Covid requirements for Danube cruises/countries

[mlbcruiser]

Can someone doing a Danube cruise with Viking or Emerald please post what the requirements are considering these cruises usually visit several countries such as Germany, Austria & Hungary?  I know about the common. general vaccine & test requirements such as being vaccinated & tested before entering your embarkation country and tested within 24 hours of boarding your river cruise ship. However I’m not sure if more testing is required or what other certification is necessary to get off of your ship at each port. I am predominately interested in Viking and Emerald cruises. I could only find general river cruising Covid testing requirements in their sites but nothing for individual itineraries. Thanks for any information.

[mlbcruiser]

No post here. Just accessing the follow contact button since I forgot to tudn that on. 

[2017newcruiser]

As of right now, Viking has daily testing as well.  Not sure about Emerald.

[TakingFlight]

Try the AmaWaterways website. Click on the Travel Advisory tab and then the Travel Requirements tab. You can then select the countries you’re going to visit and you will see the Covid and other entry requirements.  

[familytravellers]

3 hours ago, mlbcruiser said:

Can someone doing a Danube cruise with Viking or Emerald please post what the requirements are considering these cruises usually visit several countries such as Germany, Austria & Hungary?  I know about the common. general vaccine & test requirements such as being vaccinated & tested before entering your embarkation country and tested within 24 hours of boarding your river cruise ship. However I’m not sure if more testing is required or what other certification is necessary to get off of your ship at each port. I am predominately interested in Viking and Emerald cruises. I could only find general river cruising Covid testing requirements in their sites but nothing for individual itineraries. Thanks for any information.

This is a great website to access information about vaccine/testing requirements for countries around the world. https://apply.joinsherpa.com/travel-restrictions?affiliateId=sherpa&language=en-US

[mlbcruiser]

All good websites and links. We have a Viking cruise coming up very shortly so I am aware of that testing. Between  tripadvisor and official countrys’ sites, I can often find what the country requires. What I’m noticing is cruise lines, especially Viking, seem to sometimes have their own restrictions. For instance, right now Viking is requiring passengers not only to wear masks on board the river cruises, but also on their tours and anywhere they go while in port. (I don’t know how they can police that when passengers are on their own but I guess they throw it out there hoping for the best!) I will check these offerings out. Thanks a bunch  for the suggestions and taking the time to reply! 

[notamermaid]

10 hours ago, mlbcruiser said:

What I’m noticing is cruise lines, especially Viking, seem to sometimes have their own restrictions.

It is now the case that river cruise lines are stricter in their approach than many countries in Europe. The testing and mask wearing on Viking goes far beyond of what is required in every day life and for travel within Germany for example. However, mask wearing on public transport still applies (details from state to state vary), so Viking is in line there with the requirements if they do it on their private coaches. Just as a side note from me.

 

notamermaid

 

[PhD-iva]

I’m booked on Emerald for a late July Danube river cruise ending in Budapest. Am very interested to hear from cruisers who are on this itin as to the what/when/how of testing & masking. Thx!

PS, I can’t recommend Emerald as their pre-cruise communications have been abysmal. Next to impossible to get anything from them. The cruise only lasts 10 days, but there are many months prior to the cruise that have been filled w worry and frustration.

[Daisi]

I know of someone on another page who is on an Emerald cruise at the moment - the Rhine, but I would imagine that for the cruise line, it is standard.  No daily testing, and I think she said masks only at the buffet.  She is having a fantastic time, so hopefully yours will be as well.

 

[mlbcruiser]

Yes,  I have seen a few posts Emerald’s customers have been posting for the last while about poor communications, computers being down and so on. As they are owned by the more upscale line, Scenic, that seems strange. Scenic may be  having issues as well?? In the end it seems like people get things straightened out but very last minute. Stressful!  
 

The only river cruise we have been on so far is Emerald and it was wonderful! Especially loved the ship and the nice pool. So nice after spending a few hours on land and then cruising down the Rhine, a nice dip in the pool and a cool drink… It was a very nice area to relax in. We are about to go on our first Viking cruise and I expect it will be very nice as well. Howeve,  Emerald did not have any required tipping and with Viking,  for all intensive purposes,  you pretty much don’t have a choice.  Of course we tipped on Emerald, but it was whatever we chose to tip and who we chose, at our own discretion. It wasn’t automatically added to our onboard account.
 

I believe that Viking was better at handling cancellation and refund issues caused by Covid initially as well. I don’t have first-hand experience but I am just going by what I read on these boards. That is one reason we booked with them because I had seen a lot of complaints about other lines and problems people were having in that regard.  I certainly understand why they want everyone to mask and I have no problem at all with that. Not so certain I agree 100% with how the quarantining has been being handled. Not an easy situation. I’ve seen good arguments on both sides of that isse. 
 

The main reason for my question was I was trying to ascertain how many more forms and how many more Covid tests would be required for a Danube itinerary. Probably won’t be doing one very soon anyway but just in case! Thanks for all the replies.

[gnome12]

1 hour ago, mlbcruiser said:

The main reason for my question was I was trying to ascertain how many more forms and how many more Covid tests would be required for a Danube itinerary. Probably won’t be doing one very soon anyway but just in case! Thanks for all the replies.

Since Viking is testing every day, presumably you will have any test that could be required by any destination that you are going to.

[mlbcruiser]

No doubt but still sort of wondering about the forms. Just get sick of filling out forms. Downloading them, keeping them on my phone to show & keeping them straight - like which one if for who, when or what , which must be done when and so on. 

 

[DocRonPS]

On 5/3/2022 at 1:37 PM, mlbcruiser said:

Can someone doing a Danube cruise with Viking or Emerald please post what the requirements are considering these cruises usually visit several countries such as Germany, Austria & Hungary?  I know about the common. general vaccine & test requirements such as being vaccinated & tested before entering your embarkation country and tested within 24 hours of boarding your river cruise ship. However I’m not sure if more testing is required or what other certification is necessary to get off of your ship at each port. I am predominately interested in Viking and Emerald cruises. I could only find general river cruising Covid testing requirements in their sites but nothing for individual itineraries. Thanks for any information.

In Greece on Silversea, they tested you at the pier.  I do not think anyone failed!!!  I am going on AMA Waterways on the Danube Aug1 for 7 day from Budapest.  Anyone else going? I will try to call them.

[PhD-iva]

On 5/4/2022 at 8:00 AM, PhD-iva said:

I’m booked on Emerald for a late July Danube river cruise ending in Budapest. Am very interested to hear from cruisers who are on this itin as to the what/when/how of testing & masking. Thx!

PS, I can’t recommend Emerald as their pre-cruise communications have been abysmal. Next to impossible to get anything from them. The cruise only lasts 10 days, but there are many months prior to the cruise that have been filled w worry and frustration.

Things certainly have changed in the last few weeks.
Just wanted to ask again if anyone has any information about testing requirements for countries along the Danube. I have looked on Emerald‘s website, which has not been updated since December of last year as far as I could tell. Lufthansa‘s website was not clear either.

My current understanding is there is no testing required to fly into Frankfurt, Germany. I still don’t know if emerald will require me to provide a negative test prior to embarkation in Prague. 
Any intel is appreciated!

[TFree]

22 hours ago, PhD-iva said:

Things certainly have changed in the last few weeks.
Just wanted to ask again if anyone has any information about testing requirements for countries along the Danube. I have looked on Emerald‘s website, which has not been updated since December of last year as far as I could tell. Lufthansa‘s website was not clear either.

My current understanding is there is no testing required to fly into Frankfurt, Germany. I still don’t know if emerald will require me to provide a negative test prior to embarkation in Prague. 
Any intel is appreciated!

We are currently on a Uniworld ship heading from Budapest to Passau, and then on to Prague. We got here after disembarking a celebrity cruise, so we needed a test to get on the celebrity cruise initially. People who came straight to Budapest for this cruise have confirmed that they never needed to provide any negative test results to fly here, or to board the ship. No country so far has even asked to see our vaccination certificate, much less a negative test. I will try to follow up in a couple of days when we get to Prague.

 

Tom & Judy

[PhD-iva]

8 minutes ago, TFree said:

We are currently on a Uniworld ship heading from Budapest to Passau, and then on to Prague. We got here after disembarking a celebrity cruise, so we needed a test to get on the celebrity cruise initially. People who came straight to Budapest for this cruise have confirmed that they never needed to provide any negative test results to fly here, or to board the ship. No country so far has even asked to see our vaccination certificate, much less a negative test. I will try to follow up in a couple of days when we get to Prague.

 

Tom & Judy

Thank you so much!!!

[TFree]

On 6/2/2022 at 3:49 PM, TFree said:

We are currently on a Uniworld ship heading from Budapest to Passau, and then on to Prague. We got here after disembarking a celebrity cruise, so we needed a test to get on the celebrity cruise initially. People who came straight to Budapest for this cruise have confirmed that they never needed to provide any negative test results to fly here, or to board the ship. No country so far has even asked to see our vaccination certificate, much less a negative test. I will try to follow up in a couple of days when we get to Prague.

 

Tom & Judy

We finished the River Cruise portion of the trip, and had the Uniworld transfer to Prague today and checked into the hotel arranged by Uniworld. No one, at Uniworld, or in any country we’ve visited, or in the hotel in Prague, has asked us for any proof of vaccination or for proof of negative testing. We will, of course, need to have a negative test to get on a plane back to the United States on Tuesday. 

 

Tom & Judy