Today we drove from Prague, Czech Republic to Regensburg, Germany. The drive took us just over 3.5 hours, including a short stop right before the German border crossing. Once in Regensburg, we proceeded to the dock where we boarded our home for the next week, the Viking Riverboat, Jarl. This will be the first time for us on a river cruise. We are docked here until 6 pm Monday and will then begin to make our way downriver toward Budapest, Hungary.
As far COVID requirements, we will have a daily “saliva” COVID-19 PCR test each morning by 8 am. They send the specimens to a lab on shore every morning (we were told that the crew members also test daily). Surgical masks are required in public areas of the boat except while in the dining room or lounge/bar area enjoying a drink, while onshore FFP2 masks (my take is they look like KN95 masks) are required on for Germany and Austria (not sure about Budapest yet). Viking supplies us with masks (we also brought our own as I like black colored FFP2 masks).
The Viking Jarl is elegantly decorated for Christmas and will depart with 105 passengers (approximately 55% capacity) and 55 crew members on board. We enjoyed a nice dinner tonight with 2 cruisers from Southern California and then collapsed for the evening. We are looking forward to a great trip in search of Christmas Markets.
