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

I know what you mean. Have just a bit of moisture in the air and no wind to blow it around. It becomes oppressive. We are sort of okay here but a more urban environment is likely to be worse. Not looking forward to tomorrow. Now to Emmerich gauge! Something interesting happening down there. Watch it happen "live". Could happen today or tomorrow, new reading every 15 minutes: https://www.pegelonline.wsv.de/gast/stammdaten?pegelnr=2790020 notamermaid

Kaub gauge is at 31cm this lunchtime. That is only 6cm higher than the all time low in October 2018. Forecast suggests it will be stable during the next two days, so we probably will not see that figure of 25cm his year for some time. Yes, rain is forecast! We will see what happens but modelling says that the 78cm could happen on 21 August. I am skeptical so will go for the more probable 22 August. The end of ship swaps even? For now let us just say that modelling puts 90cm into the "could well happen" range. That is tentative and most likely only temporary. What we can definitely say is that Kaub will stay on low water for the rest of the month. How much that will impact river cruising we will need to wait and see. The gauge at Maxau gives us a good indication of what the computer thinks will happen. The figure now is 323cm, the volume of water (Q) is now 436m³/s: You see the water being carried increase fast on 18/19 August, the reaction to the rain forecast. Peak may just be touching 600m³/s. The grey line, by the way, indicates the volume of water will slowly but steadily decrease if it does not rain. This amount of water does not fully translate into a corresponding rise at Kaub but certainly a rise of similar volume and a level cooresponding to that can be expected. Hence the fact that the probability chart gives us 78cm at Kaub, or at least a range that includes that figure. notamermaid

It is nice to know that so many river cruisers still get to enjoy the Rhine Gorge that way. You mention Engers, a standard port for Avalonwaterways but as far as I know hardly used by others yet. That modern landing stage there is a kind of cooperation between the authorities there and the company, but the booking of the dock is done through a different provider. So Avalonwaterways I believe has no "first come first serve" or "monopoly" on this dock I think. If someone could find out from the company I would welcome the info here. Unfortunately, the main attraction, the palace, is experiencing problems. It is owned by Villa Musica, but the hospitality subsidiary company has gone into administration. Too much loss of revenue during the last two years. Apparently a restructuring did not work out. So now they have a third party trying to do it. I am hopeful that it will work and during my contacts at work I have heard that the current events and daily operation of the hotel are not affected. You can read a bit more on Engers here, post #7: https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2516698-rhine-beyond-the-standard-ports/ notamermaid

So, slightly cooler temperatures in the Rhine valley today. Over on the Danube I see that Pfelling is also not as hot as it has been at lunchtime on other days, 23.3 Celsius. Over Bavaria today, weather is influenced by a low pressure area over the British Isles, so warm but clouds that also bring rain is the weather today. We saw some of that on the radar last night already. Tomorrow will be back to hot and dry. What is pleasant is that it is windier, making the hot air more bearable. More rain is forecast for later in the week. Pfelling gauge at 225cm. Forecast suggests 223cm to 221cm. Will the rain on Friday finally give us levels over 250cm again? I am hopeful but very skeptical. The desired 290cm are far, far away... notamermaid

Thanks for your trust. And, yes you are right about the situation. @steamboats was up earlier than me this morning, so has answered your question (I am sending a thank you to Munich). I will just add that the river channel has also been additionally deepened, so an extremely shallow area like that around Kaub does not exist (anymore). The Rhine Gorge is a far trickier area to rearrange for large ships (underwater rocks and extreme bends). It sounds like a lovely itinerary in December, Christmas markets on the Main, I am getting just a tad jealous. One thing to bear in mind is that the sundeck may be closed due to low bridges (depending on ship design and safety policies). But it will be a bit too chilly to sit up there for long anyway. The thread on the Main: https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2670259-the-river-main-infos-and-river-cruising-experiences/ notamermaid

I hope you have arrived in good spirits at your destination. If you feel like it, inform us what you have decided to do in the end. notamermaid

They sit in an office in the US. Have they ever even been near a European river one wonders... I am not saying hail to thee BBC, but give me Jenny Hill standing at the Mouse Tower anytime! Several people on the rivers and also experts on river topics have expressed here in interviews and video footage that it is just trying to create panic saying that river traffic will cease. Quote from the article: "In fact, Weeden believes that Rhine cruises "will be a thing of the past" before too long." I believe punishment for such a believe should be sausage and cheap apple juice on an excursion boat from now till the end of the season everyday and sleeping on a bench in the lounge. The excursion boats are still sailing, so are the small Dutch river cruise ships. Ha!! notamermaid

Found it - them!! Not Dutch. Two ships came through the Rhine Gorge as confirmed by marinetraffic and the webcam at Bingen. They are both CroisiEurope and 110m long, the L' Europe and the Gerard Schmitter. notamermaid

Definitely the drawback of the train journey. Book the right train and it takes you through the Gorge (great tunnels!) but on balance, excursion boat is much better for the view. notamermaid

It appears that Viking does the Amsterdam to Basel and vice versa swap in Strasbourg while others do it at Speyer or even Rüdesheim. Definitely not as long a coach trip from those two. The Budapest to Amsterdam itinerary appears to end in Mainz. Tonight the Viking Baldur and the Viking Modi are there. Ships are still going to Rüdesheim, I spotted an Amawaterways (APT) ship there yesterday. In the evening, the Emily Bronte came. She moved to another dock in Rüdesheim after lunch today and then disappeared from view. Her dock at the train station was then occupied by another ship that had come through the Rhine Gorge! Not sure which one it is but I think it is Dutch and definitely not 135m long. notamermaid

Kehl in Germany is a typical port for the Strasbourg excursion. Shuttle is then usually provided it seems. If you did not want to be on the coach you could theoretically take a train from Kehl or Strasbourg to the other ship in Koblenz or Cologne or wherever it may be docked in between. But it is a longish train journey with at least one connection. Or vice versa, Cologne or Koblenz to Kehl/Strasbourg. notamermaid

Just a few words from me on the river levels. After quite a drop yesterday, Pfelling gauge has been a bit higher and relatively stable today. Now at 223cm. Unexpectedly, meaning I did not expect it, I see rain on the radar image over the young Danube and the Lech river. Not a lot, but at least we now know that rain clouds still exist or form somewhere. Reaction of the river? Perhaps a bit, who knows? notamermaid

Yes, mid-cruise is another matter and if one leaves as a passenger, the company cannot fulfill the contract. That is different from completing the cruise. I was referring to the state of affairs after finishing the river cruise. I am referring to two ideas: 1. What is a river cruise as stipulated by travel laws? 2. Has the company fulfilled the contract to the satisfaction of the company? As far as I can see it, Viking differs far from what consumer rights laws say in Germany. I looked at Viking specifically as the river cruise in question here is Viking. Therefore I need not comment on other lines. No line controls the weather, but the crucial point is that T&C may say that a company is not responsible for weather conditions, but the law can/could disregard that fact and just say "the company did not fulfill the contract therefore the consumer is entitled to a refund". I did not mean to be unfair towards the OP or any other Viking river cruiser. I jumped to the general as I am as a consumer and tourism employee for the sake of passengers not entirely happy with the T&C's and marketing of Viking. It takes plus points off a very good product that Viking river cruises are. notamermaid