Just need to point out: A cruise is a ^%$^#$ expensive vacation. For me, part of vacation is focusing on the moment, place, and people that I'm with. Cruises have plenty of entertainment onboard, so if you feel the need to do something like this to save a buck, maybe take a deep breath and try to take advantage of what's already there for your entertainment.
If I ever take advantage of this hack... It'll be to download an extra book or two to my Kindle. My wife and I took a honeymoon in a remote area and mostly used our devices to take pictures and read books while at a beach.
I disagree that cruises are expensive. Cruises can be expensive but many cost roughly the same per night in a hotel but includes your food and entertainment. No, they're not as cheap as camping at your local campground or a staycation. Yes, they're more expensive if you have to fly to/from the port.
Our most recent cruise was less than $1,200 for 6 nights, $556 for airfare, and $127 for a hotel the night before. This was more expensive than usual because it was during a popular time of year to fly.
However I completely agree that vacation is meant to be focusing on the present. One of the main appeals of cruises to me is being disconnected from the Internet.
The author implies they're a highschool aged programmer. They're likely along for the ride with their parents and very online. I'd probably do the same thing at their age.
Agreed and there are likely relatively few similarly aged kids, even on one of the larger ships.
They aren't, look at their comments in this thread.
I've taken transatlantic repositioning cruises for a few hundred bucks back when I was in my twenties and funemployed. Feels appropriate for that scenario.