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There are quite a few ships called Polaris. Some have a "first name" like the expedition ship Viking Polaris. In the OPs case it´s the river cruise ship Travelmarvel Polaris ;-). steamboats

All entries are online now covering three ships of Thurgau Travel: Thurgau Prestige Edelweiss Antonio Bellucci with the Thurgau Prestige being the most detailed entries as I stayed on this ship for the night. steamboats

The stuff they used pre Covid does not work on Noro. But the stuff they are using now due to Covid is working on Noro too. On an ocean cruise ship you can turn self serve buffet into served buffet (what has been done during the restart after the shutdown). On a river cruise ship this is not that easy as the buffet area is much smaller (more like a table you walk around) and there is no space for any person to serve the passengers. So many river cruise lines did change to a table service with a limited menu for breakfast or lunch. Some started out with ready made plates which can be picke up by the passengers or handed out by a server. So that is what you can do on a river cruise ship - not just because of Covid but also because of Noro. steamboats

@Coral here in Germany they do have to report. But we don´t have a Federal health office where they have to report but the local ones. So a cruise ship in Hamburg has to report to the city of Hamburg´s health authorties. Same for the rivers but there the health authorities are mainly located in the county administration. There are for sure reports required in other European countries as well. steamboats

@Coral the ocean vessels do not have to report to the CDC when they don´t depart from a US port (neither Noro nor Covid-19). steamboats

Not sure whether IG River Cruise has any regulations and whether they are published online. But it´s common standard to remove anything which can be touched by more than one person, set up hand sanitizers (and place someone next to them to force the passengers to use them) or sanitize any surfaces (especially handrails or elevators). That´s what everyone did when river cruising restarted after the shut down. Many of those measures were already existant (mainly because of Noro). The main problem with reporting Noro virus is that a doctor needs to be involved (to get samples and prove it´s Noro). So usually on river cruises it´s only "detected" when the amount of sick passengers really gets high and some passengers need help of a doctor or need to be hospitalized. That´s usually the moment a ship is locked down by the authorities. But when you only have a small amount of sick passengers at a time and don´t have to call a local doctor... the ship has moved to the next port in another county or even state here in Germany... And as we all learned with Covid-19 here in Germany the communication between those local health authorities is the tricky part. steamboats

Yes, all guests 3 years and older do need a test not older than 2 days prior to boarding. Antigen test is sufficient (no self test, must be a certified test). If you do have any questions either me or @Steff79 will be happy to help you. steamboats

This is really an unusual reaction especially regarding the fact that in Germany you are obliged to report Noro virus outbreaks to the health authorities. Other than in the US WE don't have a Federal bureau like the CDC but it's the counties which are responsible regarding health issues (but it's a Federal law that you have to report the cases). You didn't say where the ship was in Thanksgiving when it started. It's not that the is automatically seized by the authorities. It depends on the number of cases. But the authorities will definitely order sanitizing and cleaning or other things to prevent the spreading. steamboats

You will hardly find anything in English about A-Rosa as they are basically a German river cruise line. In the past they did sell bilingual cruises or all English cruises (meaning just a couple of dates). steamboats

The Swiss river cruise company Thurgau Travel AG finally celebrated their "open ship day" after two years. As Thurgau Travel just opened up a German office in Berlin last May to get into the German market, a couple of media people were invited to come to Basel for the "open ship day". More than 3,200 guests were visiting the ships in two days. For 15 CHF each they got a nice lunch plus drinks onboard (limited selection of course). Unfortunately that amount of people made it not easy to get photos of the ships. So most of the photos were taken in the dark - on the first evening after the guests were gone and early in the morning on the second day before the next guests arrived. I start out with the Thurgau Prestige which was buildt as Swiss Jewel (for Tauck) in 2009 and is with Thurgau Travel since 2018. The first entry is a deck by deck photo review of the ship. Tomorrow I´ll show you the cabin I slept in for the night - a 30 sqm Master Suite. The third entry will be two regular cabins - just a quick tour. I will proceed with the MS Edelweiss (but I haven´t worked on those photos yet). steamboats

Interesting, I didn´t have one on the Grandiosa for the christening in November 2019 although the holders were still there. There were no holders or boxes on the MSC Seashore in September 2021 (Med cruise). steamboats

Yes, the have a shallower draft than the classic longships. But anyway they are drawing too much water. And during the summer season they are usully stationary and used as floating hotel. BTW the number of decks is not necessarily connected with the depth of the draft. steamboats

Yes, Starbucks only. But there´s a Starbucks machine in the Surfside Restaurant. You can pick up a paper cup there. Or even better... bring your own insulated travel mug and avoid the waste 😉. steamboats

MSC got rid of the Kleenex boxes in 2019 (pre pandemic) - at least in Europe. They might add them for US sailings. steamboats

Yes, I know that the problems mainly occur during summer. But actually we´re talking about Viking and their ships are not really buildt for the Elbe river... (except that they are a bit shorter than those on the Rhine/Main/Danube rivers). They always are running into problems. If we were talking about CroisiEurope I say go for the Elbe river but not with Viking. steamboats

For Munich... we have at least 30 markets 😉 steamboats

For Germany and France you only need Euro. We don´t have Chase Bank here in Germany. So there won´t be any Chase ATMs unless they are cooperating with a German bank. steamboats

I would skip the Elbe cruise... not that there aren´t great markets there but you will pretty likely end up with a stationary ship and bus rides. Amsterdam - Basel is pretty nice. I´ve just been to Basel for 24 hours and made it to one of the markets there. Except for Basel most of the markets along the Rhine river are "younger" ones. There wasn´t a tradition of Christmas markets in that area. Starting in Nuremberg on the Canal and then going on the Danube river down to Vienna or Budapest you will cover the most traditional (and older) markets starting with Nuremberg. But be aware that Nuremberg does not open until Friday before the first of Advent. steamboats

As a German I never heard of Paducah before... until we got stuck there for 3 days due to high water on our first attempt to go to Nashville by riverboat. It was love at second sight... And on my three stops there I still haven´t been to the National Quilt Museum (except for the gift shop). steamboats

Just to mention that Paducah, KY, is on the Ohio river ;-). And that´s why I do prefer the paddlewheelers - less vibration even in lower water... steamboats

There will be something on Cruisetricks and also on Cruisediary. So far I only did a story/highlight on IG on Cruisediary. Plus I downloaded all the photos and sorted them. There were actually four ships but I took photos only of three of them. Why? The Thurgau Ultra (ex TUI Queen, ex Premicon Queen) is leaving the fleet and will be replaced by the newbuildt Thurgau Gold. So it didn´t make sense to take photos of a ship leaving the company. And with more than 3,200 guests visiting the ships in two days it was hard to take photos anyway. There will be also an interview with the German CEO. But my DH is just returning from Miami today and we haven´t talked about the details yet. I will post in the other thread when there´s something online. steamboats

Swiss Francs 😉 - Switzerland is not part of the EU and also not of the Euro-Zone. steamboats

I've been to two more markets in Munich today (plus the Residenz Weihnachtsdorf for another eggnog). So I've been to Schwabinger Weihnachtsmarkt. They have the best Flammbrot (the photo shows only half a Flammbrot as I shared one with my Mom as a starter). Then we moved on to Mittelalter Weihnachtsmarkt for a wild boar roll as entrée. I also can recommend the Knödel there. Heard a lot of English there. We moved over to Residenz Weihnachtsdorf which is just around the corner. Another eggnog for dessert. The main problem was the subway which had a construction going on. So the trains and stations were crowded as this was right in the center of Munich. I haven't ready anything about this so it came as a surprise. steamboats

One was 3.50 CHF. In Portugal it's more Like 1 Euro. So two were all I could afford 😂. steamboats

As far as I´ve heard almost all markets switched to LED lightning to save energy. And instead of having the lights on 24/7 they put it on when it´s starting to get dark and turn it off when the market closes. So many may have limited hours for the lights. steamboats