Everyone is shipping this couple.
Passengers on a luxury cruise have been stranded in Belfast as their ship underwent urgent and unexpected repairs.
With the Villa Vie Odyssey docked in Northern Ireland, the cruisegoers have had plenty of time to fall in love with the capital city — and each other.
Angela Harsanyi and Gian Perroni met in Belfast four months ago, when they were supposed to embark on the 425-destination, three-year cruise — and this week they announced their engagement.
Harsanyi, 53, from Colorado, and Perroni, 62, from Canada, found that their forced stay in local hotels in the “magnificent” city led them to find that they “were made for each other.”
“About six weeks ago, we started walking back and forth to the ship every day together,” Harsanyi told The Guardian.
“It was about an hour’s walk, there and back every day. And through that, we really started finding how similar we were and how much we really enjoyed each other’s company. And we found out that the hour walk wasn’t long enough … We found that we definitely had a lot more in common, and wanted to be more than friends.”
Now, the pair has matching tattoos and plans to get married onboard in April when the ship sails between the Panama Canal and Costa Rica, Perroni’s former home.
The ship’s captain will marry the new couple as part of a “gigantic wedding.”
The people on the cruise have either rented or purchased their villas, which cost about $120,600 to 348,300.
Harsanyi bought her cruise residence on board with her sister Lisa, who will join her in the coming months — but Perroni doesn’t mind.
“One part I really love about Gian is that that doesn’t bother him at all. He really respects that this is a girls’ trip, and that’s what I came here for – and it’s pretty hard to find a man open enough to that when he first gets married,” she shared.
She ultimately got the villa because she decided she needed a change in her life about 2½ years ago.
“I decided just to change everything about my life,” she said. “It sounds kind of crazy to say, but I got tired of being so comfortable … Being in Colorado, we definitely don’t have any oceans surrounding us, so I just wanted the very opposite of what I was used to.”
Perroni also needed a shake-up.
“He just got tired of the in-and-out, same routine stuff every single day. He said when this [cruise information] hit his inbox and he read about it, he knew immediately he was going to do it.”
The ship is now expected to set sail in the coming weeks, and Perroni and Harsanyi will be able to enjoy their time at sea together — though Harsanyi “absolutely, utterly enjoyed Belfast.”
“I think it is a beautiful, fun, vivid, resilient community. I’ve never met friendlier folk in my life. The bars are a blast. The culture is wonderful. The architectural designs knock my socks off.
“The country is spectacular. If there was more sunshine, I would be here for ever.”