notamermaid

Yes, that is one of the really nice ones. Thank you for the suggestion. It falls into the category Amsterdam to Koblenz and turning onto the Moselle. See map. I like that one as it goes all the way to Remich port (most likely port) in Luxembourg. The city is very interesting and the Moselle is beautiful. In some ways it is nicer than the Rhine - apart from the Rhine Gorge, that you cannot beat in my opinion. For the shallow part around Koblenz the 135m of the ship is not that bad, when the level gets really low there is a problem with the Moselle stretch of 500m between mouth and first lock. But it needs to get really low for that. The plus is that from Koblenz to Luxembourg it is only about two hours by coach. If you had to cut your journey in Koblenz it would not be that stressful. notamermaid

Another way of almost completely avoiding low water issues is not sailing the Rhine Gorge. I know, tough decision. That can be done by sailing from Cologne into the Netherlands (best option), or sailing from Amsterdam and turning onto the Moselle at Koblenz (very good option). Or sailing from Basel to Mainz and then turning into the Main river (quite good option). Reason is, roughly speaking, the river is at its shallowest in the Rhine Gorge and is better from Koblenz downstream and from south of Mainz upstream. But now it is time to look at Carnival!. 🥳 notamermaid

That is very understandable. Unfortunately, there have been mentions in previous years of companies putting river cruisers on a coach for a six hour journey (interrupted by comfort stops of course) to get to Basel. Again, it does not happen often but it cannot be ruled out. As for the 110m ships, they are operated by CroisiEurope, some German companies, and internationally by Avalonwaterways and a couple of others on the Rhine and Danube. The Avalon Imagery II, the Avalon Tranquility II, and of Uniworld the River Empress and the River Princess are such shorter ships for example. Statistics take a bit of time to compile and need explaining. This would be something like x days of a water level below y in year z at Kaub. notamermaid

I see on the graphs that the level of the Elbe is rising again and the gauge at Dresden is forecast to go to flood warning level 1. Apparently the high volume of water is mainly coming from the Upper Elbe rather than the Vltava, which joins at Melnik. But to more fun matters. It is Carnival in Germany and where I am we are "surrounded" by soldiers, princesses and other dressed-up folk. They say that it was a Rhineland guy that brought the Carnival to Berlin but that is folklore. A version of Carnival has existed in Berlin for quite some time. It is true though that a gentleman from the Rhineland is president of the Festkomitee "Berliner Karnval e.V.", those people organize the Carnival parades. When the Wall fell and many people from the Rhineland moved to Berlin, especially when Government returned there, street carnival as we now it along the Rhine really took off in our capital. But that is Berlin on the Spree river, what about the Elbe folk? @AnhaltER1960 are you eating Berliner and shouting "dreifach donnernd"? notamermaid

It is this time of year again - Carnival! But we are in the Southeast of Germany in this thread so the word is Fasching. It is different from the Rhenish Carnival but the essence and the timeline are the same. For those who want to study the Carnival traditions more intensively, here is a comprehensive page on "the fifth season": https://www.german-way.com/history-and-culture/holidays-and-celebrations/fasching-and-karneval/ notamermaid

As we are on the topic of low water, just a quick geography lesson. Here is the map of the Rhine with its sections: For river cruise ships it is navigable from Basel. The yellow section, the Middle Rhine valley, has an upper and a lower part. The upper part (the first one you sail through in the downstream direction) contains most of the splendid castles, it is the Rhine Gorge. Close to where the m of Rhein-km 530 hits the blue river line, just above I would say, is Kaub. The lower part contains a few nice castles, too and the Drachenfels I mentioned in a previous post. This is what I mean when I say that those few kilometres around Kaub that you cannot sail cut your itinerary in a top half and a bottom half. For those new to Kaub: it is a small town with a water level gauge important for navigation. It looks like this: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pegel_Kaub#/media/Datei:PegelKaubRhein.JPG notamermaid

Welcome to Cruisecritic. The Rhine is an interesting river all year round, though I am not convinced that January and February are months in which cruising is attractive. We will perhaps find out more if the Viking river cruisers this year give feedback (I mentioned the two ships in a previous post). Early September is a really nice time, daylight is favourable, temperatures are pleasant generally speaking. All months are as good as or better if you want tho avoid low water, October is statistically worse. June is probably the best month overall, for daylight, weather, no low and no high water. July and August are also nice but low water can occur. I was wondering, what exactly worries you? Low water is a nuisance and when it gets really bad can very much impact your cruise and your enjoyment. That is clear. Do you have mobility issues? Do you just not want to be on a bus? Those would be the main reasons not to want to deal with low water. Crews on ships are very experienced with the problem, plans B and C "always" exist. I do admit you are somewhat at the mercy of the company, especially if you are not so familiar with making on the fly arrangements yourself. People have mentioned here on CC that they left the ship early and took a train, etc. You can do that if you wish to. My tip: look at several companies and inquire about travel insurance and payment policies and refunds. Those can differ quite a bit from company to company, especially if you live in the US. That comparison can help with potential financial worries as regards low water (and flooding). All in all, low water is a problem that occurs every year, sometimes more, sometimes less, "always" in late summer or autumn. But it need not be extensive. Impossible to predict. But we can have a look at the statistics some time. The low water problem is actually a "bottleneck" problem in that it occurs around Kaub in the Rhine Gorge. When the river is too low there for sailing it cuts your itinerary in a top half and bottom half when you look at the map of the Rhine from Basel to Amsterdam (Amsterdam being on the Canal not the river but for river cruising the most likely top end). Oh, and it is important to remember that the low water is a draft thing, meaning the draft of your ship basically determines if your ship can sail or not. Several aspects play into this, size is of some importance, so generally speaking a 110m ship is less likely to have to stop sailing than a 135m ship. It is not much but just like with headroom in other scenarios, a few centimetres matter. Have fun planning. notamermaid

Ah, no. Starling is an icebreaker and is in German also the bird called a "Star", der Star. Starling the icebreaker is an "Eisbrecher" translated. notamermaid

Fun with dolphins At the end of the 2023 thread we had some fun with dolphins so have a look here: https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2910181-rhine-water-levels-2023-and-similar-topics/page/44/#comments Okay I have given it away – this is not about the animal but a structure related to navigation and docking. This is what it looks like, here ones in Koblenz at the Moselle docking area: When I looked at them I thought to myself: “Funny, these do not look like dolphins. So where may that word come from?” And my language nerd brain was activated… The German word is “Dalbe”. As language structures go in Germanic languages, the identical d, l and the similar ph/b point to one origin. But how did that happen? In maritime and navigational language the Dutch have often had a hand in such things so I thought this may have been the path. Well, I was not right as such but the Dutch were kind of involved. According to several sources the word Dalbe (sometimes Duckdalbe is used) comes from the fact that the Spanish Duke of Alba, when the country ruled over the Netherlands, had these constructions installed to create more anchor points in Dutch harbours so that they could accommodate more merchant ships. You can see the German almost in the Spanish duque de Alba. Okay the Spanish and the Dutch were involved. Or were they? There have been a few references to the story on the internet, claiming it is, well, disputed. Oh, well. I like the story. True or not, you will encounter the dolphins on your river cruise. And starlings. Those birds exist in Germany but here I mean the icebreakers: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starling_(structure) Oh, and we have a Moby Dick as well. That's right, that whale of that book. This one is an excursion boat. But that is another story. notamermaid

Before we get to the dolphins and the weird people at the tourism fair and Carnival, here is the good news. The latest long term forecasts for both Maxau and Kaub show no rise of note in water levels until 15 February. Even if the forecast changes a little for the worse it still leaves enough room for some rain. Looking good. Excitement is growing with me about Carnival, helped by the fact that Koblenz was already in Carnival mode yesterday and someone asked me today about a "Rathaussturm". That is a great highlight of every Carnival season. Basically, storm the town hall and take the mayor hostage! Fools rule!!Enormous fun. notamermaid

More Vikings on the rivers, eeeekk!! I thought the car park in Cologne Niehl was full in winter... Oh well. I went to the tourism fair in Koblenz yesterday and guess what was popular - the stall of an agency specializing in cruising. They had several catalogues of river cruise companies. It may have helped that they had a tombola, I mean lottery tickets that cost 2 euros each. So not free, but it is always a draw (excuse pun) to offer such things at a stall. I really enjoyed seeing the guy dressed up as a Roman senator. It was to do with the Roman frontier running through the forests behind Koblenz (and further to the Danube). Other nice conversations, too. I did not see Viking of course as they do not trade in Germany, not even Vikings or modern Scandinavians, but there were some soldiers, princesses and clowns and other weird people. Then I realized that there must be a carnival meeting, what we call a Sitzung, in the conference hall as well. Exciting!! 🥳 If you like Carnival that is. If one of the Viking ships, the Alruna or the Tialfi, is in Cologne or Mainz on Thursday or next Monday they will be in for a shock I fear. I wonder if the crew/hotel staff decorate the ships in Carnival splendour (perhaps not the confetti...) and have a show or something. Dressing up as a sailor is always popular in Rhenish Carnival. 😉 A bit more about it all in the Rhine thread. notamermaid

It is certainly a rare one, but I can imagine that there is such an itinerary out there. What I am familiar with are the round trips for tulip time of European cruise lines. If they start and end in Cologne or Düsseldorf you are a bit closer to Basel for the train travel. From there it is fast and convenient. Those companies are unlikely to have an add-on of Basel. Check out Riviera Travel UK, Viva Cruises and Arosa river cruises to see what they offer. Of course, you could always spend a couple of nights in the Netherlands DIY and then sail from Amsterdam up the Rhine. notamermaid

A tricky question. Overall, the likelihood of problems is higher in October than in Spring. The reason is the low water on the Danube and Rhine. Which may give you two ship swaps. The flip side is that in high water the ship swaps do not work as well logistically, which is not a company's fault, just the nature of the problem is slightly different. It is a long distance from Amsterdam to Budapest... I myself would not do this in October on a 135m ship. In Spring the size does not matter (unless you go for the vessels that have less superstructure). I have my "problems" with the itinerary and have read some unhappy comments of Viking river cruisers over the years. It is a gamble with probabilities really. Hopefully, some more Viking cruisers will give their impressions. notamermaid

@RDVIK2016 I have been to the tourism fair. Unfortunately, Schloss Drachenburg did not have a stall. CroisiEurope (the agent) where there, as expected. But I also saw several catalogues and offers of other river cruise companies courtesy of a regional travel agent. More on my afternoon in Koblenz another time. notamermaid

Lakes in Europe can indeed be so big that they have their own microclimate, here meaning far more wind and movement of water than a river. Lake Constance has boats/ferries crossing it and has its own marker on the weather alert map. It can be really wavy on there... Rivers do not do that, but ships can occasionally be affected by gusts of wind. No big deal. Estuaries may be a bit different but you hardly sail them on a river cruise ship. notamermaid

It is February, time to have a look at how the river did in January. In high water, which we have had recently, Maxau is an important marker and usually the place that is among the first to get to flooding status and when the level rises further to have a river traffic ban announced for the stretch of river it lies in. That is around Karlsruhe. Maxau gauge: We see the river being high, shown by the level crossing the M_I line (navigational flooding level I). The middle of the month shows a brief drop close to the mean. No river traffic ban. Kaub in the Rhine Gorge is the bottleneck in low water. Kaub gauge: You see that the second peak is much lower. This can happen when the rivers joining between Karlsruhe and Bingen do not carry a high volume of water. Overall, the river was high but without causing problems of note for river traffic. Basically, plain sailing for the few river cruise ships that are now on the river. notamermaid

It is February, time to have a look at how the river did in January. This time we look at both Pfelling and Passau in Germany. For those new to the topic: Pfelling is the place where the Danube can get notoriously low, Passau is the place where an old-ish, beautiful but infamous bridge is low and therefore a potential obstacle for river traffic in high water. In low water it is up to the captain to decide whether it is safe for him to sail his ship through the shallows, in flooding the authorities ban river traffic. Pfelling gauge: The river was high all through the month, with three peaks that took it even further above the mean and into the high water range, mild flooding, but short of getting to the level for a river traffic ban. That is at 620cm. Subsequently this lead to some flooding at Passau. There is a large river joining and a lock between Pfelling and Passau so such levels do not automatically translate into a specific range of figures for Passau. Passau gauge: We see the three peaks but different in length and height. There was a brief drop to the mean in the middle of the month. The first peak took the river to around 630cm which is considered the level at which the river cruise ships with the highest superstructure get problems with the passage under the bridge. If that peak was still manageable, then the last peak certainly will have caused a few problems. However, few river cruise ships are sailing. In the absence of rain the level has steadily gone down again. A good start for February but no indication whatsoever of what March will bring. notamermaid

Great forethought. There are of course reservoirs in Germany, especially for the big towns. The system is much the same. I would reckon that almost every country has what we call a "Wasserschutzgebiet", an area that is protected for its valuable water (supply). Loosely connected to this topic: I have not mentioned this for a long time but the Danube has been altered to accommodate more traffic with larger ships over the last two hundred years. Not as brutal as the Rhine perhaps in France/Germany but both rivers have partly been given a new bed, on the Danube this is perhaps most striking in Vienna, the old river: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bd/Josephinische_Landesaufnahme_Wien.jpeg Further downstream, the former Soviet states went for the full brutal - burying islands and villages when building the Iron Gates for example. Further on, the Danube Delta is a nature reserve. notamermaid

Good. 👍 notamermaid

You got me there... I have not been a fan of the changes and do have a few struggles with them. It is actually an interesting aspect - how to write place names. Koblenz used to be Coblenz for example. At one point or other in time places agree on one single spelling. Then it is fixed. Königswinter is Königswinter always as far as I know. The problems arise in the modern internet world where the umlauts are given a hard time. Also spelling with capitals is a problem of course. KÖNIGSWINTER works but it can get tricky in certain contexts and scripts. The address of the town is this, you see the "problem": https://www.koenigswinter.de/de/touris.html notamermaid

It is February, time to have a look at how the river did at Dresden: The year started with high water and we see the flooding coming from the Vltava adding substantially to the high of the Elbe. It all brought the river over the permitted level for river traffic (HSW). In the absence of substantial rain, the Vltava has recovered and both the Elbe and the Vltava are now at pleasant levels, the Czech Republic reporting mean levels and staying steady. A lot of room for any rain that the area will see in February. notamermaid

It is already February so we will look at what the river did in the first month of this year. But before we get to that, more importantly, let us have a look at what is happening at Maxau gauge. The figure now is 582cm. That is a good level in winter and it will go further down towards the long-term mean. So, Maxau being a good indicator for things to come we can assume that the river's levels will be very good right until 8 February. And the probability chart for Kaub tells us that the Middle Rhine valley should stay below flooding level - here meaning navigational flood mark I - until 12 February. And good news is coming from the biologists. The weather having been so wet in winter the grounds are saturated and the ground water level has risen. Rhineland-Palatinate, generally already a relatively dry state with precipitation below German average, has been too dry in recent years. While the wet conditions have not fully replenished what was lost, animals favouring or even relying on wet ground have been doing well recently. Also the flora typical for these wet grounds has recovered. notamermaid

Glad you like it. I am looking into this at the moment. A very different river, a very different area, but also commercial shipping history. Divers found a shipwreck in the Trave at Lübeck. The archeologists have now presented their findings. Can only find German reports. This is article from last year in English: https://www.dw.com/en/german-archaeologists-unearth-400-year-old-shipwreck-in-baltic/a-66401704 Fascinating to read is the fact that the citizens of Lübeck have funded this. Well done! notamermaid

So I guess in New York you cannot blame it on the environmentalists that it does not work. 😉 Here there is always a frog or a deer or some nature preservation paperwork in the way of large projects. Not that it is necessarily a bad idea to talk to them but, you know, they want to be involved and always have something to say. Well, on the Danube they all negotiated and after a decade plus it has finally come to fruition. There is a nice demonstration in a pictorial format, for want of a better description, of how may lorries a barge replaces. Will look that up some time. notamermaid

Good question. I talked to a representative of Schloss Drachenburg at the Koblenz tourism fair a few years back and she said that Viking had had the Schloss on an itinerary but stopped. She kind of indicated that companies "rotate" or "change" excursions for a new experience, meaning variety year on year or at least every few years. Which as a side note makes me wonder why Viking sticks to the not-so-much-loved-as-it-is-too-touristy Black Forest excursion... Anyway, yes, the Schloss has been visited, also by Scenic I believe, but I do not know of current itineraries. Perhaps if I get round to it I will ask a lady or a guy from the Schloss if I notice that the enterprise is again having a stall at the fair. This is the Drachenfels hill area: https://www.der-drachenfels.de/ For those interested - amazing virtual visit of Schloss Drachenburg online available: https://www.schloss-drachenburg.de/index.php/de/entdecken/virtuelle-schlosstour Drachenfels and Drachenburg are doable excursions from Remagen and Bonn, Cologne being a bit far but still okay, but Königswinter has its own dock so it is easily accessible if a company wishes to make it so. notamermaid