Two complete strangers planned the trip of a lifetime when they separately booked a 1,301-night perpetual cruise on Villa Vie Odyssey.
Now, they plan to get married on the ship.
A 4-month delay left Gian Perroni, 62, and Angela Harsanyi, 53, stuck in Belfast, waiting for the cruise ship to undergo maintenance and necessary inspections before it could sail.
While the wait left many passengers frustrated, this story was a pleasant and positive outcome.
The two passengers began to get to know each other as they faced the same plight during their stay in Northern Ireland.
Over time, the couple found they “completely meshed” and formed a relationship.
Harsanyi told Sky News, “”We found that we had so much in common and enjoyed being in each other’s company, so much that we really couldn’t picture a life without each other.”.
Two strangers stranded in Belfast for months waiting for their cruise to get under way have fallen in love and are set to marry when the ship sets sailhttps://t.co/szqfM0TNUS
— Sky News (@SkyNews) September 25, 2024
With engine trouble one of the main issues on the 1993-built vessel, passengers were still allowed to board and use some of the amenities during the day.
In the evening, shuttles were provided to bring passengers to hotels in Belfast, and it was during these trips that the couple got to know each other better, calling it a “deep friendship” that quickly “blossomed into a romance”.
The conversation turned to marriage, and the couple even picked out a ring together with the help of a local jeweler in the city.
“I was planning on asking her on the ship, but we were out one night walking along the River Lagan – during the supermoon last week – the time just seemed right. So I popped the question,” Perroni told the reporter.
Perroni has lived in Costa Rica the last 6 years, and that’s where their cruise ship will be sailing when the couple plans to make it official, in April of next year.
Villa Vie’s founder and CEO, Mikael Petterson, was excited to hear the story about the couple and told The Independent the following:
“We heard about their engagement last week and plan [on] having a celebration onboard for them. It’s great to see the community building and relationships form. We still have a lot of singles onboard so I’d expect we’d lots more coupled form amongst residents who share a passion for travel.”
Villa Vie Odyssey is scheduled to stop at 425 cruise ports in almost 150 countries. The ship is expected to undergo sea trials as early as this weekend if all goes as planned.
The cost for passengers on this perpetual cruise started at $99,000, which includes a 15-year lease on a selected cabin.
The option to rent was also available for shorter segments of time which started around $2,136 for a month.
