14 DAY TRIAL // Following the death of her husband in 1997, Lee Wachstetter of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, sold their home and decided she no longer wanted to live on land.
Instead, she became a sailor of sorts. She first made a Holland America Line ship her home. About 7 years ago, however, she switched her address to the Crystal Serenity, a 1,070-passenger luxury cruise ship.
Seeing how she's been living aboard this vessel for years now, it's no wonder staff members all know her. In fact, they like to call 86-year-old Lee Wachtstetter Mama Lee.
The woman says that, since she moved aboard the Crystal Serenity 7 years ago, she's circled the world 15 times and has completed well over 200 cruises.
Although the ship makes stops along the way, Mama Lee very rarely goes to shore to visit one city or another. As for her family, she goes online to keep in touch with them.
Life aboard the luxury cruise ship costs the 86-year-old about $164,000 (roughly €150,000) a year. This includes her room, her meals, her beverages and all sorts of events, even cocktails with the vessel's captain.
The woman says that it was her husband who, on his deathbed, told her to keep exploring the world even after he was gone. While married, the two completed as many as 89 cruises together.
“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,” the woman said in an interview, as cited by Oddity Central.
