Sydney is a really expensive place to live.
For anything remotely decent you’re looking at around $300 a week. If you go under that amount, you’re probably going to wind up with a shoebox, less-than-perfect location, share room or mouldy walls.
I don’t make the rules.
When I was invited on a P&O Cruise, which had an affordable price tag and included more than just rent, it got me thinking – could this floating good time be cheaper than my current living situation?
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Below, I loosely break down my own life expenses (yes, yours may differ) compared to the P&O Discover Vanuatu Cruise.
P&O Discover Vanuatu Cruise
(10 nights, 4-person share on P&O’s Go Fare)
- Accomodation: $831
- Food: Free
- Gym: Free
- Cleaner: Free
- Bills: Free
= $83.10 per day.
Sydney Share House
(7 nights, 3-person share house in Redfern)
- Rent: $335
- Food: $150
- Transport: $50
- Gym: $20
- Cleaner: $30
- Bills: $20
= $86.43 per day.
I’ve never been great at maths, however, based off my above and fairly loose judgements, it looks like it’s just about or par to live on a cruise as it is to live in Sydney. For me, at least.
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Given you get a life of luxury on a cruise – like all-inclusive breakfast, lunch and dinner at select restaurants on board, pool and spa access, cinemas and comedy shows, a gym overlooking the ocean and more – it is actually pretty damn good that it comes in at a similar price as just, you know, existing in Sydney.
You also get a bonus holiday which definitely doesn’t suck eggs. If you’re keen but don’t have the annual leave, there are options as short as four nights to the Sunshine Coast.
Obviously Sydney does have that convenience factor, being on land and all. Kind of an important thing when you have a job, right? I get it.
But we’ve all had those limbo moments – whether we’re between jobs, houses or just mindsets in general.
A cruise could very well be a nice interim solution, rather than paying out your ass to unnecessarily live in the city.
This writer travelled on P&O’s Pacific Explorer as a guest of P&O Cruises.
