Renters across the United States are facing what researchers call a record level of financial strain. According to Harvard’s Joint Center for Housing Studies’ 2026 housing report, 22.7 million renter households spent more than 30% of their income on rent and utilities in 2024. The report also found that 12.1 million renter households spent more than half of their income on housing, which the study says amounts to roughly half of all renters in the country. Against that backdrop, a small number of people say they have found a different way to live. Some have reportedly chosen to skip traditional rent altogether and instead live full-time on cruise ships. One of them is a woman who goes by Libby on TikTok, where she posts under the handle @libby.rome. In a recent TikTok video that had gained more than 281,100 views and over 400 comments at the time of writing, Libby said she and her husband live on cruise ships for $33 per person, per day. The couple says cruise living costs less than rent in several states In the video, Libby said, “Living on cruise ships sounds expensive, but my husband and I actually do it for $33 per person per day.” She showed a screenshot that she said supported this figure. She then said, “That’s $2,000 a month or $24,000 a year for both of us to live full-time on cruise ships.” In the video’s caption, Libby wrote that this is a question she is frequently asked. “Everyone wants to know what it really costs for my husband and me to live on cruise ships full-time,” she wrote. “Well… we’ve cracked the code!” According to Libby, she and her husband live on Princess cruise ships, travel around Europe, and say they do so for $33 per person per day. @libby.rome Everyone wants to know what it really costs for my husband and me to live on cruise ships full‑time. Well… we’ve cracked the code! We live on Princess cruise ships, travel around Europe, and do it all for just $33 per person, per day. More cruise‑life content coming to TikTok soon — I’ll be sharing exactly how we keep cruise living this so affordable. You can watch the full videos on my @LibbyRome YouTube channel (link in profile). FFullTimeCruiseLifeCCruiseLifeCCruiseLivingPPrincessCruisescruisetips ♬ original sound – Libby Rome The monthly figure is lower than the average rent in several U.S. states, and that comparison does not include utilities, groceries, or other everyday costs that renters typically pay separately. For a 30-day month, the couple would have to pay $1980. According to data from World Population Review, that amount is lower than the average monthly rent in Massachusetts, California, New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, New Hampshire, Illinois, and Washington. Some renters have dealt with the opposite problem, facing steep rent increases with little warning. Libby said the $33-a-day figure covers “room and board and all the luxury and services included,” and added that it also includes “getting to travel around effortlessly.” In a separate YouTube video, Libby laid out three factors she said make this lifestyle possible. The first, she said, is remote work paired with early retirement. “Until recently, I worked full-time as an IT consultant from my cabin stateroom or from anywhere on the cruise ship,” she said. She said she left her corporate job in April 2026, adding, “I feel free. I feel happy and excited. And I feel like I’m finally able to focus on things that I really want to do.” The second factor, according to Libby, is the cost of cruising itself. She said cruises can be less expensive than many people assume, particularly repositioning cruises, one-way sailings, and last-minute deals. As an example, she pointed to a 15-night Royal Caribbean cruise from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, to Barcelona, Spain, that she said cost $795. She also said cruise lines tend to send more favorable offers to customers who have already sailed and logged into their accounts. “So when you compare that to hotels and meals and entertainment on land, cruising can actually be one of the most effective ways to travel financially,” she said. The third factor Libby cited involves cruise casino play. She said she and her husband have used casino activity “to my financial advantage,” explaining that cruise casinos reportedly offer complimentary rooms because they expect guests to gamble again on future sailings. “But my husband and I have figured out how to leverage that same offer for back-to-back cruises all year long,” she said. She said an initial $2,000 investment in what she called “smart play” at the casino, without additional cash, has allowed the couple to earn “hundreds of free nights” and cruise nearly year-round for the past three years. “It’s definitely not a strategy that everyone would be comfortable with,” she said, “but for me, it’s been incredibly lucrative.” Libby also pointed to minimalism as part of the lifestyle. “Minimalism is the foundation of our lifestyle,” she said. “We have few possessions, but lots of experiences instead.” Living full-time at sea is not without its downsides, and some cruise passengers have reported dealing with a cruise cabin sewage flooding incident that disrupted their trip. Libby and her husband are apparently not the only ones living this way. The Guardian reported that a couple in their 50s, identified as Jeff and Debb, sold their homes and most of their belongings and now live full-time on cruise ships, and also document the lifestyle on TikTok. Separately, a man told Business Insider that he lives and works remotely from a cruise ship for about 300 days a year, and said his annual fare budget of $30,000 was comparable to what he estimated he would have spent on rent and other living costs on land. In the comments section of her TikTok, a user named Olive asked Libby how she manages to earn an income while living on a cruise ship full-time, and questioned whether onboard WiFi is reliable enough to support remote work. Libby responded that, “until a recent change that Princess made, the WiFi was good enough to work remotely,” adding that she did so for almost three years. She said Princess now only provides fast WiFi to guests who purchase the cruise line’s WiFi packages. Other commenters on the video shared their own reactions. One user, who said they had worked on cruise ships and met others living this way, wrote that “it all depends on how you live inside the cruise ship,” adding that there are “ways to do it properly” as well as downsides, and that the lifestyle can be “amazing” if time and money are not a concern. Another commenter compared the figures to their own housing costs, writing, “Damn my rent is 2 grand, might move to a cruise ship.”