After her husband of 50 years died, 86-year-old Lee Wachtstetter sold her five bedroom on 10 acres of land in Fort Lauderdale, Florida and boarded the Crystal Serenity, a 1,070-passenger cruise ship, where she has been living for almost 7 years. Lee, who is known as "Mama Lee," told the Asbury Park Press: "The day before my husband died of cancer in 1997, he told me, 'Don't stop cruising.' So here I am today living a stress-free, fairy-tale life." And what a fairytale it has been. She has been to "almost any country that has a port." She estimates living the good life on the Serenity -- which has been consistently voted world's best cruise line by cruisers -- this year will cost her $164,000. That'll cover costs of her single-occupancy seventh deck stateroom, regular and specialty restaurant meals with available lunch and dinner beverages, gratuities, nightly ballroom dancing with dance hosts and Broadway-caliber entertainment — as well as the captain's frequent cocktail parties, movies, lectures, plus other scheduled daily activities. "I enjoy dancing, and this was the best of the remaining ships that still use dance hosts," she says. "My husband didn't dance, just didn't like to, and encouraged me to dance with the hosts. Before coming aboard this ship I lived on a Holland America liner for three years. The day they announced they were stopping the dance host program was the day I decided to leave. I dance every night for a couple hours after dinner, have been doing it for years." She says she hasn't once gotten sick and sees her three sons and seven grandchildren when the ship docks in Miami. Note to self: Look into a cruise ship as retirement home.
source: Asbury Park Press
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