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I´ve seen those elevators on various new ships in the last view years. They do work out pretty well when you use them properly. But there are usually a lot of people entering the elevator and then being surprised that there are no buttons to push for their deck. 🤣 Sorry, but this elevator is now going to deck 9. You have to chose your deck outside on the tablet and then enter the cabin with the letter indicated on the tablet. steamboats

Keep in mind that at least this year the Amazon river was on a record low and larger cruise ships were not able to go. steamboats

For those on their way back home through Munich airport - the market is still open til Jan 7th. steamboats

Happy New Year to you! I´m not too much into fireworks... just noise and garbage... I just read that the city of Munich cleaned up 35 tons of fireworks garbage. Back to the Danube river... yes, it´s raining here too and all counties along the Danube river are on a level 2 high water alert right now. steamboats

Actually there are small cruise lines offering river cruises on the Amazon river. Here´s an example Amazon River Cruises | Luxury Cruise Travel & Wildlife Tour (aquaexpeditions.com) steamboats

The Danube is on the rise again... lots of red dots (level 3). Passau will reach level 3 soon. But at least here in the South the rain has stopped. North of the Danube river the rain hit even harder (but most of that water is going down the Main river). steamboats

She doesn´t need a whole month ;-). As stated by davidrlewis2302 she arrives Jan 9th and stays til 11th. She´s also listed for the 13th, 16th and overnight 19th/20th. steamboats

It's EU consumer protection law. 30 days prior to departure. steamboats

Pfelling, Vilshofen and Passau are on level 2 (orange), Regensburg is still on level 1 (yellow). Passau is supposed to reach level 3 (red) later today. steamboats

Just to mention, final payment in Europe is not until 30 days prior to the start of the cruise. So all European passengers haven´t paid full yet. steamboats

The last entry of my review is covering the arrival in Maputo and the Long journey back home. Thanks for following and reading! steamboats

Day 11 is a seaday to Maputo - not that exciting. I will also add the link to day 12 tomorrow but that´s just the trip back home and some sights of Maputo from the ship. steamboats

On day 10 we have our last port stop in Toliara, Madagascar, where we are visiting the Reliana Spiny Forest Reserve. steamboats

Here we go... Day 9 and another port stop. Today the SH Diana is anchoring near Morondava and we are visiting the Baobab Avenue and the local market. steamboats

For those coming to Munich - At Christkindl Markt you will find a booth called "Stollen Franz" (near the Beck department store). They have any kind of Stollen you can´t even think of - including gluten free Stollen. steamboats

A friend of mine is onboard AMASonata and they are stuck in Straubing (which is still on level 3). They are now being bussed to Vienna. Vilshofen, Deggendorf and Passau are on level 4 - all are still rising. steamboats

I just added another Christmas market to my list... another river... Moselle river... I´m currently in Trier for business purposes. Very nice one! Especially the atmosphere around the cathedral and the market square are very nice. steamboats

The cruise continues on day 8 with a relaxing day at sea and a visit to the bridge. There will be a longer break now - too much work. But the review will continue. steamboats

Day 7 sees us in Mahajanga, Madagascar, where we have an extensive city tour. steamboats

BTW we made it to Regensburg yesterday with beautiful cold, but sunny weather. A total of 6 river cruise ships was there but I didn´t walk all the way back to take photos. I saw an AMA and an Emerald ship in the front row. Uniworld and Amadeus were there too. I strolled the markets (Lukrezia market with two areas and the main market at Neupfarrkirche). I had my sausages at Wurstkuchl but didn´t have the time to get a Glühwein there (it might have been the best as it was made with Stahl Wein from Franconia - I ordered wine from them before). Instead I had a Glühwein at the train station which at least wasn´t that sweet. We decided to take a late afternoon train not to get into that strike mess. steamboats

Another obstacle in traveling Germany - the train engineers are going on strike tonight at 10 pm til Friday 10 pm. But at least that´s the last strike for the rest of the year. steamboats

On day 6 we reach our first port in Madagascar. On Nosy Komba we visit the black lemurs. steamboats

We start day 5 with a zodiac tour at Aldabra and continue to Assumption Island for snorkeling (or just an afternoon at the beach). steamboats

@iticlaudia yes, I heard that there have been delays at the deicing station. I have a friend whose flight was cancelled at the gate because the aircraft was too cold for deicing!!! My DH is now in the train to FRA for his cancelled flight (which would have been in the afternoon after todays closure). Pretty crazy! Usually MUC is very organized and a smooth airport (FRA is much worse). I just heard that they had the amount of snow they usually have for the whole winter in just a day. We didn´t have any ice rain at my home although we´re in the North of Munich. But colleques more North and more East had it. So the airport might have been hit too. All the best for Thursday/Friday! DH has to fly back from Italy on Thursday. steamboats

@iticlaudia at least the airport website is showing arriving flights past noon. I had an appointment yesterday afternoon and ended up walking almost 10 km. Although we had massive snow back in March 2006 (even a bit more than this time) I don´t remember such a mess. Back in 2006 public transportation was down for 3 days. They say it´s because back then the snow melted quickly but now we´re in deep freeze... steamboats