Meet the 77-Year-Old Who Lives Full-Time on a Cruise Ship

A year ago, Sharon Lane boarded the liner Villa Vie Odyssey with a plan to stay here forever. The 195-meter vessel with eight decks became a full-fledged home for the former schoolteacher from California.

"I'm not on a trip," Lane told CNN Travel. "This is our home. This is where we live."

The Odyssey is a special type of vessel — a so-called "residential" liner. Passengers buy cabins and live aboard permanently. The operator is the startup Villa Vie Residences. The liner is already three decades old, though the ship was recently refurbished. By the company's estimate, it's capable of serving for another 15 years or so.

Sharon Lane, who is now 77, has always liked to travel: in the 1990s she lived in South Africa for two years. Having tallied up the cost of living in California, she decided that life on a liner would be cheaper. She stays in touch with her family, including two adult grandchildren, remotely, and she sees the plus of life on a large vessel in the fact that you can always find a quiet corner to read a book or, conversely, company to socialize with.

How much life on the water costs

Lane invested her savings in the most affordable option — a windowless cabin. According to Villa Vie Residences, the right to live in a cabin for five years starts at $59,999, and full ownership at $99,999. On top of that, residents pay a monthly fee. In 2025 it was $2,000 per person for double occupancy and $3,000 for single occupancy. Discounts apply for older passengers.

The monthly fee on the Odyssey includes meals, non-alcoholic drinks, alcohol with dinner, Wi-Fi, 24-hour cabin service, weekly cleaning and laundry every two weeks, as well as medical check-ups (not counting procedures and medications). Port excursions are paid for separately.

According to the company's CEO, Mikael Petterson, there are currently about three times as many cabin owners aboard as renters, and more than half of the residents, like Lane, travel alone. The company has also expanded short-term rental options so that people can try out life aboard before committing to a purchase.

Even taking into account the not-inconsiderable sums, the Odyssey remains far more affordable than its only direct competitor — the liner The World, aimed at a wealthy clientele. There, the cost of a cabin starts at $3.5 million.

Daily life aboard

Lane's day begins with ten minutes on the treadmill with an ocean view, and lately she devotes her evenings to studying Spanish. She more often passes on karaoke, dance nights, and amateur theatricals. It's not to her taste, the woman admits, adding that she has no intention of playing bridge under any circumstances.

Lane rarely goes ashore because of a longstanding back injury, which can be aggravated by the pitching of the tenders that ferry passengers to the ports.

According to the company, around 80% of the cabin owners on the Odyssey are from the US and Canada, followed by Australia and New Zealand. Lane admits that she especially values this international community and the special bond with those who came aboard the same day as her: "It's like graduating high school — we have the same graduation day, only we crossed over from a land-based existence to a sea-based one," she joked.

Lane says she feels "cut off from the real world," and she likes it.

"If the real world is going to the gas station and watching what huge prices there are now, if the real world is going to the supermarket and standing in a long line, if the real world is paying bills and worrying about what's happening in various places, then no, thank you," she said.

That doesn't mean that Lane and the other residents of the liner don't follow world news.

"We keep track of what's happening and keep each other up to date," she said.

For example, the war of Israel and the US against Iran directly affected the Odyssey. The closure of airspace and sea space and the rise in fuel prices forced the company to adjust its routes.

The dream life

Lane marked her anniversary aboard with dinner with the other "classmates." She calls herself truly happy and admits that she believed in the idea of permanent life on the water even before the first such project appeared.

She has grown unaccustomed to household chores (cooking, laundry, cleaning) and doesn't miss them.

"It's for those who want to live at a more measured pace, see the world, but at the same time have fewer responsibilities," Lane says. She adds that if she won the lottery, she'd buy the neighboring cabin, cut a door between them, and turn it into a storage room.