A man who has lived on cruise ships for nearly 25 years has completed his 1000th cruise as he stays loyal to one liner and now struggles with permanent sea legs once back on land
A man has lived on cruises for nearly 25 years.
Mario Salcedo, a Cuban national, moved to Miami in America, with his family in the 1960s. Soon after arriving in Miami, he booked a cruise and fell in love with the experience.
Known by staff on the ship as ‘Super Mario’, Mario recently completely his 1,000th cruise with Royal Caribbean while aboard the 3,286-passenger Explorer of the Seas. The ship, which departed Miami on January 5, spent 11 days voyage to Panama and the Southern Caribbean and held a special event for the occasion.
Mario previously told Conde Nast Traveler: “When I hit 45, I wanted to start a new chapter in my life travelling around the world — that was my vision.”
Having tried a few different cruise lines, Mario went on Royal Caribbean’s Voyage of the Seas in 2000 and since then, he has not been on another liner.
“Nothing could lure me away from them, because I get treated like royalty,” he shared. Mario is now the highest-ranking member of Royal Caribbean’s Crown and Anchor Society, after he became the first cruiser to pass 10,000 points in 2022. Members each earn one point per night on a Royal Caribbean cruise, with an extra point per night for staying in either a suite or solo cruising in a double occupancy cabin.
To keep on top of his cruise travels, Mario schedules his trips two years or 150 sailing ahead, which helps him to stay in the same room for an extended period of time. However, with so much time on the sea, Mario revealed to All Things Cruise: “I’ve lost my land legs, so when I’m swaying so much I can’t walk in a straight line.”
Back in 2019, Mario revealed to content creator Alanna Zingano how much it costs to permanently live onboard a cruise ship. Mario spends around $185 (£151.75) each day for the ‘basics’ which includes his fare, cabin, taxes and tips, but does not include alcohol, excursions or Wi-Fi.
He added that his own annual budget is $72,093 (£57,962.82) for an interior cabin, which goes up to goes up to $101,258 (£82,672) for a cabin with a balcony, or $136,000 (£111,037) for a junior suite, according to Mario.
“I looked up the average cost of assisted living in the United States per year and it’s $100,380 (£81,955),” he explained. “You can see that if you do an interior cabin, it’s cheaper to live on a cruise.”
He recently told the Royal Caribbean blog that his favourite stop is the cruise line’s private destination in Labadee, Haiti and that his most memorable moment was “without a doubt, the ‘hurricane evacuation’ cruise onboard Enchantment of the Seas in September 2017.”
An evacuation order was issued in South Florida when Hurricane Irma was causing devastation and Enchantment of the Seas was offered to Miami-based employees and their families for free evacuation.