked on their huge trip onboard, they were your average cruise lovers. However, once they realised it was cheaper to stay on the cruise than pay for a retirement home, they knew they had to live onboard full-time.
The strict lockdowns in Australia also meant the pair felt they had missed out on having fun, and so the entertainment options on the ship were also an encouraging factor in staying afloat.
“Where else can you go? You go for dinner, you go to a show, you go dancing. Through the day, you have all these activities,” Jess said.
Marty also explained that it’s the little luxuries that make their time on the boat, joking that they “don’t know how to make a bed because we haven’t done it for so long”.
“So now we have to stay on board just to stay alive,” he added.
The Ansens have 8 months left onboard the Coral Princess before they take a break from the seas and spend some time on dry land.
However, they don’t plan to stay put for long, and want to embark on another year-long trip aboard a different boat.
