Hi ,

Vaccine news

Royal Caribbean International, Celebrity Cruises, and Silversea Cruises will require crew members to receive the COVID-19 vaccine prior to boarding and resuming work on its ships. While the decision to require guests to be vaccinated continues, the crew will be required to receive the vaccine. I'll keep you posted about guests.

Several airlines (none of the US Based) have announced they will start flying with fully vaccinated crew on all or some of their flights. We'll see if American carriers step up to this standard or not.

American Queen Steamboat Cruises has announced that as of July 1st all guests must be vaccinated. This has caused an interest in their cruises and in fact I've booked 3 staterooms on AQSC cruises as a result!

Changes to due date for payments in full (PIF)

Both Princess Cruise Lines and Norwegian Cruise Lines have loosened their grip on your money by changing the date your final payment is due from 90 days (or 120 days in the case of NCL) out to 60 days out from sailing. This is a refreshing change in the traveler's favor. Regent has also moved to a 60 day before sailing PIF.

One reason that I normally do not recommend Viking River Cruises is that they require payment in full at the time of booking, meaning that if you book a 2023 river cruise on Viking they are going to have the use of your money for a long time. I love river cruises and have been on many of them. I can recommend better value and not a brand that wants all your money up front. :-)

Travel to Alaska - what do experienced travel advisors say?

Alaska is truly the last frontier - if you've ever been there you'll know the feeling of vastness. There's always an ongoing question about the "best way" to see Alaska - by land or by sea, or both. Here's what long-term TAs have to say about that question.

• You can see so much more of the “real” Alaska away from the cruise ports.
• We all agree that our travel clients do miss a lot without the cruise option.
• A land/cruise combo is ideal. There are parts you can’t see with land only and parts you can’t see with cruise only. My clients always do a cruise only on the first trip, come back and tell me they wish they had listened to me to do both!
• Land/cruise combo is ideal. If Alaska was a hand and all you did was cruise you would only explore the thumb.
• If you do land only at least take boat tours out of the larger local ports that offer that option. You cannot see parts of Alaska without being on the water.
• Do a land tour with a cruise on the end. I worked in Alaska for 9 years, and this is the best way to do it.

Most travel advisors will recommend both land and cruise. I agree. You won't see the Inside Passage or Juneau by land (Juneau is the only US state capital which can only be reached by air or sea.) If you're only going to go one time, a combo is best! If you want to go to Alaska this year (2021) I recommend we find a good land tour company and add on some local boat tours that are day trips out of Alaskan ports. In this way you see the best of both worlds and fly over Canada, avoiding the current restrictions entirely.

Alaskan travel is severely hampered right now because Canadian announced they will close not only their ports but also Canadian waters to any foreign vessels through all of 2021. Some companies are still trying to work out something with the Canadian government for Alaska cruise itineraries, some have thrown in the towel and cancelled for the second year in a row their entire season. Alaskan tourism has been very heavily hit by the closures, as have Canadian ports use to cruise traffic.

Where is the best travel value right now?

The best travel values right now are outside of the United States. Why is this so? Well, because of our current testing requirements and potentially getting caught with covid outside the US which means quarantining where you traveled, many Americans are looking for travel options within the United States. The demand is very high, and yet many travel suppliers are just coming back into operation. High demand and low availability means an increase in pricing.

The best values are for overseas between now and the end of the year, in either land or sea trips. Why is this so? Because these vendors are desperate to make sales after almost a year of no business, and because many Americans are loathe to risk travel to other countries. They don't want to worry about covid testing before flying home, or getting stuck in another country, or having to change their itinerary due to countries opening or closing their borders. Therefore, those who are willing to take the risks can get some pretty good deals.

Having said that, some (not all) of the good deals extend into 2022, which for my money is the safest bet. So if you are considering a land tour or a cruise for late 2021 or for anytime in 2022 let me know what you are interested in, and let's see if there's good options for you to book now for much later travel.

That's your travel update for mid-February. I'll be back with more news toward the first of March.

Sue Painter

sue@travelchangeslife.com

941-70-1842