Retired Photographer Finds Freedom and Adventure Living on a Cruise Ship

Retired photographer Sue Barr knew that she had to make a change when, at the age of 60, she realized that she would have to sell her beloved home if she hoped to get out from underneath mounting debt. Her solution: move onto a cruise ship.

In a first-person essay forBusiness Insider, Barr revealed that her unexpected life transition has provided benefits far from the obvious financial ones. "I had spent years encouraging [my son] to live the life he wanted. Suddenly, I realized I needed to do the same," she wrote.

Looking at her own life, Barr told the Daily Mail she had accumulated an "overwhelming" amount of debt, much of it tied to her home.

"All I wanted to do was travel, but I couldn't get out from under it," she told The Daily Mail. "Every time I had a little extra money, it wasn't enough to actually make a dent. It felt like playing whack-a-mole. All I wanted to do was travel, but I couldn't get out from under it. Every time I had a little extra money, it wasn't enough to actually make a dent. It felt like playing whack-a-mole.”

Mounting Debts Forced a Tough Decision

When her furnace busted and required her entire savings for a hopeful Costa Rica vacation to get up and running again, Barr knew she had to sell her home. While she "didn't know what came next," Barr recalled her “friend who worked as a sommelier on cruise ships" and how they "seemed to have the life I craved.”

"I started searching cruise ship jobs, my algorithm took over, and suddenly Master Photographer roles started appearing in my feed. So I applied," she explained.

Barr was inevitably "offered a contract as the Master Photographer on a premium luxury cruise line, a role that would take me across multiple continents. To qualify, I needed a Seafarer Certificate, which at my age required extensive medical tests and functional exams. It was humbling, but I passed," she continued.

"In six months, I had visited three continents, become healthier than I had been in years, and for the first time in decades, my smile came without hesitation," she wrote. ”My financial responsibilities felt lighter, and the spark I had been missing finally came back after years of accumulating belongings and obligations that had kept me anchored when I was ready to sail into another chapter filled with creativity."

But She Found 'Tight Deadlines' Even at Sea

But not everything was perfect in her new waterbound life, as the “relentless hours” and “tight deadlines” began to take their toll on Barr. "Guest satisfaction came at the expense of crew well-being,” she eventually realized. "Living quarters on the ship for crew were a masterclass in minimalism. A steamy shower could trigger the fire alarm, leading to a high-pitched wail that pierced through the corridors and often took over an hour to silence, leaving us all with ringing ears and frayed nerves.”

Yet despite the occasional hiccup, Barr has no second thoughts about her drastic change in lifestyle. "I had let go of everything that once held me back," she wrote. “What I gained was freedom, the freedom to create, to travel, and to smile freely again, with my camera as my ticket forward.”