Featured Image Credit: NBC4
Topics: News, US News, Cruise ship, Travel
Gerrard Kaonga
A retired teacher has made it clear she has no regrets about selling everything to live on a cruise ship for the foreseeable future.
Sharon Lane is a former high school foreign language teacher, and recently made a purchase for the trip of a lifetime.
The 77-year-old is now retired and opted to trade in her home in a retirement community for the open seas.
While this would be a massive change in lifestyle for many people and would take a whole lot of time deliberating about the pros and cons, Lane has said the decision to live on a cruise ship only took her about 10 minutes.
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She also noted that her children and her grandchildren were all ‘on board’ with her decision to live at sea as a retiree.
Lane has said she previously lived in Los Angeles and San Bernardino, adding that her home in Orange County, California was popular retirement community.
Speaking to NBC Los Angeles, she said: “Not only was it affordable to me, it would actually cost me less money to live here like this, have everyone taking care of me instead of me taking care of everybody.”
Lane is now set to sail the seas on the cruise ship for its full 15-year-journey, having purchased an interior villa aboard the Villa Vie Odyssey, the world’s first perpetual cruise.
She didn’t explain just how much she paid for the villa, but the company behind the cruise has said an interior villa like hers is priced at $129,999, which is a one-time fee.
Those who permanently reside on the ship can pay monthly fees as low as $3,000 which covers everything – meals, beer and wine, housekeeping, laundry, WiFi, daily activities and full access to all ship amenities and facilities, according to Villa Vie.
Lane added: “All the chores you do in life? Done! If you put your to-do list on a piece of paper and you cross off anything that wasn’t a fun activity, then you end up with the life we have now.”
Speaking to CNN travel, she explained just how happy she is with her purchase.
She said: “I’m finally able to do what I’ve wanted to do for years. I buy the cabin, I live in the cabin, and that’s it. And then there’s no end.”
Villa Vie is marketed as the ‘only affordable residential cruising option offering this lifestyle and as it gets more difficult on land to buy and rent, this lifestyle could become even more popular.