From the current Harper’s Index:

Average total cost for a U.S. eighty-year-old to live out the rest of his or her days on a luxury cruise ship: $230,497
Average cost to live them out in an assisted-living facility: $228,075

Note:Many old comments were lost in a database crash in 2008. Some conversations may seem to make less sense than they would have. A few will make more sense now.

1. 
   leslee 2005 02 04 at 7:43:39 pm

   That’s hilarious. I’m going to send that to my parents. They might want to re-think their retirement plans. ;-)

2. 
   Anne 2005 02 04 at 7:49:47 pm

   ...in that case, i vote for the cruise.

3. 
   Paul Tomblin 2005 02 04 at 9:50:19 pm

   Of course, the cruise ship figure is based on the person never getting sick beyond what a ship’s doctor could treat, which isn’t much, until they suddenly keel over dead.

4. 
   OGeorge 2005 02 04 at 9:59:15 pm

   As the one caring for my parents, an 90 year old father who has had 3 strokes and an 87 year old mother with moderate Alzheimer’s, can I go along on the cruise?  Actually, leaving the only home they’ve known in 59 years of marriage for a cruise or even assisted living would kill them both.  They don’t remember where we put the coffee last night, they remember where it’s been for the past 50 years.

   How the hell did I get here.

5. 
   Rita 2005 02 05 at 12:23:36 am

   Yeah, I read that a while back. The article I read stated that medical care (doctor) was a 24/7 thing on a ship, but not the case in an assisted living situation. There were also other items that made the ship sound like a better deal.

6. 
   the_bone 2005 02 05 at 1:48:05 am

   The prospect of sailing around the world on a never-ending cruise in the December of my life would be way more appealing if I could- please, God- go on this one.

7. 
   Theo 2005 02 05 at 11:30:07 am

   Never-ending cruise-ship around the world sounds to me like a pretty good rehearsal for death—yuck!

   Shades of Bill Murray in Groundhog Day—ooover and

   ooover, surrounded by the clones of that wonderful

   character Ned, the uber-Rotarian insurance salesman.

8. 
   Fran 2005 02 06 at 2:26:19 am

   This is an incredible statistic. It’s the doctors and uncovered meds, however, that aren’t factored into the cruise ship. But, it’s still really interesting food for thought.

9. 
   kim 2005 02 07 at 9:34:16 pm

   don’t care about the doctors and meds.  does that cost include broadband and coffee?