Our Story

Some love stories begin with a date.

Ours began with a reserved table that, as far as anyone could tell, wasn’t actually reserved.

But we’ll get to that.

At the beginning of March 2022, we were both onboard MS Eurodam, a cruise ship where we had been living and working since January of that year.

It was one of the first voyages after the pandemic, and there were still a lot of restrictions onboard. One of those restrictions was that Deck and Engine Officers, which included Tomás, could not interact with crew members from the Hotel department, where Hylenne worked. We couldn’t eat together, go to the same bar, or really socialise at all.

This led to both of us living on the same ship for almost two months without ever seeing each other.

Then, one day, the ship docked on the beautiful Caribbean island of Curaçao.

The sun was shining and the weather was perfect. Tomás went ashore with his friends, rented a quad and spent the day driving around the island and enjoying the beach. Hylenne went out with a couple of girlfriends for dinner and drinks.

At the end of the night, the best place to be was a bar right in front of where the ship was docked. This was very convenient for crew members because it meant we could maximize our time ashore and still make it back in time for “all aboard.”

Hylenne and her friends arrived at the bar, chose a table and sat down to look at the cocktail menu. But apparently, the universe had a different plan…

A waiter came over and told them that their table was reserved, even though there was absolutely nothing on the table to suggest that it was. The people who had supposedly reserved it were standing right next to the waiter.

If you know Hylenne, you can probably imagine that she was immediately ready to leave and was in no mood to stay there one minute longer.

Thankfully, her friends convinced her to stay for one drink. The waiter guided them to another area of the bar where they could sit.

And, without either of us knowing it yet, the universe was working its magic.

Just two tables away from Hylenne and her friends were Tomás and his friends.

We didn’t know each other, so we had no idea that we were all working on the same ship. We simply continued with our separate nights, having drinks and enjoying the Caribbean evening.

Then, all of a sudden, a girl from Tomás’s table recognised a girl from Hylenne’s table and insisted that we all sit together.

Hylenne was still not really in the mood and honestly just wanted to leave, but she eventually agreed to join the other table.

Shortly after, Tomás approached Hylenne and offered her a drink.

She refused.

Tomás, however, did not give up and Hylenne eventually agreed.

All aboard came quickly, and we all made our way back to the ship. But nights are always young onboard, and there were already plans to continue the party at the Cabanas on Deck 11.

Before the pandemic, the Cabanas were an exclusive area where guests could relax in the sun and enjoy the views. At that time, however, the space had been allocated to the Deck and Engine Officers as their recreational area.

Hylenne had absolutely no idea about this and, technically, wasn’t allowed to be there.

But the guys insisted that we join them.

So, of course, we did.

It was a beautiful Caribbean night. From the Cabanas, we could see almost all of Curaçao, with its vibrant lights surrounding us. We were docked in a privileged spot right in the city and next to the bridge, so the view was amazing.

Tomás was trying to engage Hylenne in conversation and asked where she was from.

“The Dominican Republic,” she answered.

“I can speak Spanish,” Tomás said.

Hylenne immediately thought, “Yeah, right. He can probably say, ‘Hola, me llamo Tomás.’”

But, to her surprise, he started speaking in full, coherent sentences in Spanish.

And at that point, Tomás had Hylenne’s complete attention.

Unfortunately, because of the Covid restrictions, almost a month went by before we could really see each other again.

If you are one of our ship friends, you know that under normal circumstances this is almost impossible. People onboard see each other at least once a day, even when they’re actively trying to avoid each other, especially during nights at the OB (Officers’ Bar). But at that time, we didn’t have any of that.

Fast-forward through a few moves from Hylenne and a few from Tomás, and things started to take shape.

There was only one problem: Tomás was leaving the ship in April for three months of vacation.

Hylenne stayed onboard. We kept in touch here and there, but having both experienced ship life before, neither of us had particularly high expectations about where this was going.

After six months onboard, Hylenne was finally scheduled to disembark MS Eurodam.

As luck would have it, she was supposed to leave on the exact same day Tomás was scheduled to come back.

But Hylenne wanted to know if there was really something there.

So she made a few moves, managed to extend her contract by two weeks, and stayed onboard to see Tomás again.

When Tomás returned to MS Eurodam, seeing each other again was a little awkward at first. But we quickly got used to being around each other again, and just one week after Tomás came back onboard, he asked Hylenne to officially be his girlfriend.

To which, of course, she said yes!

And that was the moment when the real adventure began.

Hylenne disembarked and was scheduled to join a different ship from Tomás: MS Oosterdam.

We had a lot of questions about how we were going to make this work.

We didn’t see each other for three months, but during Tomás’s vacation in November, he booked a flight and reserved an 11-day cruise onboard the ship where Hylenne was working.

So Tomás, who spent most of the year working on a cruise ship, decided to spend his vacation… on a cruise ship.

But this time as a passenger.

We spent 11 days sailing through the Mediterranean together while Hylenne continued working. We had an amazing time visiting Naples, Nice, Mallorca and many other beautiful places.

The trip ended in Málaga, where Tomás disembarked to stay in his home while Hylenne continued sailing.

It was a hard goodbye.

What we didn’t know at the time was just how hard the next months would be.

After Málaga, we didn’t see each other for five full months.

It was extremely difficult.

Hylenne continued sailing onboard MS Oosterdam. She crossed from Europe, sailed through the Panama Canal and then began the South America season, which took her all the way to Antarctica.

Meanwhile, Tomás joined MS Eurodam again and continued sailing around Alaska and Canada.

We kept trying to find ways to make things work.

Eventually, we realised that both ships were scheduled to be in Fort Lauderdale in April, one on April 9 and the other on April 10.

Normally, when crew members disembark in the United States, they are not allowed to stay overnight and have to fly out the same day. However, Hylenne had some connections with the port agents and got some help from the port authorities, managing to arrange for Tomás to stay one night and wait for Hylenne’s ship to arrive.

On April 10, after five months without seeing each other, the port agent helped Hylenne with her luggage.

She walked out of the terminal.

And there was Tomás, waiting for her.

We hugged each other, and finally, the wait was over.

It had been worth it.

We were together again.

There was, however, one small surprise waiting for both Tomás and Hylenne’s family.

Hylenne’s mother and Andrés were coming to the cruise terminal to pick her up, have lunch with her and take her to the airport.

Tomás didn’t know that.

And they didn’t know Tomás or that he was going to be there.

Hylenne had simply not to mention either detail to either party due to the uncertainty of the whole situation.

But it went about as well as it possibly could. Haha!

Later, we were dropped off at the Fort Lauderdale airport and boarded a plane together to Hylenne’s homeland: the Dominican Republic!

The weather was perfect, the food was amazing and the beaches were beautiful.

Tomás was meeting all of Hylenne’s family and quickly discovered how things worked. He couldn’t believe that on a random evening, we could simply go to a family member’s house, eat together, put on some music and suddenly everyone would start dancing.

And, of course, Tomás had to dance too!

We had an incredible time with friends and family, and somewhere along the way, our conversations about the future became more serious.

“We’re not going back to the ships.”

“Where do we want to settle?”

We had four options: the Dominican Republic, the Netherlands, the United States or Spain.

We chose Spain.

Next, it was Hylenne’s turn to meet Tomás’s family and friends.

So we went to the Netherlands in June 2023, which somehow turned out to be the sunniest June the Netherlands had ever seen!

We had so much fun on the water with the surfboard and kayaks, went to events like the annual volleyball tournament and Jisp Kermis, and spent lots of time outside with friends and family.

It did not rain for one single day!

This detail would later become very important…

Because Tomás eventually used that trip as his killer argument to convince Hylenne to move to the Netherlands.

We now suspect this may have been his intention all along!

Fast-forward a little further, and somehow, after considering the Dominican Republic, Spain, the United States and the Netherlands, we ended up building our home together in a beautiful little old village in North Holland called Jisp.

After all the ships, contracts, flights, different countries and months spent apart, we finally got to live in the same place.

And then, in February 2026, Tomás popped the question.

On a beautiful, romantic evening by the beach, with the sun setting behind us, he asked Hylenne to marry him.

Fully in Spanish, of course.

And Hylenne said…

YES!

So, after all of that, here we are.

From living on the same ship for two months without ever meeting, to a night in Curaçao that almost didn’t happen. From months apart and ships on opposite sides of the world, to the Mediterranean, Antarctica, the Dominican Republic, the Netherlands and eventually our cozy home in Jisp.

And to think that none of it might have happened if Hylenne hadn’t been kicked out of that table in Curaçao.

Maybe it really was reserved after all.