- Tori Carter and Kirk Rickman sold their home in 2022 to become full-time cruisers.
- They’ve since been on 29 cruises, the longest for 68 days.
- The retirees use the monthly income from their rental properties to help subsidize their travels.
For Victoria “Tori” Carter, bad things did come in threes.
First, her friend died suddenly.
Her dog, who she loved like a son, followed shortly after.
Then, she suffered a serious back injury.
“It all happened at the same time,” Carter, 55, told Business Insider. “It felt like everything accumulated to saying, ‘now is the time. Do what you want to do now.'”
What she wanted was to see the world by cruise — a dream she and her partner, Kirk Rickman, 52, have been living since December 2022.
The couple retired from their nine-to-fives and sold their home in Canada to start anew as full-time cruisers. Since then, they said they’ve been on 29 voyages across 12 cruise lines, averaging about a month each.
The shortest has been 14 days — the longest, 68.
This new lifestyle has allowed them to experience the historic streets of Buenos Aires, an iceberg in Antarctica, and the iconic architecture of Lisbon. Throughout the over two years at sea, the couple estimates they’ve only spent a month sleeping on land, which includes a night or two waiting for their next voyage and a road trip in Australia.
“We’re going to try to do this for as long as we can,” Rickman said.
The ‘KirkTori Story’
To understand their love of cruising, you must first understand the genesis of the “KirkTori Story.”
It all started with a two-night cruise in 2005. Or, as they call it, their first date — followed by what they estimate to be about 100 vacations at sea to date.
Many back-to-back cruises later, by 2021, the jokes about moving on board inevitably came up. The couple accepted an offer on their home in December 2022, moved their belongings into storage, and immediately embarked on their new life at sea.
By then, there wasn’t much keeping them tied to Canada. The duo had already retired from their day jobs (Carter, a high school teacher, and Rickman, a supervisor at a manufacturing plant) in 2018, instead opting to focus on their side hustle as realtors.
Their several rental properties now help subsidize their travel.
To keep within their budget, the couple plans their voyages about six months in advance.
They prefer avoiding repeat itineraries (the goal is to see the world, after all), instead opting to ship-hop according to destinations they want to see and cruises embarking at ports they’re disembarking. They also favor itineraries of at least 14 days, avoiding the tedious repacking process and the livelier party atmosphere of shorter voyages.
“We feel like each ship is a destination in itself,” Carter said. “Because we live on ships, it’s not like we want to party every single night.”
Rickman is partial to Holland America and Cunard when he’s in the mood to relax. Carter is fond of Costa, drawn to what she said are “the most spectacular shows I have ever seen on any cruise ship.”
Both lean toward balcony cabins but are OK with ocean-view staterooms if they better fit their budget. Yes, they’re pricier than inside cabins, but “we didn’t do all of this to be, excuse my French, cheap asses,” Rickman said. “We’re not going to give all of that up to be in an interior.”
The couple spends an average of about $7,340 a month (which, like any cruise, includes food, their cabins, and onboard amenities). While it’s a little more than they paid when living on land, it’s a worthy trade-off.
“You don’t have to be a millionaire or billionaire to do what we’re doing,” Carter said. “We’ve got enough to sustain ourselves to be happy and do what we want to do, which is travel and see the world.”
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