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Made it into the German RTL News too (6:45 pm). But they didn´t mention that by that time the ship was already docked. They also had a short video with a German couple onboard. steamboats

I just read in a German online newsite that they are allowed to disembark by tomorrow morning 6 am local time. steamboats

According to local news no case of Cholera has been detected onboard - confirmed by the Mauritian health authorities. steamboats

With low or high water the other boats can "choke a stomp" - tie up to a tree instead of a regular landing area. They use the stage to get the people off the boat. Viking needs a concrete dock where they can go alongside. Most landings are sloping down into the river. Therefore the boats have a flat bottom hull so they can literally ran aground with the bow and then use the stage to get the people off. It's totally different from European rivers where you either have a floating docking area or a concrete dock where all boats can go alongside. A couple of river towns did built a new docking area for the Viking Mississippi. steamboats

I just stumbled over an FB post by KD. KD (Köln-Düsseldorfer) invented river cruising in Europe but then gave up and sold to Viking. This was followed by a law suit which was ended a couple of years ago (KD won - Viking wanted them to never come back into river cruising). KD back then announced that they will come back as a river cruise line but only founded a management company. Now that post said they are back with a ship called KD Moment with short trips out of Düsseldorf. It´s a ship built in 2008 but completely renovated in 2022. KD still operates the excursion vessels out of Cologne, Koblenz and more including the former paddlewheel steamboat Goethe. steamboats

Final day and entry - we´re back in Miami where we spend the day until we board our flights back home in the evening. Thanks for following! steamboats

Yes, the channel is kept to 9 feet of water - but that´s not be the case with low water. I don´t have the exakt specs of the Viking Mississippi. I have a lot of friends in the river business there and some of them were asked for their advice by Viking on how to build the ships. As well as in Europe they do draw more water than the other boats. Therefore they are the first which have to stop. steamboats

A sea day gets us back to Miami - we try out the Swim & Tonic Bar, Crown´s Edge, the ice show and the AquaTheater preview show. steamboats

We arrived at Coco Cay for our Perfect Day. steamboats

As in Europe it is partly a Viking problem... Also the ship for the Mississippi river draws too much water and therefore is getting into troubles early when the water is low. They did not listen to the experts when they buildt the ship. Same for "we don´t need a stage to get people on and off the ship". steamboats

Todays entry is our first day onboard and the naming cremony. steamboats

Todays entry might be a little boring... our flight to Miami and our pre cruise hotel. steamboats

If there´s is an airline check-in at the cruise terminals at Moll Adossat it must be a new thing. I´ve cruised out of Barcelona for years and there never was anything like that. There´s a company called Bag and Go which transports your bags to the airport where you have to collect them. Moll Adosssat is the terminal for big cruise ships and the terminals have letters from A to F. World Trade Center is the other terminal which was only for two ships and is now "banned". There you could easily walk to the Columbus column. From Moll Adossat there´s a shuttle bus (3.50 Euro single ride) and yes, it it quite a long walk depending at which terminal you dock. I´ve done it a few times and it can be up to 30 min or more. steamboats

Today I have a couple of show cabins for you. Sorry, the photos are not very good but the cabins were overrun by the people with long lines. We even had problems to enter our own cabin as a line of one of the show cabins was in front of our cabin door. Due to the long lines we gave up and did not visit all cabin categories. steamboats

Todays entry is featuring our D2 balcony cabin on deck 14 (14286). steamboats

Last part of the ship - bars and lounges on decks 15 to 18. Next will be our balcony cabin. steamboats

I´ve been in 14286 and there was a little noise but nothing which kept me from sleeping. steamboats

Todays entry is featuring bars and lounges on decks 3 bis 8. @Trixie21 I liked it but I´m also a fan of the Oasis Class ships. Icon is a bit of an evolution of the Oasis Class and slightly larger. steamboats

Actually I did take almost all photos with my phone (Oneplus 8+ with 256 GB - I just upgraded on the new 12). There are some photos I took with my camera but I think so far there´s only one or two online (those of the ship at Coco Cay). I usually download the photos on my Surface which has only 64 GB memory. And it still doesn´t overflow 😉 although I usually have the photos of the previous trip still there. steamboats

Restaurants on decks 14 to 18 are featured in todays entry. steamboats

Restaurants on decks 7 and 8 are featured in todays entry. steamboats

It's up and running again steamboats

Thanks, yes, looks like my website is currently down. I have to contact my DH. DH renewed the security certificate today. Seems like there's the problem. I'll let you know when it's up again. steamboats

Not necessarily... It´s just that you can´t book any of the cruises anymore scheduled before April 8th. So they can either move people from the two cancelled cruise to those which are now blocked. Or it gives them the chance to cancel one or more of those cruises when needed. steamboats

So for today we have the restaurants deck 3 to 6. steamboats