notamermaid

Famous Pfalzgrafenstein is an iconic site. So many great things to see in the Middle Rhine valley. What I find fascinating about my river is the sheer variety of landscapes. Like my avatar photo. It is very different from the river where the famous castles are. At that spot at Rhinau I saw a wide river with island and factory and other grand scale man-made structures in the distance. The buildings and villages in France looked similar to ours but the differences were still noticeable. There are several landscape spots apart from the castles that I like. Not sure that I have a favourite one (beyond a particular sight that I grew up with). Rüdesheim hills, Bacharach, Boppard are all memorable, Oberwesel town wall is great. Urmitz Rhine bridge is a fascinating sight because I like steel bridges. After the wide valley at Neuwied the Andernach Gate where the river enters the mountains again stands out. Petersberg near Bonn is always a welcome sight. Cologne Hohenzollern Bridge at night is fascinating. A particularly warm memory I attach to the sunrise at Oberwinter. But after all that idle talk I will leave you for the weekend with two videos of the Upper Middle Rhine valley, both posted before in a previous year, but you can relive some moments from your cruise, learn a little about the valley or have your appetite whetted. By the way, weather should go back to being really summery soon and Kaub gauge is doing just fine, now and for the foreseeable future (let us say at least a week). https://www.dw.com/en/upper-middle-rhine-valley-a-unesco-world-heritage-site/video-16995075 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2XElvTqJVWA notamermaid

@ksloanbrown welcome to Cruisecritic and thank you for the photo of Pfalzgrafenstein at Kaub. Have a great time on the Avalon Expression. notamermaid

Talking of the Scenic Jade. The fabulous people on Binnenschifferforum have spotted the Jade at Regensburg on the 3rd. Perhaps someone recognizes themselves on the ship: https://www.binnenschifferforum.de/showthread.php?63236-Scenic-Jade-KFGS-02335641&p=461058#post461058 Pfelling at 367cm. notamermaid

It is August, time to have a look at what the river did at Kaub: The month started on a relative low for this time of year and the worry of the level going to a real low was certainly there. The decline was slow and before problems for river cruise ships could really arise the river recovered in the middle of the month. This was a short relief that could not be backed up and we saw first the return to where the figures had been before and then a further decline that brought the river close to a level that would have been problematic. Thankfully, after a very dry week, rain set in all over the catchment area and we see a fast rise of about 90cm. On the Danube at Pfelling this was even more pronounced with the level rising by just over 100cm in that short space of time. Cooler temperatures and continued rain on and off kept the level high enough till the end of the month. notamermaid

Welcome to Cruisecritic. Thank you for reporting from your cruise. Indeed, the weather is not really summery and unsettled days still lie ahead. Pfelling at 383cm. notamermaid

That's the spirit. The Grand European is an amazing journey. As Canal archive says the ships are out of position, so the last swap was the swap to put the ships on opposite ends of the continent to where they should be and the company did not have to switch them back as the river's levels rose. Have a great cruise. notamermaid

A curious little ship has been on the Moselle - you may still be able to spot it today. She is called the Ulma V and is a wooden ship from the Danube, a so-called "Ulmer Schachtel" or "Zille". I have mentioned this type of vessel in the Danube thread. No photo unfortunately of the unusual ship with black and white livery on the river as the newspaper article is behind a paywall. The website of the friends: http://ulma-ulm.de/Historie-der-ULMA/ notamermaid

Not sure myself about the set-up of Ama and APT. There are the few specific ships that have the APT livery/logo when I see them sailing on the river. I know that one grand European journey has an APT tailored specific itinerary. It includes Namedy Castle as an excursion and at its inauguration was mentioned as being exclusive. About Brohl and the saga of the Carmen Sylva: The sale has been confirmed. The Andernach businessman is now the proud owner of the excursion boat. In an interview with a local newspaper he has stated that he wants to turn her into a "house boat". A major restoration task, I hope for a happy ending. So far, I am delighted that she is still around. notamermaid

It is August, time to have a look at what the river did at Pfelling: The river started on a low, too low for some ships. The level struggled to recover and on the 10th dropped to a figure that is very low for this time of year. Shortly after that we see the graph jump and that level back over 300cm created a window of opportunity for all ships to sail the shallow stretch. We have read that at least some ships were able to use this short "high". The level dropped again but not as low as before. Still, again this necessitated ship swaps. A minor rise was very short. Again we see the level fall below the line of RNW at 290cm. This 290cm happens to be the level at which the river cruise ships with the deepest draft start having problems sailing. Heavy rain in the whole catchment area of the Upper Danube in Germany meant that the level at Pfelling recovered very quickly after that. So much so that the rest of the month saw comfortable sailing. Additional rain has helped to keep the level well over 300cm, too and as you can see the graph is showing the level around the long term mean (MW). notamermaid

So, little is happening on the Elbe in summer, meaning July and August, on the stretch that takes in Dresden, Meißen and Wittenberg. I have had a look at the offers on a German online-only booking website and if you widen your search for the whole Elbe you find several river cruises. Tomorrow you can go from Hamburg to Brandenburg with Plantours, on the 6th you can go from Hamburg to Berlin with CroisiEurope, etc. If you wanted to see the Elbe in summer you could but this is of course still very little river cruise traffic compared to other rivers and even some canals in Germany. notamermaid

No problem. A quick change in weather pattern can be the difference of sailing and non-sailing and I would say from having monitored this over the years that the Danube is more pronounced with the rapid recovery than the Rhine. Mind you, the Rhine tends to have the fewer problems with it than the Danube in Bavaria. We are now in August so it is time to recap July on the rivers Danube, Elbe and Rhine. And on the Danube we will see this rapid recovery in the graph quite clearly. On the Rhine it is there as well but as we saw the river on a "mild low" the effect was virtually non-existent, i.e. river cruise ships have been sailing with very little impact and no ship swap (as far as I can ascertain) was necessary. notamermaid

Speaking of which: Kaub gauge 178cm. Forecast adjusted to just reaching 200cm on Saturday. notamermaid

I meant it as a general comment as compared to water levels for example, also off the forum. I hardly ever see it referred to elsewhere. Yes, we have talked about it here not infrequently and I think in the roll calls it is mentioned more often from the glimpses I have got. Connected to that topic: Yesterday I browsed through the "teaser" catalogue, i.e. a smaller edition of the main catalogue, of the agent for CroisiEurope in Germany. And right there clearly visible as a separate paragraph perfectly in view and not hidden in the fine print are all the "must-knows" about river cruising like water levels, locks, rafting and the sun deck being possibly closed. Good to read that you had a great time on Viking again. You had hot weather and unfortunately the (smooth) ship swap but on the Rhine you got the change to the more favourable temperatures for touring but with not little rain thrown in. Now we have gone full "non-summer" and today is the coldest and wettest August day I have experienced since I last went to Yorkshire a few years ago. notamermaid

@Vilhelm2 Thank you for your honest review. This is on the Main river. It is something that is not often talked about and a big criticism with those sailing on that river and the Main Danube Canal. I hope the great memories of the cruise outweigh the negative ones, if not now then over time. notamermaid

Special itineraries for D-Day commemoration: https://www.travelweekly.com/River-Cruising/Insights/River-lines-will-mark-D-Day-anniversary-with-cruises notamermaid

Thank you for saying hello from your cruise. Glad to read that you are having a good time. notamermaid

Pfelling gauge at 389cm. Very good. notamermaid

A new ship on the Douro for Riviera Travel: https://travelweekly.co.uk/news/tourism/riviera-travel-deploys-new-ship-on-douro From the livery it looks to be another cooperation with the Swiss company Scylla, i.e. Riviera charters the "Porto Mirante". notamermaid

Welcome to Cruisecritic. It is actually a little on the cool side for July in Germany. No summer heat at all right now. Have a great cruise. notamermaid

The ferry at Linz - and the excursion boat - part 3 (parts 1 and 2 are in posts #290 and #294) We headed to Brohl harbour and made a quick stop as I wanted to see the excursion boat "Carmen Sylva" for the last time. I explain. The boat was built in 1968 and had been doing excursions, day ones and a few longer trips, ever since. In 2022 it was put onto the market for sale (connected with the insolvency of the operator). It was supposed to be auctioned off in April 2023 but sank in Brohl harbour in March. "That's it.", I thought and as we were on the road it gave me the opportunity to see the almost completely submerged vessel for a last time before it was pulled out of the water and scrapped. When we got there the harbour area was busy with cars parked at the side of the road and people lining the embankment. A huge crane had arrived and had already started the procedure! I had not known the exact day for the rescue operation. It was certainly a spectacle in this small town and we watched for some minutes. The "Carmen Sylva" being fastened to the ropes of the crane: The barge (without engine) at the back is ready for her to be lifted on. The crane in its full height: The drizzly weather and the sight of the once beautiful boat left me somewhat in a contemplative mood. Time to head back home. At home we had the cake from Café Kleber and it was really good. My piece was a light and creamy cheese cake with cacao base and cassis topping: Recommended! Epilogue (kind of). Since the incident in the harbour the story of the "Carmen Sylva" has turned and twisted. First she was declared a wreck, then another court ruled against that declaring her "fit for floating" and that she can be repaired. So she went into auction. First there was no bidder. But then last week I read that a businessman in Andernach had bought her. A court will rule in August whether this sale will go ahead and he can really claim her as his ship. What will happen then, I wonder? notamermaid

Yes, the current is relatively strong on the Danube. It varies. Officials give a range of 3 to 10 km/h at average volume of water. It is different from beyond Gönyü where there are abrupt changes but the river slows down and eventually creates a delta closer to the Black Sea. It also depends on how big the volume of water is. In flooding the river has a stronger current. notamermaid

A nice reaction to the rainy weather of the river at Budapest: In Bavaria the cloudy/drizzle rainy weather is likely to continue during this week. notamermaid

Pfelling gauge at 370cm. Some fun ship trivia to distract us from river levels on this Sunday. We all know that going against the current on a fast river requires some effort. In times past, without engines, this was done with sails and horses pulling the ships. But you could also just not bother and only go downstream with a ship - or raft. This is timber rafting: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timber_rafting You can transport people and cargo on such a raft but you may need a box for some cargo. Or you could make a "box" that is the boat. First a slightly fun/derogative name due its lightweight (if not flimsy) construction it has become the term for this type of historic boat used on the Upper Danube around Ulm, the "Ulmer Schachtel": https://english.ulm.de/0/the-ulmer-schachtel notamermaid

Kaub gauge at 172cm. On track to reaching 200cm during the week. notamermaid

rosepetalsbeck, welcome to Cruisecritic. thank you for your kind words. First: I second the comments of CastleCritic. Check your port for disembarkation. Vilshofen should be fine. Problems are further upstream. As regards the problems themselves. We have no idea of knowing which of the dates you mention will be worse next year. On the Danube there is not much in it. The second dates that you mentioned will give you cooler nights in general and of course less daylight. There is daylight saving time in Europe. For details check this website: https://www.timeanddate.com/ Unless you are used to being in a very hot climate you should be fine. Layer up, check good weather websites. Days in September and beginning of October can still be warm. Not gloves weather yet... Have fun planning and perhaps see you in the Danube thread. notamermaid