After spending the past two years living aboard a cruise ship, a couple have opened up about what day-to-day life at sea is really like — including a few realities most people never think about.
Lanette Canen and Johan Bodin have now fully settled into life on the water, after making the ship their home and leaving their previous life in Hawaii behind.
The couple bought a residence on the Villa Vie Odyssey, a residential cruise ship that began its continuous world voyage in October 2024 and is designed for long-term living rather than a typical holiday sailing.
According to the Villa Vie Residences website, the ship carries 650 residents, spans 8 decks and measures just under 196 metres in length. The company says its current world voyage covers 425+ ports across 147 countries, with itineraries updated through 2026 and beyond.
Cabin and residency pricing on the ship currently starts from $59,999 for ownership and five-year options, while other purchase and rental programs are also available, depending on the residence type.
Lanette and Johan are believed to have chosen the full ownership option, meaning they still have years remaining on board.
Over the past two years, they’ve built up plenty of experience with the unusual rhythm of cruise life and have been sharing it through their YouTube channel, Living Life on a Cruise.
In one of their videos, they spoke about several things people are rarely warned about before moving onto a ship full-time.
One of the biggest adjustments has been the way time starts to feel different. Instead of thinking in terms of regular weekdays, life becomes organised around port days and sea days.
“Pretty much all the other days seem to blend in,” said Johan.
Lanette explained that during her first six months at sea she still tried to stay aligned with US time, but now she says she often doesn’t even know what day it is.
“It’s a strange phenomenon really,” Johan went on.
The pair also talked about what happens when crossing the international date line. The National Weather Service describes it as a line separating two consecutive calendar dates, which means crossing it can make it feel as though you have skipped ahead or repeated a day.
Johan said they experienced that strange effect firsthand.
“One day we relived the same day. We had, like, Monday, February 15th two days in a row.”
On top of that, they also have to deal with constant time zone shifts as the ship moves from one country to another. Johan said a crew member typically goes around at 3am to change the clocks.
Another unexpected issue has been running out of room in their passports. Because they regularly enter and leave different countries, stamps quickly start filling up the pages.
“I have five pages left, so I actually had to get off the ship in Sydney and go to the consulate to get a new passport,” Lanette shared.
That warning matters because the U.S. State Department says some destinations require passports to have 2 to 4 blank visa or stamp pages, and American cruise passengers on world or long-term voyages should make sure they have enough blank pages before they travel. The department also says you cannot add pages to a passport book, so travelers who need more space must renew and request a larger book.
If she had used up all of the blank pages, she would no longer have been able to travel internationally. Fortunately, her replacement passport now has 50 pages.
Johan also noted that some countries are ‘very stamp-happy’, and in certain cases a visa can take up an entire page on its own.
The couple said another challenge is adjusting to different road rules whenever they go ashore. In places such as England, drivers use the left side of the road, which is the opposite of what the American couple are used to.
“Driving on a different side of the road has just become normal now,” Lanette said.
They also remembered a moment in London when they nearly stepped into danger after checking the wrong direction for traffic and almost getting hit by a bus.
The State Department also recommends that cruise passengers carry a passport book even when it is not required by the cruise line, because unexpected illness, injury, ship mechanical issues or missed departures can mean having to fly home from abroad. It says travellers should also check that their passport is valid for at least six months beyond their travel dates.