With some minor adjustments, cruise ships can provide elderly people with every amenity they get from assisted living facilities - and a lot more fun - suggest two doctors at Northwestern University in Chicago, Illinois.

“Seniors who enjoy travel, have good or excellent cognitive function, and require some assistance with (activities of daily living) are the ideal candidates for cruise ship care,” say Drs. Lee A. Lindquist and Robert M. Golub.

The duo presents a compelling list of arguments in favor of the idea in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.

As it stands, cruise ships offer practically the same services older adults receive at assisted living facilities, Lindquist and Golub argue. For instance, ships provide meals, 24-hour access to nurses and physicians, housekeeping and laundry, meal escorts and assistance.

Moreover, cruise ships cost roughly the same amount as assisted living facilities and nursing homes, often in a much nicer setting, they write.

The number of employees on major cruise ship lines is typically one for every two or three passengers - a much more favorable ratio than that seen in assisted living facilities, they note.

With a little extra training, some of these staffers could easily provide elderly passengers with the help they need in getting around, Lindquist and Golub add. Instead of memorizing pre-dinner drink orders, for instance, dining room staff could keep track of elderly passengers’ medications.

Even though cruise ships provide 24-hour access to healthcare workers, elderly residents who need more medical care can disembark at the next port, or get airlifted from the ship.

Ideally, ships would carry both elderly residents and younger passengers going on vacation, which would provide the older adults with a mixed, changing environment that might provide more stimulation and ward off depression, the authors note.

And more relatives might be inclined to visit their older family members if they lived on a cruise ship, they add.

“If this option succeeds, seniors could have a much more enjoyable experience and, for a change, look forward to the time when they become less independent,” Lindquist and Golub conclude.

SOURCE: Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, November 2004.