Our Vow to Be Together
LeaBeth and Glenn, right, on their balcony with their friend after their intimate vow renewal ceremony.
May 15, 2012
by LeaBeth Taylor
As I write this little story I have a smile on my face. I feel so happy and so very fortunate. My husband and I recently returned from the cruise of a lifetime—two days in Venice, followed by a 12-day cruise of the Greek Isles aboard Crown Princess, ending with 3 days in Rome.
It was a trip filled with a trio of magical moments, each brought about by the fact that my husband and I would celebrate our 35th wedding anniversary during this trip. This trip had been a dream of ours for many years. Well, really it was my dream to see the Mediterranean, and I would tell my husband, Glenn, about it over the years.
So much of life can go by in a blur of work schedules and family commitments. Our three, wonderful children were grown and we were now grandparents to six. Spare time was back on our schedules. Still, it took a few glasses of wine over dinner with some friends, to get Glenn, who is not the traveling type, and me to actually take such a big trip.
It also helped that our dinner partners ran a travel agency, Winchester Travel, which packages cruise vacations. Over that dinner, we convinced Glenn to go. Our friend quickly put together a package and in all, 30 people from our part of Ontario signed on, including another friend who happens to be a judge. We’d make the trip even more special by renewing our vows!
We spent a few days in Venice before boarding the ship. Our vow renewal was scheduled for our first day on board. I didn’t have time to get nervous in the rush of transitioning from land to sea.
I couldn’t have asked for a more beautiful setting. We renewed our vows in our corner balcony suite. Outside, the sun was setting as we sailed down the canal from Venice. Inside, the room was decorated with white streamers and accordion-fold wedding bells from the dollar store.
It was an intimate affair, just six of us counting the judge, who did the honors, his wife and our dear friends, the travel agent and his wife who served as witnesses. I decorated our room with white streamers and accordion-fold wedding bells that I’d bought at home. We also brought along some pretty, blue champagne flutes for champagne on the balcony.
My husband surprised me with a diamond anniversary band, which I have worn every day since with my wedding ring, and I returned his original wedding band to his finger. Glenn had not been able to wear it for much of our marriage, as a lineman could get caught on a wire by his ring.
Still our vow renewal was not complete. We are devout Catholics and a blessing was in order. More magic was in the air. At a stop in Ephesus, Turkey, we traveled to Mary’s House, a sacred place that some Catholics believe was home to Mary after the crucifixion. We attended a private mass, arranged for Princess passengers, and there were 50 of our shipmates there.
Before the mass, we were able to tell the priest, a Hungarian, that we had just renewed our vows and asked him to bless our renewal. Not only did he do that, he shocked us by dedicating the entire mass to our union.
For the rest of the trip, whenever our fellow congregants ran into us, they’d offer congratulations. We didn’t know them, but we couldn’t have felt closer.
I have one more magical moment to share. During a stop in Santorini, Greece, we made the famous trek up the hills by donkey. The view of the shimmering Aegean Sea and the Crown Princess in the distance inspired us to take a leisurely stroll back down the steep mountain path.
We’d spied some taverns along the way up, so on the way down we stopped in a few and enjoyed the local wine. We savored the descent and our 35 years together during that trip down the mountain. This cruise was just what we needed to celebrate our shared history and dream about our future.
Thirty-five years is an accomplishment. We feel truly blessed that we were able to take the time to recognize that and remember the incredible moments of our lives together. We also made another vow on that trip, to continuing to enjoy each other, at home and hopefully aboard some more Princess cruises.
LeaBeth is from Perth, Ontario Canada. She’s cruised with Princess five times.
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LeaBeth, thank you for sharing your sweet story. Your anniversary celebration couldn’t have been any more magical!
That sounds so romantic! Congrats!
A lovely story, and beautifully written! Thank you for sharing it.
How wonderful. My husband,my 88 year old Mother in Law and I will be taking this trip in August. Any tips on excersions? Or wonderful things to do?
My wife and I took this cruise, on the Star Princess, last August. It was an EXTRAORDINARY trip! As for excursions, don’t miss the visit to Olympus, the Parthenon in Athens, Ephusus, and the trip to Oia in Santorini — the views are stunning and you will remember them forever!!
I amgoing in august [2nd sept]actually we board ship ,on ‘serenade of the seas ;’with a group from AUSTRALIA .we love the royal carribean ships are you on that cruise??? we leave from Barcelona MIGHT CATCH UP
Is your husband hooked on crusing now? Sometimes it just takes one amazing trip cruising and then you don’t want to travel anyother way. Thank you for your story. Congratulations. I was with my husband for 44 years before he passed away. Love is special.
I loved your story!! My husband and I also celebrated our 35th wedding anniversary aboard a Princess Cruise…we went to Alaska. We arrived a day early in Fairbanks and enjoyed a week land cruise and then boarded our ship. It was a trip never to be forgotten and we both want to work for Princess in Alaska when we are retired. I am retired now but my husband has six years to go….every moment was a wow moment on that trip and I wish you many, many more cruises. We will be celebrating our 40th in two more years and are planning the Greek/Mediterrenean cruise for that one…maybe we will renew our vows in Greece too…..Happy Travels!
Congratulations on your 35th anniversary,its a good milestone, my husband and I celebrated ours last year on the Ruby Princess, our first cruise, and being so memorable we are due on the Crown Princess this September on the same itinerary as you for our 36th. Good luck and good health for your future together.
I got goosebumps reading your story – my husband and I will celebrate our 40th wedding anniversary in October and have decided to renew our vows on board the Diamond Princess. We’ll be sailing with a couple of great friends who married on board another cruise a few years ago and totally loved it. It will be so special to have them with us when we renew our marriage vows. My husband was a linesman like Glenn and has not been able to wear his wedding band either so I intend to surprise him with a new one on the cruise. And another coincidence – we live in Perth – Australia!!! Your trip sounds truly wonderful – maybe that can be our next one…….thanks for posting your wonderful story.
i like cruiseship am always very happy when i visit the site i will like to get a vacancy to work of the overseas worker, so how can i apply for that?
What a lovely story….I have always thought about taking a cruise but after losing my husband to cancer I would find it difficult to enjoy a cruise on my own. I am so glad you got to do it !
Hey, you CAN do it! I did! And if I did, then you can also. One year after my husband died I had the privilege to take a tour with a very dear female friend that I met while going to Grieving Sessions. She lost her husband one year before I did. This was the most enjoyable trip for both of us as we both felt that this was the first time we laughed since we lost our husbands. By that I mean a real sincere happy laugh!
SO SORRY ,BUT YOU WOULD LOVE A CRUISE ON YOUR OWN ,AS YOU INSTANLY MEET SO MANY LOVELY PEOPLE YOU WONT EVER FEEL ALONE AND SOMETIMES ITS REALLY NICE NOT TO HAVE TO FIT IN WITH SOMEONE ELSE 24 HRS A DAY,I AALWAYS BOOK A CABIN ,WOUKD;NT SHARE WITH A STRANGER
A lovely story and you could not have picked a more romantic destination.No matter how long you have been married 3 days or 35 years it is special! Now you will have to try the Western Mediterranean too.
What a lovely story. We celebrated our 50th on the then new Sapphire Princess. This September we will celebrate 58 on a trip to Sydney from SF on the Sea Princess. Keep Cruising!
An amazing way to spend 35 memorable years together…congratulations and many many more Wedding anniversaries to come – all the best for the future. I now have to take a PRINCESS cruise!
Oh how I loved your story. My husband and I were married on the Sapphire Princess in 2005 and hope we can spend our 35th wedding anniversary aboard her also. Congratulations!!!
Bill and i loved reading your story. How fun and so romantic. Congratulations! I especially love that you had a special blessing celebrating many years of married life.
We celebrate both our 25th and 35th anniversaries with a vow renewal at sea aborad the Grand Princess. Our 35th was this past year. Our celebration renewal was performed not too very far from Barcelona, my favorite city in this world. Since I taught Spanish, this was quite wonderful. We especially loved the captain, who performed a service which was very meaningful for us. Princess made this the perfect experience for us. We had a lovely ceremony on the ship and the time of our lives cruising Europe.
Congrats on your 35th!!!!!! My wife and I spent our 25th anniversary on the Grand Princess a couple years ago. Our itinerary took us from Rome to Venice. What a fantastic trip! Weve been on 15 cruises on various cruise lines and this is still our favorite cruise!!! We also rode the donkeys up in Santorini and laughed the whole way up, They would just stopped in the middle of the trail and rest when they wanted. Thanks for bringing back memories!!!!!!!!!
Congrats. My husband and I are planning a crusie in September to the Panama Canel and I have planned to renew our vows. The surprise is that he does not know I will be planning this for a year. We will be celebrating our 35th too. I hope ours is as beautiful as yours sounds.
Our cruise person is involved with me in keeping this a secert.
So glad I read this posting, we are leaving on May 20th for the same cruise….celebrating our 45th anniversary. First time in Europe for my husband. We definitely will ride the donkeys in Santorini and be sure to go to Mary’s house in Turkey. Your comments are a big help to those of us never having done this. I’m packed, ready to go, can’t wait!
What a romantic trip to take under normal times but to do it while celebrating your 35th anniversary was wonderful. My husband and I married really young and had no money for a honeymoon but on our 10th, we went to Hawaii, on our 25th we did a cruise and next year, we are celebrating our 50th on a TA trip and cruise of the Baltics. My DH certainly has made up for the lack of a honeymoon;) Our love is sweeter as the years go by for sure. Congratulations.
We did this cruise last June and absolutely LOVED it. The itinery was great, taking us to so many wonderful parts of the world. Some highlights for us were Venice, running the original Olympic track in Greece, the Parthenon in Athens, the narrow cobblestone streets and pink pelicans in Mykonos, seeing Oia, Santorini, everything about Epheusus, buying a genuine fake Prada purse in Rhodes, Pompeii and Positano. A trip of a lifetime for sure, combined with a 2 week tour of Italy first.
What a wonderful story. Thank you for sharing it with us and inspiring everyone to make everyday special….
Wonderful story that life can be that special and beautiful.
We were on the same Princess Venice cruise to Turkey Rome Greece ……….. last fall ………. we had same wonderful holiday but didn’t have your courage to challenge life ………… I’m a retired electrician too ………….
Thank you for sharing your joyful experience on this cruise. My husband and I are planning to take the same cruise in August after 55 years of marriage. Our first cruise was with Princess many years ago, and we’re looking forward to sailing with them again!
LeaBeth, loved your cruise story and can picture Venice in the background as we have cruised the Eastern Med out of Venice and returned there for 5 further days to do the outer islands. I started cruising 17 cruises ago as my husband was NEVER going to cruise and I wanted to try it. After I had done 6 or 7 he thought he might try it but hate it !! Well he has now done 6 or 7 and when we want to be away from the world that is our holiday of choice. It is magical waking up in the morning on your balcony in a new place. Princess is one of the best !! Happy belated anniversary from Gini in Oakville, ON.
We pretty much did the same cruise last October (2011) on the Star Princess. Our cruise was with 4 other couples that we knew and had planned the trip with. We spent two days in Venice, then set sail on October 9th (our 40th anniversary) ending up in Rome on October 21st. We then spent two days seeing Rome and flew back to the states on October 23rd. We will remember this cruise the rest of our days. This was our 4th cruise, but the first in this region. Ports were interesting with a lot history to explore. We bypassed the donkeys in Santorini in favor of the cable car …. much better aroma in the cable car. We grew up on farms so we both had plenty of the donkey type aroma to last us a lifetime.
WhaT A BEAUTIFUL ,ROMANTIC, TOUCHING STORY.
MAY YOU BE BLESSED WITH MANY JOYFUL YEARS TOGETHER AND MORE PRINCESS CRUISES.
I HAVE BEEN ON EIGHT PRINCESS CRUISES AND HAVE HAD MARVELOUS EXPERIENCES.
I INTEND TO CRUISE WITH PRINCESS ‘TIL THE TWILIGHT OF MY YEARS.
HAPPY ANNIVERSAY!!!!!!
I can relate to your story as my husband and I celebrated our “60th” at sea on Princess going to Hawaii last Oct. What a great trip and what a great way to spend an anniversary, no big party to plan, no guest list, just a calm sea, a lovely ship, and each other. We love Princess!!!
What a lovely story thank you for sharing. What I liked is you had your vows blessed on land. This would be something I would like to do however, most of our friends don’t like cruising but that would’t stop me could still do it with the captain officiating. Who knows I just might for our 50th. Again thanks for sharing
This is a beautiful story!! We started cruising for our 30th wedding anniversary (9 years ago), and were hooked immediately. We love Princess, and have not only recommended it to friends, but have taken friends with us when we cruise. We have stayed in the same room on Crown Princess three times!! Congratulations on your journey. I wish you many more happy years together, and many more memorable cruises (on Princess, of course!!!).
We were on a Princess Cruise and just got back, we enjoyed it very much. I was quite interested that your name was Taylor. My last name is Taylor and I had a cousin named Glenn. I am originally from Nebraska. He had lived in Iowa. I now live in California. I would just be interested if we are related. My e-mail is landf7452@sbcglobal.net. If you have a minute some time, please send an e-mail.
Our favourite cruise was the one you took from Venice to Rome, only it was for our 60th wedding anniversary and my 80th birthday which the Princess staff helped us celebrate! It’s a pity we didn’t know about the donkey trip in Santorini or we would have been on it, if only to compare with having travelled that way down Grand Canyon with our children almost 50 years ago. Both memorable sights –especially when shared with grazing animals that like to reach almost beyond their reach for the last bite! It truly was the trip of a lifetime — we walked the walls of Dubrovnik and the ancient streets of Ephesus, climbed to the Parthenon and the vistas of Rhodes, and made friends with the cats and dogs of the Greek Isles, such fun! We wish you many more years together. We are sure Princess will always be there to give you a happy safe voyage!
Less than two years ago we celebrated our 25th anniversary on Princess with a cruise similar to yours, except after the two days in Venice we disembarked and spent two days in Barcelona. We knew then that it was a “once in a lifetime” trip. People did not understand why we took our daughter and son (23 and 18) with us. We bonded even more with our adult children, and they added so much to our journey. It was magical trip.
Our videos and pictures remind us of what history we saw, and what history we made. You see my sweet husband passed away, unexpectedly, this year (age 54). My children and I look back and realize that without this trip we would have never created these amazing memories. Thank you Princess for the balloons, the towel swan on the bed and the breakfast on the balconies that will ever live on in our memories.
Three of us will be back on Princess this summer as we cruise to Alaska.
What a romantic story! We just disembarked yesterday from our Alaskan cruise on board the Sea Princess. Just opened my email to answer the survey, and saw this beautiful story. My husband and I also celebrated our 40th anniversary last January 2011 with a Mexican Riviera cruise on board the Sapphire Princess. Instead of doing our regular yearly restaurant celebration we’ve offered all expenses paid cruise to my two sons and their family. The youngest one turned down our offer thinking his 2 girls (1 and 3 yrs) won’t have fun. The eldest one (childless for 10 years) accepted and they had the best time of their lives. They enjoyed their first cruise that they took a carribean cruise for their 10th anniversary on October the same year on board the Ruby, (which we also took the year before on board the Emerald). They got pregnant and the baby is due this July! We suggested to name it Ruby if it’s a girl. They’re keeping the gender of the baby a secret, they want to surprise us. We love Princess and we are planning a short holiday cruise to introduce my siblings and their families on their first cruise. Congratulations, Leabeth and Glenn, thank you for sharing your story.
Dear Leabeth & Glenn
What a beautiful story,I am currently at work (in Australia) checking boring email and I try to “Escape Completely” and hit the Princess website every now and then. Reading your story was amazing, in fact I had to get the tissues as little tears rolled down my cheeks it was so romantic. Congratulations, wishing you all the happiness and good health for the next 35 years and beyond. It is nice to see romantic is still alive somewhere in the world
From a fellow cruiser
Sue xoxoxox
We will be doing an Hawaiian cruise in October. Our first cruise was on the original love boat. 17 cruises later we are hooked. We are celebrating my husbands 80 birthday and our 58th wedding Ann. No body does it better than princess. We even did a world cruise on the original Royal cruise ship. I know one will be just as memorable
We also will be celebrating our 40th wedding anniversary on the Golden Princess out of LA on 10/24. Really looking forward to the time on the open seas, as well as seeing some of the Hawaiian Islands. Will surprize the wife with an upgrade to a mini-suite, see how she likes that … probably won’t want to move back down to an oceanview. HA!
I am so sorry to hear about your dad, and as you say, the sadness never relaly goes away but it does get easier to live with it for every day that passes. I am in many ways lucky to have had such a wonderful dad, even though it was for a short time. It is better to be truly loved and treated right as it stays with you for the rest of your life, and so many people I know have had dads that have never relaly been there for them. Thank you, and you are indeed a very special girl. XXX
What a lovely story. We celebrated our #20 anniversary on Golden Princess 2 years ago traveling LA to Hawaiian Islands. Two weeks onboard was such fun & made lots of new friendships. We will be joining one couple from UK next week for a Caribbean cruise. Love cruising! Wish we lived closer to a port city & didn’t have to fly there first.
Great story. My wife Carol and I did the very same cruise in 2010 to celebrate our 30th wedding anniversary also on the Crown however we stayed on after Rome for another 15 days and did the Belgium, Ireland, Scotland, Gibraltar etc for a total of 27 days which was great! As I write this, my wife and daughter Ashley are on the very same 12 day cruise on the Crown and are having a great mother/daughter bonding cruise from Venice to Rome. They return home on June 5th/12. During their absence I have been going door to door in the neighborhood to see if anyone will invite me for dinner as Carol is a great cook. Only have had limited success in my endeavors. If you want a great cruise, the Crown and the Mediterranean are a perfect match for a guaranteed great time.