Woman who saved just enough money to retire early and live on cruise ships reveals real cost of living there full-time

Most people dream of having a lifestyle that means you retire early, but few would think about spending retirement living almost entirely on cruise ships.

One woman and her husband have spent the last three years doing exactly that, traveling the world while keeping their living costs surprisingly low.

Their unusual lifestyle is possible thanks to remote work, aggressive saving, minimalism and some clever cruise deals.

Now, she has revealed exactly how much they spend to live this way.

She worked from her cruise cabin before retiring

A couple had already been living as minimalist nomads for 16 years before they began spending most of their time at sea, but it’s not like living the superyacht lifestyle.

The YouTuber Libby Rome worked remotely as an IT consultant, meaning she could do her job from her cruise cabin while watching the ocean go by.

At the same time, she followed the Financial Independence Retire Early (FIRE) approach to personal finance, saving around half her salary and investing it.

That eventually gave her enough financial freedom to leave her corporate career in April 2026, but saving wasn’t the only trick.

She also discovered that cruising could be far cheaper than people might expect.

Repositioning cruises are particularly useful because cruise lines need to move ships between regions, often resulting in heavily discounted fares.

She gives the example of a 15-night Royal Caribbean ship sailing from Fort Lauderdale to Barcelona that was available for $795.

Last-minute deals and loyalty offers can bring prices down even further, and then there’s the slightly more unconventional part of their strategy.

Casino offers helped them live on cruise ships almost year-round

The couple uses cruise ship casino programs to earn complimentary rooms.

She says they initially put around $2,000 into casino play and, through what she describes as smart play, earned hundreds of free nights.

Rather than using those offers for an occasional vacation, they use them to book back-to-back cruises.

She admits it’s a strategy that won’t appeal to everyone, but says it has helped them cruise almost year-round for the past three years.

Minimalism is another huge part of the equation.

The couple doesn’t have a mortgage, rent or car payments and owns very few possessions.

These days, they can carry most of what they own in backpacks, meaning they don’t have the usual costs associated with maintaining a home.

So what does their unusual lifestyle actually cost?

Their cruise room and board comes to around $2,000 a month for two people, coming to roughly $66 per day.

They spend around 330 days a year cruising, putting their annual cruise accommodation and food bill at approximately $22,000.

For the remaining 35 days, they budget around $150 a day for hotels, food and transportation, adding another $5,200.

Their other regular expenses, including phone service, cloud storage, VPN, toiletries, clothing, credit card fees and a storage locker, add around $9,000 a year.

Healthcare isn’t currently included in their standard monthly spending because she has savings in a health savings account, although she expects to have to budget for healthcare in the future.

When everything is added together, the couple’s estimated annual cost of living comes to around $39,000.

For two people traveling around the world and spending most of the year on cruise ships, it’s a surprisingly small figure.

And for her, that’s the whole point.

By working remotely, saving aggressively, owning very little and finding ways to reduce the cost of living on cruise ships, she has created a retirement that gives her something money alone can’t buy – the freedom to decide where she wakes up next.