When would you book a European cruise with an eye on COVID?

I really love the SilverSea experience and they are offering some great deals that get even better when you negotiate. Heck, I love travel anywhere in the world.

They do offer generous cancellation policies due to COVID. But I also need to plan work around vacations. It’s difficult to cancel a planned trip for a variety of reasons.

When would you feel confident planning your next European trip or cruise, with certainty that it would happen, without quarantine protocol?

Matt

 

I live in the french/german/luxemboug border, don't expect to see a better situation before June. At least

 

I’m trying to plan for September, but I’m doubting travel from the USA.

Matt

 

Europeans seem terrified of the "3rd wave". Easter lockdowns in several places. They are way behind on vaccinations. Not a good place to visit anytime soon.

 

Unfortunately, it is not only the slow vaccinations, but the variants: "british variant", "brazilian variant" and "South african variant".
See the most adanced country as for vaccinations, which is not in Europe anymore: the U.K; almost half of the british Citizen have already received one injection at least, and their government is still not sure that it would be a good idea for the brits to travel abroad this year.
My advice is simple: postpone it to next year.

Rgds

 

I think it would be wise to postpone it until next year...that's only my advice, For What It Worth, which is: not much, but even September seems far-fetched to me. Some countries might not be out of trouble at that date, especially due to the new variants, so your itinerary would probably be sketchy.

Quite a number of countries around the mediterranean have economies that depends a lot from tourism incomes (as much as 20% of their G.D.P), so they are anxious to reopen as soon as possible (which is understandable), but as for myself, I wouldn't do it before 2022 (and who knows if, in the meantime, a new variant would not make even that difficult...)

Rgds

 

Not before September, if you ask me. And we live separated by five miles...

Rgds

 

Hi Matt. We are Silversea veterans as well. No way I get on a boat anywhere in the world until perhaps this winter. We had every intention of rescheduling the Italy trip we had to cancel last September for this Sept. There is too much uncertainty. Plus the air connections/seat availability is limited and changing. Our family in France tell us "stay away". Our friends in Tuscany and Rome say "wait until summer to decide". I am thinking now that we will do a winter holiday Pacific Islands, NZ, Oz, etc. Cheers, Keith

 

We had a trip to Eastern Europe (Prague, Vienna, Budapest and Dubrovnik) planned for October '20, which we pushed to October '21. I have feeling that we may have to push it again to Spring '22, as our flight into Budapest was cancelled due to Hungary being completely locked down (borders closed). The rest of world is way behind the US in rolling out vaccinations (IMHO).

We do however have a New Years cruise booked to the Caribbean, which we plan on taking (bumped from last year).

 

Thanks. I think you’re right.

I’ll “settle” for the Carribean. Except for hurricane season....

Matt

 

I'm still hopeful our group of 15 couples from Dallas can do our Danube Cruise on Crystal on October 20 2021. I know we will all be vaccinated by then, and the boat only holds 109 total. Our worry is about museums, restaurants, side tours, and will they be open then.

Any opinions on how central Europe might be doing by then?

 

Yes, one of the only town I can go without an exceptional travel declaration. Car stays in the garage, go with my bicycle.
(for non-french: since Friday we need an exceptional travel declaration if we want to go over 10 km or 6.21 miles of our house).

 

I managed to do 60 miles (= 100 kms) on Sunday with the GTS, while staying all the time inside the circle of 10 kms radius; or should I say the 2/3 of the circle, as one third of the circle is "on the other side" of the border, which is forbidden to us in any case. I had to be "rather creative"...

Rgds

 

Difficult to say, but "Central Europe" on the whole ("Central Europe" includes many countries) is not doing well these days: take the Czech Republic, for instance: as you probably know, is one of the worst, if not the worst, country in Europe as far as contaminations go; for the time being, that is...

Rgds

 

Thanks for that info. I don't think we have to go firm on money until June, so have a little time to keep watch.

 

According to the statistics I have this April 8 in the morning:

Among the 12 countries most affected by Covid deaths in the world:
- Czech Republic comes first in the world with 2,572 deaths per million inhabitants.
- Hungary third, with 2,294 per million
- Bulgaria seventh, with 1,998 per million
- Slovakia eleventh, with 1,881 per million

(France is twenty-fifth with 1,455 per million).

As for contaminatons:
- Czech Republic has 1.6 million persons contaminated for 10.708.000 inhabitants (= one person contamined for six inhabitants, or roughly double the U.S)
- Hungary 693,676 for 9,769,000 inhabitants
- Bulgaria 364,419 for 6,951,500
- Slovakai 366,894 for 5,464,000

Matt's (= Smiles) question is "when will it be safe without quarantine protocol"; as said above, the matter in Europe is not only about slow vaccinations compared to the US or the U.K, but also the speed of contaminations by the new variants.
The french "Institut Pasteur", which is THE authority here as for epidemies, etc...has stated on Tuesday that it does NOT believe possible that we will be back here to "our former life" in the Autumn, which means that face masks, etc...will still be "de rigueur" in September in France.

You should monitor the figures carefully before booking anything...
The U.K will very probably be safe in September; as for the E.U, well...

For the time being, I would say that it depends on your chosen itinerary and your proficiency with face masks, etc...
(New Zealand seems to be the best bet at this time...)

I know that I shall stay put, at home, in 2021; I will consider travelling again in 2022...perhaps? Who knows?

Rgds

 

Thank you for this.
It’s disheartening, but realistic.

Matt

 

Nerofer...It is a pity. Best wishes, Keith

 

It is what it is, Keith..
As for France, the second lockdown was lifted too early at the end of November, without the threshold announced four weeks before of "less than five thousand new contaminations per day on average" being reached. But the government was trying to avoid strangling the economy too much by a long lock-down.
Then, during January and February, they tried different measures such as curfews, etc...adjusted to the different regions, trying to slow-down the contaminations without having to decide another full lock-down. Trying to "live with the virus"...
It failed in the end, due to a slow start for the vaccinations on one hand, and the new variants on the other hand, which spread much faster than the first one.
Now we are locked-down again, hopefully only until the end of April, and hoping to see some light at the end of the tunnel for the summer. But I think that we can forget about travels for 2021 too...

Rgds

 

I just went risk on and booked two cruises. One at the end of September in the Baltics and one at the end of October in the Caribbean. I think most service in the US is going to suck this Summer and most activities will be packed or hamstrung so much as to be no fun.

There's risk that it doesn't go off but the financial risk isn't a big deal with all the cancellation flexibility. I looked at it like buying stock options.

 

Certainly not in 2021. Sorry. Travel domestically before then. Numbers booming in other parts of the world.

 

Sadly, I think you’re right.

Matt

 

I think you’re right and I jumped the gun booking a cruise. I’m going to be out $1000 and have to put up with calls wanting me to carry it forward.

I think even domestic travel is going to be crowded with poor service this summer. It’s probably another year for things to balance out.

 

You would be right. The Baltic cruise I booked just canceled.