A Colorado man who recently lost his wife to cancer is speaking out after a cruise line tried to charge him $853 to remove her from the reservation.

According to KDVR, Tom Ast and his wife of 45 years, Marilyn, had planned to take a "dream vacation" – an $11,000 cruise with Viking River Cruises. In her final days, Marilyn, who died in December, told her husband to take the trip without her. He decided to go and treat the vacation as a celebration of her life.

"They said it was a rebooking because her name was taken off – that was their policy," he told KDVR.

That's when Ast approached KDVR with his story. The station contacted Viking River Cruises, and one week later, the company agreed to refund the fee. 

Read more here and here.

>> Click here to watch the video from KDVR

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Peggy Harris (foreground) stocks the shelves at Sandy's IGA, which is the only grocery store in town, Tuesday, October 7, 2025, in Sparta. Hancock County has one of the highest rates of childhood food insecurity in the country. (Hyosub Shin/AJC)

Credit: Hyosub Shin/AJC