Could You Live on a Cruise Ship Cheaper Than Living in Tampa?

TAMPA — With apartment rents, groceries, electricity, insurance and entertainment costs continuing to squeeze household budgets, an unusual question is becoming less ridiculous than it sounds: Could someone actually live aboard cruise ships for less than it costs to live in Tampa?

For certain people, the numbers can be surprisingly close.

A typical Tampa resident doesn't pay only rent. There is electricity, water, internet, groceries, transportation, entertainment and occasionally dining out. A renter paying $1,800 a month can easily find that the true cost of maintaining a lifestyle approaches $3,000 a month.

A cruise fare works differently. The price generally includes your cabin, electricity, water, housekeeping, most meals, basic entertainment and transportation to a different destination. There is no electric bill and no grocery store run. Someone who doesn't need a car could eliminate another significant monthly expense.

The problem is finding cruises cheaply enough.

Tampa is particularly interesting because Port Tampa Bay provides residents with direct access to cruises without the expense of flying to Miami or Fort Lauderdale. Carnival, Royal Caribbean and other cruise lines operate itineraries from Tampa, including trips throughout the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico.

For someone willing to travel continuously, discounted interior cabins can occasionally produce attractive daily rates. A cruise costing $700 for seven nights, for example, works out to $100 per day—or about $3,000 over 30 days.

That doesn't necessarily sound inexpensive until you consider what is included.

For $3,000, the hypothetical passenger receives housing, food, utilities, housekeeping, swimming pools, fitness facilities, entertainment and transportation between destinations. But there are catches.

Cruise fares don't represent the complete cost. Passengers may also pay taxes, port fees and daily gratuities. Alcohol, specialty restaurants, excursions and high-speed internet can push the monthly total considerably higher. Living aboard also requires continuously coordinating cruises because passengers generally cannot simply remain in the same cabin indefinitely.

There are practical considerations, too. Most people have jobs, families, pets, cars and possessions tying them to land. A 180-square-foot interior cabin also feels considerably different from a Tampa apartment after several months. But retirees and remote workers are another story.

For someone with few possessions and the freedom to travel, cruise living offers something an apartment cannot: breakfast in Mexico one morning and dinner while sailing toward the Caribbean that evening.

Cruise ships probably aren't about to replace Tampa apartment complexes.

Still, as the cost of conventional living continues rising, the comparison illustrates just how expensive life on land has become.

At some point, living permanently on vacation stops sounding completely crazy.