Retire in style

February 21, 2006 9:15 AM

Retirement village VS permanent residence on a cruise ship.Crazy? Not so fast! Bea Muller has been doing it for years (and not on just any ship, mind you). It's not a hoax.
posted by spock (29 comments total)

It works for me. When I win the Powerball, I'm booking a permanent suite on the Queen Mary. Cruise ship companies are missing the boat, so to speak, in not selling full-time condo units and time shares on their ships the way ski areas do.
posted by beagle at 9:22 AM on February 21, 2006

She was apparently still at it in May of 2005.
posted by spock at 9:23 AM on February 21, 2006

I've heard of this before, a friend of mine's parents do this. They have a cheap small condo in FL and then they spend almost all of their time on a cruise ship.

You never have to cook food, do laundry, etc. You can eat as much as you want (I'll have the steak and lobster, thank you). And is just as expensive for them, possibly cheaper than a retirement home.
posted by SirOmega at 9:28 AM on February 21, 2006

Wow, I had never even thought about this, but as a number of the articles show, it is economically feasible. My parents are getting ready to retire in a couple of years, and maybe they should consider this. Especially because they love cruising. Right now they go on 3-4 cruises per year.
posted by bove at 9:38 AM on February 21, 2006

Cruise ship companies are missing the boat, so to speak, in not selling full-time condo units and time shares on their ships the way ski areas do.

Updating myself -- not all of them are missing the boat. Here's one outfit offering permanent residences at sea.
posted by beagle at 9:38 AM on February 21, 2006

A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again

Highly recommended. Living on a cruise ship would be a soul crushing experience.
posted by stbalbach at 9:40 AM on February 21, 2006

Living on a cruise ship would be a soul crushing experience.

As opposed to living in a retirement home?
posted by spock at 9:44 AM on February 21, 2006

Nursing homes cost $200 a day?
posted by the jam at 10:03 AM on February 21, 2006

I suppose it would be fine for old people. I would certainly not want to do such a thing at this point in my life. It's like being in a mall - such an artifical environment. And I don't happen to believe it's good for people to never do their own cooking, cleaning, and laundry etc.
posted by orange swan at 10:14 AM on February 21, 2006

$90,000 a year?

Dang. Um, that doesn't seem that affordable to me.
posted by schroedinger at 10:26 AM on February 21, 2006

the jam - try 400/day for Alzheimer's care - NOT "nursing", just meds, laundry, food, and "activities" - also care-givers to keep the clients safe (no wandering, chair alarms for people who can't remember to stay in their wheelchairs, etc.). I found this out the hard way - my mother has Alz, and her 'nest egg' is getting eaten up way fast!
posted by dbmcd at 10:28 AM on February 21, 2006

I don't know about the cost, but there is a cruise line for everyone out there. Diffrent lines have difrent reputations i.e. Royal Carribean is for familys with small kids, Carnival is for cheap party-ers etc., and theres probably one that caters to seniors that would most likely have other long time seniors and such.
posted by Suparnova at 10:33 AM on February 21, 2006

Sounds like torture to me.
posted by zonkout at 11:02 AM on February 21, 2006

I don't know about you, but I'm a bipedal land creature. I'll set sail now and then if I'm around water, but, no, if I retire in my right mind I'm planning on living and dying on terra firma.
posted by kozad at 11:08 AM on February 21, 2006

knowing my luck i would get stuck in one of those inner cabins withoutthe windows. i'll pass.
posted by Doorstop at 11:10 AM on February 21, 2006

I'd take it as a retirement option only if they include a "Burial At Sea" option.

I wonder what the cruise ship workers think of their 'permanent' passengers.
posted by Spatch at 11:35 AM on February 21, 2006

Living on a cruise ship would be a soul crushing experience.
As opposed to living in a retirement home?

I don't get the analogy. If you have the health and money to live on a cruise ship you don't need to live in a retirement home.
posted by stbalbach at 11:38 AM on February 21, 2006

From that first article:

"To her new home in cabin 4048 - a windowless space of barely three square metres..."

I'm thinking they meant "three meters, square". Gosh, I hope so, anyway.

dbmcd, you'd still need to pay for all your meds and nursing, too, I'm assuming.
posted by darkstar at 11:41 AM on February 21, 2006

Your only friends would be the crew. Everyone else turns over every 2 weeks. To consider that a good alternative you better have outlived everyone you know.
posted by srboisvert at 12:44 PM on February 21, 2006

There are a few companies that offer this, apparently!
posted by SisterHavana at 1:03 PM on February 21, 2006

Welcome to the rest of your life.


posted by Mr_Zero at 1:15 PM on February 21, 2006

Stbalbach, thanks for the referral to the very funny A Supposedly Fun Thing...:

And I'll admit that on the very first night of the 7NC I asked the staff of the Nadir's Five-Star Caravelle Restaurant whether I could maybe have a spare bucket of au jus drippings from supper so I could try chumming for sharks off the back rail of the top deck, and that my request struck everybody from the maitre d' on down as disturbing and maybe even disturbed, and that it turned out to be a serious journalistic faux pas, because I'm almost positive the maitre d' passed this disturbing tidbit on to Mr. Dermatitis and that it was a big reason why I was denied access to stuff like the ship's galley, thereby impoverishing the sensuous scope of this article. (Plus it also revealed how little I understood the Nadir's sheer size: twelve decks and 150 feet up, the au jus drippings would have dispersed into a vague red cologne by the time they hit the water, wilh concentrations of blood inadequate to attract or excite a serious shark, whose fin would have probably looked like a pushpin from that height, anyway.)

I took my last ship voyage as a boy. I still remember the huge green swells during bad weather, and at dinner later, the greenish sheen on the roast beef. I didn't clean my plate that night, and skipped dessert, too...

Being in a ship is being in a jail, with the chance of being drowned. — Samuel Johnson, 1759
posted by cenoxo at 1:27 PM on February 21, 2006

Is this for people with no ties, no family or friends? Long term, I think it would be stultifying. A ferry ride is just about the limit of my tolerance for being confined.
OTOH, a shipboard meet of superannuated Mefites would obviate the necessity of having a designated driver.
posted by Cranberry at 1:36 PM on February 21, 2006

Welcome to the rest of your life.

That looks like a nursing home. Except the furniture is nicer.
posted by smackfu at 2:13 PM on February 21, 2006

Let's see...

$200/day * 365days/yr = $73,000/yr

Who the hell has that kind of money?

Now, $135/day * 365days/yr = $49,275

That is still a huge amount of money. I don't get it.
posted by enamon at 5:12 PM on February 21, 2006

I would do it, if it went around the world over and over, stopping in diff places each circuit, for enough time to really explore.
posted by amberglow at 6:10 PM on February 21, 2006

There's also the medical issue. They have doctors on board, granted, but are they really equipped to diagnose and treat serious geriatric illnesses? I wouldn't want to find out one of my organs are failing hundreds of miles off the coast of Jamaica.
posted by ori at 11:07 PM on February 21, 2006

That is still a huge amount of money. I don't get it.

It's a lot of money, but it covers a lot of expenses. Food, shelter, entertainment, health club, laundry and dry cleaning, room cleaning. You wouldn't need to pay utility bills, you wouldn't need a car or car insurance. They provide the furniture, the bed linens, the lightbulbs. You'd never have to grocery shop - just pick up toothpaste and a few bits and pieces. You'd never need to get your roof fixed, or call a landscaper.

It's a bargain!
posted by tizzie at 8:20 AM on February 22, 2006

You probably wouldn't have to pay taxes either, right?
posted by tizzie at 8:21 AM on February 22, 2006