How Would You Like to Live on a Cruise Ship?
Meet the man who’s been doing just that for 20 years
At age 45, Mario Salcedo decided he wanted to travel the world. That was 20 years ago, and he’s been living on — and operating an investment management business from — a cruise ship ever since.
“Though he keeps a condo in South Florida, Salcedo has effectively lived full time on a cruise ship for almost twenty years” writes Mark Ellwood in a story for Conde Nast Traveler that describes the fascinating details of Salcedo’s lifestyle, “making him part of an élite cabal of permanent passengers.”
Elite indeed. The guy well known to ship captains as “Super Mario” budgets $60,000 to $70,000 a year for travel.
He hadn’t planned on doing this. But after his first cruise on Royal Caribbean’s Voyager of the Seas, Salcedo was hooked. Since then, he’s been on about 850 cruises, all with Royal Caribbean.
In addition to the high price tag, there is another cost to spending 350 days a year at sea: He sways when he’s on land. “I’ve lost my land legs,” Salcedo tells Ellwood. Not that he’s complaining.
“Nothing could lure me away from them,” he says with a winking nod to the name of the cruise line, “because I get treated like royalty.”
