American Queen Steamboat Company and Avalon Waterways have updated their health and safety protocols to include vaccine and testing requirements for guests. But other lines don't seem to be in any rush to follow suit.
And given the uncertainty over whether and how Americans will be able to travel more freely, they certainly have time to mull their options.
Most European river operators say they won't be able to sail until at least April, and most say they expect it could be summer before they can welcome Americans back on board.
Until then, officials with AmaWaterways, Uniworld Boutique River Cruises, Amadeus River Cruises, Scenic and Emerald Waterways say they will continue to monitor the fast-changing nature of the pandemic and government and airline mandates before making changes to their protocols.
"My thought is, we will go with airline and government restrictions," said Rudi Schreiner, president and co-founder of AmaWaterways.
Likewise, Ellen Bettridge, CEO of Uniworld said, "I think it is really too early to know" what the rules will be.
"As we know, this virus has taken many turns."
In addition to monitoring the ever-evolving airline and government mandates, Bettridge said Uniworld will closely monitor guidance from the cruise industry group CLIA and continue implementing new cleaning standards, which include coating ship surfaces with a virus-killing film and installing systems that include air filters in each cabin than can be changed after each sailing.
Marcus Leskovar, executive vice president of Amadeus, which sails only in Europe, said any revisions to their protocols will be based on what happens with travel rules there. The company, which sailed about half its fleet with European guests last year, already has a pre-screening and onboard testing regiment in place, and "we were able to keep all the passengers safe and healthy."
"We have not talked about vaccines. It really depends," he said, noting that the European Union is currently weighing whether vaccine mandates are even legal.
The American Queen.
As much as the news was headline-making, it does not indicate that this will be the norm.
"So there is this whole discussion going on," he said. "We are going to let this play out."
Officials with Scenic and sister company Emerald Waterways say in addition to country mandates and CLIA guidance they are closely monitoring the CDC and the World Health Organization for more specific directions.
Avalon this week became one of the first international river operators to require that all guests show proof of a vaccine, a negative test or recent immunity in order to travel. The policy was adopted companywide by its parent, the Globus family of companies.
That change followed American Queen Steamboat Co.'s announcement earlier this month that it will require all guests to be vaccinated, but not until cruises in July. The company still hopes to resume sailing at the end of March, with pre-travel testing requirements in place.
American Cruise Lines also said it plans to sail at the end of March. The company's current protocols require that all guests prove negative tests.