Our "Dramamine" column item from earlier this week — that it costs just about the same for an 80-year-old American to live out his or her days on a luxury cruise ship ($230,497) as in an assisted-living facility ($228,075) — generated considerable response.
"On our October cruise on Royal Caribbean lines, there was an elderly lady who actually resided on the ship 'Voyager of the Sea,'" writes Becky Jackson-Turner of Acworth, Ga.
"Medicare took care of her medical needs, which were few, and whenever the ship would pull in to its main port, she would disembark for a few hours. ...
"She told us that it was just more financially feasible to do this than living in an assisted-living home and was much more fun," Mrs. Jackson-Turner recalls. "She got to meet new people all the time, always had great food and always had her bed turned down for her when it was time to sleep — with a mint to boot.
"We were blown away, but even more so when she told us of at least 20 other people she knew who did the same, except a lot of them change ships every once in a while to add a little variety."
Now, I had intended to blog about LTCi soon (I'm still massaging that post), but this was too good to pass up.
UPDATE: I’ve been thinking about those numbers. I think that they’re high. At $228,000, that’s over $620/day for assisted living, which (around here, anyway) is on the high side.
And $230,000 for the cruisin’, well, that’s better than $4,400/week, for a single. Based on all the commercials I keep seeing on Food Network and HGTV, that seems rather high. Plus, if Granny’s cruising THAT much, wouldn’t she qualify for some kind of Frequent Sailor miles?
Still, it sounds like a pretty fun way to spend one’s Golden Years.