notamermaid

Well, I think we can all guess they will drop at least slowly and steadily. A bit of info to feed into the translating machine, from the low water report dated 18 August: "Im Laufe der kommenden Woche sind wieder weniger Niederschläge besonders im Rheineinzugsgebiet vorhergesagt, daher ist keine nachhaltige Entspannung der Nied- rigwassersituation zu erwarten." In short, in my words: keep on expecting low water for weeks to come. Not necessarily a ship not sailing, but be prepared. So what should be expect now that the wave has passed Maxau? Modelling puts the level firmly under 400cm by latest Friday and may mean that the level drops to official mean low water again on Saturday. If that happens as a consequence we will see a drop at Kaub that we may need to watch again as regards river cruising. But we will cross that bridge when we come to it. There may be rain before that happens. And the Main brings a varying volume of water that is no reflected at Maxau as that gauge is too far South. A quick look at the other gauges: Koblenz, so close to Kaub that it has obviously gone up nicely as well, now at 100cm. Cologne, still on official low water, but the wave has reached there, now at 107cm. Emmerich, not profitting yet really, at 5cm. notamermaid

Thank you. So Scenic and Viking are very similar with regards the sun deck being closed. That I something I had not thought of before. Comes naturally with the safety when the sun deck has to be closed, but it just something that does not spring to mind immediately as a consequence. I can understand that this takes some enjoyment of the cruise away. notamermaid

Yes indeed! And: hooray! Good to see them back. A screenshot, one Viking ship docked another big vessel just backing out of Koblenz (as I think I can make out from the wake): So have we got them, the 100cm? Yes, Kaub gauge is at 117cm. Forecast for evening indicates 140cm and above. Right, time to relax, for me - and many, many anxious river cruisers! 😄 I am going shopping. See yah. notamermaid

That makes sense. Better to wait and see what happens. Although I would say for now it looks promising. A day to day approach is best, I wrote: Yes, it turns out that when I posted it was the peak, the level has gone down to 412cm. A fast fall below 380cm is inevitable as no rain is backing this wave up. We will see the decline into Wednesday, I dare say the level should be okay till lunchtime that day, but as no long term estimate is published on "elwis" by the authorities, anything after that is guess work. Actually not quite as we can look at the Niedrigwasserbericht with some general info, I am referring to It is not saying too much about the Danube this week and they have published no specific graph, but the general message is that all rivers in Germany (and beyond) are suffering from low water and will continue to do so as the overall weather and general river pattern is for low in Autumn. On most rivers, not all, this is exacerbated by low rainfall in Spring. It applies to the Danube and the Rhine. Back to my assessment. While the Rhine is suffering more from drought right now as the recent rain was more plentiful in the Danube basin than in the Rhine basin, the Danube will struggle more to sustain the level needed for river cruise ships after this wave than the Rhine will if it does not rain. Very tight between the rivers, if you want to see it as a kind of competition, but the Rhine at least for a few days, may well have the upper hand by a few centimetres. We will know more how the two rivers react to lack of rain by Wednesday. Please note that the wave on the Rhine is still ongoing in the difficult and low stretches while on the Danube it is now in Austria and further downstream, therefore soon leaving the stretches that we tend to focus on for the sheer volume of river traffic. Benefitting Budapest now and for several days, the wave will leave my "realm of focus" soon and go into my "uncharted territory". I am sure the wave will do nature a lot of good all the way to the Black Sea and, as always, we would love to hear your comments and experiences from the area beyond Budapest. notamermaid

Great. The level at Budapest had started going up nicely during yesterday. notamermaid

Thank you Tim for your post with lovely photos. One question if I may: the wheelhouse looks down and the sun deck railings look down. Difficult to see from the angle. Is the sun deck closed for a long time on the Main? Thank you. notamermaid

Yes, the head gear is the advance stage of "un-Germanness". 😁 But I have seen them donned after a glass of glühwein in recent years... Good examples of winter gear in the photos. Definitely bring gloves etc. for the early excursions even if the weather report suggests pleasant temperatures. You may indeed hit mild afternoons. You could of course buy gloves and other accessories at your destination, may be a nice souvenir, but you may not want to spend precious time shopping for this with - especially with cold hands. notamermaid

Very difficult to know, basically impossible. There is a trend that the hydrologists and meteorologists will know about, they gather tons of information, make computer modelling, etc. What we can reasonably say is that it takes a few days to get back to a low level. It will not be back to 250cm in 48 hours... After the effects of this wave have passed we need more rain to back it up soon. What will be in a month's time is anybody's guess but as September and October are standard low months on the river, it is likely to get low again. How low we will just have to wait and see. I will have a look at the low water report from BAfG (the authorities) to see if they are giving any specific info on the Danube this week. There is an update every week when they deem it necessary, i.e. proper low water, but the focus changes a little from week to week. One thing I am sure about is that I would not book a last minute river cruise on the Danube outside of the ports Passau to Bratislava that leaves any time before 15 October. Too much likelihood of interruptions. notamermaid

I have heard there was an old series in England called "Bill and Ben the Flowerpot Men"? I do not recall ever having had such vegetable stuff on German telly. We had animal characters. This drought has obviously caused fish a lot of stress, less water for them and the river is hotter, too. I have not read much about wildlife along the Rhine but in the Oder river many fish have died. Investigation revealed that it was a poisonous type of algae that caused it. notamermaid

May I ask, is there a specific reason some of what is written is in a different colour? Is that Christmas Day? Or are those Christmas market itineraries? notamermaid

Talking of herbs and spices has made me remember: you can see photos online of tomato plants and other slightly more unusual plants than the standard grass and bushes growing on the dried out river banks and exposed river bed. I have also been to the river again in the last few days but have not seen anything other than the usual rubbish, mainly building rubbish and metal it is. Thankfully also nothing that looked suspicious. River levels. Lake Constance now steadily on figures around 332cm. Maxau 459cm, on the downward slope. Likely to fall below 400cm again on 24 August. Most importantly, Kaub gauge: nice steady rise, now at 71cm. Forecast adjusted down, no 148cm anticipated anymore. You can see why I was skeptical on Friday. But it is still looking good, 100cm basically certain for tomorrow, 130cm still looks a convincing estimate, but the highest figure now given is 143cm on Tuesday. My money is on 140cm maximum. So Tuesday is going to be the peak, how fast the level will fall after that is not clear yet. notamermaid

Quick update. This must be one of the fastest rises I have ever seen at Pfelling since I have been looking at this sort of stuff, i.e. since around 2015. I have often wondered how they manage to have flooding in August that has gone into the all time records. Now I understand that it is possible. Not from the level that Pfelling started with of course, but if you started at the mean water level and then got the sort of rain there was for double the time... Anyway, Pfelling gauge is at 481cm: It is not clear yet if that is the peak but the rise has slowed down in the last few hours. As this is "just" a very strong wave, the level will fall again quickly with Monday seeing figures of below 400cm again. But for now things are looking good at Pfelling. And certainly really good between Vilshofen and Bratislava. The wave has reached Hungary so things should be improving there too. notamermaid

Yes. Sailings of a couple of European river cruise lines last week. Could be back to fully operating seeing that the level has risen but it is not guaranteed that all have resumed normal itineraries. It is not possible to exactly look at it this way. A captain decides whether he can sail his ship safely. General consensus is that river cruise ships can still sail when the level at Pfelling is above 290cm. That means depending on the individual draught and hull design and company policy and captain' s decision a ship will sail below that level. 1.6m is less than some other ships but - see above - there is no guarantee it will sail when another one is not sailing anymore. So, a minimum for a particular ship we or any other person than the captain on the ship cannot determine. notamermaid

Thank you very much for your long post. I never knew that was possible/allowed. Great of the CD to suggest that. notamermaid

Christmas sweaters are quite un-German. I have seen them a bit more in shops in the last few years, though. Got my first sweat-shirt with Christmas motif ever two years ago. Take a really good pair of shoes, thick sole, water-resistant material. As my fellow German said, the temperature can vary quite a bit from year to year. One thing that is more or less certain is that it will at least two degrees Celsius cooler in the Black Forest that in the valley. It could be rain in Breisach and proper good snow in the hills. I agree that if you are from North America it is very difficult to blend in, but if there is any time when it does not matter it is during Christmas market season, I should say Advent. Fill your eyes with wonder, grab a glass of glühwein or buy a bag of caramelized almonds if you prefer, smile and you will blend in well. notamermaid

Okay, a late night look at the levels. Obviously going okay, i.e. the right direction, and there is another improvement on this afternoon. Maxau gauge's rise is levelling off, but that is not too bad. We see that Lake Constance has filled a bit as well, from 305cm to 330cm in just over 24 hours, says the gauge at Konstanz. That will be helpful in the next few days. Kaub is reacting well, now up to 55cm. Koblenz gauge is now also reacting of course, 42cm. Cologne gauge is slower to react, but is also up a bit, 79cm. Emmerich is still showing daily fluctuation but with an upward trend that will continue tomorrow when a higher volume of water reaches the Lower Rhine. It is at 0cm and may reach 15cm on Monday. This is a good wave, it will likely carry lots of ships along the river and through the Rhine Gorge. For how long is not clear and it is still too far out to say what September will bring. The level will go down again, it is likely that a level over 90cm cannot be sustained for long but we will probably not see a level lower than 75cm before 3 September, so after 29 August when the immediate effects of this wave have gone, things are going to stay interesting. For now, let us look forward to potential double figures at Kaub on Monday. notamermaid

Very good. Have a great cruise on the Mani. notamermaid

Tauck has ships of 110m and 135m length, so draft, also among the lengths, will vary. A pilot, now that is unusual. Almost like back to the old days when pilots were brought onto river ships regularly in the Rhine Gorge. There is a museum dedicated to the pilots in Kaub, very small: http://www.lotsendienst-kaub.de/ I am impressed by Tauck. notamermaid

And further downstream? Budapest has risen and the rainfall is expected to make the river react there even more in the next two days: Have a look on: https://www.danubeportal.com/de/waterLevel/details/HUBUD00001G001516465 notamermaid

Now, to the 148cm that Bloomberg mentioned. With an update since yesterday on elwis - where Bloomberg got the figure from - I am willing to look at this. Sunday evening should see 70cm. Monday could see the figure jumping the 100cm mark. That would normally ensure sailing for all river cruise ships, but remember that I cannot know anything about individual decisions as regards logistics and company policy. Going into Tuesday, yes, 148cm is still listed as a probability. I am still skeptical about that figure but it is not what we need for river cruising anyway. It is good to have the buffer above 100cm. If it only goes up to 120cm, I will be happy enough. In short, looking very promising for 135m ships now. Or, another way, looking good for all river cruise ships that right now cannot sail the Rhine Gorge due to low water levels. notamermaid

US travel weekly's river cruise reporter was on the Amalucia christening sailing and not only wrote an article but also made a video, which I have only just found. Here it is: https://www.travelweekly.com/Media/Low-water-levels-slow-river-cruising?ct=river notamermaid

Will this be the last report of this kind this year, seeing that the levels have risen? Probably not, like it says in the text, confidence for short-term bookings is low. I would be very careful about booking short-term myself now and look carefully at which canal and river plus which ship I could sail on that gives me the least risk of disruption. https://travelweekly.co.uk/news/tourism/river-cruise-specialists-continue-to-contend-with-low-water-levels notamermaid

That is good. Better to be prepared and then it does not happen. From looking at the radar video last night I got the feeling the weather may have shifted a little to what had been expected. Also on the Rhine. Thunderstorms were forecast for Thursday and then yesterday, but they did not happen in Rhineland-Palatinate, at least not before midnight. It has not cooled down in my area at all. notamermaid

So have we got a good rise at Maxau? Yes!! Graph of Maxau gauge: If there was any rain in my area during the night I did not notice it, the landscape is bone dry. But what is coming from the South of Germany will be enough to make the level at Kaub rise. The reaction is obviously some hours later than in the South, but is happening. Kaub gauge is now at 49cm and rising well: notamermaid

Due to bad experiences in life I would never ever use my real name online, or post photos from where I live, i.e. anything that puts me closer to placing me on the Middle Rhine. My name stands out from the crowd and I have been tracked and found online (with no bad outcome so far). Anyway, hello to you @OwenSmith . That ship in the Thames estuary is fascinating. When you go from Rochester over the Medway by train you see an old submarine there. I have often thought I should look at it, but have so far never got round to doing so. Been to Upnor Castle to listen to the story of a raid there. Recommended if you are into (old) naval history. Apparently, a ship wreck at Neuss on the Rhine is also exposed now, but the articles are behind a paywall or "throwing advertising at me till I choke" cookie acceptance, so have not read them. notamermaid