Pluses and Minuses

So, while cruise ships appear to cost more than the most expensive assisted living facility, they are a cheaper option than nursing homes and a lot more entertaining. Of course, being able to take advantage of this depends on your health needs. But if you can, here are some of the pluses:

• The potential for boredom—and the resulting depression, which is common—is significantly less. You can attend free cooking demonstrations, movies, lectures, and live nightly entertainment. You can dance, sing along in the piano bar, swim, exercise in a gym, take shore excursions, get spa treatments, or just get some sun and reading in.
• The service is great, because there’s a high staff-to-passenger ratio.
• Medical facilities are onboard.
• For obvious reasons, there are lots of handrails.

A few of the minuses:

• You get 120 square feet (or slightly more) of personal space.
• If you want to do this for a full year, you’ll need to continually re-book a cruise, and hopefully continue to find good prices.
• Some cruise lines require everyone to disembark or change cabins at the end of each cruise segment.
• The bottom-line costs are a moving target. The daily nickel-and-diming (on many but not all cruise liners) comes from the cost of drinks, tips (there are many), laundry, Internet use, meals while off the ship, and any indulgences like spa treatments, shore excursions, or gambling.

But if this idea strikes your fancy, you may want to look into comparing cruise liners. For help with that, you might pick up a copy of Berlitz Complete Guide to Cruising & Cruise Ships 2009.