I LIVE ON A CRUISE SHIP
For nearly 20 years Mario Salcedo has called the luxury deck of a liner home. He’s so used to it he even sways when he’s back on dry land...
with friends – ship-based friends that is. “Any of the friends I had on land pretty much gave up on me,” he says. “It’s one of the downsides. I’m never home so they just kind of wither away.”
He is also a keen scuba diver. When he embarked on his cruising career Salcedo became a certified diving instructor in order to familiarise himself with the technicalities.
According to Mario, diving and cruising go together like “rum and coke, especially in the Caribbean” and over the past 13 years he has completed around 2,000 dives. It’s a different story when he crosses the Atlantic, however. “When I go to Europe I do not dive,” he says. “I get to know the place.”
Come nightfall Salcedo might indulge his love of salsa in the Latin club Boleros, smoke a Cohiba in the cigar lounge or take in a show.
It helps that Salcedo is still footloose and fancy-free. “I am a single man,” he says. “I have not got married yet. But once in a while I do bring a companion with me.”
The vast pool of cruising knowledge he has built up over the years makes him the go-to man for fellow travellers looking for tips on everything from which of the ship’s many restaurants is best to exactly where to visit
AND HE’S NOT THE ONLY FREQUENT FLOATER...
mAriO SALCEdO isn’t alone in embracing the life aquatic. At least two cruise ship operators are offering permanent berths to people intent on a waterborne retirement.
The pioneer in this field is The World, a ship designed for passengers who never want to disembark. it has 165 “residences” and visits more than 100 ports a year, plying a route determined by a vote among its residents.
With attractions including a fitness centre, golf simulator, full-sized tennis court, jogging track, spa, swimming pool and cocktail lounge there is plenty to keep its inhabitants entertained.
One of these until earlier this year was Leonard Berney, one of the first British when the ship docks. While many of us take time to gain our sea legs, Salcedo has the opposite problem. “When I’m ashore I sway,” he says. “I’ve lost my land legs.”
Late next month he will fly to Barcelona to board Harmony of the Seas – the world’s largest officers to liberate the nazi death camp Bergen-Belsen at the end of the Second World War. He went on to become a wealthy clothing manufacturer before boarding The World in 2009 at the age of 89 and lived permanently on board until his death in march.
meanwhile 87-year-old widow Lee Wachtstatter has been a resident on the 1,070-passenger Crystal Serenity for the last eight years – longer than most of the vessel’s 655 crew members, who have given her the nickname mama Lee. Crystal cruises will be offering 48 residences on three of its ships from 2018, with amenities including mini submarines, helicopters and motorised Zodiac inflatables. cruise ship with room for guests and 2,100 crew.
“I feel better at 66 than I ever did in the corporate rat race in my 30s,” he says. “I’ll keep cruising for as long as I’m healthy and as long as I’m having fun. I’m probably the happiest person in the world.” 5,500