ST. PAUL, Minns. — Richard and Jean Pletcher hoped to celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary in style. In April 2020, the Eagan couple paid $18,800 to reserve a luxury cruise from St. Paul to New Orleans, which would have been their sixth voyage with Viking, an international cruise giant based in Switzerland.
Then earlier in September, just four days before the first trip of the Viking Mississippi from the Mississippi River’s headwaters to its gulf, the company informed them by mail their reservation had been canceled. The 386-passenger ship, custom-built for the river, departed St. Paul’s Lambert’s Landing as planned, but the Pletchers were not aboard it. There was worse news to come.
“I called immediately and was given very little information, only that we could reschedule for the trip during 2023 or 2024 with a 110 percent credit,” said Richard Pletcher, who is in his 70s. “When I called just to inquire about this, I was told the first available trip was actually in 2025, because everything earlier was fully booked.”
