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That´s what all the people wondered when the Viking longships came out. But Viking didn´t show any interest in the advice of river experts. On the Mississippi river they thought they could simply copy and paste the longships of the Rhine/Main/Danube rivers. They never heard that there are no landings along the Mississippi river like those in Europe. They never heard of choking a stomp and just putting the bow into the mud. Same for the two Elbe river ships. There is a reason why Croisi Europe decided for the paddlewheelers. They can go on pretty shallow water. Again, Viking built their ships with a pretty deep draft and therefore they hardly sail. Sorry, we hardly had any rain here in Munich so far. Some drops but not more than 5 min. The soil was dry within seconds. @Seattle1964 although I´m not an engineer I am familiar with the Bernoulli principle. That´s how the Oasis and Allure of the Seas made it from their building shipyard in Turku to the whole wide world passing the Stoerebelt bridge. Technically both ships were too high to pass this bridge (even with retracted stacks it was a close call). They had to go almost full speed to pass the bridge (which was closed for traffic during the passing) and use the Bernoulli effect to pass under the bridge. But I don´t think the Bernoulli principle has much effect on river cruise ships are they are usually cruising pretty slow. Sure there are changes in the draft depending on how much "load" (passengers, crew, goods and more) the ship has. And BTW even the hight of a river cruise ship is limited - basically due to the low bridges along the Main river and the Canal. Everything on the sun deck has to be flattened down for passing the bridges. Pilot houses are retractable. But all I wanted to point out is that the Viking longships have one of the deepest draft (if not the deepest) on the Rhine/Main/Danube system. Other 135 m ships don´t have such a deep draft. And all of them have a maximum width of 11.40 m due to the size of the lock chambers. And as I said above obviously while constructing those ships nobody did seek the advice of experts. Viking ships are the first ones to get stuck with low waters. steamboats

@Seattle1964 I was only talking about the Viking longships. All Viking longships on the Rhine/Main/Danube are the same size. Viking longships are known for a deep draft - one of the deepest in the river cruise industry. BTW the draft has nothing to do with the length or width of a ship. The 110 m and the 135 m are simply standard lenghts for some areas due to the lock chamber sizes. Same for the width. Therefore the (Crystal) Mozart is not able to go upriver of Passau (and all A-Rosa ships on the Danube river) as the Mozart is too wide for the locks upriver of Passau. As well as the A-Rosa Sena which can only go downriver on the Rhine river because of her width. steamboats

This was the water package. steamboats

All Viking ships on the Rhine/Main/Danube rivers are the same longships. And they have a pretty deep draft of 1.90 m. 280 cm would be another 90 cm under the keel which is pretty much. @TAC1582 and @fairydustca your experiences are a great example. Those who are in the call centers don´t have a clue (or are not allowed to say a word to keep you on the booking). And those who are to inform the passengers - usually on a very short notice - know exactly what´s going on. steamboats

@Canal archive it´s the same with almost all river cruise companies. My example was a US company for a river cruise in the US. But you can call a German river cruise company and those folks answering the phone don´t have a clue about river gauges and such either. steamboats

Because they don´t know a thing... the call centers or offices are in the US or whereever. Nobody in those call centers does have a clue about the current status of a river in Europe (or elsewhere). I remember waking up at 6 am in the morning and checking my mails. A friend of mine wrote me that my ship won´t be going where it was supposed to go... We were supposed to fly to the US on Thursday. We immediately contacted the cruise line and the first reply was... no the cruise will be as scheduled. Not until we replied but your captain onboard told us that due to low water the ship is not able to go but will be rerouted they checked and then admitted we´re right. We had to rearrange our connection in the US (for some good extra money). Onboard we learned that many of the pax didn´t get the information until Friday - the cruise started on Saturday. Sometimes it´s good to have friends 😉 - the bad thing was that due to the itinerary change we didn´t meet our friend as planned. The good thing we met with other friends... steamboats

Amsterdam has nothing to do with the CDC ;-). If RCI is dropping the tests it will be August 1st (as NCL, Regent, Oceania). So no chance that you won´t need a test for next Tuesday out of Amsterdam steamboats

Ups, sorry, I didn´t realize you´re in Livorno. I was automatically thinking of La Spezia. steamboats

I can only provide photos of our cabin which was a triple with a small sofa bed. steamboats

You can either take the train or the boat to Cinque Terre without any kind of tour (ship or private). steamboats

But I´ve never seen an OV or inside with the bed against the wall and the TV on the wall on the foot side of the bed. It´s also only one matress. Even if an OV or inside is not very spacious you can access the bed from both sides, you have a bed which can be separated with two matresses. steamboats

Looks more like a crew cabin than a passenger cabin. steamboats

Here are some photos and a short video of the ship and the guests standing on the sun deck in their robes. The incident happened yesterday morning around 8 am. 115 guests, a total of 151 (pax and crew). Nobody was injured but the cabin can´t be used anymore. steamboats

Be aware that most of them are made in China... For a real German one you have to pay a real high price... steamboats

@HeinBloed you can confirm that the shuttle bus is back to Largo della Pace since late June. steamboats

This is correct. steamboats

I read an article in a local newspaper yesterday interviewing someone of the authorities responsible for the traffic on the Danube river. That person said that river cruise ships with a deeper draft might get alrealy into troubles. Freight ships are still o.k. when taking less freight. The gauges are falling and there´s no rain in the forecast. We do expect a heat wave with extreme high temps. steamboats

Here´s what you can see in Messina itself - but we did a lot of walking that day. steamboats

It´s a couple of years ago I´ve been to Messina (2016 to be exact, been there last year too but not off the ship). I did take a photo of the taxi price list so this may help as orientation. The prices are for sure a bit higher now. steamboats

Actually I once met a male therapist when I toured the spa. It turned out that he was German (as we are) so we talked for a while. He was a German phyisotherapist and wanted to explore the world by working on a ship. steamboats

You don´t need any passport information for booking a flight. You need the passport for check-in (either online or at the counter). steamboats

NHS = National Health Service (in UK) steamboats

True is that you don´t need a mandatory Covid insurance for all bookings starting July 1st 2022. So by "threatening" you they just wanted to sell you insurance or tell you that it´s still a good thing to have insurance. steamboats

In Genoa you can just walk off the ship and are directly at the historic city center. But be aware that for many areas you have to walk upwards (with mainly cobblestone streets). steamboats

You missed out the sentence prior to your quote: For the best European cruise experience, we strongly recommend guests be “up to date” on their COVID-19 vaccination per the European Medicines Agency (EMA). So you can cruise with being "fully vaccinated" but not "up to date" (boostered). But you might face extra costs due to extra tests. steamboats