Four months into the viral 9-month World Cruise on Royal Caribbean’s Serenade of the Seas, a couple has revealed an extra cost they didn’t originally plan on.
During an interview with Yahoo News UK, Joshua Terry and his fiancée Ina Ar said they are paying $25.99 per day for Wi-Fi on the ship. This equates to $181.93 per week and about $6,500 for the duration of the 9-month voyage (if there are no other discounts included and Wi-Fi is purchased for every day).
Joshua said he tried to get free Wi-Fi as a recourse for some difficulty the couple had early on, like the cabin phone not working properly, but the two were offered a bottle of wine instead.
While it’s not clear if the couple pays for Wi-Fi on a daily basis, Joshua did say he has used the internet connection to post TikToks of the cruise and has even gained over 15,000 followers on the platform.
This World Cruise has become famous for the number of regular TikTok updates and reality-TV-show-like stories that pop up on a weekly basis.
Social media posting and constant filming on board has become a slightly sensitive topic on the ship as well.
“There are people on the ship who are like, ‘I hate TikTokers and social media’. They’re here trying to enjoy the cruise, and there are people who are just filming. There was an announcement at one point where a staff member said: ‘We won’t have WiFi, so there’ll be no more TikToks for a bit’, and everyone cheered,” Joshua added.
Read more: Cost of Wi-Fi for Each Cruise Line
The cruise originally sold for around $60,000 per person, but the couple said they found that buying each individual leg of the cruise ended up being cheaper.
So instead of paying for one cruise, the couple bought 17 separate legs of the World Cruise. These legs can be 2 to 4 weeks in length.
Booking these legs separately means that after each leg the couple has to pack up all their belongings and check back into a different cabin.
“They came out with a new one with 17 small legs and then it became the whole cruise, so then we noticed the price is much better than the chunky one booking,” Ina said.
Apparently, the hassle of calling a new cabin home every few weeks was worth the lower cost.
Joshua and Terry do not have to worry about a house payment or rent back home, however.
The couple sold their vehicle, investments, and even used some of their savings to go on this epic journey. And as they are currently between houses and plan to move into a house once they get back, they have no extra expense of an unused home back on land.
Both quit their jobs, one as a comedy club manager and the other at an IT company.
“We already got rid of everything and just hopped on the world cruise, so we’re not paying rent anywhere,” Joshua stated.
The couple has stated they would like to get married on the ship during this cruise, but itinerary changes have made it difficult to make solid arrangements so far.
The 9-month World Cruise on Royal Caribbean’s Serenade of the Seas is a non-stop buzz generator it seems.
On a weekly basis new stories emerge from this epic voyage, making the cruise more like a reality TV show than a vacation.
The Ultimate World Cruise on Serenade of the Seas is labeled as “The most epic world cruise ever to set sail” by Royal Caribbean. The trip will include 8 world wonders, 60+ countries with 274 nights on board.
Currently, Serenade of the Seas is sailing near the coast of Japan with an upcoming stop in Vietnam before the ship will sail to Singapore on April 24th.
Read more: 5 Ways to Money on Wi-Fi on a Cruise Ship
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