A man who has lived on cruises for a quarter of a century has revealed what he gets up to on the rare occasion he’s on land.
Mario Salcedo, has lived on cruise ships for the past 25 years and recently clocked up his 1,000th voyage with Royal Caribbean, taking customer loyalty to the next level and beyond.
Mr Salcedo, who’s known as ‘Super Mario’ in cruise circles, revealed that he spends around £81,000/$101,000 on cruises per year for a cabin with a balcony, funding his ocean-going lifestyle through investment management work.
His stature with Royal Caribbean is such that on some ships crew have created makeshift offices for him on deck – complete with cordoned-off tables and chairs and signs reading ‘Super Mario’s Office’.
Each year, he spends around 15 days on land – with the remaining 350 days out at sea.
Yet the days are not consecutive. Rather, he will only go on land if he is flying between ports, or needs to visit the doctor or the bank.
And although he has a two-bedroom apartment in Miami, he has kept one bedroom as a shrine to his various Royal Caribbean trips.
He has even admitted he finds it difficult to walk in a straight line because he has ‘lost his land legs’.
Mario Salcedo has lived on cruise ships for the past 25 years and recently clocked up his 1,000th voyage with Royal Caribbean. He’s pictured here in 2021
Mr Salcedo, who’s known as ‘Super Mario’ in cruise circles, revealed that he spends around $101,000/£81,000 on cruises per year, funding his ocean-going lifestyle through investment management work. On some ships crew have created makeshift offices for him
But despite this, he likes to keep his fitness up.
He told CNTraveller: ‘I do lots of dancing and walking. I only put on a couple of pounds when I’m on land eating at McDonald’s and Burger King.’
While the ships are in port, he prefers going scuba diving rather than venturing on land.
He also finds time to socialise on board the ships. He added: ‘I go dancing in the lounges, or enjoy a nice cigar after dinner with a cognac, watching basketball or football games on TV. Everything I do on the ship provides an opportunity to socialize.’
Mr Salcedo, who is not on social media, told Jackie Sheckler Finch at allthingscruise.com: ‘Cruising never gets old.
Mario told Jackie Sheckler Finch at allthingscruise.com: ‘Cruising never gets old’
Mario’s 1,000th cruise was on the 3,286-passenger Explorer of the Seas (above)
‘I’m so used to being on ships that it feels more comfortable to me than being on land.’
The full-time cruiser told allthingscruise.com that he took to the high seas permanently after ‘tiring of the suit-and-tie business world and the long flights to international clients’.
After going on his first cruise in 1997, the Cuban-born businessman was hooked.
He sea-trialled a few cruise lines, but settled on Royal Caribbean as the company with the ships that he liked best.
He’s been living on Royal Caribbean ships almost continuously since the year 2000, spending only a few days a year on land and pausing for 15 months during Covid.
His 1,000th cruise was on the 3,286-passenger Explorer of the Seas, which departed Miami on January 5 for an 11-night voyage to Panama and the southern Caribbean.
Mr Salcedo, said he spends about five hours a day working and ‘has fun’ for the rest of the time.
‘It’s zero stress,’ he says. ‘The best lifestyle I can find.’
