Imagine not having to pay for food or accommodation or do any cooking, cleaning or laundry, while waking up in a different part of the world every day. Too good to be true?
One woman has been living this life, sailing the seas “for free” as a “wife on board” a cruise ship.
Christine Kesteloo, a 42-year-old former cruise director turned content creator based in Vlissingen, Netherlands, told Newsweek that she’s been on ships “on and off” since 2012.
Kesteloo’s husband is a staff chief engineer for the Holland America Line cruise company who manages the engineering department.
“In 2020, I stopped working for the cruise lines and started working for myself, she said. “So in 2021, I started sailing as wife on board with my husband and we are on the ship three months and then off the ship for three months.”
The most recent cruise ship she lived on for the past three months was aboard Holland America’s Koningsdam vessel.
(L-R)Christine Kesteloo seen with her husband, a staff chief engineer for the Holland American cruise line; a stock image of docked cruise ship. Kesteloo told Newsweek that she’s been on ships “on and off” since 2012. Christine Kesteloo / iStock / Getty Images Plus
She has shared several videos on her TikTok account @dutchworld_americangirl from aboard the Koningsdam, charting her life over the 77 days spent on the ship, including a viral one in August outlining what she can and can’t do on the ship.
The latest post comes as the cruise industry was reported to be “rebounding faster” this year, according to a 2023 report from the Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA). Cruise passenger volume is projected to reach 106 percent of 2019 levels in 2023, with 31.5 million passengers sailings, the report said.
The cruise industry came to a halt following the COVID-19 pandemic, which saw the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issue a “no sail order” for cruise ships in March 2020. The order was issued as the CDC had “reason to believe that cruise ship travel may continue to introduce, transmit, or spread COVID-19.”
‘I Cruise for Free’
In the viral video, Kesteloo said: “I do cruise for free…”
She told Newsweek “I don’t make my bed or clean or have to do my laundry” or “pay for food or usual household utilities.”
While the food on board is free, she pays 50 percent of the cost on any sodas or other drinks. She also gets discounted rates for internet access as well as at the shop and spa areas of the ship, she explains in the clip.
As a wife on board, she gets access to crew facilities, including the crew bar, gym and the main crew areas, Kesteloo told Newsweek.
She is also allowed to use all guest amenities, such as the pool. However, she does make sure to give up her spot whenever a guest is waiting to gain access. “It’s just the right thing to do,” she said in her latest clip.
A view of the Holland America Line cruise ship “Koningsdam” docked in La Paz, Mexico in May 2021. Alfredo Martinez/Getty Images
What I Can’t Do While Living on a Cruise Ship
Kesteloo says that she can do “most everything” that both guests and crew can do, except for a few things, such as gambling.
In the latest video, the former cruise director said she can’t “play my heart out out until I win” at the slot machines in the casino areas “because it would look weird” if she, as the wife of the staff chief engineer, “won a big jackpot.”
Kesteloo also can’t disembark the ship at the same time as the other guests. She explained in the video that when a cruise ship docks, crew members typically can get off the ship about an hour after the guests do, so “I abide by that.”
‘Craziest’ Thing I’ve Seen on a Cruise
Kesteloo said the “craziest” incident she’s witnessed on a ship was in March 2020, when she was working as a cruise director. It was “just released that everything was basically shutting down around the world” due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
She said: “At that moment I saw over 2,500 guests’ personalities change and I could see who could take directions and others that just could not take directions. Rumors ran very fast on cruise ships between guests…those that believe in every conspiracy theory were quick to not follow directions and overreact. People’s true colors were coming out.
“I had no idea that from that day on, we would sail for over a whole year without guests on the ship and I would be on board for 55 days, unable as a seafarer to just get off in my own country of the United States of America,” she noted.
She recalled there being only eight Americans on board yet they weren’t allowed to get off the ship when it docked in Los Angeles. “That’s when I learned [that] although I am a passport holder of the United States of America, I was a seafarer first.”
A stock image of a Holland America Line cruise ship sailing in Juneau, Alaska. Christine Kesteloo’s last three-month stint on a cruise ship was spent in Alaska. iStock / Getty Images Plus
I’ve Visited 108 Countries Before the Age of 42
Kesteloo’s last three-month stint on a cruise ship was spent in Alaska. “I love Alaska but towards the end of three months I was ready for a scenery change.”
She explained: “I like being on the go, I like being in a new place every single day, and I like being on the move. I’m only 42 years old and I still have a few places I would like to see, even though I have visited 108 countries before the age of 42.
“At this point in my life, I want to be on land and at sea but in the future, I do see in my 60s being just on land,” she said.
Do you have a travel-related video or story to share? Let us know via life@newsweek.com and your story could be featured on Newsweek.
I Live Half My Life on Cruise Ships and Have Been to 108 Countries So Far
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