Woman Pays $164K to Live Aboard Cruise Ship

When Lee Wachtstetter’s husband Mason died of cancer in 1997, she made him a promise to not stop cruising.

That’s a promise the 86-year-old Florida woman took to heart. The wife of the former banker and real estate appraiser sold her Fort Lauderdale home on 10 acres and traded up for cruise ship living, according to USA Today.

“Mama Lee,” as she’s known aboard the Crystal Serenity cruise ship she now calls home, has made the floating palace her residence for seven years. She lived on a Holland America ship for three years prior to that, but changed her address when the cruise line ended its dance host program, ABC News quoted her as saying.

“I enjoy dancing, and this was the best of the remaining ships that still use dance hosts,” the New York Post quoted her as saying. “My husband didn’t dance, just didn’t like to, and encouraged me to dance with the hosts.”

Wachtstetter pays about $164,000 a year for the seventh-deck stateroom that serves as her home base as the ship travels the world, ABC noted. That price includes meals and entertainment.

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All told, she’s now visited more than 100 countries and has technically set sail on nearly 100 cruises since her husband’s death and 15 world cruises, USA Today quoted her as saying.

While the globetrotting is nice, Wachstetter doesn’t make it a habit of getting off the ship to sightsee – unless the port of call is Miami so she can see her children and grandchildren. After all, she’s seen most of the destinations by now and “when everybody goes ashore, it’s so quiet, and I have almost the whole ship for myself,” she told USA Today.

The Crystal Serenity has been in service since 2003 and is registered in the Bahamas, according to its website. The $350 million luxury liner can accommodate up to 1,070 guests and has 655 crew members. It boasts its own movie theater, casino, bridge lounge, shopping arcade and a number of lounges and restaurants, among other amenities.

Photos from the Crystal Cruises website

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