They have.
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Posted on 12/20/2004 5:44:16 PM PST by qam1
MIAMI - Gil and Teresa Betthauser spent more than a decade of their retirement touring the nation in a motor home, and now in their 70s, they can't imagine the idea of ending their travels to move into an assisted-living facility.
That's why they're intrigued by a recent study that proposes seniors who need only minimal care should take the money they would have spent on assisted living and book permanent passage on cruise ships.
"When people have an opportunity to go to the Bahamas, they'd have something to look forward to and they'd live longer," said the 76-year-old Teresa, who currently lives with her husband in a retirement community in Tucson, Ariz.
The two Northwestern University physicians who wrote the study, Drs. Lee Lindquist and Robert Golub, make the case that the costs for an entire year in an assisted-living center are comparable to those on a cruise ship. Doctors or nurses are always on call on larger ships. All meals are taken care of. Libraries, movie theaters and pools are available for entertainment.
And perhaps most importantly, the allure of being in the warm weather all year and visiting exotic places might persuade some resistant seniors to get the care they need.
"It comes to a point where they can't live at home alone," Lindquist said. "That's the hardest thing to do, to send someone to an assisted-living facility. No one thinks they're old enough."
The authors acknowledge that crew members would have to receive additional training, such as in dispensing pills and helping the elderly get dressed. And only seniors who weren't bedridden or seriously ill could live at sea.
"With assisted living, these are pretty much independent seniors. They'd need help with maybe one or two activities, meal preparation, shopping or taking medications," Lindquist said.
The study calculated an annual cost in a double cabin on a Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. ship at about $33,000 per person. A search on Yahoo's travel Web site had prices as low as $399 per person in a double cabin for a seven-night cruise in the Gulf of Mexico on a Norwegian Cruise Line Ltd. ship. Port charges, taxes and government fees could bring that up to about $26,000 a year per person.
That's not a bad deal, the study contends, because the average annual cost at an assisted-living center is about $22,000 per person, according to federal and private data. In large cities such as Chicago, those costs can exceed $48,000 a year.
There would be extra costs, such as transport from the ship for emergency care and crew training. But Lindquist said she has gotten hundreds of e-mails since the study's November release from people interested in the idea, including the Betthausers. Lindquist suggests there could be an untapped market among America's more than 35 million people who are age 65 or older.
About 800,000 Americans with an average age of 80 are in assisted-living facilities, according to the National Center for Assisted Living.
There might only be 30 or 40 elderly people living on each ship, so companies wouldn't have to worry about being known as "the old folks cruise," Lindquist said. That way they could also mingle with a younger crowd, said Lindquist, who got the idea after taking a cruise with her parents, who are in their late 50s.
So far, the cruise industry hasn't enthusiastically responded to the proposal. The two biggest cruise companies, Carnival Corp. & PLC and Royal Caribbean, refused to comment on the plan.
About 9.8 million people traveled on cruise ships last year, and more than a quarter were 60 or older, according to industry figures.
But the International Council of Cruise Lines, a trade group that represents the major companies, doesn't think the industry is prepared to handle a large number of permanent residents with special medical needs.
"Cruises are intended to be a vacation. They're not intended to be a long-term assisted-living facility," council President Michael Crye said.
Cruise lines also have been marketing themselves to a more active crowd over the past two decades, getting away from an old saying that the typical passenger was "newlywed, overfed or nearly dead."
Crye said none of the council's members was considering Lindquist's idea but agreed one day there might be a market for this type of cruising. "Baby boomers are going to be over the next decade or 20 years people that are going to be in this category," he said.
Just the thought of it makes me sick to my stomach. :C
And hot chicks too. If there are lots of hot chicks, I will come visit too.
What is sickening about it?
Ever hear of sea sick?
Sea Sick is rare on cruise ships. They are massive ships and not subject to pitching and rolling without massive waves. Uncommonly large waves.
Let's just say, I like to see them able to protest but a nice cruise out at sea on election days not a bad idea:')
I can see it now. Soon, so many seniors will be enjoying retirement living on a cruise ship that after an election the cruise ship absentee balloting is so bad that Pat Buchannan was still getting votes from people from Florida. Thus congress will pass a law and seniors will have voting right on the ship.
I knew you were going to say that. It doesn't take much wave action to disturb the inner ear. You would become accustomed to the movement after a while but what a horrible life. You are talking about living on that thing for years aren't you, no thanks. What would you do after you played cards 24/7 for a year, watch sea gulls?
If this can be done on a cruise ship, why can't it be done in a hotel?
Why can't someone work out a deal with a hotel for say $50/night for room and board for a year plus reasonable access to the hotel doctor?
This way if you don't want to get seasick and don't mind walking the same stretch of beach you could have a nicer place to live than an assisted living facility?
This was common practice in the past. General MacArthur and his widow spent their final years at the Waldorf Astoria in NY. All of the south beach hotels were essentailly converted into senior housing and then recoverted into a playground in the 1980s. Virtually any older urban hotels has its share of permanent residents.
Myself, as a magician can entertain myself and others for many hours a day with just a deck of cards. Sounds great to me!
After awhile the group would want to make changes to suit their entertainment needs. No way, would I want to work on a floating assisted living unit. I care about them but to be in contact 24/7....
I am an artist and I can entertain my self too, just not on that floating prison. I am the right age I just won't be signing up. Send me a post card. ;9)
They have.
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Having been in the development retirement of housing for more than a decade, I see a lot of unresolved problems with this idea. While these 70 somethings are in relative good health, they are likely to suffer from some significant health challenge before reaching their mid 80's. Where would they get care when in the middle of the ocean or at some third world port if they needed a pacemaker, or hip joint replacement? What if they suffered a stroke and then needed long term care or rehabilitation? Converting a standard cruise ship into a safe living environment for a senior population would also present some serious challenges.
Instead, we get another generation of sterile consumers whiling away their declining years in some combination of "Fantasy Island" and the "Ship of Fools."
They'll catch on, and I won't be able to use that discount torpedo I bought.
JUST KIDDING! While it might be a fun idea if we could guarantee the ship was full of liberal boomers, any such ship would probably be full of wealthier, more likely to be GOP-voting, boomers.
I was impressed until I saw the route. I don't buy that this ship is sailing around Cape Horn.
"Were I of that age bracket I'd probably view the distance as a plus ;-)"
Heh. With some families, it's better that way.
We could of course do like the Sweden, Holland and it appears the rest of Europe is heading. Give them injections and replace them with Muslims.
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