86 year old widow Lee Wachtsetter has spent most of the last decade living and dancing on cruise ships around the world. Her husband died almost 20 years ago and he told her to never stop cruising and she hasn’t.
‘Mamma Lee’ as her cruise mates call her, and her husband had cruised almost 90 time in their 50 years of marriage but when he passed away in 1997 Mamma Lee took up ballroom dancing and never looked back. In 2008 she sold her house and boarded a Holland America ship. She has spent most of the last decade living on 3 different cruise ships and dancing her way to literally every country that has a port!
86 year old dances around the world
Onboard she attends parties, movies and often can be found on deck doing her needle point when her ship is docked in port. “I like having the ship almost all to myself” she says. Still every night the 86 year old finds time to dance. “I dance every night for a couple hours after dinner, have been doing it for years. And I’ve also trained with the ship’s dance instructors. When I cannot dance, I will probably stop cruising.”
Mamma Lee says she had always enjoyed dancing but her husband did not. It was her daughter that encouraged her to jump onboard and begin living the fantasy life of dancing around the world. She says the only downside to living on the ship is missing her family. Still she stays in contact via the interned every day and visits them while in port in Miami. She says her favorite port is Istanbul where she likes to take in the sights as well as the fantastic colored outfits. “Perfect for ballroom dancing” she says!
Check out Mamma Lee dancing on the Crystal Serenity!
