NavyCruiser Posted March 28 #1 Share Posted March 28 Getting excited about possible restarting of both ocean & river cruising soon. After 4 cancellations last year, we have 4 booked & hopefully going later this year & next. Does anyone have any idea, or any news about possibility of Viking re-starting their European river cruises for this year? Just looked at their website & Viking's taking bookings for their popular Rhine & Danube routes for first week of June, with our Grand European for mid June. That sounds pretty ambitious, but that'll be great if they can get that going. Thoughts...? Link to post Share on other sites
steamboats Posted March 28 #2 Share Posted March 28 Nobody can tell you for sure... Right now you´re not allowed to enter the EU as American (don´t worry, we aren´t allowed to enter the US either). UK is not allowed to travel internationally until MidMay and it might be prolonged. Currently we´re in the middle of the raise of the third wave here in Germany which is expected to be bigger than wave 1 and 2. We´re way behind regarding vaccinations. No river cruise ships running right now. I expect the restart of river cruising for Europeans (maybe Germans) first. A lot of German river cruise lines have changed their routes to German rivers only to avoid any problems traveling through other countries. I definitely do not expect that river cruising is up to normal (= pre Covid) by June. steamboats 1 Link to post Share on other sites
AnhaltER1960 Posted Wednesday at 04:50 AM #3 Share Posted Wednesday at 04:50 AM June is an easy answer now: Its not happening. Look here https://www.vikingrivercruises.co.uk/my-trip/current-sailings/index.html Further out, there are still many hurdles, as steamboats has mentioned. There is no prospect of sailings on German rivers iun the near future and there is not prospect for international travel between the US and Europe for touristical purposes. My glass bowl says, river cruises cross-border in Europe+travel into Europe for touristical purposes+travel back to the US without quarantine will not happen until autumn, and probably not at all in 2021. 1 Link to post Share on other sites
dogs4fun Posted Wednesday at 08:46 AM #4 Share Posted Wednesday at 08:46 AM (edited) Agree - probably no European river cruises for US passengers in 2021. Depressing!🥺 Will be happy when it is again safe to travel to Europe. Edited Wednesday at 08:46 AM by dogs4fun 2 Link to post Share on other sites
NavyCruiser Posted Wednesday at 10:56 AM Author #5 Share Posted Wednesday at 10:56 AM Thanks for the updates. Just looked again on Viking's site & earliest grand European river cruises now starts on Aug 2, 2021. Hopefully everyone will be vaccinated by July & it'll go... Link to post Share on other sites
Coral Posted Wednesday at 01:30 PM #6 Share Posted Wednesday at 01:30 PM 4 hours ago, dogs4fun said: Agree - probably no European river cruises for US passengers in 2021. Depressing!🥺 Will be happy when it is again safe to travel to Europe. A friend has a Christmas Markets cruise scheduled for end of December...... I will be curious if that goes. It is on Viking. Link to post Share on other sites
dogs4fun Posted Wednesday at 01:38 PM #7 Share Posted Wednesday at 01:38 PM (edited) @Coral - I receive alerts from Iceland Air regarding vacation packages in Iceland. Iceland is currently open to US nationals that are immunized (vaccinated). I salivate each time I read the descriptions. It will be interesting to see if any European Viking river cruises sail this year - I have serious doubts. Two years with no Christmas Markets - can you imagine?🥺 Edited Wednesday at 01:42 PM by dogs4fun Link to post Share on other sites
Coral Posted Wednesday at 08:44 PM #8 Share Posted Wednesday at 08:44 PM (edited) 7 hours ago, dogs4fun said: @Coral - I receive alerts from Iceland Air regarding vacation packages in Iceland. Iceland is currently open to US nationals that are immunized (vaccinated). I salivate each time I read the descriptions. It will be interesting to see if any European Viking river cruises sail this year - I have serious doubts. Two years with no Christmas Markets - can you imagine?🥺 I meant late November but it doesn't matter. She probably is not going. It is so sad about the Markets. I have a friend who lives in Boston and was going to Iceland yearly. He was saying (before COVID) how crowded it was getting as it is very popular amongst East Coasters. I forget that you have a direct flight there!!!! I don't even know when to book travel........ Right now I have absolutely nothing booked. Edited Wednesday at 08:45 PM by Coral Link to post Share on other sites
Host Jazzbeau Posted Wednesday at 09:56 PM #9 Share Posted Wednesday at 09:56 PM 1 hour ago, Coral said: I have a friend who lives in Boston and was going to Iceland yearly. He was saying (before COVID) how crowded it was getting as it is very popular amongst East Coasters. I forget that you have a direct flight there!!!! Quite a change from 50 years ago when Icelandic Airlines [aka 'the Hippie Express'] was offering free stopovers to drum up tourism. Link to post Share on other sites
Coral Posted Wednesday at 10:01 PM #10 Share Posted Wednesday at 10:01 PM 4 minutes ago, Host Jazzbeau said: Quite a change from 50 years ago when Icelandic Airlines [aka 'the Hippie Express'] was offering free stopovers to drum up tourism. I thought they still allowed free stop overs! I knew they did a few years ago. Link to post Share on other sites
Host Jazzbeau Posted Wednesday at 10:08 PM #11 Share Posted Wednesday at 10:08 PM 1 minute ago, Coral said: I thought they still allowed free stop overs! I knew they did a few years ago. Yes, but I think in the old days the entire stopover was free. Maybe that's the gold-tinged haze of memory. I never actually flew Icelandic because it seemed worth it to pay a little more for a non-stop that went exactly where you wanted to be in Europe – weren't they limited to Frankfurt or something like that? Certainly not London or Paris. In any case, the stopover was mandatory then. Their cheap fares were only possible because they sold you country-of-origin fares from the East Coast to Iceland, and then a separate trip from Iceland to Europe. That got around the international fare regulation regime. Link to post Share on other sites
sharkster77 Posted Wednesday at 10:28 PM #12 Share Posted Wednesday at 10:28 PM If you fly into Reykjavik for a connecting flight, you can stay up to seven days before leaving on your connecting flight. Encourages short visits to Iceland on your way to some other destination. 1 Link to post Share on other sites
NavyCruiser Posted Thursday at 03:27 PM Author #13 Share Posted Thursday at 03:27 PM Hopefully our Viking grand European river cruise from Amsterdam to Budapest doesn't make an unplanned Stopover in Iceland...😀 Link to post Share on other sites
Host Jazzbeau Posted Thursday at 04:24 PM #14 Share Posted Thursday at 04:24 PM 56 minutes ago, NavyCruiser said: Hopefully our Viking grand European river cruise from Amsterdam to Budapest doesn't make an unplanned Stopover in Iceland...😀 Iceland is open to US tourists. Most of the territory covered by your cruise is not, at the moment. So a Viking cruise to Iceland might be a safer bet! Link to post Share on other sites
NavyCruiser Posted Thursday at 04:49 PM Author #15 Share Posted Thursday at 04:49 PM 22 minutes ago, Host Jazzbeau said: Iceland is open to US tourists. Most of the territory covered by your cruise is not, at the moment. So a Viking cruise to Iceland might be a safer bet! LOL. It's a joke! that nowhere along our RIVER cruise from Amsterdam to Budapest that there'll be a need for stopover in Iceland... Link to post Share on other sites
Host Jazzbeau Posted Thursday at 05:13 PM #16 Share Posted Thursday at 05:13 PM 23 minutes ago, NavyCruiser said: LOL. It's a joke! that nowhere along our RIVER cruise from Amsterdam to Budapest that there'll be a need for stopover in Iceland... I got the joke. I'm just suggesting that one country that is open to tourism is better than 5 that aren't. As Captain Jack Aubrey used to say, "A bird in the hand is better than beating around the bush." 1 Link to post Share on other sites
nhmrm Posted Friday at 04:33 PM #17 Share Posted Friday at 04:33 PM It looks like no new bookings before August 2021 now. I have an early Dec Christmas market cruise that I am worried about.. Link to post Share on other sites
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