AFTER her husband died of cancer in 1997, a Florida woman decided to honor his wishes and live on the sea ... permanently.

    Lee Wachtstetter, 86, sold her five-bedroom Fort Lauderdale home and moved to a stateroom aboard a luxury cruise ship.

    The widow, who often cruised with her husband during their 50-year marriage, lived on a Holland America Line ship until it discontinued its dance host program.

    She then moved on to the Crystal Serenity and has been living on the 1,070-passenger ship for almost seven years.

    Since setting sail, Wachtstetter has completed more than 200 cruises — including 15 round-the-world trips — taking in more than 100 countries.

    Some of the ship’s 655 crew members took to calling her Mama Lee and the nickname has stuck.

    “Nobody can pronounce my last name anyway, so it’s fine with me,” she told the Miami Herald.

    Wachtstetter rarely goes ashore but does keep in touch with her family via computer, visiting them when the ship docks in Miami.

    She misses her three sons and seven grandchildren, but says “they have families of their own and do what’s right for them.”

    Wachtstetter believes that living on the Serenity this year will cost her around US$164,000.(SD-Agencies)