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

Exciting news. There was a big opening ceremony in Straubing on 25 January. The first section of river that has been altered to allow for more transport load on ships has been opened to traffic. Nine kilometres now have a deeper navigation channel. It is from Straubing to Bogen, that means from after the lock (on the left in the photo) to the railway bridge at the right end of the photo: In essence, this short section allows commercial traffic to sail with a greater load, i.e. ships can have a deeper draft. The gain is substantial: 65cm. What has been gained in this context is more load that can be carried to the industrial harbour which you can see in the right of the photo, called Straubing-Sand. That relieves the roads, especially the nearby motorway, of quite a few lorries. Big question is: will it make any difference for river cruise ships? I doubt it as Straubing has been traditionally the last accessible port sailing downstream. There is no port for them on the following 9kms. The more troubling section is from Straubing-Sand and Bogen downstream to Deggendorf as I understand it. Official waterways' authorities press release in German: https://www.gdws.wsv.bund.de/SharedDocs/Pressemitteilungen/DE/20240125_Donauausbau_PM.pdf;jsessionid=EA615AC660ADAB7764AD3288967B3B1A.live21324?__blob=publicationFile&v=2 Please do let me know if you talk to captain or crew on your river cruise about this. I would love to know if anything will change for the better or if we need to wait for the other sections' construction work. notamermaid

Okay, if Sam Adams has some money in the kitty, perhaps he could, I mean while the butts are still in the yard and the copper is still warm... Oh, and: Personenschiffahrt Merkelbach in Koblenz ceased to operate their business at the end of 2023. The ship " MS Deutsches Eck" is currently in nearby Vallendar, not sure what will happen to it. notamermaid

Is it that bad? Well they would have a hard time ruining it, what stands between us and them is the Reinheitsgebot, the German bulwark of a purity law, jawoll!! Keep our beer clean. I would more see the problem on the marketing or economics side, i.e. the ruin... Good news comes from Iffezheim. The lock gate repairs have started. notamermaid

Hello to you. Call my area the Middle Rhine valley and I would say that Koblenz is part of my "shopping turf". I work in tourism part time, but not the river cruising sector. It all started with a river cruise in 2013 and I had always liked river trips. I went on the Goethe paddle steamer with my grandparents many years ago as a child. Other short trips followed. I kind of started informing people here about river levels and the weather in some posts and the Rhine water level thread was borne out of that as the info was appreciated. Then the Danube and the Elbe followed in subsequent years. 2015 was a bad year and cruisers were eager to find out about the situation on the Rhine so the idea that I would do this stuck, with 2018 being the worst "river cruising year" in history. What can I say, people were highly appreciative of the infos I gave and the fact that all was in respective threads made it easy for people to find and exchange their experiences on the river even on an hourly rate when it got really bad. Decision making processes for sailing or not sailing, e-mails, announcements by the captains... But also the fun stuff. So, it all stuck and it is still enormous fun to talk to people. 🙂 Have a great cruise. notamermaid

I was looking at some info on the canals in France - you know, you can turn off from the Rhine at Strasbourg and head West via the Rhine Marne Canal with a small boat. CroisiEurope sails there. It is very interesting I find and I will write a bit about it in the Rhine thread some time. The big draw on the Canal is the Arzviller boat lift. I have been there on a land trip and did find it technically interesting. It replaces locks. That section with the locks is now almost empty of water and partly abandoned. But there are some residents in the old lock keeper buildings and the cycle path looks nice. I thought this may interest you @Canal archive: https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=REWioYKjadk notamermaid

A bit of other news from the valley. At Koblenz an unusual accident occurred. A work boat, one that is used at construction sites along the river, capsized. The crew were saved. And the smallest Viking ship has been busy again - I spotted her - sailing steel constructions along the river. It is the Viking Orvar, a tug boat that belongs to Viking. Staying in Koblenz, sad news is coming from the brewery. It is closing down tomorrow as no investment firm could be found to take the company over. If you happen to know Mr. Anhäuser or Mr. Bush, or otherwise a beer fan with lots of money to spare, hurry... Near Koblenz, farmers' protests continued with a meeting in Neuwied and a slow protest ride over the bridge there. It must have looked quite unusual from the barges and tankers passing under it. It looks as if the protests will continue so there is a chance (or risk, depending) that the few river cruise passengers will be affected in a minor way, like due to road blocks or demonstrations in towns. Especially as the French farmers have kind of joined in. Still, it looks well organized and not too chaotic. Even less impact we can expect from the river itself. The levels along the river are still going down, so from those base lines - partly around the long-term mean even - there is a lot of room for water. notamermaid

Thank you for saying hello. I myself am not familiar with that stretch of the river. It is different from Germany and Austria and weather patterns can be different, too. Of course, extensive flooding in the two countries will lead to at least some extend to flooding downstream, i.e. in Slovakia, Hungary and further. The graph in post #4 is taken from this website: https://www.hydroinfo.hu/en/hidinfo/hidinfo_graf_duna.html You can look at this and see how the situation progresses throughout the year. And during the coming months I am sure river cruisers will post some info from their cruises beyond Budapest. Not all river cruisers post on these pages, you will find some others in the roll calls. You could join your respective roll call or a combined roll call thread for the area and/or company. Have a great cruise. notamermaid

During the flooding, early in the month, a headline caught my eye. The high levels of the Danube were receding in Germany but the flooding was extensive still in Hungary and further downstream. In Serbia cattle had got stranded on an island in the river. A rescue operation had to be organized. These are two articles on it: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-67933641 https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/farmers-serbia-scramble-rescue-animals-river-island-2024-01-10/ notamermaid

It has been a busy weekend for me and while tourism is very off season, the travel shows are coming up and we have Carnival soon. That will be a busy and exciting - mad - time in the Rhineland. This coming weekend I hope to be at the tourism fair in Koblenz. I do not need to go as part of my job, I will be a private individual, but one can never quite get rid of the tourism employee mindset while walking around the stalls. The German agency of CroisiEurope will be there again and I expect to pick up a few brochures for the excursion boats along the Rhine. notamermaid

There has been high water on the German Danube but with so few ships sailing I have not reported on that. We will see it in the graph for January when we do a recap for the month. The weather is frosty, mostly during the night. It will gradually get warmer in Bavaria during the week. There will be little to no snowfall or rain. notamermaid

I find the article very informative and well written. One of the draws of cruising in winter really is the fact that you have some places "by yourself" with fewer tourists and hardly any to no river cruise tourists apart from your fellow travellers. I agree with the author there. Today the Viva One is in Linz, which is between Koblenz and Bonn. That is one of the few ships sailing and the itineraries vary so they are unlikely to be with you in port, i.e. German ships do go to additional ports that international cruise lines do not have as favourites. On a winter rive cruise you need to be prepared for the weather and flooding more than during other seasons. If one is fine with that it can be great. I am sure you will have a great time. A brief note on water levels. They are at a normal winter high but going down. It is not clear yet how February will progress but for the coming week we will have little precipitation and the levels will go down further. That will be a good baseline for when the levels do rise - inevitably - at some point in February or latest March. notamermaid

The mobility part is really good but I am impressed with the detailed info on the low bridges. That is even better than I know it from CroisiEurope. Some companies make this info easy to find others not so much... Well done, Riviera. The itinerary: I find it very appealing and I love the design of the "poet" ships by Scylla (sailing for Riviera Travel and others). All towns along the route are interesting and the Medieval theme really works there. I have seen them on land trips. Enjoy. notamermaid