notamermaid

Good to hear from you, papa B me. Nice that I have been the inspiration for the trip, now I feel a responsibility towards it being a great one. Weight on my shoulders in a good sense. I have had a look at the itinerary, had not noticed this new one before mentioned it: https://www.uniworld.com/us/river-cruise/central-europe/rhine/belgian-holiday-markets/2023-brussels-to-brussels/day-to-day Quite different. It says Germany in the description but the map says they only cruise in Belgium and the Netherlands. I checked and found that Germany is only an excursion to the Christmas market in Aachen. That is not much time in the country but a good time I think. I like Aachen and in Advent I am sure is even better. In past years I have recommended the city as an excursion from Cologne. It has never occurred to me that it is also easy to reach from Maastricht. Good idea of Uniworld. Third recommendation for Bruges. notamermaid

Further down the river after Emmerich we soon hit the Dutch border and the first gauge there is Lobith. I am not familiar with the structures and reading the gauges in the Netherlands, so do not really mention them. Needless to say, the drought has also reached that country. Weird when you think about it, a country that has a substantial area as officially being under sea level. A Dutch online newspaper (?) has compiled photos of the situation on the Waal in Summer 2021 and now. What a difference between the two years: https://www.gld.nl/nieuws/7749793/de-waal-vanuit-de-lucht-het-verschil-tussen-nu-en-vorig-jaar notamermaid

Good. We have scattered showers close to the North and Baltic Seas, but the real water will come Thursday afternoon. It looks pretty heavy in the forecast symbols. I expect we will read a weather warning on Thursday morning. No wonder the river gauge forecast at Maxau shows a huge spike after Thursday. The level may rise by 60cm in 24 hours it says. That would be a lot of rain. Looks like the perfect weather pattern Thursday into Friday over the Rhine catchment area. Hope it is not too much in one place. notamermaid

That sounds rather uncomfortable. Sounds as if they were getting it to more or less maximum capacity. So far, I have not had the displeasure of that. The ships I have been on were busy but pleasant. Apart from one but that was a school party with "intrinsic hazard" . I have often wondered what that would be like. For example, the Loreley Star: A ship of 11.20m width and 50.2m length with 600 people on board?? I mentioned earlier that there are companies besides KD. Here is the one that operates, among others, the Loreley Star: https://loreley-linie.com/ notamermaid

Emmerich. Normally not a place that is of much interest beyond those that deal with the Rhine or go there for a specific reason, but now the town on the Lower Rhine is in the international news. For a figure: 0. In a word: zero. Obviously hitting the German headlines and being a photo op par excellence, the zero appearing on the gauge at Emmerich has attracted attention beyond our borders. But the gauge actually fell further into minus. You should find some news in English when you google Emmerich Rhine. It fluctuates of course so here is a quick screenshot to record the zero: It is not yet clear what will be the new record put in the files at the end of the year as the daily fluctuation is levelled out for the statistics. The previous record (NNW) was 7cm. One German business article with a nice shot of the bridge at Emmerich: https://www.handelsblatt.com/unternehmen/handel-konsumgueter/niedrigwasser-neuer-rekord-tiefstand-rhein-pegel-bei-emmerich-sinkt-auf-null/28602542.html notamermaid

Well, I had planned to go to England again in August, but my little group of travellers for various reasons disbanded and now I am stuck here in what was the saying about limbo? Forgotten the English. I am hanging around with different ideas in my head but no real travel plans have emerged yet. Not sure at all what I want to do. Going solo budget is limited to three nights on a river cruise ship but all that I can see are four nights or longer. I do not feel like being on a one night party ship in Düsseldorf. Perhaps endless hours of ship spotting? Annoy the public library attendants? Organize my archive? Clear out the cellar? Feeling a bit lost. notamermaid

Oh well then you will be very happy with renting a car, if you do that itinerary, although Paris and Brussels are more than "a little traffic". It has been a fun journey going through your thought processes and planning. Have a great time during your next adventures and hope to read back from you when you come back to us and tell us you and your travel companions are ready again to look at being on a river. notamermaid

That is fascinating about the sister ships. Have briefly learnt of that, something with laws of physics of course, I mean about the upstream and downstream difference. But details of that is for all those with a mind for that, not me! The variables are very important to me. When you think about it, it makes sense that in the offices no one can actually tell you days before if your ship will be sailing. Unless the captain phoned them up on the same morning that you call the office. Or unless it is on the Bavarian Danube right now where almost nothing goes... But there for example the situation could change again at least a little this weekend. We will see. Fingers crossed. I understand when phone reps have no real clue regarding a certain itinerary, but I still think the communication could be better with their customers. By the way, Arosa have posted online which cruises right now on the Danube are running. Oh, about Emmerich. That was interesting. More later. notamermaid

It is an important aspect on the Elbe according to AnhaltER1960. The bends of the shallow river are a problem. On the Rhine so far 135m barges are still managing round the bends at the Lorelei rock. That is where there is one way traffic regulated with traffic lights. Of course they sit very high in the water now with some of them only having 1/4 of normal load. So if you are light enough you can still navigate the bends very carefully... The much reduced load can result in a financial loss and therefore, to prevent that, one logistics company stopped operating on that section of the Rhine. Trimodal transport is standard anyway, so a lot of goods are now on trains and lorries, but capacity is partly reaching its limits there. notamermaid

Clearly they mean differences among their excursion boats. Not only size matters of course. Hull design and where the propeller is, materials used, the water tanks etc. All the physics. Differentiating between 110m and 135m river cruise ships can only be an approximation. On a personal note, I am not fully friends with KD. Working in the tourism industry I have experienced negative things with the company and I find it hard to shake that off. By the way, folks, other companies apart from KD sail in the Rhine Gorge as well. I will come back to that. notamermaid

Maybe pack the wellingtons. Have a great time next week. I thought it was Scotland again for you. notamermaid

Just caught on web camera coming upstream out of the Rhine Gorge and approaching Rüdesheim, the MS Vivienne: Remember you can look at this yourself on: https://heimatzeithotels.panomax.com/bingen The MS Vivienne is the refurbished MS River Concerto By Grand Circle Cruise Line and she is 110m long. notamermaid

Kaub gauge at 32cm. Forecast suggests stable figures. Then on Friday we may see a slight reaction to rain. On Thursday, the forecast will give a clearer picture of what the weekend will bring. Long term probability forecast suggests a temporary easing of the situation and the potential to bring the gauge up to 90cm. Hmm, that would mean a lot of rainfall in the Southern half of Germany and quite a bit in Switzerland as well. I am skeptical still. notamermaid

Pfelling gauge at 226cm this lunchtime and as forecast it is a warmer day again. Air Temperature is 24.4 Celsius. Modelling suggests 220cm for tomorrow. Weather forecast says thunderstorms will be happening along the Danube on Thursday with a real temperature drop on Friday. notamermaid

It will most likely have been KD on that stretch. There were few other companies. I have not looked into other older companies much but I know that CroisiEurope was only founded in 1976 (which is an "old" company compared to the North American lines). Ship sizes used to vary enormously by the way. I mentioned the MS Belvedere, but many other ships also did not have the 110m or 135m size. notamermaid

A pity that you did not walk to the old town hall and got an ice cream across the square. But very understandable after that long day. Engers has no independent town status by the way. It is a small and pleasant place. I see they have nice flower displays on the embankment. Really welcoming. Avalonwaterways offered small concerts in the palace on some itineraries in the past. I do not know if they still do. And wow, the river looks low in the photos. The Imagery II looks to have little water left under her. notamermaid

This is the sort of place where I go on holiday, to get away from town noise. Within Paris and out to Versailles I would avoid the car, also thinking the driver can then enjoy the time as much as the passengers. If you enjoy driving long distances renting a car is convenient but, again, the big cities Brussels and Amsterdam are well connected by train and can be a pain to drive in. Brussels orbital motorway is incredibly busy at times. Spent an hour for a 20 minute journey on there in a previous year. Can be okay on some days but you really can lose quite some time just getting where you want to be. Train gets you into the centre straight away. notamermaid

Viking bought the KD river cruise ships with a German bank grant, yup. The big change indeed. Mr. Hagen was in the right place at the right time. There were few river cruise ships in the 80's. It gathered pace in the 90's. The ships tended to get bigger. The interest grew. The foreign source markets grew. The rest is history. One company which watched it all happen and from the beginning had done their own thing, growing slowly and steadily into the European company with the biggest fleet, to this day only uses 110m ships maximum*: CroisiEurope. It is still the company with the widest choice of rivers and canals. The ships have no gym. The one I visited on an open day looked comfortable, I would not need more. *a couple of coastal ships excepted. notamermaid

Paris to Brussels and beyond on the Thalys train would be my choice: https://www.thalys.com/be/en Agree, car more for Switzerland, but even there trains are convenient depending on where you want to go. notamermaid

I hope he has a good time. Could be an interesting question to ask those that are put off by their recent experiences, meaning those that have returned from 135m ships with coach trip, etc.: "Would you sail again, on a smaller ship, if that far reduced the likelihood of a ship swap?" The ship I sailed on, the MS Belvedere, is 126.7m. A classic "inbetweener". To me she looked big and felt spacious. Admittedly, she was only two thirds full. Downscaled to 110m with adjusted passenger count and then hopefully not fully booked I would have no problems sailing on a smaller ship. First thing to go due to lack of space are usually gym and hair salon. I do not need either. The Belvedere had a gym. notamermaid

Not the ones I am familiar with. I do not understand enough about the engineering and science to know how they have done the scales. Also from a historical point of view. From a layman's point of view it looks quite arbitrary. I do not know when they put all the physical gauges (rulers or meters if you like) on the embankment walls or in the gauge buildings. notamermaid

We can all but speculate. I have been wondering this since the drought of 2018. Will companies react? I mean commercial traffic is building and buying flatter ships for the Rhine. I have my doubts about Viking doing anything in that direction, having just swamped the market with 135m ships. Their ship swaps work so well so all is good for them I would say. Will Amawaterways invest in another ship that is smaller? Who knows? Not even Phoenix Reisen decided to go for a 110m ship. The latest one is 135m again. Both Tauck and Avalonwaterways have mixed fleets, Amawaterways also has some older smaller ships still. I know the mould, the blueprint and the financial aspects are for 135m ships but if you want to gain plus points with customers not wanting ship swaps there is much to gain by going smaller. And we are getting more informed, aren't we? We know so much more than we did before the drought shock of 2018 hit us here on CC and on the rivers. Wonder what you folks, especially in the US, think? notamermaid

Honest answer: I do not know. I just know the difference is there. It is enough to make a difference on the Rhine and could be all you need to get through and wave to the 135m ships docked and swapping passengers. The Danube is so incredibly low that the difference may not help right now. Not all 110m ships are alike nor are all 135m ships. In short: well-chosen length of ship but still be prepared for inconveniences. Yes. See above. And if I may add: well-chosen ship, love looking at the Treasures sailing on the Rhine. Well-chosen company from what others have reported in previous years. You did not ask, but I thought I would say it anyway. Hope service is as good as it used to be with all the staff shortages the industry has. If you have time and would like to make the effort, would be great to read of your experience when you return home. We hear little of this long itinerary with Tauck. notamermaid

Ah, the famous windows in St. Stephen. Apparently they have audio guides in English, too: https://bistummainz.de/pfarrei/mainz-st-stephan/gotteshaus/Besucherservice/ Frankfurt to Mainz is easy to do on public transport. If you are informed on the ship that they will not go to Mainz do tell the CD of your wishes. I am sure they will try to help you with that. notamermaid

Nice report from Jeri Clausing. I decided to put this in a separate thread as it addresses not only the sailing itself but also shows some recent changes for AmaWaterways, like the more or less end of buffets. Staff shortages in the industry. And it also mentions the recent low water levels. https://www.cruisecritic.co.uk/articles.cfm?ID=7060&stay=1&posfrom=1 notamermaid