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Author and columnist Tom Blake provides dating information and advice for widowers, widows, divorced men, divorced women, middle-aged singles boomer singles and senior singles who are dating again and hope to meet a mate.
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Love on a Cruise
© 2004 by Tom Blake
Climb aboard; love might be expecting
you on a cruise
For The Register's South County Weekly Newspapers
Most singles tell me they don't expect to find a lasting romance when they go on cruises.
"Shipboard romances don't last – don't have high hopes after docking," is how at least one person has put it.
Sally, Irvine, said, "I met a nice man on a trip who was an excellent dancer, and we danced the cruise away. I saw him a couple of months later, but it faded
away."
For Roni, Dana Point, a shipboard romance turned out differently. She went on a cruise out of New Orleans with a girlfriend.
At a singles party the first night, a man named Wayne offered to buy Roni a drink. She said, "No thanks, I can buy my own." "That's OK," Wayne responded,
"they're free anyway."
By the end of the party, Roni and Wayne were dancing together. "He had gone on the cruise at the last moment because his brother and sister-in-law wanted
him to keep his mom company so they could have a second honeymoon. It didn't work out that way; we spent most of the cruise together. He was a fantastic dancer."
After the cruise, Roni and her girlfriend stayed in New Orleans. Wayne agreed to pick them up at their hotel and give them the grand tour.
"In the week we'd spent on board together, I never told Wayne my last name." The hotel front desk couldn't help Wayne locate Roni and her friend. While the
women waited in their room for Wayne to call, Wayne waited in the bar hoping they'd come down.
Two other people from the cruise came into the bar who knew Roni's girlfriend's last name and the connection was finally made.
Two weeks later, Wayne visited Roni in Dana Point.
"We knew there was something special but we also realized that we had to see if we could live in each other's world. We were both in our 50s and our children
were grown. We went back and forth for a year and a half," Roni said.
Wayne and Roni survived the challenges long-distance relationships create. Where to live? New Orleans or Dana Point? "My husband decided he'd be the one
to move to California. We've been married eight years and it keeps getting better," Roni said.
Remember, however – when you've danced with a man for a week, and you plan to see him again – to give him your last name.
Weekly comments
John, Capistrano Beach: "I've been happily married to my beautiful bride for 14 months. I'm 61 and feel like the luckiest man alive. My wife and I enjoy your
column. We met at Del Mar Racetrack and, as my daughter-in-law says, it was 'Love at first Bet."
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