HOW WE MET: In October 2017, Johel and Rose met onboard Royal Caribbean International's cruise ship 'Ovation of the Seas'. Johel joined the ship in Hong Kong on October 17th after Rose had already been onboard for 6.5 months and was nearing the end of her contract. They first met in the Sports Manager's office when Rose went to go pick-up a tablecloth to be used for the tender ticket distribution later in the voyage. However, it ended up being a very brief introduction. A few nights later they were more properly introduced through colleagues while having a few drinks at the crew bar. Rose and Johel ended up talking in the bar until the early hours on October 22nd and upon deciding it was time to go to bed, Johel insisted on walking Rose back to her cabin (which was also a little comical seeing that she lived literally 20 feet away from the bar, but we will applaud him for being a gentleman nevertheless). Due to this being Johel's first act of chivalry, and the fact that both Johel and Rose are born on the 22nd of their birth month, they celebrate October 22nd as their anniversary! The next day Johel came to Rose's office to ask her questions about his contract length. At the very end he asked her out to dinner at the onboard sushi restaurant, Izumi. At dinner they bonded over traveling, soccer/futebol, and especially over the fact that they were both former soccer/futebol referees. Over the next month and a half they enjoyed spending time with each other both on and off the ship, but the time together was short lived as they both departed the ship on December 6th to go on vacation. Johel and Rose both felt that they had not had enough time to spend together onboard, so Rose traveled to Brazil for a week in early January. They had a great vacation exploring Rio de Janeiro together and even though they had already been assigned different ships for their next contracts, hoped that they would soon reunite at sea. However, their reunion was not a quick one, in fact it took 376 DAYS of long distance before they were reunited. In order to keep in touch they would message each other back and forth daily, often from Johel's ship in China and Rose's ship in the Caribbean. Finally in 2019 they were assigned a ship together and for the next year they traveled the world together. However, in 2020 COVID changed the world and Johel and Rose were once again separated and spent 7 months apart in their home countries until they were selected to return on Royal Caribbean's first ship to return to service, 'Quantum of the Seas' out of Singapore. After a long 9 month contract, Johel and Rose finally received their vacation, and since Brazilian tourists were still not allowed to travel to the United States, Rose went to Brazil for a few weeks during this time. During this vacation the couple traveled to multiple cities in Brazil which included the remote island of Isle Grande where Johel proposed at dinner on the beach on the last night on the island! This love story has had many setbacks and periods of separation but has been a story about crossing oceans and traveling the world in order to be together. Johel and Rose are excited to spend their 5th anniversary (and technically their first one spent physically together - thank you long distance...) tying the knot at sea!