When Will River Cruise Lines Resume Service? [obsolete since June 29]

[Host Jazzbeau]

2 minutes ago, gnome12 said:

I don't think Uniworld believes that date, thus there promotion with American Queen you noted in another thread.

 

I have stopped trying to figure out what is really happening.  I check the cruise line websites once a week, and report what they say.  It's their responsibility to maintain their websites.  [That's my story, and I'm sticking to it!]

[gnome12]

1 hour ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

 

I have stopped trying to figure out what is really happening.  I check the cruise line websites once a week, and report what they say.  It's their responsibility to maintain their websites.  [That's my story, and I'm sticking to it!]

I completely understand. I wish the lines would be more forthcoming, however.

[Babcia7]

In another topic, someone suggested that Uniworld is staggering their cancellations in order to more efficiently deal with refunds and rebooking.  Makes sense for the company, but leaves many of us in limbo about cruises that are still scheduled for the next couple of months. I expect our August cruise will be cancelled sometime in the next couple of weeks.

[AF-1]

Thanks for the updates.  Have a great day

[notamermaid]

France will end its state of emergency on 11 July. This also means the country will allow river cruises to resume. CroisiEurope are ready: https://www.seatrade-cruise.com/news/croisieurope-welcomes-frances-ok-resume-river-cruises-july-11

 

notamermaid

 

[franski]

Avalon just announced that it is suspending operations through September 30th...  not looking good for our trip starting October 3rd.

 

Fran

[Daisi]

Sorry to hear this Fran.   They seem to be trying to give a 3 month notice, so I guess they are trying not to have to give out to much in FCC or refunds.  So far, as far as I know, the ship we are to sail on next May still hasn't been launched.  We had hoped to have had it sail for a bit to get out the "beginner's bugs". 

 

One good thing for Avalon, at least all bookings are covered under their Peace of Mind plan, so even if we decide we aren't comfortable to sail next spring, we can change to 2022 with no penalty.

[franski]

11 minutes ago, Daisi said:

One good thing for Avalon, at least all bookings are covered under their Peace of Mind plan, so even if we decide we aren't comfortable to sail next spring, we can change to 2022 with no penalty.

 We purchase an annual travel plan, and they won't cover anything booked when there is a travel advisory.  We are ok for this trip - including all privately purchased flights - but, coverage ends if we make final payment on our cruise during the time the travel advisory in in place,  or if we transfer the booking, as it is considered a "new booking".  So, if the cruise is cancelled (or, we decide to cancel due to the travel advisory) - we should be able to recoup all of our costs to date.  But this means we can't take advantage of any of the sales on now - as anything booked during a travel advisory is not covered. 

 

Fran

[Daisi]

The Peace of Mind is only for Avalon's bookings, not insurance.  If you are unable or uncertain about cruising with them and you are booked for this year (providing they cancel) or next year, then you can transfer your $$ to any of the Globus , Avalon, Cosmos or Monogram trips...no penalty for cancelling your cruise.  I think for cruises this year that haven't been cancelled, they will let you cancel up to 3 days with no penalty, but you just get a FCC.  Insurance is something else.  We don't travel enough to do an annual plan, as we (well DH anyway) is still working so holidays are limited.  Once he retires in Dec, and we get rid of the house, then we will probably go for an annual plan as they are better.  Because of older parents, we always purchase the Cancel for any Reason Insurance, and I checked, ours is transferable to another trip if necessary.

 

One thing to watch for if you have to re-book, we got guaranteed cost for flights through Avalon...put down a deposit, but if we decide to do our own (no points to help out there, so it's not often a better deal for us), it will just be applied to the cruise.  If the costs of flight do go up as they are predicting, we are going to be laughing.  They seem to try to really keep their customers happy by not really locking you in too much.

 

Edited June 29, 2020 by Daisi

[gnome12]

39 minutes ago, Daisi said:

Because of older parents, we always purchase the Cancel for any Reason Insurance, and I checked, ours is transferable to another trip if necessary.

 

You shouldn't need Cancel for any Reason for this; death or illness of a close relative should be a covered event in any case. I know that before I went to Spain a few years ago, I checked into this because my brother-in-law was dying of cancer. He died when I was in Spain, but my sister and I decided that I wouldn't cut short my trip, but it would have been covered if I needed to get home.

[Daisi]

1 hour ago, gnome12 said:

You shouldn't need Cancel for any Reason for this; death or illness of a close relative should be a covered event in any case. I know that before I went to Spain a few years ago, I checked into this because my brother-in-law was dying of cancer. He died when I was in Spain, but my sister and I decided that I wouldn't cut short my trip, but it would have been covered if I needed to get home.

 

@gnome12  Our family is complicated...the parents that we worry about are not "blood" relatives, but people who were a major influence on bringing us up.  If they got ill, we wouldn't be "covered" as they aren't related.  My real parents are ok, older, but healthy.  It's our 2nd parents that we worry about.  

[Host Jazzbeau]

Information in post 1 updated on June 29 after checking each cruise line website.

 

Changes:

•  AmaWaterways: now September 1

•  APT: now October 1

•  Arena: now August 1

•  Avalon: now October 1

•  Gate1:  now November 1

•  Riviera: now July 31

•  Viva: website still states June 26 – did it happen?

 

[notamermaid]

52 minutes ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

•  Viva: website still states June 26 – did it happen?

 

According to this website the Viva Tiara started her first journey for Viva Cruises (she was renamed from Swiss Tiara): https://www.kreuzfahrt-aktuelles.de/news/viva-cruises-viva-tiara-ist-am-26-juni-2020-in-die-neue-saison-gestartet/6904/

 

marinetraffic.com shows her on the Main river, so she certainly did sail from Düsseldorf a few days ago.

 

Edit: not on your list as they are not international - Phoenix Reisen have started as well.

 

notamermaid

 

Edited June 29, 2020 by notamermaid
added info

[cruisr]

There will be river cruise lines sailing within a “travel bubble” where the guests will be German  or Swiss or whatever and can cruise between these areas as they have been deemed as safe.

 

Even if river cruiselines  state they are restarting doesn’t mean anything unless the EU allows US Citizens to enter their countries.  Right now, with spikes in many US states, I don’t think Americans will be allowed to fly to river cruise line ports in the EU.

[gnome12]

There will be river cruise lines sailing within a “travel bubble” where the guests will be German  or Swiss or whatever and can cruise between these areas as they have been deemed as safe.
 
Even if river cruiselines  state they are restarting doesn’t mean anything unless the EU allows US Citizens to enter their countries.  Right now, with spikes in many US states, I don’t think Americans will be allowed to fly to river cruise line ports in the EU.

Sorry, you make it sound like Americans are the only travellers. The residents of most other English speaking countries will be allowed in, but their home countries except for the UK are still recommending against travel, which remains an issue.

Some companies market more to the US than others.


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[franski]

8 hours ago, Daisi said:

The Peace of Mind is only for Avalon's bookings, not insurance.  If you are unable or uncertain about cruising with them and you are booked for this year (providing they cancel) or next year, then you can transfer your $$ to any of the Globus , Avalon, Cosmos or Monogram trips...no penalty for cancelling your cruise.  I think for cruises this year that haven't been cancelled, they will let you cancel up to 3 days with no penalty, but you just get a FCC.  

 

The Peace of Mind doesn't help us at all - neither does a FCC. If we move our booking while the travel advisory remains in place - then it is considered a new booking, and our insurance won't cover anything booked during the travel advisory.  A FCC just gives us the monies we paid - and it wouldn't transfer the cost savings across - so the cruise would be significantly higher.   If Avalon cancels, we will just ask for our deposit back.  If they want us to pay our final payment - and the travel advisory remains in place - we will just cancel and ask our insurance company for the deposit monies (Avalon has been very clear that those are non-refundable if we choose to cancel...).  Once the advisories clear - it becomes planning time again!!  But, not sure this will happen any time soon (perhaps not even this year!!)

 

Fran

[Host Jazzbeau]

Hey folks – this is a thread about when river cruise lines will resume cruising.  There are more relevant threads for discussions of cancellation policies and penalties.  Thanks!

[ctguy001]

American just cancelled my July 19th Columbia River Cruise.

[TravelinGert]

American Queen Steamboat Company Update: earliest sailings after: August 2nd, 2020.

 

American Queen Steamboat Company has announced a new timeline with different sailing dates for different ships. 

 

American Empress: Suspension through August 2, 2020

American Duchess:  Resume Sailings: August 17, 2020

American Countess :Suspension through August 8, 2020

American Queen: Suspension through August 8, 2020

 

I was able to change to cruises in the spring and fall of next year so fingers crossed for those.

[Host Jazzbeau]

ANNOUNCEMENT:  I will not be able to update post #1 for the next two weeks.  Thanks to all who have been posting updates as they find them! 

[KathyK13]

On 6/29/2020 at 9:44 PM, franski said:

 

The Peace of Mind doesn't help us at all - neither does a FCC. If we move our booking while the travel advisory remains in place - then it is considered a new booking, and our insurance won't cover anything booked during the travel advisory.  A FCC just gives us the monies we paid - and it wouldn't transfer the cost savings across - so the cruise would be significantly higher.   If Avalon cancels, we will just ask for our deposit back.  If they want us to pay our final payment - and the travel advisory remains in place - we will just cancel and ask our insurance company for the deposit monies (Avalon has been very clear that those are non-refundable if we choose to cancel...).  Once the advisories clear - it becomes planning time again!!  But, not sure this will happen any time soon (perhaps not even this year!!)

 

Fran

When is your cruise supposted to take place?  We had a deposit on an Avalon  Christmas Market cruise for December 2020.  I just contacted my TA to ask if we could switch our reservation to the same cruise in 2021.  Avalon said we could switch the deposit to any cruise in 2021, and there are some very good deals on right now for next year.  We did not buy plane tickets thru them, so not an issue for us.

[franski]

6 hours ago, KathyK13 said:

When is your cruise supposted to take place?  We had a deposit on an Avalon  Christmas Market cruise for December 2020.  I just contacted my TA to ask if we could switch our reservation to the same cruise in 2021.  Avalon said we could switch the deposit to any cruise in 2021, and there are some very good deals on right now for next year.  We did not buy plane tickets thru them, so not an issue for us.

Our trip is scheduled to start on October 3rd - but we are supposed to fly to Bucharest a few days early, and then fly to Krakow after for 3 days. 

 

Moving the reservation does't work for us at this time - for the reasons given in my post.  I am not at all confident that the cruise will proceed as planned.  But, until Avalon cancels - or final payment is due - I can delay any decisions.

 

Fran 

[notamermaid]

CroisiEurope restart dates: https://www.cruisetradenews.com/croisieurope-restart-dates-2020-european-river-cruises/

First cruise will be on the Seine on 13 July, other river will follow shortly.

 

notamermaid

 

[AnhaltER1960]

Viking extend their shutdown until September 30th

 

https://www.vikingrivercruises.co.uk/my-trip/current-sailings/index.html

[notamermaid]

Here is a question to be answered by @Host Jazzbeau:

Has AmaWaterways started sailing again or not? The AmaKristina is on the river taking Germans up and down the Rhine, but her usually English-speaking guests are not on board. Neither are the other ships sailing. And this is CC Chris' report on it: https://www.cruisecritic.com/news/5477/

 

So, Amawaterways is back - sort of - but the "real" cruises are not happening until later. This how the first cruise was done: https://www.seatrade-cruise.com/news/amawaterways-first-us-based-river-line-resume-cruising-europe

 

in another article on seatrade-cruise.com, Rudi Schreiner had this to say: "

AmaWaterways’ AmaKristina, which resumed cruising in early July and is marketed for German-speaking guests, is anticipated to run until the end of October. ‘It’s a totally new experience, we’ve never done it before’, added Schreiner.

Nevertheless, he went on to add that – with the exception of AmaKristina – it is ‘likely’ that its August 31 start date for resuming the bulk of operations is likely to be further postponed this year and September cruising suspended. The decision is expected to come in late July."

 

notamermaid

 

Edited July 22, 2020 by notamermaid
added info