It's been a long, quiet year on the river cruise beat.
Except for a few near-restarts last summer here in the United States, conversations during my regular check-ins with folks across the industry long ago turned into Groundhog Day-type chats about when and how sailings might resume.
But if this past week is any indication, companies are gaining confidence about the seasons ahead and cranking up their marketing efforts.
Monday, for instance, both AmaWaterways and Crystal River Cruises unveiled some of the surprises companies have been hinting were under development during the shutdown.
First, AmaWaterways announced the "longest-ever river cruise," a 46-night journey across 14 countries on four different ships.
Later the same day, Crystal River Cruises threw out another surprise, announcing that it is pulling its original ship, the Crystal Mozart, out of retirement to meet demand in 2022.
The Mozart will sail a traditional seven-day Danube itinerary, freeing up one of Crystal's four new build ships, the Crystal Mahler, to sail a variety of different trips across the Rhine, Main and Moselle rivers.
Additionally, Crystal is reserving the ship's 38 window suites for solo travelers, with no single supplement.
While companies constantly tweak and introduce itineraries, AmaWaterways and Crystal both said these more substantial changes are part of their efforts to further adapt to changing traveler demands and expectations after the long travel shutdown.
AmaWaterways president and co-founder Rudi Schreiner said he developed the extensive itinerary for the 46-day trip, which includes more than 130 excursion options, in response to guest requests for longer journeys.
At Crystal, Walter Littlejohn said the goal was to increase options. With the repositioning of the Crystal Mozart to more traditional seven-day Danube trips, the Crystal Mahler will be freed up to sail a variety of trips ranging from five to 16 days, including some that hit all three rivers.
"This is the perfect time to expand the options available to our guests, who are well-traveled, inquisitive and always seeking new experiences," Littlejohn said. "Crystal Mahler's repositioning to the Moselle, Rhine and other rivers and available shorter itineraries offer options that appeal to more travelers, whether multi-generational families or busy professionals with limited time to explore. It is always our goal to accommodate our guests' varied preferences."
Riviera River Cruises also announced this week it will debut three new itinerary options for classic routes on the Rhine, Danube and Seine, when sailing resumes.
And I would expect these are just a preview of changes we will be hearing about in the months to come.