What are your thoughts about travel in the time of Covid?

We did our first (and so far only) river cruise in 2019: Amsterdam to Budapest. We were 60 and 56 then, and have done many ocean cruises. We chose Scenic which is an Australian competitor to Viking. I don’t really remember why we chose them over Viking but also think the experiences are very similar. Here are my (lengthy) trip notes that I sent to my travel agent:

Two Ship Swaps: About a week before we boarded we got an email from Scenic saying that we would need to board the Scenic Pearl in Amsterdam on 6/10 instead of the ship we booked, the Scenic Jewel, and swap onto the Jewel on the 13th. The explanation we were given onboard was that the Jewel had been delayed in getting to Amsterdam due to high water earlier in the week. So after 3 nights on the Pearl, on the morning of the 13th we had to have our luggage packed up and it was swapped onto the Jewel while we passengers were all on the ship’s excursion to Rudesheim. Unfortunately that was not the only ship swap we had to do. There had been an accident in which a Viking ship damaged the lock at Riedenburg, forcing the lock to be completely closed for a couple of weeks which meant no ships could get through. So we ended up spending just 4 nights on the Jewel before we had to swap to the Scenic Jade. After our excursions in Nuremburg we were bussed to Regensburg to board the Jade.

It was annoying and inconvenient to have to pack up twice to swap ships, since obviously one of the attractions of the river cruise is the idea of taking your hotel with you and only unpacking once. But as our cruise director pointed out, we didn’t actually lose any touring time and were lucky that Scenic had enough boats on both sides of the broken lock to accommodate their passengers. The cruise director said she had a colleague with Crystal who told her they had to turn several of their cruises into bus and hotel tours, which I would not have liked at all. None of it was Scenic’s fault but just one of the risks of river cruises, and Scenic handled everything very well.

General comments on Scenic and river cruising: This was our first river cruise after many ocean cruises. Scenic is an Australian company and the passenger mix was about 55% Australian, 20% Canadian, 10% American, and about 7% New Zealanders and 7% Brits. I’m guessing the average age was about 68? So definitely an older crowd although most people seemed reasonably fit considering their ages. Australians of course hate tipping so the cruise is all inclusive including virtually all alcohol. The only things we paid extra for were (1) a massage, and (2) extra laundry above our 1 kg allotment. At dinner we always ended up at a table with other passengers and over the course of a 14 day cruise got to know several pretty well and made some new friends.

Onboard entertainment is pretty minimal. There was a keyboard entertainer every night and several times local “acts” came onboard for some local type of performance (e.g., a zither concert, a violinist, folk dancing, Viennese waltz lessons). There were two outings where we were taken to locations for dinner/entertainment events. One was for a “medieval” dinner at Marksburg castle and one was for a dinner and Sound of Music/Austrian music performance near Salzburg. In both cases the dinner was banquet quality and the entertainment a combination of a bit campy but fun. DH was especially surprised by how much he enjoyed the Sound of Music performance.

Miscellaneous notes: The cruise director on our cruise was quite different from what we’ve come to expect on an ocean cruise. The river CD is part concierge and part tour manager. We’d have a brief passenger meeting every evening to go over the options for the next day’s activities. At every stop there was a choice of 3 organized activities or DIY suggestions. There was a small cadre of very active people on our cruise who opted for bike tours (ebikes, I think) or other more physically demanding tours.

Our takeaway is that we prefer ocean cruising and land trips, but would consider another river cruise for the right itinerary, especially somewhere where we didn’t feel very comfortable doing stuff on our own. Maybe for example the Irrawaddy River in Myanmar, or a shorter cruise such as the Douro. We felt that Scenic mostly delivered and if looking at another river cruise, we’d cruise on them again for the right price and itinerary but would also consider Viking.

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@deb922 Re European river tours - I have friends who started going on them in their mid-60’s and have (I think) done every route available in Europe. They love them. I mean LOVE them. These are active world travelers, history buffs and generally very interested and interesting people. I also have a friend who did one in France, coupled with a bike tour, as a solo female, to celebrate her 60th. She loved it. LOVED it.

I did a group tour (not Viking) 21 days in China. I was the second youngest passenger (50) and loved it. LOVED it. It included 4 nights on the Yangtze River, giving me my first taste of what a river cruise potentially could offer. I wore a pedometer and averaged 16k steps a day - I ate like a queen, and I enjoyed every second of the trip.

Today, if I did a European river cruise, I’d be stoked to take some watercolor supplies, and would enjoy the opportunity to have a floating muse to paint. There are a few itineraries that seem especially colorful with the Amsterdam to Basel being a top contender.

I think you make of a guided tour what you make of it. My friends all took the opportunities to enjoy the “on your own” portions, jumping on busses, grabbing cabs, and more - and wandering - of course doing their research in advance of what there was to wander to. On my China trip, when others retired (or slept in) for the evening a couple of us went in search of night markets, found public dancing in parks, got up early and did tai chi in parks with locals, and even took the maglev train 40 miles each way (newly built test portion) in Shanghai just because it was there and unique. As we headed out to the maglev (it was an “on your own” morning) others asked “why?” and were kind of scratching their heads - when we got back with crazy enthusiasm, and I shared some video I shot, they all asked our tour guide if we could go…he was amazing, adjusted the day, and added it to the day’s itinerary. Everyone loved the experience.

I say go, and enjoy every second. And now I need to go drool over the itineraries again.

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Has anyone done a St Lawrence River cruise? H and I aren’t cruise people, but that one intrigues me having grown up along the river. I’m quite familiar with the route from Cornwall to Toronto ( river + across Lake Ontario), a little familiar from Cornwall to Montreal, but haven’t seen Montreal to the mouth of the river at all. Doing it as a road trip is on my bucket list and would have happened already without Covid. But perhaps a cruise would be nicer? I’m not sure. It would depend upon how much of the scenery is done overnight. We’re scenery folks.

We did a river cruise on AMA Waterways. My in-laws took all the kids and grandkids. AMA has bikes on board and at every stop a bike trip was one of the options. Each excursion always had an active option which involved hiking or lots of stairs. Our cruise had a lot of people in the 50-65 range. Their was one other set of young people aside from ours. Our boat also had a group who were doing a separate Backroads bike tour where they biked from spot to spot. That also made the age range younger plus it being summer. We all had a great time even though we are all adventurous independent travelers. Ironically it was the grandparents who didn’t love the trip. I think it made them feel old.

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We love Backroads and other active adventure travel companies. The tours we’ve been on so far (4, at least) all included more “older” (60+) people than younger. Our last trip had many people in their 70s and one who turned 81 while on the trip.

I just checked for our usual rental in Maui, I’m surprised that it went down for next year, lower than when we booked in 2020, this is before the pandemic, I just couldn’t find out about car rental, it’s so far out, otherwise I would have booked it. Maybe price is going down in the future.

So what happens if we test positive 24 hours before we return to the US? When can we return? On the first negative test or after a certain number of days? Going ot London on Thursday, and returning the following Thursday. The Thursday after that I need to be at my sons college graduation. going to bring a bunch of tests with us as well. We are vaccinated, boosted, and had Omicron 1 in early January.

My niece had to stay in Thailand for 5 days after testing positive. I don’t know if that is standard.

On the first negative test, if you can secure a flight. The good thing is that the U.K. has no quarantine or other restrictions. But be careful, as no one in the U.K. is taking precautions either. I’m in the same situation, heading to the U.K. this week and needing to get back in time for D’s graduation.

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I hope they remove that requirement soon, last year I travelled to UK, it’s 3 days. But my plan is to book and stay somewhere we’ve never been if that’s the case.

It’s surprising (and depressing) to me how many of y’all are willing to fly back home with Covid (exposing others). If I even suspected I were positive for Covid I wouldn’t go anywhere - not even the grocery or drug store - until I was certain I couldn’t pass it on to someone.

I’m glad they’re keeping the testing personally. I wish they would do the same for domestic trips, though currently, we don’t have any flights planned.

I guess we’ll have the same (or greater) risk on our upcoming Amtrak trip.

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Me too - 100% - I just don’t get it. I have a coworker, right now has Covid (second time since January and they’re fully vaxxed & boosted) is planning on getting on a plane to go vacation in Mexico mid next week. All I can do is shake my head.

It wasn’t required for my friends and me to test before going to Maui (we’re fully vaxxed & boosted) but we did because we wanted to be sure (or as close to sure as possible) that we weren’t dragging anything around to the islands with us unknowingly. The test cost $20. Once we got test results we took the next 3 days to literally stay put. No grocery, banks, errands.

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Did people say that they would knowingly fly back with Covid? I didn’t see that but might have missed it. I saw people asking how soon after quarantining they can fly home. We leave for Vienna on Tuesday. We’ve gotten our 2nd booster and are taking a bunch of rapid tests with us, but are still nervous. Effective on Sunday, Vienna just dropped its requirement for proof of vaccination at bars, restaurants, museums, theatres etc and loosened their indoor mask requirements. We have tickets to the Vienna Opera, Vienna Boys Choir and the Spanish Riding School. We’ll definitely wear our KN95 masks there and elsewhere, but I guess we can no longer count on everyone else to be masked indoors.

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You won’t be allowed on the plane until you test negative. After they remove the testing requirement then inevitably a lot of asymptomatic people will be traveling just as they do domestically. But it won’t make a meaningful difference to spread, which is what most of the rest of the world has concluded (Europe, Canada, Australia etc).

In the meantime the question is whether you actually would quarantine after testing positive if there is no legal obligation to do so. Most people still do, but a significant minority don’t.

Different airlines have different policies. Alaska Airlines, for example, ask passengers whether they were infected within the last 10 days. If they were, they aren’t supposed to board, regardless of their test results.

I hear ya @Creekland , but if we think flight crews are putting up with too much abuse now, imagine if a domestic flight required a negative test or vaccine proof??? There’d be riots.

Which itself, is sad. At least it is the minority, but it’s a minority I don’t have any respect for when I see it. I judge people more on how much they care about others rather than what hill they’re willing to fight for I guess.

Where we are in VA right now (with FIL) we went to Hardees for breakfast yesterday, then the post office to buy stamps. No one had trouble putting a mask on - not even various workmen or a father with his young (pre-school aged) son, some younger ladies, etc. Hardees didn’t even have a sign requesting it. The post office did.

Where I live in PA I didn’t see anyone at the post office with a mask this past week when I mailed a package out (no sign requesting one either), and definitely no one going into restaurants.

It amazes me just how different the US is. Since we opt to go with the flow, we wore masks here and not at home.

If anyone wants negative tests, we get them. If anyone wants proof of vax, we have that too. Even so, there’s no way I’d go anywhere if I had a positive test or suspected I was positive. Perhaps losing an uncle and having a long haul son makes a difference?

When we travel we make sure our plans can shift as needed if it happens. I know @Corinthian has said they’re flexible too and would do the same, but some others definitely imply that they just want to get home instead of waiting it out and don’t want to test, just in case.

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I don’t think I said I would fly if I was infected, why do people jump to conclusion so quickly. But the 3 days window is enough for people to make arrangements if the do tested positive.

Also just because somebody is infected that doesn’t mean you get it either. My daughter’s roommate spent time with her family and they were all infected, but she wasn’t, but out of caution, my daughter didn’t come home after picking her up at the airport.

We’ve packed an extra supply of our maintenance medications (blood pressure etc) in case we need to quarantine, plus some OTC treatment items, thermometer, pulse oximeter, lots of rapid tests etc. One thing we’re unclear on is this: if we were to test positive, can we quarantine in our existing hotel and basically hunker down and order room service, etc, or would someone “make” us move to some other quarantine location? Obviously we’d need the hotel to agree to let us extend our visit and we’d have to pay for that (and then hope to make a trip interruption claim on our credit card insurance). One fear I have is being made to relocate into some unpleasant quarantine hotel. Not sure how that part works.

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I’m not sure how that happens either. Fortunately, we’ve been negative so far on all tests. It might vary by country.

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