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

Welcome to Cruisecritic. Thank you for your kind words. You will be cruising on the Moselle, too. May I recommend that thread to you? Hope you enjoy Trier and its famous Porta Nigra. Have a great cruise. notamermaid

Quick look at Kaub gauge. 170cm and still rising. Peak expected for tomorrow. Rainy weather continues into tomorrow according to the forecast. Great! I think that level sorts it, meaning this is good for a decent level for river cruise ships well into August. All of August? Well, not clear and a bit optimistic of course but with the rain having filled Lake Constance a bit, things are looking better than a week ago. notamermaid

Pfelling gauge at 376cm. While the river can surprise as in this area and the level has gone done from a peak during the night of over 400cm, I think we can relax about the level this weekend. The cloudy and rainy weather will be with us into the weekend. notamermaid

Such a pity but good to read that you got a great land trip together instead. The big difference between the Reichsburg and Burg Eltz is of course that the former is rebuilt while the latter is a real intact one. I would say that your itinerary is a really nice one to experience the Moselle in a bit more detail and with more activity (if one wishes to be so active). The other version to Metz is also really nice I find. The ships again do these itineraries or similar ones this year. I enjoy Metz greatly, been three times but have not seen everything I have wanted to see, every visit was a bit too short. Unfortunately very few itineraries on the small river cruise ships, meaning bigger than the barges for bike & barge, go as far as Metz. Would love to do this one by a Swiss tour operator (it calls itself "Reisebüro" but is a tour operator): https://www.mittelthurgau.ch/reise/excellence-pearl-nancy-metz-trier-saarbruecken-elnan2 notamermaid

That is spooky. Nice shot. Reichsburg Cochem looks dramatic in fog. A photographer named Andreas Pacek has taken a very good one. I really like such photos. notamermaid

North of Worms and South of Cologne. Hence the fact that I have very little experience of the Canal d'Alsace or the other lock controlled stretches of the Rhine. Not sure that I have mentioned this in this thread, my current avatar photo was taken in the Upper Rhine valley at Rhinau. The view is from the ferry looking upstream. That was a short trip quite a few years ago. New developments in the "tragic soap opera" of the excursion ship that is still to feature in the last part of my trip to Linz. Must really get those photos sorted... A cool and drab day on the Rhine today. Is it July? Was going to go to the river proper for a trip out with shopping and café visit but I think there are better days for photo ops. My holiday is coming to an end so no furiously waving at a river cruise ship from an excursion boat for a while. Just has not worked out. notamermaid

Pfelling gauge at 359cm. After a relatively fast rise it is still going up but more slowly so. Could the river reach a plateau soon? Or will the continued rain mean that the level will go up considerably still? It is too cool for July and really rainy over much of Germany. notamermaid

Thank you, I like this article. Good research and no dramatic headline. It is fascinating for me still to see what is transported on the river. I have seen almost everything from space ship and army vehicles to scrap metal. Of course there are the barges that have closed hulls so you cannot see the bulk cargo. Tankers, container barges with unknown contents. The Viking Orva pulling a landing stage. Barges pulling hulls of river cruise ships alongside are my highlight of course. So rare for me to spot them. notamermaid

Yes, all so much better now. Nice of the captain to react so quickly and get rid of the worries passengers may have. Have a great cruise. Sorry about the 139cm I posted earlier - a typo. It is 123cm now but the way things are looking we will get to 139cm and above that. With a bit of luck the level will stay above 150cm for a while. Plenty of water for river cruise ships. Sorry, I cannot figure this one out. But I am not discussing with a captain in his absence of course. Hope you had a great cruise. 87cm means the depth of the navigation channel at Kaub area is 200cm. notamermaid

Thanks. What a disappointment. Tells you that I do not play scrabble. Then as two-letter words we can only use the mundane ones like "an", "er", "es", "so", "tu", etc. The supposedly most points under a specific circumstance you can get with the word "enzyklopädische" in German, Google tells me. Y and ä are certainly good letters to have in a word. Y is much less frequent in German than in English. Fun fact: contrary to this the mountain and lady are called Loreley in German usually but Lorelei in English usually. Ley (or lay, or lei) is an old word meaning rock. notamermaid

Yes, Vilshofen to Budapest (or vice versa) is a good itinerary to avoid the worst problems. With the recent rain the area around Budapest should be fine for at least a few days and of course better than Pfelling should the level fall again. Thank you for helping with explaining this to Merlin_AZ. Have a great cruise. Budapest is fabulous. notamermaid

Kaub gauge at 117cm. Quite a bit of rain still forecast. Level to go up to over 150cm. All good. notamermaid

Fun fact: just two standard letters will not get you very far with many points but far on the geography nerd scale. "Aa" is both a river in Germany and in France. Crossed the Aa many times going to England thinking "what a weird name for a river". Imagine my surprise when I read that in Germany there is also one of the same name. Oops. notamermaid

Yes, you were really unfortunate. Hope it went well and you are enjoying the Canal. I know the Main river is well known to you so I guess you will be exploring old haunts and perhaps a new place. Pfelling gauge doing even better than predicted - 323cm. notamermaid

Thanks for your reply. That is a good alternative. I recall reading this being offered, what company did you sail with? Many years ago I walked up to Burg Eltz through the valley from Moselkern. That is a small challenge but doable in 90 minutes. Forgot to post the info about Ulmen: https://www.gesundland-vulkaneifel.de/en/ulmener-maar-stollen-entdecker-tour/ That is the long tour, in my previous post I suggested the tunnel with short tour round the Ulmener Maar only. notamermaid

About Cochem and the excursions on the Avalon Waterways cruise. I was in Cochem for the first time in my living memory (I cannot rule out having been chauffeured around in a pram on the many day trips we did) this early March and was a bit shocked when I finally saw the Historische Senfmühle. This "mill" is housed in a modern building with what appears to be the local fire brigade and a multi-storey car park(?). I did not go in so cannot comment about the place itself but it sure does not look like a romantic mill tucked away in a quiet valley. I found Cochem interesting but so early in the year not much was happening and as it was Sunday almost all shops were closed. The Reichsburg is impressive to look at and the small street up there looks challenging. Of course, you may taken in a coach. So could there be interesting alternatives in Cochem? Again, I have not been to the places I am about to mention but they merit a closer look next time I am there. For a "classic tour" would a walk with commentary on history and visit to the mill not be the standard? I mean the mill may well be nice. Or just wandering around. Or including this gemstones museum: http://edelstein-museum.info/en/ For the "discovery tour", could the bunker be a good choice? It is a bit of a walk up the hill but doable and the inside is a bit more of a challenge than just a town walk: https://www.bundesbank-bunker.de/en/ For the "active tour", could the wildlife park nearby be good? Not saying you need to walk there, as that would be a real hike. How about a walk to the "Rastbank zum Riesling"? Uphill but doable and with a different view over Cochem perhaps. But for me, as I have been to the area, the more active with some discovery thrown in would be a coach ride up the valley of the Endert brook (which I found picturesque in March) to the volcanic lake Ulmener Maar, see the old tunnel and have a walk around the lake. That is about 2km. Of course, on the way the coach could drop you off to do some more walking back into Cochem rather than be taken straight to the ship. Just a few ideas thrown into this thread. If you have any comments or have other suggestions, or perhaps you have seen something unusual in Cochem, it would be great to hear it. notamermaid

Cannot make up my mind about the German cruise lines if I think they should be in or not. May be a bit much. If I had to choose one it would be Viva Cruises but not sure about this one as of now. Perhaps one that has not been mentioned should be in - Amadeus (rather than Lüftner). They have co-operations with British tour operators so perhaps that makes them more interesting for a search. Again, not sure. notamermaid