We are moving from Florida, U.S., to Malaga, Spain, and our repositioning cruise on MSC leaves Miami November 8, 2024 (next week!), arriving in Alicante November 26, and then we have a five hour drive to our home in the Malaga area. We are not cruise people; my husband has never taken one, and I have only cruised twice, once in abt. 1994 and again in ~2014. This just seemed like a great way to move to Europe, the opposite of my ancestors who came to North America via ship!
Congratulations! What an amazing adventure you guys are going to have! We loved the cruise. In fact, we are thinking that we may take another one next September... this time towards Australia! Malaga is a really nice city. We are so excited for you both!!
I love this new site for retirement. I actually love the fact that you are Canadian as am I ! I am getting ready to retire in 3 years so finding any info or diff sites about Canadian retirement is absolutely the best. Have a great cruise and I’ll def be back to tune in for more info.
You're so welcome! We thought the same when we first started, and that was part of the reason we wanted to try a RUclips channel! Let us know any questions you may have and we can see if we can help 😁
Went on a cruise once and never thought I would do it again. BUT after hearing about repositioning cruises, I’m all ears. That’s a great price for 14 days. Your ship looks like it has so many options to keep you active onboard, I love that. Congratulations on embarking on the Camino. That is one of my bucket list things to do when I retire in 2027. Washing laundry by hand will definitely get you prep for the Camino. Looking forward to your next upload. All the best, Tina.
We weren't sure that we would enjoy it either, but it turned out to be a really relaxing way to travel to Europe! The Camino has been amazing and was one of our bucket list items as well! It's challenging and rewarding!
This is so great!!! I'm so happy for you guys! I had the biggest smile when I heard you were going on a transatlantic cruise.. My wife and I are going on one next year to Barcelona!
You guys are such a pleasure to listen to. Thank you for sharing your story. I am so happy for you, and look forward to following along on your adventures!
I hope to travel transatlantic on a repositioning cruise and bring my dog. I love the idea of sea days to relax,eat,talk,read and visit my dog without the pressure of deciding what to do in port. I have poor mobility and this is an issue for me
One account we don't talk about is a "sleep" account. After years of working, most are in sleep debt. It can take months of getting 8+ hours before you're back to even. Then you can comfortably get back to 7 or 8 hours/night.
Hello from Halifax Nova Scotia, found your channel today and love it. We have retired beautifully and are enjoying very minute of it. We also travel carry on only. Our next cruise is mid August South Hampton to Reykjavik. Can’t wait to step foot on our cruise ship. Happy sailing and smooth seas to you both😎🥰
You guys are awesome. We are doing out 1st Transatlantic trip from Miami to England in 4 weeks on NCL. This is our 46th cruise. My wife anniversary on 11/9 at Sea. I am a bit nervous because of Hurricane season.... hope the Atlantic Ocean north is calm and generous. I am getting great feedback.
Wow!!! 46 Cruises? That is amazing! It's such a great way to spend your anniversary too. The ocean was really calm when we went in the spring, so we hope the same for you!
Love your videos and wish you both all best in your retirement adventures. As an avid cruiser, I can offer a few tips that may work out for you. You may want to consider working with a cruise specialist travel agent as they often book blocks of rooms at very favourable. It is not unheard of for us to get drinks and internet included at the same price as the base fare. If you ever consider purchasing shares to get the extra onboard credit, you may want to look into selling what is called a deposit in the money call option dates way out in the future. This will enable you to buy the shares with very little cash layout. That strategy has really worked out well for us. Take care!
Those are amazing points. Thank you so much! We will definitely look at using one of those agents in the future... we would love to get drinks and internet included! We hadn't thought about using options to grab these stocks. That's a great idea!! Thank you 😊
@@FIREWeGo Yes, if you buy RCL shares at the current price and sell a January 2025 covered call with a $22.50 strike price, you will get enough premium back that you would only have pay around $22.50 or less for the shares rather than over $147. Now, you will only get $22.50 when you sell them, but you will be getting extra onboard credits in the meantime. If you cruise as much as we do, the extra onboard credits have already exceeded the cost of the shares. Good luck!
Hi from Mississauga :-) Love the channel. Its inspiring ! Always curious about these cruises so will look into it for fun. Good to know you could always just bring your own coffee/snacks/wine etc on board. Internet is expensive, but could be a good excuse to unplug from the net. Could always just download any movies etc. if you wanted. Only bummer is as you said getting down to Florida etc.
Love the channel and rooting for you guys from Toronto! Holding you accountable though with a friendly challenge to your lean FIRE because I want to see you make it: $142USD/day, ie $193CAD/day needs to add other fixed budget items you’ve shown before of $525/month ($17.5day; medical+personal+RUclips), so $211/day burn-rate is 77kCAD/yr, far over the $60k budget and, on a net worth of $1.3m, a 5.9% withdrawal rate. April was slightly over budget too and I worry as you use up travel points and move past existing prepaid stuff like the cruise that the real costs will rise quick. I’m cheering you on, but do you have a plan to wrestle the costs under budget for the next months to come back into your plan? 2024 has been a pretty good market so far (except TD notably) so that helps near-term for sure.
Hi Andrew! Thanks so much for this. You're right. The cost would quickly rise over 60k. We are planning to do an update soon, we have received more capital from both the house sale and pension that will be invested into growth funds. Any overathat there may be will come from that. I think once we hit Brazil, we will start to see the coats dropping and lecelljng out. Fingers crossed! This coming month, we will most likely be over as well as we had an unexpected cost! But we will leave that one for the May breakdown 😳 We like the idea of updating the numbers for the budget, thank yiu! Hopefully, there will be a new video out soon on that one.
We love your shows and fellow GTA perspectives on travel, life, finances, and retirement. As for cruises yes days at sea are nice 1 or 2 in 7 just to get a break from disembarking/embarking and to use the ship amenities.
I loved the Oasis of the seas. Central Park at night with live piano music touched my heart. Especially when they played my favorite piece “Canon” from Johann Pachelbel one night. We went there every night for a drink ❤
Great video and tips, I never heard of repositioning cruises before. Really appreciate all the great advise and saving tips and wow, I didn't think over 10k steps per day on a cruise is possible, you guys rock, looks like you had a great time.
I love sea days. I think a repositioning cruise would be ideal for me. I do not get sea sick either. I get land sick after I return, but I will try a patch for that.
Muito legal Gean. Comecei rumo ao FIRE em 2013 e busco essa tranquilidade sem obrigações e podendo viajar quando e como eu quiser. Quase puxei o gatilho ano passado e me desprendi da corrida de ratos aqui da America, mas nao foi dessa vez. Parabéns pela coragem e desfrute dos 3 meses backpacking in Europe.
Perfeito, muito obrigado. Nos demoramos um tempo ate ter as coisas em ordem e conseguimos, finalmente, realizar o sonho. Torcemos pelo seu sucesso tambem :)
Thx great video, looking for the link to the patches behind the ears for sea sickness. My partner gets bad sea sickness followed by a week of land sickness once we arrive back home. We are always looking for options in relation to this issue
Hello I'm bill and my wife is Jennifer I am 66 years old and my wife is 59 years old. This will be our first long trip abroad for almost 7 months. We just stumbled across this video and thought it was awesome! My wife and I are going on our first repositioning Cruise in April of 2025 from Tampa to Civitevechia in Italy in April of 2025 We have to fly from Salt Lake City to Tampa and we are going to use our points for a two-night stay there and then on the return cruise in November we will do the same. You had mentioned that you are only staying 3 months slow traveling. I was curious do you travel full-time as slow Travelers or do you do 3 months on 3 months off? Hope you guys are having an amazing time❤ I voice texted this and didn't check my spelling or sentences I apologize in advance😂
This sounds fantastic! We are traveling full-time. We were only able to stay in the Schengan area of Europe for 3 months, so after that we came here to Brazil where we are now! Soon, we will be moving on to a new country, and a new adventure 🤗
@FIREWeGo that's exciting! Yes we will be in the non schengen area for roughly 3 to 4 months and then back to Schengen until we leave for home. We are doing fast travel when we get to Rome so going to Monopoly Italy for one week and then to Corfu Greece for one week and then into Albania three different cities seranda, flore and I can't remember the other right now for 3 months and then to Montenegro back over to Croatia I think the city is split for a few days then up north then back into Northern Italy and visiting our friends that live in Sargon Switzerland for one week then returning by train to civitavecchia and then home I think our time spent in the Schengen area will be about 4 weeks total. We're starting out slow to see if we like it however, we are still keeping a home base (no mortgage) here in Southern Idaho. We just love the idea of having a home base. We may change our mind later. But I'm not getting any younger LOL🤣🤣
You make me want to take a cruise again!!! Sounds like it was a RELAXING experience. I wonder if you had done one on a smaller ship if you would have needed a balcony. I think 14 days on a smaller ship would be to confining. But Oasis of the Seas was a GREAT call. My biggest tip is buy the cruise line stock (when the price is right) because every time you travel, you get an onboard credit! Keep the videos coming--can't wait to see your journey.
Thanks, Sarah! We have actually been talking about looking at buying the stock, so we will keep you posted! We also talked about trying g a balcony next time, and I think you're right... a smaller ship may have felt confined with an inside room.
It looks like the cruise was a fantastic experience! I'm curious to hear as you continue traveling how much time you are having to allocate to all the planning for the 'next place'? It just sounded like looking for/finding the best flights, using airline miles, booking/using hotel credits etc etc is potentially an ongoing challenge for budget travelers who need to do all the homework into making sure you get the best deal to stay under budget. How much time do you have to spend planning everything (interested to hear this from other full time travelers, too)?
At the moment, we don't spend all that much time figuring this out. We are currently walking the Camino de Santiago, so we kind of stay in what is available! But moving forward, we will start to look for our next destination come September. We sort of enjoy looking for the deals, and it fills in a bit of time as well. We have an idea of where we wa t to go... then figure out how to get there! We may do a future video on traveling planning!
@@FIREWeGo I ask bc my wife and I just went on a 12 day trip from CA to Boston, Nassau, and then Fort Lauderdale. The number of flights and accomodations for each place made for a lot of work. It was a fantastic trip but took a lot of planning for each leg and location.
Great video topic. I was coincidentally looking at one of these cruises by accident last month :) Has it been warm enough to be by the pool the whole time?
With the exception of a few days when it was a little rainy, there were people by the pools constantly! 🤗 Highly recommend trying one. They are a great way to get around.
Great video! Thanks for sharing. We are starting our early retirement in March next year! Have you been doing any of the shore excursions or just doing your own thing when you arrive to port? From Tracy and Tony 🇦🇺
Less than one year to go! Congrats! We just did our own thing in Port. The ship excursions looked good, maybe a little more money than you may spend if you buy them on shore. However, the ship will wait for their excursions if they are late returning, but if you do independent ones, you risk missing the ship if you're late getting back!
My wife and I just did a 4 day cruise with some friends, the basic drink package was only $20 per day. Once onboard they tried to upsell us to the premium package for another $18 per day but we declined. Had a great time, looking forward to more! I’m not sure I could live out of a backpack. Maybe a carryon suitcase and backpack. Have fun.
@@FIREWeGo Celebrity Reflections, it’s owned by Royal Caribbean. It was a fun cruise. The Captain put on a show with the ships band. He sings and plays guitar.
Great video! Thanks for explaining what a reposition cruise is. I think you guys budget well for this cruise. The price that was spent on it is very reasonable because like you mentioned food, room, and transportation is all included. And it's a huge ship with lots of amenities. But I was really surprised it didn't have a washer and dryer self serve. It would definitely cost a lot less than having the ship do it for you. 😮 This would have come in handy for you guys especially since you're traveling light. But you have the work around washing by hand and hang up to dry. My husband and I have had to do this a few times in our travels too. It's fine as long as you get clean clothes for free instead of paying that crazy high price. 😁💪💥 Gean, did you say this was your first cruise? You are brave to have a reposition cruise for your first cruise. I remember my first cruise was a 3 day cruise with Carnival. 😆 🤣 yeah I was afraid I might get sick. But Nope I didn't. I was happy. Glad you both are doing well and enjoying your time spent on the ship. You both deserve the break from net and rest. Please keep posting. I'm enjoying the journey 🎉🎊💥🌟🤗.
Thanks so much! We have heard that some ships have self-serve laundry, so this is definitely something we will look at in the future when we are booking! We figured out a little system, so it wasn't too bad... but it was nice to get to Barcelona and find a proper washer and dryer! 🤗
Laundry - RCCL and Celebrity ships offer NO self laundry and charge 2X the price of Holland America and other Carnival Lines, On HAL, we pay about $40-45 per week with their laundry specials or you can buy unlimited for $70. We usually do one bag a week and send out any bulky items at the per piece rate. With Princess and Carnival, we do two loads a week at the cost of $12. I just speng 14 days on HAL and 16 on Celebrity and have to say that I am shocked at how much higher you are charged for everything!!
Wow, thank you! We really appreciate you taking the time to detail your experiences! It’s valuable information for anyone planning a cruise and wanting to budget their laundry expenses. What's your favorite cruise line? Thanks again!
We're doing a transatlantic this fall from Spain to Miami. We're retired and love to cruise since we find that dollar for dollar it's the easiest and affordable way to travel. Our one way plane tickets and cost of hotel in Spain for half a week is more than the 12 night cruise to come home. One clarification concerning tips is that it's for your service people, not the entire crew. The tips do go to your room steward, your MDR staff, complimentary restaurant staff, and the buffet workers. The bartenders work for the tips they get from your purchases. If you want to reward certain service staff feel free to do so but you aren't obligated. Don't tip the working crew or the officers, they are compensated market price for their work. I have a friend who worked on cruise ships as service staff, he has told me he does quite well, works 6-9 months a year and easily supports his family
Thank you!! Your explanation actually makes sense about the gratuities, thank you! Do you guys pay them up front, or individually to the people that you deal with daily? :)
Not worth it if you have to fly home cause 1 way tiks are expensive. Try finding ships that are going overseas for a one month drydock, usually there are several a year. That way you can go round trip on the cruise ship with a month vacation overseas! We usually find these types of cruises in the fall before the caribbean cruise season heats up.
I just got days of cruising that kept me in Alaska for three weeks and took me to Hawaii. I found a $400 OW ticket on AA from HNL to London Heathrow to catch the Regal Princess out of Southampton to Galveston ($65 pppd+ grats) I did not book it as my wife had to get back home for medical treatments. There are a lot of great deals out there.
Wow, that is good to know - thanks for sharing. We never thought about Seattle to Singapore. We're planning to visit SE Asia, and this one would be a good one. We will check it out! :)
@@FIREWeGo That itinerary is $$$$. We aim for $100 pppd+ grats-OBC for an inside cabin and that one was about $140. We booked five weeks ago and the fare has increased $1000 since then.
We are moving from Florida, U.S., to Malaga, Spain, and our repositioning cruise on MSC leaves Miami November 8, 2024 (next week!), arriving in Alicante November 26, and then we have a five hour drive to our home in the Malaga area. We are not cruise people; my husband has never taken one, and I have only cruised twice, once in abt. 1994 and again in ~2014. This just seemed like a great way to move to Europe, the opposite of my ancestors who came to North America via ship!
Congratulations! What an amazing adventure you guys are going to have! We loved the cruise. In fact, we are thinking that we may take another one next September... this time towards Australia! Malaga is a really nice city. We are so excited for you both!!
I love this new site for retirement. I actually love the fact that you are Canadian as am I ! I am getting ready to retire in 3 years so finding any info or diff sites about Canadian retirement is absolutely the best. Have a great cruise and I’ll def be back to tune in for more info.
You're so welcome! We thought the same when we first started, and that was part of the reason we wanted to try a RUclips channel! Let us know any questions you may have and we can see if we can help 😁
I’m Canadian as well and we r going to slow travel the world. How did you get American credit cards?
Retired early in 2022 & will be enjoying my 1st transatlantic cruise in November. Enjoyed your take on this type of travel.
It was wonderful! We would highly recommend it. 😁
Went on a cruise once and never thought I would do it again. BUT after hearing about repositioning cruises, I’m all ears. That’s a great price for 14 days. Your ship looks like it has so many options to keep you active onboard, I love that. Congratulations on embarking on the Camino. That is one of my bucket list things to do when I retire in 2027. Washing laundry by hand will definitely get you prep for the Camino. Looking forward to your next upload. All the best, Tina.
We weren't sure that we would enjoy it either, but it turned out to be a really relaxing way to travel to Europe!
The Camino has been amazing and was one of our bucket list items as well! It's challenging and rewarding!
This is so great!!! I'm so happy for you guys! I had the biggest smile when I heard you were going on a transatlantic cruise.. My wife and I are going on one next year to Barcelona!
With Royal Carribean? I imagine most cruise lines are similar... and we loved it. Hopefully, you guys will, too 😁
@@FIREWeGo yup! Were excited!!
You guys are such a pleasure to listen to. Thank you for sharing your story. I am so happy for you, and look forward to following along on your adventures!
What a lovely comment. Thank you so much! We can't wait to share our adventures with all of you as well!
I hope to travel transatlantic on a repositioning cruise and bring my dog. I love the idea of sea days to relax,eat,talk,read and visit my dog without the pressure of deciding what to do in port. I have poor mobility and this is an issue for me
We saw quite a few people on the ship with small pets! These ships seem to be quite accessible which is really great as well 😊
One account we don't talk about is a "sleep" account. After years of working, most are in sleep debt. It can take months of getting 8+ hours before you're back to even. Then you can comfortably get back to 7 or 8 hours/night.
So true. We are finally sleeping a solid 8 hours and feel so much better. We don't wake up worrying or thinking about work at all!
@@FIREWeGo Nice! Retirement is awesome and full of learning experiences. Our perspectives change in so many ways, enjoy!
Hello from Halifax Nova Scotia, found your channel today and love it. We have retired beautifully and are enjoying very minute of it. We also travel carry on only. Our next cruise is mid August South Hampton to Reykjavik. Can’t wait to step foot on our cruise ship. Happy sailing and smooth seas to you both😎🥰
Thank you so much! Your next cruise sounds fantastic!!! Let us know how it is, we would love to visit Iceland one day!
You guys are awesome. We are doing out 1st Transatlantic trip from Miami to England in 4 weeks on NCL. This is our 46th cruise. My wife anniversary on 11/9 at Sea. I am a bit nervous because of Hurricane season.... hope the Atlantic Ocean north is calm and generous. I am getting great feedback.
Wow!!! 46 Cruises? That is amazing! It's such a great way to spend your anniversary too. The ocean was really calm when we went in the spring, so we hope the same for you!
Love your videos and wish you both all best in your retirement adventures. As an avid cruiser, I can offer a few tips that may work out for you. You may want to consider working with a cruise specialist travel agent as they often book blocks of rooms at very favourable. It is not unheard of for us to get drinks and internet included at the same price as the base fare. If you ever consider purchasing shares to get the extra onboard credit, you may want to look into selling what is called a deposit in the money call option dates way out in the future. This will enable you to buy the shares with very little cash layout. That strategy has really worked out well for us. Take care!
Sorry, a couple of auto fill errors. Travel agents offer favourable rates and Deep in the money call option.
Those are amazing points. Thank you so much! We will definitely look at using one of those agents in the future... we would love to get drinks and internet included! We hadn't thought about using options to grab these stocks. That's a great idea!! Thank you 😊
@@FIREWeGo Yes, if you buy RCL shares at the current price and sell a January 2025 covered call with a $22.50 strike price, you will get enough premium back that you would only have pay around $22.50 or less for the shares rather than over $147. Now, you will only get $22.50 when you sell them, but you will be getting extra onboard credits in the meantime. If you cruise as much as we do, the extra onboard credits have already exceeded the cost of the shares. Good luck!
Hi from Mississauga :-) Love the channel. Its inspiring ! Always curious about these cruises so will look into it for fun. Good to know you could always just bring your own coffee/snacks/wine etc on board. Internet is expensive, but could be a good excuse to unplug from the net. Could always just download any movies etc. if you wanted. Only bummer is as you said getting down to Florida etc.
Hello!! Getting down to the US can add up, but if you plan far enough ahead, you can probably find a good deal! 😊
Love the channel and rooting for you guys from Toronto! Holding you accountable though with a friendly challenge to your lean FIRE because I want to see you make it: $142USD/day, ie $193CAD/day needs to add other fixed budget items you’ve shown before of $525/month ($17.5day; medical+personal+RUclips), so $211/day burn-rate is 77kCAD/yr, far over the $60k budget and, on a net worth of $1.3m, a 5.9% withdrawal rate. April was slightly over budget too and I worry as you use up travel points and move past existing prepaid stuff like the cruise that the real costs will rise quick. I’m cheering you on, but do you have a plan to wrestle the costs under budget for the next months to come back into your plan? 2024 has been a pretty good market so far (except TD notably) so that helps near-term for sure.
Hi Andrew! Thanks so much for this. You're right. The cost would quickly rise over 60k. We are planning to do an update soon, we have received more capital from both the house sale and pension that will be invested into growth funds. Any overathat there may be will come from that. I think once we hit Brazil, we will start to see the coats dropping and lecelljng out. Fingers crossed! This coming month, we will most likely be over as well as we had an unexpected cost! But we will leave that one for the May breakdown 😳
We like the idea of updating the numbers for the budget, thank yiu! Hopefully, there will be a new video out soon on that one.
We love your shows and fellow GTA perspectives on travel, life, finances, and retirement. As for cruises yes days at sea are nice 1 or 2 in 7 just to get a break from disembarking/embarking and to use the ship amenities.
They really are great to just relax, not have to rush to get off the ship! Thanks for reaching out!
I'm also financially independent as well living in Panama. We are thinking about taking a 30 day cruise sometime next year.
We would day to do it! We had such a great time!!
@@FIREWeGo great! Hopefully we can meet up sometime and chat about being FI.
Where do you live? How long? What visa? We are planning to move there in 1.5 year...
@@Alex-he1ve do you mean me? In Panama?
@@mazskefinance7818 yes
I like sea days. Forced down time! Will do my first repositioning cruise in March of 2025.
We definitely grew to love the sea days! You're right. It's definitely forced down time. We think you will love the repositioning cruise for sure!
I loved the Oasis of the seas. Central Park at night with live piano music touched my heart. Especially when they played my favorite piece “Canon” from Johann Pachelbel one night. We went there every night for a drink ❤
It was our favorite place on the ship by far! You didn't even feel like you were at sea 😉
Great video and tips, I never heard of repositioning cruises before. Really appreciate all the great advise and saving tips and wow, I didn't think over 10k steps per day on a cruise is possible, you guys rock, looks like you had a great time.
We had a great time! And there are so many different cruises to choose, the options are endless!
We are considering repositionong cruises to go to Europe next year. It was helpful to see your breakdown, it looks like a great experience
It was a great experience. We would recommend trying them to everyone!
I love sea days. I think a repositioning cruise would be ideal for me. I do not get sea sick either. I get land sick after I return, but I will try a patch for that.
Lol, definitely try the patch... if not a not glass of wine! 😊😉
Muito legal Gean. Comecei rumo ao FIRE em 2013 e busco essa tranquilidade sem obrigações e podendo viajar quando e como eu quiser. Quase puxei o gatilho ano passado e me desprendi da corrida de ratos aqui da America, mas nao foi dessa vez. Parabéns pela coragem e desfrute dos 3 meses backpacking in Europe.
Perfeito, muito obrigado. Nos demoramos um tempo ate ter as coisas em ordem e conseguimos, finalmente, realizar o sonho. Torcemos pelo seu sucesso tambem :)
What cabin type did you have? And, is drinking water free? Thank you!
We had an interior cabin, it was great for sleeping, very dark! 😊 Drinking water was free, you could get it from any of the restaurants on board!
Thx great video, looking for the link to the patches behind the ears for sea sickness. My partner gets bad sea sickness followed by a week of land sickness once we arrive back home. We are always looking for options in relation to this issue
You are welcome!. Here's the link: amzn.to/4dMLmGp
We hope it won't happen and that you guys can enjoy the experience. Good luck 😉
I may have missed it, but I don't recall you mentioning what type of cabin you have.
Sorry! We had an inside cabin. Was amazing for sleeping and harder felt the movement of the ship at all!
Hello I'm bill and my wife is Jennifer I am 66 years old and my wife is 59 years old. This will be our first long trip abroad for almost 7 months.
We just stumbled across this video and thought it was awesome! My wife and I are going on our first repositioning Cruise in April of 2025 from Tampa to Civitevechia in Italy in April of 2025
We have to fly from Salt Lake City to Tampa and we are going to use our points for a two-night stay there and then on the return cruise in November we will do the same. You had mentioned that you are only staying 3 months slow traveling. I was curious do you travel full-time as slow Travelers or do you do 3 months on 3 months off? Hope you guys are having an amazing time❤
I voice texted this and didn't check my spelling or sentences I apologize in advance😂
This sounds fantastic! We are traveling full-time. We were only able to stay in the Schengan area of Europe for 3 months, so after that we came here to Brazil where we are now! Soon, we will be moving on to a new country, and a new adventure 🤗
@FIREWeGo that's exciting! Yes we will be in the non schengen area for roughly 3 to 4 months and then back to Schengen until we leave for home.
We are doing fast travel when we get to Rome so going to Monopoly Italy for one week and then to Corfu Greece for one week and then into Albania three different cities seranda, flore and I can't remember the other right now for 3 months and then to Montenegro back over to Croatia I think the city is split for a few days then up north then back into Northern Italy and visiting our friends that live in Sargon Switzerland for one week then returning by train to civitavecchia and then home I think our time spent in the Schengen area will be about 4 weeks total.
We're starting out slow to see if we like it however, we are still keeping a home base (no mortgage) here in Southern Idaho. We just love the idea of having a home base. We may change our mind later. But I'm not getting any younger LOL🤣🤣
You make me want to take a cruise again!!! Sounds like it was a RELAXING experience. I wonder if you had done one on a smaller ship if you would have needed a balcony. I think 14 days on a smaller ship would be to confining. But Oasis of the Seas was a GREAT call. My biggest tip is buy the cruise line stock (when the price is right) because every time you travel, you get an onboard credit! Keep the videos coming--can't wait to see your journey.
Thanks, Sarah! We have actually been talking about looking at buying the stock, so we will keep you posted! We also talked about trying g a balcony next time, and I think you're right... a smaller ship may have felt confined with an inside room.
@@FIREWeGo RCL stock is not at a “buying” price right now….you will see. But keep an eye on it….you never know!
It looks like the cruise was a fantastic experience! I'm curious to hear as you continue traveling how much time you are having to allocate to all the planning for the 'next place'? It just sounded like looking for/finding the best flights, using airline miles, booking/using hotel credits etc etc is potentially an ongoing challenge for budget travelers who need to do all the homework into making sure you get the best deal to stay under budget. How much time do you have to spend planning everything (interested to hear this from other full time travelers, too)?
At the moment, we don't spend all that much time figuring this out. We are currently walking the Camino de Santiago, so we kind of stay in what is available! But moving forward, we will start to look for our next destination come September. We sort of enjoy looking for the deals, and it fills in a bit of time as well. We have an idea of where we wa t to go... then figure out how to get there! We may do a future video on traveling planning!
@@FIREWeGo I ask bc my wife and I just went on a 12 day trip from CA to Boston, Nassau, and then Fort Lauderdale. The number of flights and accomodations for each place made for a lot of work. It was a fantastic trip but took a lot of planning for each leg and location.
Also Congratulations on getting over 10,000 steps a day in!!!🎉🎊💥🤗. And hitting gym on the ship. Awesome! I am trying to get there too. 😆
Lol...thank the Lord we did, too! All those steps have helped to get us ready for the Camino! If we hadn't done them, this would be a lot harder!
@@FIREWeGo You guys got this! I can't wait to see you guys at the Camino. 💪💥😁✨️
It's been a challenge and fulfilling all at the same time!
Great video topic. I was coincidentally looking at one of these cruises by accident last month :) Has it been warm enough to be by the pool the whole time?
With the exception of a few days when it was a little rainy, there were people by the pools constantly! 🤗
Highly recommend trying one. They are a great way to get around.
Great video! Thanks for sharing. We are starting our early retirement in March next year! Have you been doing any of the shore excursions or just doing your own thing when you arrive to port? From Tracy and Tony 🇦🇺
Less than one year to go! Congrats! We just did our own thing in Port. The ship excursions looked good, maybe a little more money than you may spend if you buy them on shore. However, the ship will wait for their excursions if they are late returning, but if you do independent ones, you risk missing the ship if you're late getting back!
@@FIREWeGo Thanks!
My wife and I just did a 4 day cruise with some friends, the basic drink package was only $20 per day. Once onboard they tried to upsell us to the premium package for another $18 per day but we declined. Had a great time, looking forward to more! I’m not sure I could live out of a backpack. Maybe a carryon suitcase and backpack. Have fun.
Thanks Paul! The backpack is a challenge, but we are slowly figuring it out! Which cruise line did you take? $20/day is far more reasonable 🤗
@@FIREWeGo Celebrity Reflections, it’s owned by Royal Caribbean. It was a fun cruise. The Captain put on a show with the ships band. He sings and plays guitar.
@paulsantori8920 nice! We will have to check them out 😊
Great video! Thanks for explaining what a reposition cruise is. I think you guys budget well for this cruise. The price that was spent on it is very reasonable because like you mentioned food, room, and transportation is all included. And it's a huge ship with lots of amenities. But I was really surprised it didn't have a washer and dryer self serve. It would definitely cost a lot less than having the ship do it for you. 😮 This would have come in handy for you guys especially since you're traveling light. But you have the work around washing by hand and hang up to dry. My husband and I have had to do this a few times in our travels too. It's fine as long as you get clean clothes for free instead of paying that crazy high price. 😁💪💥 Gean, did you say this was your first cruise? You are brave to have a reposition cruise for your first cruise. I remember my first cruise was a 3 day cruise with Carnival. 😆 🤣 yeah I was afraid I might get sick. But Nope I didn't. I was happy. Glad you both are doing well and enjoying your time spent on the ship. You both deserve the break from net and rest. Please keep posting. I'm enjoying the journey 🎉🎊💥🌟🤗.
Thanks so much! We have heard that some ships have self-serve laundry, so this is definitely something we will look at in the future when we are booking! We figured out a little system, so it wasn't too bad... but it was nice to get to Barcelona and find a proper washer and dryer! 🤗
Love that cruise life!!!
So great!!
What patch did you use for sea sickness.
Here's the link: amzn.to/3XZGwjx
Laundry - RCCL and Celebrity ships offer NO self laundry and charge 2X the price of Holland America and other Carnival Lines, On HAL, we pay about $40-45 per week with their laundry specials or you can buy unlimited for $70. We usually do one bag a week and send out any bulky items at the per piece rate. With Princess and Carnival, we do two loads a week at the cost of $12. I just speng 14 days on HAL and 16 on Celebrity and have to say that I am shocked at how much higher you are charged for everything!!
Wow, thank you! We really appreciate you taking the time to detail your experiences! It’s valuable information for anyone planning a cruise and wanting to budget their laundry expenses. What's your favorite cruise line? Thanks again!
@@FIREWeGo At this point, HAL and Princess. They meet our needs a lot better than some of the others.
We're doing a transatlantic this fall from Spain to Miami. We're retired and love to cruise since we find that dollar for dollar it's the easiest and affordable way to travel. Our one way plane tickets and cost of hotel in Spain for half a week is more than the 12 night cruise to come home.
One clarification concerning tips is that it's for your service people, not the entire crew. The tips do go to your room steward, your MDR staff, complimentary restaurant staff, and the buffet workers. The bartenders work for the tips they get from your purchases. If you want to reward certain service staff feel free to do so but you aren't obligated. Don't tip the working crew or the officers, they are compensated market price for their work.
I have a friend who worked on cruise ships as service staff, he has told me he does quite well, works 6-9 months a year and easily supports his family
Thank you!! Your explanation actually makes sense about the gratuities, thank you! Do you guys pay them up front, or individually to the people that you deal with daily? :)
Just saying most cruise line lines have fill a small paper bag and it cost $35. I filled it so full it was ripping. Came back in 2 bags lol😊
That's good to know!! Lol, we would do exactly the same in the future!!!!
Heyyy you’re on Royal ship, love Royal.
It was great!!!
I did a Holland America 10 day cruise carribean in 2023.
Nice! We have heard that Holland America has really nice ships! Did you have a good time?
Not worth it if you have to fly home cause 1 way tiks are expensive.
Try finding ships that are going overseas for a one month drydock, usually there are several a year.
That way you can go round trip on the cruise ship with a month vacation overseas!
We usually find these types of cruises in the fall before the caribbean cruise season heats up.
True! Do you have a specific site that you use to find your cruises?
I just got days of cruising that kept me in Alaska for three weeks and took me to Hawaii. I found a $400 OW ticket on AA from HNL to London Heathrow to catch the Regal Princess out of Southampton to Galveston ($65 pppd+ grats) I did not book it as my wife had to get back home for medical treatments. There are a lot of great deals out there.
We are on this boat for a Mediterranean Cruise in 2025
You'll love it!!!
Do you guys have a pension coming up later in life?
We will have CPP and OAS. Kristine commuted her work pension so that will be invested and continue to grow for the future as well.
Repo cruises:
Celebrity - Fort Lauderdale - Puerto Rico
Celebrity - Vancouver - Honolulu
Princess - Galveston - Fort Lauderdale (2025)
Princess - Seattle - Singapore (2025
Wow, that is good to know - thanks for sharing. We never thought about Seattle to Singapore. We're planning to visit SE Asia, and this one would be a good one. We will check it out! :)
@@FIREWeGo That itinerary is $$$$. We aim for $100 pppd+ grats-OBC for an inside cabin and that one was about $140. We booked five weeks ago and the fare has increased $1000 since then.
❤❤❤
Thank you!