Everyday life on a cruise ship is similar to living in a nice hotel or retirement community, except that the outdoor scenery keeps changing.  Benefits are many.   Meals are provided.   Room service is available.  Sheets and towels are changed daily.  A doctor is onboard.  Amenities such as nightly shows, swimming pools, gyms and libraries, as well as planned activities, keep boredom at bay.  Port visits provide an opportunity to visit dry land and sightsee.  New, diverse people are always coming onboard.   Living on one ship lets passengers get to know the crew and feel at home.  The internet allows for bill paying and staying in touch with family back home on land.   Less mobile seniors do not have to keep up a home.  The staff takes care of all the maintenance.

There are cons, of course, to retirement on a cruise ship.  The only affordable accommodations for many are the small, inside rooms each line offers, which may be too small and too inside for some people.  Living for months without a window could make some people claustrophobic, even though there are plenty of open, public spaces on a ship.  Meeting new people at the start of each cruise is a good way to stay involved and active, but it may also contribute to feelings of homesickness and a sense of loss at not having a permanent home (unless one has been kept).  Medical care and emergency care are available, but serious illnesses that need more intensive care cannot be accommodated on a ship.  

Retirement cruising is not an official industry yet, but its time is coming as more and more adventurous baby boomers (and others) seek new retirement options.   Even without designated retirement cruise ships, retirees can design their own at-sea retirement.  It may cost more than the average assisted-living facility, but spending days lounging on a ship deck, having attentive staff at hand, being treated like a customer instead of  a patient and ordering room service when wanted sounds hard to beat.  For snowbirds who shutter winter homes to travel to warmer climates for 4 to 6 months of the year, living on a cruise ship may be an alternative to Mexico or Florida.    For those who own a home and have a paid-off mortgage, it may be cost effective to rent the home and use the income to help pay for life on a ship.

Seniors like the idea of retirement cruising and can make it work on their own now.  As the idea grows and more retirees choose cruising instead of on-land options, retirement community developers and others will begin to offer retirement cruise ships with affordable leased or purchased accommodations and more services for seniors.  The success of the resident ship The World is already prompting such discussions, and seniors retiring and living on the high seas could become the next big retirement trend.

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