Yes, every ship has to be flagged in some country to be recognized in ports and passengers allowed to go ashore.

Why would I want to be stuck in an overpriced floating condo when I don't want to get stuck in a land based condo?
I have never found cruise ship life appealing. No control over anything is not appealing to me.

Hahaha. Life's a bitch. I might even become a liberal if I could become a "cruiser".. Best wishes from Midwest wannabe someone else old guy.

My mom was a "cruiser" for many years...living on a beautiful, big catamaran sailboat. It was an incredible existence. Now, she's an angry liberal who sits in a luxury condo in Florida and watches CNN.

Agreed. Cruise ships are designed all wrong for a long term self sufficient habitat.
If you want a sea going replacement for Midas Mulligan's hidden valley, you might want to look into nuclear subs.

The problem with a ship is that it has to dock at sometime to get supplies. I always thought being on my own private sail boat and sailing around the Caribbean leaving each small island nation before the local gestapo decided to begin taxing me would work. Then came the Covid19 fear and every government acting out their roles of masters of the human race. A man who had been sailing alone in the Pacific was not allowed to dock because: "He might have the pandemic with him!" I wonder if there is anywhere except deep in the jungle with natives the governments don't care to harass because it isn't worth their time. How to live in a parallel existence without being noticed. That is the question that could lead to Galt's Gulch.

Add restocking food to that list. We can drag fishing nets but we will still need our veggies.
Buying a fertile island that is not under the umbrella of any government strikes me as a better idea.
BTW, the Indian Ocean is too close to Red China.
Oh, did I write Red China? How racist of me! Me dino even called an ocean an Indian.

Hmm, Majesty has 2800 person capacity with another 800 staff. There are 1200 rooms and suites. If we start at $50K/year for cabins, then there would be at least $60million for operating expenses and staff. I don't know what it costs to actually operate and maintain the ship, but $5million/month sounds like a lot to me.

According to the article linked above the ships have already been sold. Consider johnrobert2's comment - running a 30+ year old cruise ship is a BIG undertaking. On most of the cruises we have taken the crew numbers about equal 1/2 to 2/3 of the passengers. I like the idea, but reality starts kicking in when I think seriously about it.

One of these two ships, the Majesty of the Seas, is the very last ship I set foot on! My last cruise, (not counting the four cancelled ones since then) was on February 1, 2020. Of all my cruises - and I've been on a lot - this was my least favorite.

The way the ship is designed is a little nutty with a half-deck between decks 5 and 6. The ship structurally appears to be in good repair but yeah, way too much money for the likes of us. As johnrobert2 says, no way could we afford that. Oh and speaking of mechanical maintenance, the ship was barely able to overcome the headwinds on the passage up the Mississippi River to New Orleans. We were six hours late arriving back to home port, which of course inconvenienced those sailing behind us as well. The entire cruise was a cluster of the highest proportions.

But it's fun to think about. Right now, I'd pretty much take any cruise ship that would allow me aboard!

You can buy a condo on one of the world ships and live on the ocean away from all governments. I would be afraid of the pettiness of the government of your fellow passengers. HOAs are some of the worst governments.

That is an interesting proposition. Not sure if one can have a ship without a country flag, though.

Not enough sail area to do any good.

On a serious note, the maintenance, fuel and port fees (not to mention support staff) for a ship of this size would not be practical for a group such as we.

Ooh. I like the idea of a cruise ship! I would sell the house and invest in that. N

We can put Ragnar's pirate flag on it.

If they were designed with sails ...