Things were going great.

You and your girlfriend, Grace, had been together for three years. She was pursuing a doctorate in botany, and you were there through the long nights of writing and the stress of academia. She was sharp, kept you on your toes. You watched movies together and learned about cinema, she ranted about ecology health and climate. You learned and grew.

Also in your corner were your friends Katie Jo and Ramón Espinar (pictured above). Katie Jo you’d known forever. She bossed you around in high school, bossed you around in college, and bossed you around in your D&D groups. Fiercely loyal, always down for a good time. She and Ramón met in college and have been inseparable since; you were Katie Jo’s ‘man of honor’ at their wedding.

That’s why it made sense to do something fun: a couples cruise. You and Grace, Katie Jo and Ramón, along the coast of Alaska, scheduled for June.

But something changed.

Grace turned mean. You couldn’t explain it, but where once she respected you even as she challenged you, now she was just...mean. Belittling. Uninterested in intimacy. It came to a head, you two had a huge fight where you both said things that couldn’t be taken back, and that was that. Three years gone.

But the cruise was already booked. And Katie Jo decided that you needed to go anyway, clear your head and get away from it all. You agreed, and your couples cruise became a couple-and-also-you cruise.

But is it really such a getaway? Because Grace also wanted her cruise after defending her dissertation, and she already chipped in for your cabin. One pleasant phone call with the cruise line later...

...and Grace is also on the cruise.

Other groups on the ship:

An LGBTQ group celebrating Pride Month.

A quartet of friends from Montreal.

A mom group getting away from the kids.

Intro 1: All Aboard

Intro 2: Trivia at the Bar

Intro 3: French Invasion

Intro 4: At the Club

Intro 5: Open