This is just a nice story that we came across, about a nice couple who did what we all think is nice — they went on cruises. The story appeared in the Orlando Sentinel, the daily 
newspaper in the hometown of Jimmy and Ruth Vrhovac.
It's a nice story despite the fact that Mrs. Vrhovac passed away last month. She and her husband, like so many couples, got into cruising in a big way after retiring. Their cruise line of choice was Holland America, whose ships were their home for the equivalent of more than two years.
"A ship is nothing but steel and glass," Jimmy Vrhovac told the Sentinel. "The crew is the personality, and we like the personality of the Holland crews."
In spending 800 days cruising, he and Ruth were well-known to Holland America crews. Not just because they were frequent cruisers. They liked to walk the ship wearing big, cartoon-character slippers — Pepe Le Pew and Eeyore were two such characters — whether they were wearing bathing suits or formal wear.
"Life is too short not to laugh and smile," he told the Sentinel's Jeff Kunerth.
A former ER nurse, his wife loved the tranquility and the lack of stress that cruising gave them. Her last cruise was a 35-day trip from Fort Lauderdale to South America and back. Health problems cancelled what was to be her next one, 63 days long, but there will be one more — for both of them.
It is their wishes that one day, their collective remains will be released to the sea, over the bow of a Holland America ship.
Now, isn't that a nice story?
Norwegian Sky
3 nights
August 17, 2012
Miami (return): Great Stirrup Cay, Nassau
Inside: $299
Cost per day: $88
www.ncl.com