The Hail-Mary-Moon

Which of these pairs are secretly trying to save their marriage?

Couples deal with relationship woes in many ways — from denial to outright war, and every fraught emotion in between. But for some, egged on by couples’ therapists and travel agents, the best way to address a rift in the marriage, and to see whether it can be healed, is to take a last-ditch vacation, maybe a beach getaway or a road trip à deux.

For the lucky ones, it works.

Just ask Tom Slook, 46, and Suzy Stauffer, 49, from Glen Mills, Pa., just outside of Philadelphia. In an 11th-hour effort to save their 20-year marriage, Mr. Slook booked a five-day cruise to Cozumel, Mexico, last December.

Sparks flew (the good kind). Shortly after returning to shore, they called off the divorce mediator. “We realized we wanted to come home together,” he said.

For others, not so much.

The humorist Dan Greenburg insisted on taking his wife, Nora Ephron, on an African photo safari in 1972, even though she said they would probably split. When they returned home, she asked for a divorce.

“But I took you to Africa!” he said.

Yes, she said, it was a wonderful time. But she still wanted a divorce.

Harriet Lerner, a psychologist and author of “Marriage Rules: A Manual for the Married and the Coupled Up,” said she has noticed an increase in patients taking such “save-cations” in the last few years. She links the rise of these trips to belt-tightening in the wake of the Great Recession.

“A divorce can be much worse economically than going away for a few days together,” said Dr. Lerner, who is based in Lawrence, Kan.

With time ticking toward a breakup, troubled couples are planning one final, against-all-odds vacation in a desperate play to snatch romance from the jaws of divorce. Honeymoon? Babymoon? Call it a Hail-Mary-moon.

Jaclyn Sienna India, co-founder of the Sienna Charles Travel Agency, said that more than 10 of her upscale clients approached her in recent months to plan a Hail-Mary-moon, a notable increase for her boutique firm, which has offices in Manhattan and Palm Beach, Fla.

“If you can’t get it together in the Maldives or Bali, then where can you?” she asked.

Or, for that matter, Iceland. That’s where Michelle, a graphic designer from the Upper East Side of Manhattan, and her banker boyfriend, Joey, flew last November on a mission to salvage their four-year relationship. (The couple asked that their last names not be used to maintain their privacy.)

“We were absolutely in a bad place,” Michelle, 30, said. Their travel agent, Dane Steele Green, suggested Iceland as an active destination where they wouldn’t just sit on a beach and bicker for six days. “I went with a pit in my stomach. But I had a credit card, and I knew if all hell broke loose, I could always hit the road.”

“It’s almost like a teenager being dragged by your parents on vacation,” she added.

The pair spent five days scaling glaciers, an ocean away from the pressures of home. Midway through a trail ride, Michelle, who hadn’t realized she was allergic to horses, began wheezing and felt her eyes puff up. Joey, 34, sprang into action, lifting her off the horse, rushing her back to the hotel for a shower and tracking down antihistamines. Michelle said his gallantry, along with a mesmerizing night under the Northern Lights “and some Champagne to take the edge off,” rekindled the magic between them. “We became like magnets — but right-side-up this time,” she said, laughing. On the plane back to New York, they recommitted to staying together. (Although, she noted wryly, “I still don’t have a ring on it.”)