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.
A few years ago, several articles were published in newspapers and magazines about a retired woman who lives on the QE2. She had one of the smaller cabins, always had fun, and loved her life on the ship with all that great service and things to do, not to mention trips ashore in interesting places. She'd stay on land to visit her children now and then, then back she'd go to sea. I think it cost her less than $50k per year. I love the idea!
What happened to the old bag who was always complaining about the medical care?
Gee those sharks over there seem to have gotten a hold of something tasty ...
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Don't tell this to the nursing home industry.
I don't think I like this idea. It reminds me of those stories of lost ships which sail forever without reaching port.
I like the idea and when the passengers die, simply dump their remains overboard with a wreath of green and it's all over. Think of it as a permanent floating buffet and a steady diet of buffets are sure to reduce the number of passengers fast. Send the Boomers first as a test.
A bunch of geezers traveling endlessly on a cruise ship- that was a Twilight Zone episode.
No.
What a nice, respectful way to be talking about our elderly. Though, they do need to be monitored about their driving skills.
If the entire leadership of the AARP would get on a permanent cruise to nowhere, I'd contribute money for the fare.
When my wife took an Alaska cruise some 15 years ago she ran into a woman whose kids had done just that for her. She spent all her time cruising, eating fine meals and being entertained onboard the ship. It can't be any more expensive than a "home." Sounds like a plan to me as long as the crew can handle the old folks without problems.
we can just throw them overboard when are done I guess...
Why dont we just have them rent rooms at Motel 6? That is cheaper than a nursing home, for sure!
< bonk> Ouch! </bonk>
Of course! You really didn't think the old people would do this if they had to pay for it themselves
Once the government got involved, The price of keeping the eldery in either a motel or cruise ship will rapidly increase.
Well, they certainly qualify as ill, IMHO.
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