Jess Battison
Usually when we (or our parents, probably grandparents) go on a cruise ship, it’s for a holiday. A way to get away from everyday life for a short while.
But some people have decided to make life on board their every day life.
From living on a cruise instead of paying mortgage to actually buying a cabin, there’s a whole load of people who’ve taken to the unique way of life.
Christine Kesteloo lives onboard a cruise with her husband who is Staff Chief Engineer.
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Kesteloo sails as ‘wife onboard’, living on the cruise ship for free - with food being free too.
As she lives as a guest ‘but also as crew’, she gets to do pretty much everything that both the crew and guests can, but there are a few exceptions.
The woman documents her life living on the ship on TikTok and outlines some of the things she cannot do in her videos.
Kesteloo can’t gamble on board, so she’s not allowed to go sit at a slot machine and ‘play my heart out until I win’.
She explains: “Because it would look a little weird if I, as the wife of the staff chief engineer, won a big jackpot.”
A big one is a pretty strict rule and is usually the same for guests too, ‘not allowed to be late to the cruise ship’.
“No, they will not wait for us,” she says. And the same goes for her husband as if they ‘miss ship, someone else will take over the role’.
With over 680,000 followers on TikTok, Kesteloo is ‘not allowed to film guests or crew just whenever’ while they’re on board.
She points out ‘it’s disrespectful’ but says it’s a ‘different story’ when they might appear in her videos off ship.
Kesteloo also explains a thing that ‘is not something that I’m not allowed to do’ but she chooses not to.
“If there is a crew member or guest that has gone overboard and we do a search, I am not showing you videos of the medical evacuation.”
She also asks people not to ask crew members what happened following such a case.
Kesteloo also opts to give up her space in guest areas like the pool if it’s packed because ‘it’s just the right thing to do’.
While Kesteloo gets her food for free, she does have to pay for sodas and alcohol – but with a 50 percent discount.
She also gets a discount in the shops, the spa areas and for the internet.
Doesn’t sound like a bad life. Probably best not to nickname people who live on cruise ships as ‘cruisers’ though, ‘wife onboard’ sounds a little safer.