If you’re waiting for the end of Covid-19 before you resume river cruising, I have bad news for you: According to experts coronavirus is not going to end anytime soon.
As science and medicine have proven, however, we have the tools to manage coronavirus: masks, vaccines, boosters and new treatments such as antiviral pills designed to reduce hospitalizations and deaths.
“We know how this ends: The coronavirus becomes endemic, and we live with it forever,” writes Sarah Zhang in The Atlantic. “We will never get the risk of COVID-19 down to absolute zero, and we need to define a level of risk we can live with.”
Given that Covid is probably here to stay, is there a way we can enjoy the “new normal” of river cruising? That new normal consists of testing (on Viking Oceans, you’re given a saliva test everyday), masking (on some ships, crew only), and there are protocols for isolating guests who may come down with coronavirus. No one knows how long these protocols will need to be in place, but some companies are already requiring Covid safety protocols throughout 2022.
I was a reluctant cruiser, waiting for it to be safe before flying abroad and boarding a ship. I thought the pandemic would have an abrupt end. Faced with the reality that it was not going to end suddenly (or perhaps ever), I took the plunge in October, deciding that that time for me to return to cruising.
The experience was not as I imagined it would be. Getting tested before flying proved to be challenging. Once in Amsterdam, I was shocked by the near absence of Covid safety protocols. Crystal River Cruises, on the other hand, gave us great comfort, with testing just before boarding and a mask-free cruise. See I Cruised Crystal Debussy In October. Was This The Same Crystal That We Knew & Loved Before The Pandemic? What Changed & Why.
I was tested three times for my cruise, before flying, before boarding Debussy and before returning home. All three tests were negative. The experience emboldened me, giving me faith in the vaccines and boosters. I’ll continue to be careful, but I am ready to start doing some of the things I missed out on for the past year and a half.
Dr. Robert Wachter — the chair of the medicine department at the University of California, San Francisco — recently told The New York Times that “he has begun to think about when most of life’s rhythms should start returning to normal. Increasingly, he believes the answer is: Now.” See How Does This End.
Wachter’s sentiment is echoed by 87-year-old psychotherapist and author Katharine Etsy, who writes in I’m 87, Triple Vaxxed and Living My Life Again: “ … if the risk of getting sick with Covid-19 is holding me back, there’s something even stronger drawing me out: the fear of not making the most of my remaining time … ,” writes Etsy.
Some experts believe that this winter will be Covid’s last stand. They say coronavirus will begin to fade as a disruptive force in our lives.
Some aren’t waiting for coronavirus to fade. “It is a time to enjoy a full life,” writes the 87-year-old Etsy. “And that’s what I’m ready to do.“
Me too.
I realize that my experience of cruising this past October and my reading of current sources has shaped my view, and perhaps biased it. This may be the end of river cruising as we once knew it, at least for the short term. But do the new protocols diminish the experience? They didn’t for me. My cruise on Debussy was nothing short of wonderful.
On board, I shared stories and laughter with others over lunches and dinners. I pedaled through vineyards and walked through fairy-tale-like villages, trekked uphill to castles, sipped Riesling while watching the wine harvest, felt the sun in my face while motoring along the enchanting Moselle and joined the symphony of cyclists on rides through Amsterdam.
After 18 months of waiting, I am glad that I risked traveling once again.
9 Responses
You are so right Warren. I thought Amsterdam was a little too careless when I was there. Sorry to here that Amsterdam will be skipped. Have they made that decision so soon? Things change rapidly as we’ve learned. I think the chances for anything in the spring of 2022 and beyond are good. Even the Pfizer CEO said that he thought Covid would not be as disruptive to our lives in the summer of 2022. I’m no expert, but I feel we are witnessing the pandemic’s last whimper – although for many, it’s a deadly whimper.
You were sooooooo lucky to do your river cruises a few months ago
We are booked on AMA in April to go done the Rhine
With Netherlands closing. Amsterdam is now being skipped
What do you think our chances of going to Floridae are?
Hope you and Britton have a great 2022
Warren Wolf
On our Viking river cruise from Passau, Germany, to Budapest, Hungary, in October, we were tested before we left home for the flight to/in Europe (mandated by airline), when we got to the cruise and every morning thereafter, including the morning of final disembarkation. Viking forwarded the last test results to our hotel in Budapest so we could use it for the flight home. They were WONDERFUL, requiring masks in public spaces (when not eating/drinking) and on all tours/buses. We felt very safe. We would not go on a river cruise that didn’t do the equivalent!
:-)>
It may be that River Cruising is our best option if the ships are going to help us meet the government requirements. I’m headed to London this weekend. I waited to book and pay for tests, but the rules are changing about which test is OK and in what timeframe. Scrambling now to get everything changed.
Just returned from a Viking Ocean cruise, Athens/Istanbul. Had covid test 3 days before flying to Europe on Delta. Viking had daily testing…left tubes each evening to be out each morning, all crew had to be tested as well each day before reporting for stations. Masks were worn by the crew at all times, guests had to wear masks except when eating/drinking or outside. When onshore excursions wore masks and observed that close to 100% of locals in all ports and airports wore masks. Viking did the covid test and provided results for the airline flight home. I am 89 years old and have booked another river cruise with Viking in May 2022 to coincide with a Road Scholar trip to include Oberamagaugh. I at no time felt at risk, in fact at home with so much resistance and non-masking etc. am less comfortable out.
Do consider the joys of travel…we may be living with this for some time. HAPPY TRAVELS!!
I believe it will be gone sooner than that. I fully expect river cruising to be back to “normal” in the spring.
Let’s hope and pray that COVID is gone by the end of 2022. I am very impatient to travel abroad but pictures of demonstrators against mandates are not something I want to encounter while on vacation in Europe.
I feel sad for the attendance at Christmas Markets this year.
Completely understand in your case. I am waiting for the US to drop the requirement to show a negative Covid test three days before returning home. That will put us at a little more ease.
I would love to river cruise again but age, health, and fear of being quarantined in a foreign country just isn’t practical we have horses and dogs at hone that need daily attention. We have been lucky to get sitter for trips but cannot ask them to extend for long delays. Maybe cruising the Mississippi is an option.