This Woman Lives on a Luxury Cruise Ship – For Free

Why’s this situation even possible, though? How can someone live in such opulent conditions, aboard a luxury cruise liner, and have to pay absolutely nothing for the privilege? Well, unlike most people, who have to work just to maintain an ordinary way of life, Christine lives every day as if it were an expensive vacation — and barely lifts a finger in the process. What gives?

Christine claims she maintains her bedroom aboard the ship, doing a little bit of work to keep it in a fairly neat state. But when it comes to more arduous tasks, she leaves them to someone else. A steward will do them for her, taking care of all the necessary but tedious chores that are required to live in pleasant conditions.

Cooking’s taken care of for Christine, too, with a whole range of different cuisines on offer to her every single day. Her only task is simply to decide what she wants to scoff down on a given sitting. A professional cooking team does all the hard work of actually preparing the food.

Christine isn’t obliged to pay for any of these services, though it’d be distasteful not to sometimes leave tips. After all, her every whim and need are met by the work of others. Still, even these tips hardly break the bank. During a typical week, she’ll spend a total of maybe $85 on them and other expenses. Seeing as how that’s her only outlay for leading this extravagant lifestyle, it isn’t a bad total at all.

For anyone who hasn’t been on a cruise before, it’s maybe worth outlining the sort of lifestyle one can expect to experience on board. For one thing, it allows you to see the world in total comfort. You’re always on the move, stopping off in new places all the time.

Of course, for most people cruises don’t come remotely cheap. There are budget options available, though, and these can be fairly affordable. But if you’re looking to go high-end, you’ll be looking at daily costs in the region of $1,000 — or more! And that’s just for one person.

And as if that isn’t expensive enough, there are also additional expenses that can catch lots of passengers off guard. While the ticket price will usually cover basic meals and access to amenities, there are also special bars, restaurants, and other facilities that may cost extra. So if you’ve never been on a cruise before, that might come as a shock.

Yet despite the eye-watering costs generally involved, it seems Christine’s managed to saunter on board a cruise without having to pay a cent, more or less. And to top things off, she basically lives on these ships. At least, for six months each year she does. The rest of the time she spends in the Netherlands.

It should be said that Christine’s no stranger to cruises. For the decade or so before COVID, she was an event manager for a company specializing in them. That came to an end, though, with the onset of the pandemic in 2020. This in turn meant she had lots of time to concentrate on her love of photography.

Still, it’s a massive jump from a career working for a cruise company to simply sailing aboard a ship and not working at all. Her routine today’s a far cry away from organizing events and helping to keep things ticking along on board. Nowadays, she very much enjoys the good life.

Every morning aboard the cruise, Christine will wake up to a sea view most people can only dream of. After she’s stretched out and soaked it in, she might wander off to see which foods are available for breakfast. And if she’s feeling particularly indulgent, she may then order a mimosa and go chill out along the edge of a swimming pool.

The morning will pass sweetly enough and before long Christine will find it’s approaching lunchtime. For that, she can walk back to see what the kitchen staff have prepared for the passengers that day. Or, if she prefers, she might just head back to her room and have a meal sent there.

If, after a morning and afternoon of luxuriating and eating, Christine has energy to spare, she can visit the on-board gymnasium. A session there should burn off enough calories to justify a fine dinner that evening. It’s worth being reminded, yet again, that Christine doesn’t need to pay for any of this.

And Christine’s very happy to talk publicly about this incredible lifestyle she leads — who wouldn’t be? She even wrote a piece detailing it for Insider in April 2022. She admitted, “Some would say I live like I’m on vacation every day — and I do. Every day, I’m in a new place and my biggest decisions are whether I want to go to teatime, lie in the sun, or do a wine tasting.”

In her piece, Christine explained that her meals mostly cost absolutely nothing. “The majority of our food on board is free and I’m well fed,” she revealed. “There’s a wide selection, including a buffet, pizza, hamburgers, hotdogs, ice cream, and sushi — basically, anything you can dream of.”

The only exception to free meals is if she wants to go to one of the special eateries on board. These places charge anything from $20 to $50 for food — but remember: Christine isn’t obliged to visit them. She can easily stick with free food, of which there’s a huge variety.

Where Christine does part ways with her cash is through tips. Again, she doesn’t have to leave them but it would seem exceedingly rude not to. For dinner, she might leave anything from $5 to $10. She’ll also leave maybe a $2 or $5 tip for room service, which, aside from that, costs her nothing.

Usually, $10 will go to Christine’s room steward, who’s tasked with maintaining her living quarters. According to her Insider piece, she might also buy this guy a gift from one of the places the ship stops off in. And on special days, she might hand them an additional $20.

These might seem like generous tips but consider what this steward does for Christine. As she explained in her article, he shows up every day to her room. Then “he vacuums, changes the sheets, dusts, cleans our small bathroom, and leaves us fresh towels.” So it seems that a good tip’s the least she could do.

Another thing Christine doesn’t have to worry about is her laundry — that’s also taken care of by someone else. All she needs to do is place her dirty clothes into a bag, write a list of what’s inside, and then it goes off to be cleaned elsewhere. If she really wanted, she could do it herself. But seeing as how it’s a free service, why would she?

One more cost that Christine pays for is $20 to access the ship’s internet. Now, this one’s almost unavoidable. Sure, she could forgo the web and continue with her life aboard the ship without having to pay for anything. But then how would she post TikTok videos of her opulent lifestyle? She wants to show it off, after all, so that means coughing up $20.

With all the tips and extras compiled, Christine’s life of leisure still costs her less than $100 a week. With $20 put aside for internet, plus $27 for all the tips, we’re looking at a mere $47. She then typically treats herself with a trip to one of the special restaurants, which costs around $40. All told, she’s paying out around $87 a week on average.

This begs the question, of course, as to how this is remotely possible. Most of us go through life and get nothing for free, never mind a luxury life on a cruise. So what exactly is Christine’s secret here? Is she a criminal mastermind? Well, no. It’s much simpler than that.

We’ve already seen how Christine used to work for a cruise company. Her role was to take care of all the entertainment on board, which meant interacting with performers and artists, technical crews, and hospitality staff. It was a job she relished. But what we haven’t looked at yet is the fact she also has a husband who works on cruise ships as an engineer.

Christine and her spouse Piet are both accustomed to cruises, then. And the thing is, when someone works on a cruise ship, they may be entitled to bring their spouse on board for free. In fact, while Christine was working before the pandemic, Piet traveled on her ship. She worked 12-hour shifts, while he enjoyed a luxury vacation for free.

As we’ve heard, the pandemic brought an end to Christine’s work on cruises. That must’ve seemed very grim, as she’d lost a job she’d loved. What would she do now? She adored spending time aboard these luxury liners — but was that now a thing of the past? Well, the couple obviously figured something else out.

Yes, while Christine had lost her job, Piet had held onto his. So, once cruises were up and running again, he started back at work. And, just as he’d once accompanied his wife while she worked on a ship, the reverse was now true. Piet was employed on a cruise ship and Christine accompanied him as his “wife on board,” as such people are referred to.

Not every staff member’s entitled to bring their spouse along with them, though — only certain senior officials are afforded that privilege. But even among the people who’re granted such a perk, Christine and Piet are still unusual. Those who take advantage of the benefit seldom do so for half the year, as the couple do.

Naturally, Christine’s rather pleased about the life she’s managed to fashion for herself — and she wants to share it far and wide. She’s active on TikTok and Instagram, where she details all the luxuries she enjoys every single day she’s aboard her cruise liner. It’s an existence the rest of us can only dream of.