Lee Wachtstetter, an 86-year-old Florida widow, took her daughter's
advice. She sold her five bedroom Fort Lauderdale area home on 10 acres
and became a permanent luxury cruise ship resident after her husband
died.
Mama Lee, as she's known aboard the 11-year-old Crystal
Serenity, has been living on the 1,070-passenger vessel longer than most
of its 655 crew members - nearly seven years.
"My husband
introduced me to cruising," she recalled. "Mason was a banker and real
estate appraiser and taught me to love cruising. During our 50-year
marriage we did 89 cruises. I've done nearly a hundred more and 15 world
cruises."
She estimates living the good life on the Serenity 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.
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