Austria in lockdown

[notamermaid]

The Austrian authorities have announced a lockdown starting Monday: https://www.dw.com/en/covid-austria-announces-lockdown-and-vaccine-mandate/a-59873499

 

notamermaid

 

[Daisi]

Sad, but seeing their case #'s climb I guess it's what they have to do. I wish them well, and hopefully this will help them pull out of the climb and into a more manageable level.  

 

We are expecting (as in worse kept secret ever) to hear that the Federal Gov't. will be approving the Pfizer vaccination for kids 5-11 today.  In our area, it's the kids who are having the highest # of cases, so hopefully that will help.

[pully8]

Hope the situation with rising cases will soon improve.

Austria and Germany are beautiful places to visit especially this time of the year.

Here in South Australia the state govt has decided to open borders next Tuesday.

15000 people are reported to be waiting to enter.

Measures will include home monitoring for positive cases and they expect 5% will need hospital care.

Children are not permitted to be vaccinated yet, except 12 and above.

Vaccine rates are variable. We can only wish all goes well.

 

 

[notamermaid]

@pully8 nice to hear from you in Australia. Good to read that you will be able to have open borders again. It is always a risk to have people from other areas mixing with you - we have nine bordering countries, a constant to and fro for thousands of commuters on a daily basis. Vaccines have not been approved for children here either, not enough evidence for a positive risk-benefit assessment.

 

Austria has "crossed a line" with the vaccine mandate, a dangerous in many people's opinions. The Financial Times is running an opinion piece saying it is an "admission of failure". Whatever you call it or what ever we as foreigners may think of such a measure in a state that suffered under a brutal regime 80 years ago (some people have started comparing), it is certainly a striking first. So they have started protesting in Vienna, both against the measures that come into effect tomorrow and the mandate from 1 February.

 

Hope all goes well in your state. And stay safe.

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

So, Austria is in lockdown. Cruise companies do "scenic sailing through Austria". Weird.

 

The Austrians have made their voices heard, at least those that think this is going too far: https://www.theguardian.com/world/video/2021/nov/20/thousands-austria-protest-against-covid-lockdown-video

 

It is difficult to shake off the foreboding feeling for my country. Measures are a mix of federal and state here of course as well, so we have only Bavaria and Saxony operating with lockdown measures. Will this change? Who knows. It is in our hands, we know what the virus likes. Gatherings. Can we still prevent it?

 

By the way, the lockdown measures will continue for the unvaccinated beyond the official end date for Austria as a whole.

 

notamermaid

 

[loriva]

So sad to hear.  We saw the video of the protests in the Heldenplatz on the TV news last night.  Where we were standing three weeks' ago as part of an excursion on our Danube cruise on Crystal Ravel.  I hope we can all figure out how to get this disease under control.

[NavyCruiser]

We are in Passau Germany today, heading towards Budapest by week's end.  We will miss/ sail through Melk, & Vienna Austria without stopping. But will stop in Bratislava one night & then spend One extra night in Budapest...

[Coral]

32 minutes ago, NavyCruiser said:

We are in Passau Germany today, heading towards Budapest by week's end.  We will miss/ sail through Melk, & Vienna Austria without stopping. But will stop in Bratislava one night & then spend One extra night in Budapest...

Wachau Valley is pretty to sail by!

 

It just dawned on me I was on Crystal Mozart 3 years ago this week!!! Enjoy Bratislava and Budapest! Thanks for checking in.

[notamermaid]

9 hours ago, NavyCruiser said:

We are in Passau Germany today, heading towards Budapest by week's end.  We will miss/ sail through Melk, & Vienna Austria without stopping. But will stop in Bratislava one night & then spend One extra night in Budapest...

Thank you for saying hello from your cruise. What a blow to your plans that Austria is sailing only. The Wachau is lovely and Bratislava really interesting. Hope you can enjoy your amended itinerary under the circumstances.

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

You probably know much of this, folks, but here is a summary of reactions of the companies to the lockdown: https://www.travelagentcentral.com/cruises/viking-and-scenic-respond-austrian-lock-down-and-impact-european-river-cruises

 

notamermaid

 

[KathyK13]

12 minutes ago, notamermaid said:

You probably know much of this, folks, but here is a summary of reactions of the companies to the lockdown: https://www.travelagentcentral.com/cruises/viking-and-scenic-respond-austrian-lock-down-and-impact-european-river-cruises

 

notamermaid

 

I am relieved that Avalon made the decision to cancel our Danube cruise.  Although sad that our Christmas Markets cruise was cancelled again (we were supposed to go in 200), missing Vienna entirely and the Christmas markets in Budapest and Nurnberg would not be worth going for us.  I got the email from Avalon today outlining our options and they were very generous.  We are leaning toward rebooking the same cruise for next year; will make the decision soon.

 

[Daisi]

13 hours ago, KathyK13 said:

I am relieved that Avalon made the decision to cancel our Danube cruise.  Although sad that our Christmas Markets cruise was cancelled again (we were supposed to go in 200), missing Vienna entirely and the Christmas markets in Budapest and Nurnberg would not be worth going for us.  I got the email from Avalon today outlining our options and they were very generous.  We are leaning toward rebooking the same cruise for next year; will make the decision soon.

 

 

Just curious, are they offering a FCC + bonus for a future cruise?  When they were having to cancel last time, they did that, or I believe funds returned.  I was pleased that they didn't wait for last minutes, but were first to cancel...shows they feel their guests & staff are more important.  Just one more reason to love them. 🙂

[KathyK13]

7 hours ago, Daisi said:

 

Just curious, are they offering a FCC + bonus for a future cruise?  When they were having to cancel last time, they did that, or I believe funds returned.  I was pleased that they didn't wait for last minutes, but were first to cancel...shows they feel their guests & staff are more important.  Just one more reason to love them. 🙂

They offered several options.  Re-book the same cruise next year, at the same price and any upgrades transferred plus $200 bonus.  Other options were a full refund, future cruise credit with bonus or book a different cruise with bonus.  I thought they were very generous options.  I agree, I was glad they canceled quickly and we weren't in limbo.  We re-booked for next year.  No increase in cost, got the same upgrades and even got the same rooms!  Im trying to be optomistic that next year the pandemic will be under control.

[Daisi]

Wow... those are great options.  We were booked for May this year, had the opportunity to change to 2022, which we did.  By August we were still feeling a bit worried, so were able to change to 2023.  Avalon has been great, I know our TA really likes dealing with them.  She was very frustrated the day we changed to 2023 as she had spent 4 hrs on hold trying to look after clients who's cruise had been cancelled by another line.  She had ours done in about 10 minutes!

 

Really hope you are successful next year.

[notamermaid]

More reactions from river cruise lines: https://www.travelagentcentral.com/cruises/more-european-river-cruise-lines-react-austrias-lock-down

 

notamermaid

 

[KathyK13]

1 hour ago, Daisi said:

Wow... those are great options.  We were booked for May this year, had the opportunity to change to 2022, which we did.  By August we were still feeling a bit worried, so were able to change to 2023.  Avalon has been great, I know our TA really likes dealing with them.  She was very frustrated the day we changed to 2023 as she had spent 4 hrs on hold trying to look after clients who's cruise had been cancelled by another line.  She had ours done in about 10 minutes!

 

Really hope you are successful next year.

We are very happy with Avalon right now, thought they were very understanding and wanted to make sure their guests were well compensated.  My TA likes Avalon too, said they are one of the easier lines to work with.  I hope things are better by springtime, but who knows?  You were smart to move to 2023.  We were thinking of doing a weekend in Toronto (we live in Western NY so it's close), but crossing the border is still a pain so we will wait.  We miss visiting Canada!

[gnome12]

3 hours ago, KathyK13 said:

We are very happy with Avalon right now, thought they were very understanding and wanted to make sure their guests were well compensated.  My TA likes Avalon too, said they are one of the easier lines to work with.  I hope things are better by springtime, but who knows?  You were smart to move to 2023.  We were thinking of doing a weekend in Toronto (we live in Western NY so it's close), but crossing the border is still a pain so we will wait.  We miss visiting Canada!

My sister lives in Rochester, and I'm coming down for Christmas. I have to decide whether I can (or want to) do this trip (which also includes a niece and family coming in from the NYC area) in 72 hours or less, which would let me avoid the PCR test to return, or to take the test, probably on Dec 26, and hope that waiting for  the results don't force me to hang around too long, overdosing on family.

[KathyK13]

44 minutes ago, gnome12 said:

My sister lives in Rochester, and I'm coming down for Christmas. I have to decide whether I can (or want to) do this trip (which also includes a niece and family coming in from the NYC area) in 72 hours or less, which would let me avoid the PCR test to return, or to take the test, probably on Dec 26, and hope that waiting for  the results don't force me to hang around too long, overdosing on family.

I live in Pittsford, a Rochester suburb, small world!  There are a few places that offer 24 or 36 hour turnaround times, otherwise you'd probably have to wait up to 4 days for results from a CVS.  Numbers here have been high for the last 2 months and are not showing any signs of going down, so no surprise Canada requires a PCR test.  I hope you're able to visit your sister and her family, and Buffalo doesn't experience one of it's infamous December lake effect snowstorms during your visit!

[gnome12]

1 hour ago, KathyK13 said:

I live in Pittsford, a Rochester suburb, small world!  There are a few places that offer 24 or 36 hour turnaround times, otherwise you'd probably have to wait up to 4 days for results from a CVS.  Numbers here have been high for the last 2 months and are not showing any signs of going down, so no surprise Canada requires a PCR test.  I hope you're able to visit your sister and her family, and Buffalo doesn't experience one of it's infamous December lake effect snowstorms during your visit!

My sister is actually in Fairport; I know Pittsford well. I have spent plenty of time through the years she has lived in the US at Pittsford Plaza, and enjoy walking the triangle of State St, N Main St and Schoen Place. 
 

I don’t think my sister’s experience with her local CVS is that bad, but I do worry about wait times over the Christmas/New Year’s period. The good news is that I am retired; so I don’t have to rush home for any specific purpose. I do need results available to allow me to get to the border within 72 hours of the test. 

[notamermaid]

The news from the CC UK people, updated:

https://www.cruisecritic.co.uk/news/6611/

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

On 11/23/2021 at 1:43 AM, KathyK13 said:

I am relieved that Avalon made the decision to cancel our Danube cruise.  Although sad that our Christmas Markets cruise was cancelled again (we were supposed to go in 200), missing Vienna entirely and the Christmas markets in Budapest and Nurnberg would not be worth going for us. 

What a great pity that you are not coming but I certainly understand that Avalon cancelled it and your relieve about it. I agree, it would not have been worth it. Hopefully, next year things will look much better.

 

I hope you have a great Advent with festive lights and much cheer. 🎄

 

notamermaid

 

[purrlinda]

Slovakia just went into lockdown as well.  I wonder how that will impact river cruises that have replaced Vienna with Bratislava?  More time in Budapest or extra day of sailing?  

 

I'm really thinking that Scenic and Avalon were right to just cancel the season at this point.

[KathyK13]

6 hours ago, notamermaid said:

What a great pity that you are not coming but I certainly understand that Avalon cancelled it and your relieve about it. I agree, it would not have been worth it. Hopefully, next year things will look much better.

 

I hope you have a great Advent with festive lights and much cheer. 🎄

 

notamermaid

Thanks, notamermaid.  I'm more relieved than disappointed at this point.  We had planned our own pre cruise in Budapest and post cruise in Munich; both have canceled their Christmas markets.  Plus the worry over getting the PCR test in time to enter Hungary and the possibility of testing positive was stressful.  We are going to take advantage of Christmas festivities here that are outdoors or indoors limited to the vaccinated have Covid restrictions in place.  We will find ways to enjoy!

 

[steamboats]

9 hours ago, purrlinda said:

Slovakia just went into lockdown as well.  I wonder how that will impact river cruises that have replaced Vienna with Bratislava?  More time in Budapest or extra day of sailing?  

 

I'm really thinking that Scenic and Avalon were right to just cancel the season at this point.

Actually Vienna and Bratislava are regular ports on river cruises... at least with all German river cruise companies. There are a couple of ports in Hungary which can be used. But boarding in Passau or Regensburg (Vilshofen is again in the over 1,000 county which has to lockdown by tomorrow) and then going down the Danube with 2 or 3 river days just to visit Hungary is not what anyone expected.

 

steamboats

[notamermaid]

Austria has managed to get positive cases down with a full lockdown. Now that will be lifted, but there will be many restrictions still, for the unvaccinated more than the vaccinated. Also, regional governments can have tighter restrictions than the Federal Government demands: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-12-07/austria-to-end-lockdown-from-sunday-keep-limits-on-unvaccinated

 

notamermaid