Following Austria's temporary lockdown through December 13, Travel Agent has received feedback from three more river cruise lines—Riviera River Cruises, AmaWaterways and Uniworld—about their remaining 2021 voyages on the Danube River.
On Monday, we published responses from Viking and Scenic, and the original story about the lockdown with comments from Avalon Waterways was published later last week.
Riviera River Cruises Feedback
in December 2021, Riviera River Cruises has scheduled multiple, six-day “Danube’s Imperial Cities & Yuletide Markets” cruises roundtrip from Budapest, Hungary, on two river vessels, Thomas Hardy and William Wordsmith. Those cruises were scheduled to call at Bratislava, Slovakia and Vienna, Austria.
“We’re hopeful that the cruises will be able to go ahead, but if the lockdown is extended in Austria, we will operate an alternative itinerary,” according to Marilyn Conroy, Riviera River Cruises’ executive vice president, sales and marketing, North America.
AmaWaterways Update
Separately, AmaWaterways said that itineraries of four ships sailing on the Danube this week are being impacted by the governmental lockdown in Austria. Kristin Karst, co-founder and executive vice president of AmaWaterways, told Travel Agent that the river line’s top priority was to contact all travel advisors and those guests on the line’s Upper Danube itineraries who were scheduled to arrive in Europe this weekend.
“We know how much our guests have been looking forward to their river cruise experience on board our festive ships so rather than cancel, we quickly reached out to our travel partners and guests and provided creative alternative arrangements,” Karst said.
She added that “travel during these times remains a personal choice and we have kept our flexible policies in place to best accommodate the evolving conditions.” AmaWaterways will continue to evaluate the upcoming sailings on the Danube and contact travel advisors and guests with options if the lockdown impacts their cruise. “These arrangements may include moving to another ship or itinerary, or postponing to a future date,” said Karst.
Guests cruising through Austria on AmaWaterways' modified itineraries will also be eligible to receive future cruise credits (FCCs) depending on the number of days affected
Karst emphasized that the line’s ships will continue to sail on the Danube, Rhine and Rhône rivers this year and that she has deeply appreciated both the patience and flexibility shown by travel advisor partners and their clients as the line continues to adjust Danube itineraries as needed.
Uniworld's Response
“Due to Covid-related lockdowns in Austria and the closing of various European Christmas Markets, we will be suspending select Uniworld departures and are working on an alternative for guests still interested in experiencing the European holiday markets this year along the Rhine River,” says Ellen Bettridge, president and CEO of Uniworld.
“Our ‘Danube Holiday Markets,’ ‘Classic Christmas Markets,’ and ‘European Holiday Markets’ itineraries scheduled to depart in the first two weeks of December have been suspended, and guests have been contacted to discuss replacement travel dates and sailing options.”
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