Cruise

I was one of three grandchildren who, in March 2018, along with our spouses, retraced a trip that was taken up the Mekong River by our grandmother, Phoebe Ellison, in 1909.

We elected to go by period riverboats that were owned and run by Pandaw (Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam; phone +84 985 417 758, www.pandaw.com). The boats had been rebuilt or were reproductions of those of the Irrawaddy Flotilla Company, the largest riverboat company in the world in the mid-19th century.

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Dear Globetrotter:

The US Congress passed a law in December 2020 requiring all cruise ships to have a registered medical doctor on board at all times. In addition, the location of medical facilities and instructions on what to do in a medical emergency now must be included in the safety presentation given to passengers upon first boarding the ship.

A full polymerase chain reaction (PCR) lab was installed on Viking Cruises’ Viking Star, permitting the ship to conduct daily COVID-19 tests of all of its passengers and crew. It is the first full-scale PCR testing facility to be built on board a cruise ship. The test administered by this lab is a noninvasive saliva test.

The Viking Star, one of Viking’s oceangoing vessels, can hold 930 passengers and 602 crew.

The Tokyo International Cruise Terminal, on the Daiba waterfront, welcomed its first cruise ship on Sept. 10. The terminal was scheduled to begin operation on July 14, in time for the Tokyo Olympics; however, the COVID-19 pandemic delayed both events, with the Olympics in Japan now scheduled to take place in 2021.

ITN is temporarily accepting brief write-ups about the US. Information on independent travel, cultural and traditional sites and sources of handmade crafts plus little-known natural wonders are welcome. Avoid touting commercial theme parks, casinos or highly publicized touristy sites.

Email editor@intltravelnews.com or write to Travelers’ Intercom USA, c/o ITN, 2116 28th St., Sacramento, CA 95818.

MEMORABLE SITES IN TENNESSEE

Following is an excerpt from a letter submitted by Linda Vogel of Pomona, California:

"I had a happy experience with the travel insurance company Generali Global Assistance (San Diego, CA, 800/874-2442; www.generalitravelinsurance.com), from whom I had purchased insurance for a March 30-April 22 tour of Algeria, Tunisia and Malta that was subsequently canceled due to COVID-19. ..."

Following is an excerpt from a letter submitted by Susan Angel of San Rafael, California:

"My parents, Jean and Bud Marchant, and my husband, Jerry, and I were on the eve of embarking on a 12-day, September 2009 cruise from Istanbul to Venice when my father fell ill and was hospitalized in Istanbul. ..."

My husband, Alan, and I wanted to go to Romania and Bulgaria in April 2020, so in October 2019 we went onto Vacationstogo.com and selected an Emerald Waterways (www.emeraldwaterways.com) river cruise from Bucharest to Budapest, planning an early arrival in Bucharest. We paid $11,970 for the two of us, purchasing our hotels and air separately.

We, being seniors, bought travel insurance, in this case with Generali Global Assistance (800/874-2442, www.generalitravelinsurance.com) through Vacations To Go.

As we’ve had to postpone our travels because of the pandemic, I believe a weekly dose of travel dreaming can be good medicine. Here’s one of my favorite European memories from a tiny Danish island — a reminder of the fun that awaits us at the other end of this crisis.