Lee Wachtstetter

Leona D. Wachtstetter (May 23, 1928 – April 13, 2026), nicknamed Mama Lee, was an American author and long-term passenger on cruise ships. Wachtstetter worked as a registered nurse, while her husband, Mason Wachtstetter, performed real estate appraisals and worked as a banker. The couple went on their first cruise in 1962 and went on 89 cruises together in total. Mason, who died in 1997, told Leona the day before his death to continue traveling on cruise ships. She initially traveled many times on cruise ships with a friend before becoming a solo traveler. Wachtstetter began living on the Holland America Line cruise ship MS Prinsendam in 2005.

Wachtstetter, who spent hours dancing on cruise ships, moved in 2008 to living full-time on the Crystal Serenity after Prinsendam stopped providing trained dance partners. It cost her US$164,000 in 2015 to live on the Crystal Serenity. In 2017, she published the book I May Be Homeless, But You Should See My Yacht detailing her life on Crystal Serenity for a decade.

Background Leona Wachtstetter was born in May 1928 to Agnes and Joseph W. Davis, a dental surgeon. Her younger brother, Richard, was born in 1936, and the family lived in Freeport, a village on Long Island. They lived in a five-bedroom, 10-acre Fort Lauderdale, Florida, house. Her husband cofounded the Hollywood Playhouse, and in the 1960s, she performed in plays including A Majority of One in 1966 and the comedy Dear Me, the Sky is Falling in 1967. She and her husband went on a three-week cruise and upon returning chose to have him retire in 1976 from Home Federal Savings and Loan Association, where he had been vice president. They were married for 50 years until he died on September 25, 1997, from cancer at age 76. The Wachtstetters went on 89 cruises together. While she was a dancing enthusiast, her husband did not enjoy dancing, so he told her to ask cruise ship dance hosts to dance with her. The couple had four children (three sons and a daughter), who accompanied them on numerous cruises, and seven grandchildren. In the early 21st century, Lee underwent cataract surgery.

Living on cruise ships Wachtstetter's husband advised her, "Don't stop cruising," the day before his death. In 2008, the friend who was maintaining the house purchased it from Wachtstetter. Crystal Serenity has 13 decks and 535 rooms and accommodates 1,070 passengers and 655 crew. Wachtstetter liked that Crystal Serenity provided dance partners. Each evening, she spent two hours dancing on the ship's Palm Court lounge while the Crystal Sextet band performed music. Multiple times every week, the ship's dancing teachers gave her and other passengers free lessons. She fund her cruises and lifestyle through assets her late husband left to her. Wachtstetter ate both meals that were included in the base price and upcharge options. Every year during Christmas, she spent several weeks on land with her children and grandchildren. She viewed it as a good opportunity not to be on the ship, as numerous guests are often children. Published in 2017, the book discusses her decision to sell her large house after her husband's death and become a full-time cruise ship resident rather than relocating to an assisted living facility. CNN said her memoir describes "her cruising shenanigans" such as a Thailand auto rickshaw driver's kidnap of her and her encountering a Mediterranean "rogue wave". CNBC called the book "a much-read memoir".

Before becoming a long-term passenger on Crystal Serenity, Wachtstetter had been on about 200 cruises. By January 2016, she had been on the ship for seven and a half years, which amounted to 215 cruises.

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