Our 20th Anniversary Cruise Nearly Ended in the Buffet Line

When my wife Sarah suggested we splurge on a Viking Ocean Cruises anniversary trip to celebrate our 20 years together, I was immediately on board. We'd heard such great things about Viking Sky—the elegant Scandinavian design, the all-inclusive everything, the sophisticated vibe. It sounded like exactly the kind of grown-up, romantic getaway we desperately needed after two decades of raising kids, paying mortgages, and pretending to enjoy each other's company at PTA meetings. The first sign something was off came at embarkation in Barcelona. I'd booked a special romantic dinner package that the travel agent assured me was "absolutely foolproof." Foolproof, as it turns out, is not a term they should use lightly. The Viking Sky is a gorgeous ship—we couldn't stop commenting on the clean Scandinavian lines and the way natural light flooded through the floor-to-ceiling windows in our cabin. But somehow, our "romantic anniversary dinner surprise" got mixed up with someone else's booking, and we ended up with two strangers' dining reservation for the specialty Grill restaurant. We discovered this at 7:47 PM, three minutes after we'd showered, changed into our anniversary dinner clothes,…