Hi, I’m Verlynda, your Retreat Host & Therapist.
My husband Caleb and I keep this group small on purpose, so I like a quick conversation before anyone commits. Tell me a little about you below and I will reach out personally, usually within a day.
The 2027 Western Caribbean Marriage Cruise
Port Canaveral | Key West | Grand Cayman | Cozumel
Come Home Different
You have taken good vacations. You come back rested, and inside a week you are running the same rhythm you left. This one is built differently.
Seven nights to Key West, Grand Cayman and Cozumel with nineteen other couples, and six sessions with Caleb and Verlynda that hand back the two things a long marriage quietly loses: each other's undivided attention, and a plan for what the next twenty years actually look like.
Starting from
$4,320/Couple
Discover
The itinerary & Seminars
Docked: 10:30 AM to 5 PM
Ernest Hemingway made wild, colorful Key West his home — and it's easy to see why. The southernmost city in the continental United States moves to its own unhurried rhythm: pastel-painted cottages, sun-bleached docks, and a festive spirit that never quite fades. Wander the brick-lined streets of Old Town, browse the galleries and boutiques along Duval Street, or find a shaded café and linger over a cold drink while the island breezes do their work. For the adventurous, a snorkel over the living coral reefs offshore or a kayak paddle through the mangroves offers a vivid reminder of why the Keys feel like another world entirely. Key West is an effortless, unhurried start to your port days together.
Session 1: Actually Being Heard
9 AM in the Engage Room (90 Minutes)
Thirty years in, most of us have stopped listening to each other's sentences, because we are sure we know how they end. You will learn four listening skills and practice each one with your spouse while we coach. It begins with the funniest marriage communication video ever made. It ends with your spouse feeling heard.
At Sea
Soak up the sun, salt breezes, and stunning scenery in expansive open-air spaces. Savor fine dining that rivals anything you'd find on land. And discover even more ways to relax and renew.
Session 2: Knowing Each Other Again
4 PM in the Engage Meeting Room (90 Minutes)
You can share an address for three decades and still be working from an outdated map of each other. People keep changing. The picture we carry of them does not. Ninety minutes away from calendars and logistics, spent on who your spouse actually is now. Couples tell us this is the one that surprised them.
Docked: 7:00 AM to 5 PM
Grand Cayman is where Caribbean luxury meets natural splendor. In George Town, duty-free boutiques tempt with jewelry, crystal, local rum cake, and resort wear from renowned designers — but the real draw is the island's incomparable water. Join a catamaran excursion to Stingray City, (one of our favourite excursions!) where graceful southern stingrays glide through crystalline shallows and drift right into your hands. Snorkel the shallow wreck of the USS Kittiwake, now teeming with coral and tropical fish, or simply wade together through the warm turquoise water at Seven Mile Beach, consistently ranked among the most beautiful stretches of sand in the world. Grand Cayman is effortlessly beautiful and effortlessly romantic — the perfect backdrop for a day of connection.
Session 3: Deciding Together
9:30 AM in the Engage Meeting Room (90 Minutes)
Every couple has a way of making decisions and almost nobody chose theirs on purpose. This is about influence: how to offer it, how to take it, and how to disagree about something that matters without it becoming the fight. Useful when there is a decision on the table with no obviously right answer.
At Sea
Take some time to recharge and enjoy the ship before your next port of call. Lounge by the pool, be spoiled at the spa, taste the delicacies, or explore the venues onboard.
Session 4: Breaking the Loop
3:30 PM in the Conference Center (90 Minutes)
You already know the argument. Same trigger, same words, same ending, sometimes for twenty years. We will show you what is running underneath it, why the two of you land in that exact spot every time, and how to step out, usually inside the same conversation. This is the one couples remember as a lightbulb moment for transformed conflict.
Docked: 7 AM to 5 PM
Cozumel sits at the heart of the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef, the second-largest coral reef system in the world — which means its waters are among the most vivid and alive you'll ever see. Whether you grab snorkel gear and wade in, book a dive, or simply settle onto the beach with a good book, the island's natural beauty does its work. Wander the open-air shops of San Miguel for Mexican silver, handmade crafts, and local sweets, or book a day at Playa Mia beach club for an afternoon of waterslides, fresh guacamole, and hammock naps. For the adventurous, a short ferry to Playa del Carmen opens up the famous Quinta Avenida strip — or a drive down the coast to the ancient Maya city of Tulum, perched dramatically on a cliff above the shimmering Caribbean sea. Cozumel rewards every pace.
Session 5: The Next 20 Years
9:30 AM in the Engage Meeting Room (90 Minutes)
The first half of life was organised around the kids and the career. The second half needs a plan of its own, and almost nobody sits down and makes one. You will map your life as it is, then as you want it, and leave with something written for the distance between them.
At Sea
As we head towards Port Canaveral, take some time to recharge before your final session. Lounge by the pool, be spoiled at the spa, taste the delicacies, or explore the venues onboard.
Session 6: Taking It Home
3:30 PM in the Engage Meeting Room (90 Minutes)
Retreats are easy to feel and hard to keep. This one closes with each of you naming the changes you are ready to make, saying them out loud, and committing to a plan we will keep realistic. Three changes that survive February beat thirty that do not survive the flight home.
Port Canaveral (Orlando), Florida
Saturday, February 13, 2027 | Arrival: 7 AM
Having arrived back at our original port of call, you and your spouse will disembark with a beautiful array of new shared memories and experiences, a reignited spark in your marriage, and realistic, achievable goals to aid you in the next chapter of your relationship.
What This Is not
There are a lot of Christian cruises sailing in 2027. Most of them are concerts. A lineup, a main stage, three thousand people, a worship set you will enjoy and have mostly forgotten by April. Good weeks. Different thing.
This is twenty couples. Caleb and Verlynda are licensed, Christian marriage therapists, not motivational speakers flown in for a keynote, and they are on the ship all week. They run every session themselves. After each morning session they stay in the room until noon, so if something is still sitting with you, you do not wait.
The rest of the day you will find them out on the ship. At a table for lunch, on deck, in the lounge. No appointment. Sea day evenings the whole group eats together, unhurried, the kind of conversation that happens on its own when the same couples have spent the day thinking about the same thing.
Every exercise happens between the two of you. Nothing is shared with the room. No circles, no testimonies.
What Caleb and Verlynda do for a living is understand why marriages work. You would not normally get at it this way, or at this price. It is yours all week.
Modern Luxury on the Celebrity Apex
The Celebrity Apex is the second ship in Celebrity's Edge® series, built around the same revolutionary outward-facing design that makes this fleet unlike anything else at sea. Share a romantic sunset from the Magic Carpet, a cantilevered floating platform that hovers 13 stories above the ocean. Retreat to your Infinite Veranda® stateroom, where the entire outer wall opens to transform your living space into a breezy, open-air balcony. Discover the Eden venue — a multi-deck living art space that's perfect for a quiet dinner or an after-session cocktail together. With Michelin-inspired culinary experiences, an expansive Solarium, and a design that draws your eyes and your conversations constantly outward toward the sea, the Celebrity Apex is the ideal setting for a restorative and luxurious getaway.
Your Hosts
The Marriage Retreat
Caleb and Verlynda are licensed marriage therapists who have spent their working lives on one question: what actually makes a marriage great? Six workshop sessions built on Emotionally Focused Therapy, the Gottman Method and a faith that holds it together. You work side by side, not in rows. It is the one souvenir that gets better after you unpack.
Your Investment
Your investment has two components: the retreat experience Caleb and Verlynda provide, and your stateroom aboard the ship. Both are shown below.
1. The MCCC Retreat Experience
Price: $995 per couple
Your retreat fee covers everything Caleb and Verlynda bring to the week. For comparison, a private marriage intensive with a licensed therapist runs $3,000 to $7,000 for two or three days.
2. Your Celebrity Stateroom
The following are your guaranteed group rates per couple, including taxes, fees, and port expenses. Gratuities are not included.
$3,325*
Inside
Stateroom
Your cozy and comfortable private retreat after a day of adventure:
$4,175*
Veranda
Stateroom
Enjoy the sea breeze and stunning ocean views from your own private balcony:
$4,610*
Concierge Veranda
The same private balcony and sea air, with elevated Concierge Class service that makes the week feel effortless:
* Our travel agent checks current Celebrity promotions when you're ready to book and will apply any available sale pricing or onboard credits at that time. The rates shown above are your guaranteed group rates -- the most you'll pay for these cabin categories. Our travel agent secures a lower rate for most of our couples. Prices are in US dollars.
3. Your Total Investment
Inside Stateroom
$4,320 per couple
Veranda Stateroom
$5,170 per couple
Concierge Veranda
$5,605 per couple
Group Rooms for this sailing are only being held for another:
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You missed out!
Twenty Rooms. Then we Stop
Verlynda talks with every couple before they book. It is short and unpushy, and it is how we make sure the week fits, both directions. Tell her a little about you and she will be in touch, usually within a day.