Home Sweet Home!!!!

At some point in  life most will take the decision to move house. Sometimes you want to somewhere bigger with a garden and sometimes downsize maybe to a bungalow, but would you ever think a luxury cruise liner could be a option?

Well that is a what 86 Year old Lee Wachtstetter a widow from Florida decided would be her new home, nearly 7 years ago after her husband had sadly passed away.

Mama Lee as she is fondly known and her late husband Mason had enjoyed over 89 cruises during their 50 years together, and she has cruised to more than 100 countries since. Mason a banker had introduced her to cruising in their early years and she fell in love with cruising . The day before Mason died in 1997 he told her wife “Don’t stop cruising”.

Some years later after some advice from her daughter, Mama Lee sold her 5 bedroom family home in Fort Lauderdale and became a full time luxury cruise resident travelling the world. She now resides on board the Crystal Serenity amongst 1,070-passengers and 655 crew costing her $164,000 a year.

SO WHAT DOES HER $164K FARE COVER?

All costs of her single-occupancy seventh deck stateroom, Breakfast, regular and specialty restaurant meals, lunch and dinner beverages, gratuities, nightly ballroom dancing with dance hosts and Broadway entertainment, as well as the captain’s frequent cocktail parties, movies, lectures, plus other scheduled daily activities.

Mama Lee has always loved dancing therefore a dance host was a large factor when choosing her new cruise home. Before Crystal she spent 3 years a resident on-board Holland America Line but as soon as they announced they would cancel their dance host programme she knew it was time to move on.

These days she rarely leaves the ship in port as most she has already been to a number of times, she can be found most day at the Palm Court Lounge enjoying her second favourite pass time of needlework. She has even been know to teach other passengers her skilful art.

In an interview she spoke highly of the service on board “The crew members bend over backwards to keep me happy. Some are almost like family now. If they don’t have what I want, they get it. even if they have to buy it off the ship or make it to my specific needs.” she added “All the time I’ve been here I have never had a sick day, I’m so spoiled I doubt that I would ever be able to readjust to the real world again”

Crystal Cruises also have 3 other full time residence throughout their fleet however none have been with them as long as Lee Wachtstetter .

Do you think living on a cruise full time would be the perfect way to live out your retirement?

At $449 a day, I this a reasonable amount to spend when you have no other day to day expenses?

Have you sailed on the Crystal Serenity over the last 7 years and met Mama Lee? I bet she has some lovely stories to tell of her travels.

I would love to her your thoughts on this.

Marie x