A man has been living on a cruise ship for the past 25 years—and he’s paying for it, both in dollars and health-wise (though he’s fine with it).
On January 5, Mario Salcedo embarked on his 1,000th voyage with Royal Caribbean. Known as “Super Mario” in cruise circles, Salcedo admitted to spending around $101,000 annually on cruises.
He typically opts for a cabin with a balcony and pays for the luxurious travels via investment management work. The cruise connoisseur has makeshift offices on some ships, where he works around 5 hours a day and “has fun” the rest of the time.
Though he still technically has a day job, Super Mario says working at sea is far more relaxing than the alternative. Salcedo decided on the cruise ship life after “tiring of the suit-and-tie business world and the long flights to international clients,” he told All Things Cruise.
However, after all those years at sea, Salcedo is now facing a condition known commonly as “sea legs.”
“I’ve lost my land legs. I’m swaying so much I can’t walk in a straight line,” the Cuban-born businessman told Conde Nast Traveler in a 2016 interview. “I’m so used to being on ships that it feels more comfortable to me than being on land.”
According to Elaine Warren, the founder and CEO of The Family Cruise Companion, this is a common issue among long-term cruisers.
“Many long-term cruisers find that they develop ‘sea legs,’ where they get so used to the ship’s slight sway that walking on land feels strange,” she told MailOnline Travel. “I’ve spoken to people who lived at sea for months, and they say that stepping back onto solid ground can be disorienting—almost like the land itself is moving.”
But hey, that’s a small cost compared to the hundreds of thousands of dollars he’s spent on 25 years of cruising, right?
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