notamermaid

Catering for a health problem - here is a special gluten-free cruise offer from Amawaterways: https://www.travelweekly.com/River-Cruising/AmaWaterways-partner-celiac-cruise-gluten-free-cruises?ct=river notamermaid

The Rhine is very popular for first time cruisers to try. If you would prefer to spend longer on the river than seven days you could combine it with the Moselle. That takes it to ten days or more. I cannot remember who does it of the North American lines, this is a European one: https://www.rivieratravel.co.uk/river-cruises/long-cruises The issue I have with Viking is the early full payment policy, the worst terms of all companies I know (for North Americans). River water level conditions are something that can indeed surprise the unsuspecting new river cruiser. Ship swaps are a fairly smooth solution to the problem. notamermaid

It is a weird one. According to the guys on Binnenschifferforum, the MS Heidelberg had already left the fleet of Nicko Cruises by 2023, meaning last year was already not sailing for the company but was used as a ship for asylum seekers, docked in Meppen in the Netherlands for almost a year. I saw an article that the owner wanted it back (for 2024 apparently) and so a different ship took over to become a ship for asylum seekers. After a short stop in the harbour in Köln-Niehl she sailed to the Danube in March of this year and was in Budapest with new livery in blue in April. No idea who the charterer is... notamermaid

@steamboats It appears that Nicko Cruises is not running the MS Heidelberg this year. I guess it is a different, perhaps only part-season, charter by someone else. The company offering the MS Heidelberg for charter is this one: https://www.starlingfleet.com/en/our-fleet/ Had not looked into that provider before, not as many ships as Scylla but not a small fleet either. They also have "my" MS Belvedere, so it looks like they have taken over ships from Premicon. notamermaid

I see. Thank you for the additional info. By the way, while the ship has sailed in the past for Nicko Cruises there are no cruises listed by the company for the MS Heidelberg this year. It is not clear which charter it is, I could not find any info on that. However, the ship is listed as being part of the Starling Fleet: https://www.starlingfleet.com/en/our-fleet/ notamermaid

Thank you for the info. That is quite the accusation. It brings back unhappy memories of the tragic incident in Budapest. That captain was tried and sentenced to five and a half years imprisonment. The five year anniversary of that fatal accident is coming up at the end of the month. notamermaid

So much can change within a week and indeed on the Danube it is possible to get from a relatively low level to flooding in three days. We have just seen the wave at the Saar and Moselle rivers that has much disrupted shipping of all types. We have a weather pattern that brings little rain to the Elbe - it is again indicated to happen like that tomorrow into Wednesday - so let us have a look. We are in the realm of levels on the Elbe that means the German river sections rely on the Czechs to release enough water to keep shipping going at ease. This is what has happened in the last 31 days: Things are looking a bit better at 105cm so I guess ships are moving okay. If the Elbe basin does get little rain again I cannot see this improving. notamermaid

The river level at Koblenz peaked around midnight and all gauges up to Cologne now show declining figures, with Cologne at its peak now. The situation will ease further. As of now it looks like the coming rain will keep levels up relatively high and possibly cause another wave. This may or may not be as high as this one, we cannot say yet what exactly will happen in the Upper Rhine valley. It is Whitsuntide and a typical time for Kirmes (church fete) celebrations. These usually have fairground rides and unfortunately along the Rhine the meadows and embankments are often used for those. So in Mondorf near Bonn a small Kirmes needed to be moved due to the flooding. In other news, camping areas along the Rhine are often flooded and again at Koblenz on the Moselle side, many tents and mobile homes had to be moved. While they are used to doing that for the winter, it is not a standard occurrence in May. notamermaid

The river level is going down well, Trier gauge now shows 721cm. Cochem peaked around lunchtime yesterday. Koblenz looks to have peaked, too. The situation will ease further, but rain is forecast for tomorrow. notamermaid

Aahh! How lovely. I so much enjoyed my holiday there quite a few years ago. My favourite place is probably Siena. notamermaid

No problem. It appears that our esteemed host has already been fiddling with the delete button. notamermaid

I do not think I could watch a video. A few reports also remind readers of the tragic accident in Budapest a few years ago. Of course, I did not need to be reminded and quite frankly did not want to be reminded. I so hope there will be at least a bit of good news coming from Budapest in the next hours. notamermaid

Okay, now that is highly unusual - there are four Viking river cruise ships in Koblenz: Only three names are visible, the Viking Lif is obscured but as the blue shape visible next to the Einar. I do not think I have ever seen the Rhine dock so busy (not that I look every day), there are also ships on the Moselle side but as we know the Moselle is flooding so some ships may just have to wait in Koblenz until the situation eases and they can proceed through the first lock notamermaid

Could not resist having a look at the river while out and about today. It certainly has risen fast and is an unappealing colour. Unfortunately more rain is forecast, it could be heavy so will keep the Saar high and the Rhine busy. Maxau gauge is unlikely to fall below 600cm for a few days. Kaub will now likely peak during the night Monday into Tuesday and after a drop will remain over 300cm for some time. notamermaid

It appears as such, judging from the ship signal. Hungarian online reports show damage to the hull. The ship name has not been officially disclosed, though, and the circumstances remain a little unclear. The MS Heidelberg has just left Komarom. It is a river cruise port used by German ships on some standard itineraries. The ship by the way is just over 109m long, so some reports say 110m. notamermaid

Everything I could possibly post tonight pales in the light of the tragic accident. But I will just quickly say that the German Danube is indeed doing better than the Rhine and the river has only risen a little. The weather tomorrow should be nice and sunny but Tuesday is forecast to bring rain. notamermaid

While it is a little unclear as to what happened exactly, the incident is treated as a crash between a 110m river cruise ship and the pleasure boat. The river cruise ship is sailing under Swiss flag, with damage to its hull and according to German newspapers via Hungarian publications is the MS Heidelberg, although the police report does not disclose the name. The MS Heidelberg has just left Komarom. notamermaid

The Moselle does look a bit fierce and brown with debris and sand at Koblenz. Screenshot from the webcam: Viking - three ships of the company. What a busy place Koblenz is. The webcam: https://www.feratel.com/webcams/deutschland/koblenz.html Rhine river level still rising at Koblenz. notamermaid

Trier gauge is now at 833cm, the situation should further ease during today so that likely we will see figures under 800cm by midnight. The peak of this wave is just passing through Cochem. Do have a look at the webcam at Koblenz, you can see the force of the rivers at Deutsches Eck, with the Moselle "ferociously" draining into the Rhine, the Moselle rather brown compared to the larger river. https://www.feratel.com/webcams/deutschland/koblenz.html Oh, and busy with river cruise ships at the dock. notamermaid

There has been a tragic accident on the Danube. A pleasure boat collided with a river cruise ship last night. It happened near Veröce at the Danube bend upstream from Budapest. Two are dead and five are missing. A river cruise ship allegedly involved has been stopped at Komarno. Please be aware that police may be in the area looking for survivors. notamermaid

Just read the German headlines. Two dead and five missing in a collision of boats 30km North of Budapest. Awful. It appears that a "Hotelschiff", that is a river cruise ship, was involved. A damaged ship of that kind was stopped at Komarom. The investigations are ongoing: https://www.20min.ch/story/ungarn-5-noch-vermisst-bootskollision-auf-der-donau-fordert-zwei-tote-103109048 notamermaid

Here she is, the Porto Mirante of Scylla, mainly sailing for Riviera Travel. Unusual here is the fact that the ship was christened in Düsseldorf and will now be transferred to her future home, the Douro: https://www.seatrade-cruise.com/river-cruising/rivieras-porto-mirante-named-dusseldorf https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ZCBJBAczf0 Save travels to her always. notamermaid

I have just noticed that the Viking Alsvin is docked in Engers, a highly unusual stop for the company. Could it be to due with the high level of the Rhine and especially the Moselle or is it a normal itinerary? If anyone knows I would be interested to read about it. There is a "Viking invasion" at Koblenz as all the docking areas are busy with ships of varying companies and Viking is present there with three (!) ships tonight. Avalon Waterways stops at Engers and offers a concert I believe. The palace is a venue for classical chamber music. notamermaid

There is a severe weather warning for the area North of Munich and nearby areas of Bavaria are seeing thunderstorms. The Danube has risen but not as much as expected for today. It may rise further into tomorrow but as of now it looks all rather uneventful compared to the Rhine. notamermaid

Update. Much of the huge amount of rain has hit the Saar and its tributaries so that water will drain into the Rhine via the Moselle. The Nahe drains into the Rhine at Bingen, the forests have given that tributary quite a bit of water. But the Neckar is also now draining into the Rhine a lot so are the smaller tributaries coming from the left around Speyer. One example: It just all adds up. Maxau gauge peaked at 708cm during the afternoon. It will go down fast, but then probably stall and stay at a relatively high level, very likely above 600cm. For those new to the topic - Maxau is here nearly Karlsruhe, currently a yellow dot: Kaub will rise all through tomorrow and peak not before Monday afternoon. It is likely to stay under flood mark I. Koblenz has just reached flood mark I, Andernach will during the night, Cologne early in the morning. River traffic bans are issued at flood mark II. The river is far away from that. notamermaid