When it comes to retirement, many boomers will downsize and invest in over-55 or retirement communities where they can simplify their lifestyles. Others go much more adventurous.
Count Debra Kilgore, 63, among the adventurous. She bought a $1.9 million home on a cruise ship that will perpetually sail the world, with residents voting on where to go next, and she will live on it alone.
“I’m really looking forward to being on the ship by myself,” Kilgore tells Realtor.com®.
The mother of two adult children and two grandchildren is long divorced and enjoys solo travel, which she says gives her more flexibility.
“You can go anywhere you want, and not worry about what someone else wants to do,” she says. Kilgore owns a motorhome that she loves taking around the U.S. with just herself and her 9 year-old dog, Choo Choo Bella.
“She has been to Canada, all the Hawaiian islands, and most of the continental U.S.,” she says of the dog.
But Choo Choo Bella’s grandest adventure awaits when Kilgore sets sail aboard Storylines’ MV Narrative, a residential cruise ship scheduled to depart in 2027. Pets are allowed. There is a vet onboard!
Why a cruise ship
Kilgore, who lives in Parker, AZ, on the Colorado River, has been fascinated by the idea of living on a cruise ship ever since a friend of hers bought a unit on the first residential cruise liner, The World.
That highly secretive residential yacht set sail in 2002.
Reportedly, residents must be worth at least $10 million to gain entry and be sponsored by someone already living aboard.
Kilgore says when she heard that her friend was living aboard the ship, she thought, “Oh, how fabulous.” At the time, she was raising four children, running a business (a resort called Bransons), and unable to take off on an around-the-world adventure.
Two decades later, in February 2022, she spotted an article about Storylines’ MV Narrative, a new luxury residential liner that was touting dedication to wellness and sustainability.
Only two weeks after seeing the article, she plunked down a $10,000 deposit on a one-bedroom, 1.5-bathroom $1.9 million unit, called RU-3 on the 12th deck. (There are 18.)
Kilgore says that after two of her children died—one in 2007 at age 15 in a motorcycle accident and one of natural causes at age 39 in 2019—she committed to living life as fully as she could.
“Life is not promised,” she says. “Make the most of each day you have.”
Living on a cruise ship—alone
The MV Narrative has 530 furnished apartments, which range from 237 to 1,970 square feet and start at $1 million for a studio and up to $8 million for a split-level four-bedroom.
Should the price tag give you pause, Storylines offers a limited number of residences for shared purchase, allowing up to four owners per unit, with options starting at $628,000 and a few internal studios with shorter leases for around $500,000.
None of that appeals to Kilgore. She looks forward to plenty of me-time gazing at the endless sea from her balcony.
As an only child, she says she has always found it “easy” to be alone.
“Traveling alone allows you to be flexible,” she says. “You don’t have to stick to a plan. You can explore a destination at a different level by going off the beaten path and experiencing places that locals may recommend.”
Previous solo travels have included two to three trips a year to a house she has in Hawaii, a recent trip to Spain and Portugal, walking the pilgrimage trail to Santiago de Compostela in Spain, and tooling around the country in her motorhome.
As for her new ocean liner home, she is excited to see the Mediterranean, the South Pacific, the Greek islands, and the Galapagos Islands.
“I love water,” she says. “And I hate the cold.”
You’re never really alone on a cruise ship
Living on a cruise ship with thousands of residents and their guests means Kilgore won’t be truly alone.
“You have a choice to be around others, to be involved in activities, to be in groups or not,” she says. “I’m not someone who worries about going off on my own when the ship is in port.”
She hopes that the people onboard will end up being “like family,” but admits that the only thing that would make her sell her cabin is if the fellow residents turn out to be “unneighborly.”
With 22% of the MV Narrative residents also traveling alone, chances are good that Kilgore will find her tribe.
Additionally, she plans to fly back to the States occasionally to visit her family. And while she is massively decluttering her house in Parker, she isn’t selling it.
The cost of living on a luxe cruise ship
Besides the cost of the unit, there is an additional annual fee of $68,000 to $245,000 per unit (based on double occupancy), which covers everything from meals to laundry and activities, to sports gear, housekeeping, 24/7 room service, and the costs of running and maintaining the ship.
Single occupants like Kilgore will receive an 18% discount on the double-occupancy all-inclusive fees, which are collected quarterly.
Fees will include access to the 10,000-square-foot wellness center and “anti-aging clinic,” run by Tony de Leede, who owns the Fitness First franchise in Australia.
The center will be “open 24/7 and includes a waterfront gym, lap pool, meditation room, fitness class spaces, relaxation pods, jacuzzi, steam room, breathing and meditation chairs, recovery massage chairs, infrared saunas and more,” says the ship’s website.
Other “upgrade” charges will be for certain perks like top-shelf liquor and the fine dining restaurant on Deck 16. If you want “vintage French Champagne” and 90-day aged wagyu steak, be prepared to shell out even more.
The company says 80% of all menus for its 20 dining and bar options, coffee shop, wine bar, hair salon, and spa are included in the annual fee.
Medical care on a residential cruise ship
It wasn’t that long ago that cruise ships around the world became petri dishes for COVID-19, with some adrift for days or even weeks as they sought port.
“In the case of something like a pandemic, we will adjust the itinerary to avoid countries or regions with confirmed cases [and] enact procedures to keep residents safe,” Storylines CEO Alister D. Punton tells Realtor.com.
These safety procedures would include “lowering touch points between people on board, restricting movement on and off the ship, increasing cleaning, and making vaccines available on board as soon as they can be acquired.”
Each apartment will have an HVAC unit to prevent recirculating contaminated air, along with continuous filtration and sterilization of all air in common areas of the ship.
Residents will also have in-room sensors and wearable health monitors to measure body temperature, blood pressure, and other levels. If a resident falls, the monitor will alert staff. There will also be an infection control area to house patients and prevent the spread of disease.
Those who might need serious care—such as an operation—will be taken by helicopter to the nearest mainland hospital.
Kilgore, who will be on Medicare by the time she sets sail, says the idea of falling sick while in the middle of the ocean doesn’t bother her.
“I’ve been all around and have gotten sick in other countries,” she says. “I really don’t worry about it.”
Traveling alone while female
While Storylines says it doesn’t have figures on how many solo residents are female versus male, there is a good chance that more solo women will be onboard than men.
A main reason is that women simply live longer than men, due to a variety of factors. According to the Harvard Medical School, 57% of all those aged 65 and older are female. By age 85, that goes up to 67% women. On average, women live five years longer than men.
“It’s not hard to see the gender gap among the elderly,” wrote Dr. Robert H. Shmerling, a senior faculty editor. “A glance around most nursing homes or assisted-living facilities in the U.S. often tells the story: Women will usually outnumber men, and the magnitude of the difference is often striking.”
After a divorce, more women than men stay single, with about 76% of women choosing to remain uncoupled, versus only 62% of men, according to a 2019 study.
“Men need someone to care for them, I guess,” Kilgore says. “My son and I were traveling around Europe, backpacking and staying in hostels. There were so many women and girls, and many of them by themselves.
