“It’s a wonderful story” – at least that’s how Jim answers when we are inevitably asked the question “so how did you two meet?”.  In a nutshell, we were reunited at our high school reunion, after being apart for 30 years, and have been married for 15 years.   But Jim is very happy to tell anyone our story in great detail. He’s a true romantic.  I usually try to change the subject when I see someone’s eyes glazing over.

In addition to having a shared history, we also discovered we shared a love of cruising. We started out cruising 2 or 3 times a year and have just completed our 96th cruise.  We also learned that there isn’t a cruise we don’t like – from river cruises to ocean yachts to the mega ships (we were married on Royal Caribbean’s Oasis of the Seas) – each has it’s own unique appeal.

We quickly became the “cruise experts” to family, friends and colleagues.  So when we retired we decided to turn our passion into a boutique travel agency.  We opened up a travel agency specializing in cruises – Ideal Direct.  It keeps us busy but we are loving it – and we now cruise 6 or 7 times a year.  We have a truly blessed life and one that we decided to share.

Debra & Jim