A great email i recieved, i wanted to share with all my Princess friends

[Hello-Kitty]

No Nursing Home for Me

 

 

About 2 years ago my wife and I were on a cruise through the western Mediterranean aboard a Princess liner. At dinner we noticed an elderly lady sitting alone along the rail of the grand stairway in the maindining room. I also noticed that all the staff, shipsofficers, waiters, busboys, etc., all seemed veryfamiliar with this lady. I asked our waiter who the lady was, expecting to be told that she owned the line,but he said he only knewthat she had been on board for the last four cruises,back-to-back.

 

 

As we left the dining room one evening I caught hereye and stopped to say hello. We chatted and I said, "I understand you've been on this ship for the last four cruises". She replied, "Yes, that's true." Istated, "I don't understand" and she replied, withouta pause, "It's cheaper than a nursing home".

 

 

So, there will be no nursing home in my future. When I get old and feeble, I am going to get on a Princess Cruise Ship. The average cost for a nursing home is $200 per day. I have checked on reservations on aPrincess and I can get a long term discount and senior discount price of $135 per day. That leaves $65 a day for:

 

 

1. Gratuities which will only be $10 per day.

 

 

2. I will have as many as 10 meals a day if I can waddle to the restaurant, or I can have room service(which means I can have breakfast-in-bed every day of the week).

 

 

3. Princess has as many as three swimming pools, aworkout room, free washers and dryers, and shows everynight.

 

 

4. They have free toothpaste and razors, and free soap and shampoo.

 

 

5. They will even treat you like a customer, not apatient. An extra $5 worth of tips will have the entire staff scrambling to help you.

[AmateurCruzer]

That is a wonderful idea! I want to do that too now! And i'm decades away from retirement.

 

Its probably much more fun than a retirement home too!

[Hello-Kitty]

I agree what a great idea!!! :D

 

Can you imagine, what fun it would be

[SingerEsq]

There have been a few articles about this in the news the past couple of years. People are realizing that a cruise ship is not only cheaper than an assisted living facility, but that it offers more in amenities than most facilities. Not a bad way to do it.

[SingerEsq]

From a 2005 Article on the subject:

 

"As to whether living out one's golden years aboard a cruise ship is a viable alternative to spending them in a retirement home, a geriatrician at Northwestern University says such a plan is a feasible and cost-effective alternative to assisted-living facilities. Dr. Lee Lindquist, an instructor at Northwestern's Feinberg School of Medicine, compared the costs (over a 20-year life expectancy) of moving to an assisted-living facility, a nursing home and a cruise ship, including the expense of treating acute illnesses, Medicare reimbursement and other factors. She determined that the net cost of cruise-ship living was only about $2,000 more than the alternatives ($230,000 versus $228,000) and offered a higher quality of service.

 

"Cruise ships offer such a range of amenities — such as three meals a day, often with escorts to meals if needed, room service, entertainment, accessible halls and cabins, housekeeping and laundry services and physicians on board — that they could actually be considered a floating assisted-living facility," says Lindquist.

 

Lindquist says the plan would work best for seniors who need a minimal amount of care. "Seniors who enjoy travel, have good or excellent cognitive function but require some assistance with activities of daily living are the ideal candidates for cruise-ship care. Just as with assisted living, if residents became acutely ill or got to the point that they needed a higher level of care, they would have to leave."

 

Although Lindquist's findings would seem to support the premise of it being cheaper to live on a luxury liner than in a retirement home, we'd want to examine her research vis-a-vis the types of care facilities she looked at and the cruise-ship costs she factored in before we'd feel comfortable about offering an opinion on her assessment. (She might have compared only very expensive retirement homes against the cheapest accomodations offered on ships that are less than well thought of, for example.) "

[coiran]

A cruise ship is not an "assisted living facility" and will not operate like a nursing home. Nice to dream though.

Ron

[Ethel5]

A cruise ship is not an "assisted living facility" and will not operate like a nursing home. Nice to dream though.

 

Oh yeah? Have you been through the buffet line on some of the longer cruises? :p :D

 

Now don't go getting out the flame throwers-you all know it's true.

[kingtns]

I remember when my grandmother was in a nursing home it was a CRIME to take a banana or apple from the buffet...here you can take all the fruit you want to your room, or even order a fruit tray & not looked at like you just robbed the bank!!! LOL

[Andee]

If you could manage in the independent area of a retirement community, the comparison to cruiseline life might be appropriate.

 

But, as much fun as it sounds like to spend one's life on a cruise ship, one certainly would not get the assistance that many people in assisted living facilities (let alone NHs) require, such as:

 

medication management

assistance with a full shower or tub bath

assistance with dressing

help finding one's way around the facility and planning daily activities

reminders to go to meals

help getting in/out of chairs and bed

coordinating medical care by specialists such as ophthalmologists, dermatologists, cardiologists, orthopedists

 

Oh, but it does sound lovely.

[SingerEsq]

For the ambulatory senior, it's an interesting option. After all, isn't 70 the new 50? Aside from those points you raised, a ship offers some assistance for anyone:

 

Multiple daily housekeeping (so the steward would report of anything was wrong);

Meals either in the dining room or in cabin.

Doctor on board (I've never seen an Assisted Living Facility with a doctor on site; Skilled Nursing Facility, maybe.)

Activities;

Classes

Art

Gym

Safe exercise area (Promonade)

Entertainment

Etc.

 

I have had several elderly relatives who have lived in (and enjoyed) nice Assisted Living Facilities, but have never needed the services you refer to (though I understand why it's comforting to know they're there). By the time they needed more, they needed a Skillled Nursing Facility anyway.

 

One of the articles I ran across, discussed a couple of ladies who have been living on the QE2 for over a decade (presumably not while it was in drydock:rolleyes: ). Another who books her cruises 6 months at a time (in bargain category cabins). Don't know if it's true or not, but according to the San Francisco Chronicle, some cruise lines have agents who work with the extended voyage cruisers (not just for world cruises). Again, it's an interesting notion for the senior who wants to scale down from a house and all its trappings, but is not ready to move into true Assisted Living.

[Jimsgirl]

It is an interesting discussion, but what would you do for medications (not the desperately ill kind, but I for one do have to take two pills per day I would not be able to get them on board)

Also I really would want to know the cost, (we would not have to pay electric water or property taxes ) but I have never received any special "long cruise " discounts as yet. and the World cruise is far beyond my annual income for what is just over 3 months.

Maybe someone on the staff could do an article on this.

[SingerEsq]

You could use a major port (Southampton, Miami, FLL, Honolulu, etc.) as a home port for long portions of the year and get Rx filled on home port days. As you can see, I'm trying to make this work for myself!! :cool:

[SunnieD]

I myself have actually met two couples on different cruises doing just that. One couple was doing an extended stay and another couple was hopping ships but staying in the smaller rooms but said they don't have a care except their family and the stock market. Everything they do was via the internet. If there is a will, there is a way.

[SingerEsq]

The first I heard of the concept from a real person was from an elderly lady on the Island (with a much younger companion ;) ). Anyway, she said she cruises all year long b/c it's cheaper than a retirement home and more fun!

[Hello-Kitty]

Well i plan on being the new 50 at 70 so i can take up a cruise ship as my living plan!!:D

 

We can all dream:rolleyes:

[jennew]

I have read a lot about this woman:

 

http://www.lighthousetravel.com/News/retire_on_a_cruise_ship.htm