23-Year-Old Uses Her Side Hustle and Hack to Go on Free Cruises
Abigail Stacey operates a superhero-like double life.
From 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., her coworkers know her as a data analyst.
But when the workday winds down and the weekend rolls around, Stacey, 23, dedicates herself to her passion project as Abby, The Life of a Cruiser.
Her superpower? Using her YouTube videos and expertise to dispel stereotypes folks her age might have about vacations-at-sea — while using the earnings to pay for her future voyages.
Abigail Stacey
Stacey told Business Insider she’s been on 53 cruises, having already achieved Royal Caribbean’s second-highest Diamond Plus status. Recently, she’s averaged about eight voyages a year, many of which have been quick weekend sailings.
While she does occasionally stay in inside cabins, “I definitely do not travel budget-friendly,” Stacey said, noting the MSC, Celebrity, Princess, and Royal Caribbean suites she’s vacationed in. “It’s like when you fly first class, you just can’t go back.”
The expert cruiser estimates she spent about $5,000 for 10 sailings and 41 days at sea in 2024. She declined to share specific earnings but said her channel and brand partnerships “generally cover my cruise-related expenses.”
It’s certainly not chump change for a vacation industry that touts its relative affordability. But the frequent cruiser has two secrets for affording the lifestyle: onboard casinos and her budding YouTube side hustle.
Of her 10 voyages last year, four were comped by casino points. The remaining were either family trips or paid for using the income from her YouTube videos.
She declined to share specific earnings but said her channel and brand partnerships “generally cover my cruise-related expenses.”
Brittany Chang/Business Insider
Frequent cruisers can earn perks like free drinks, WiFi, and even future cruises by spending big to accrue status and points at onboard casinos. If you play your cards right, the amount you gamble away could be significantly less than the cost of the sailings you’ll ultimately win.
It’s a hack Stacey saw her cruise-loving parents often use (her family whizzed her onto her first floating resort the moment she was old enough to sail — about seven months). And as soon as she turned of gambling age, “I decided that was the route I wanted to go to get the most cruising opportunities for as low of a price as possible,” she said, adding that she maintains casino status with Royal Caribbean, Celebrity, and Princess.
Stacey said she’s been on 10 casino-comped cruises since turning 21. However, these perks don’t often cover new ships — and she has been on Royal Caribbean’s latest Utopia of the Seas thrice since its July 2024 launch.
She told BI she uses the revenue from her YouTube channel to pay for the rest of her voyages, similar to a startup CEO reinvesting profits back into their business.
For Stacey, these sailings aren’t just vacations — they’re an opportunity to generate more content. It’s quite the symbiotic relationship, posting videos about cruises to earn money for more cruises.
Abigail Stacey
Stacey said she started her full-time job and side hustle around the same time, about two years ago. She monetized her videos within a year of launching her channel, but for now, just shy of 2,000 subscribers, it’s a “passion project until it’s a full-time job,” she said.
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Yet, she’s committed to reinvesting her YouTube earnings into creating the most informative videos possible — “My biggest goal is to bust the myth that people have about cruising while showing them that no matter how old you are, where you’re from, or what you like, there is a cruise ship for everyone,” she said.
Her channel is an impressive gallery of cruise-related videos, including ship walkthroughs, cabin tours, and dining reviews. She cycles between new versus older casino-comped ships and suites versus cheaper cabins to target a variety of viewers. She’s yet to sail with Carnival but wants to for the content.
“Despite being young, I think I’ve fortunately done a decent job of showcasing my expertise in this area,” Stacey said. “I’ve only been doing content creation for a little while, but I’m grateful to have seen a lot of growth in recent years.”
Going full-time is the goal — “and I think it can happen,” she said.
