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Jeri Clausing
The wide smiles on the faces of the owners of AmaWaterways during a webinar on the line s planned summer restart may have summed up best the relief being felt across the sector as Europe begins its long-awaited reopening.
But the virtual informational session with advisors last week also underscored the many unknowns that remain about the return to sailing after a year-and-a-half hiatus, including exactly what protocols guests will need to follow and when a broader offering of multicountry cruises will resume.
Top of mind during a Q&A was what the protocols will be for testing, vaccines and masks which, like everything involving pandemic-era travel, are varied and likely to change.
Cruise | May 28, 2021 | Harry Kemble
The boss of Crystal River Cruises says he is “cautiously optimistic” about resuming operations following the announcement that the European Union will allow fully vaccinated passengers to enter this summer.
Crystal plans to resume European river cruises on August 29.
In a letter to travel agents, Walter Littlejohn, the line’s senior vice president and managing director, said the decision taken earlier this month to permit immunised travellers to enter the EU was “necessary”.
He called for individual EU member states to now adopt the decision as it affected the line’s cross-border European itineraries, adding it was “a critical next step”.
The pre-pandemic perks of a river cruise passengers numbering in the few hundred rather than the few thousand, à la carte versus buffet dining, small-group excursions and personalized attention are the same ones making it an attractive choice for many people’s first post-covid vacation. Travelers who find mega ocean ships daunting or just …