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

A German lesson (you are allowed to forget the words very quickly) : "Abladeverbesserung und Sohlstabilisierung" is what the authorities are doing on the Lower Rhine around Krefeld. This basically means dredging the river so the ships can load more - in maritime technical language. This is the German article with photo of the dredger: https://binnenschifffahrt-online.de/2023/07/featured/30515/niederrhein/ This is good but the more pressing area is Kaub. It is a slow process and admittedly not as easily accomplished as on the Lower Rhine. The authorities meaning the hydrology engineers and the administration are still working on the - paperwork which will give recommendations as how to proceed. notamermaid

Indeed, business as usual it seems for now. These are just proposals. Another report: https://travelweekly.co.uk/news/tourism/clia-denies-reports-of-amsterdam-cruise-ship-ban notamermaid

Back to Wuppertal, see post #424. Wuppertal is not only known for being associated with steel and the heavy industry of the Ruhr valley, it was also a centre for the textile industry. If you are into the early industrial revolution you will want to spend quite a bit of time in the town's museums. How about this one (unfortunately limited opening times): https://www.mi-wuppertal.de/en/museum/ribbon-weaving-museum Yes, yes, you may say, but does a company do an excursion from a river cruise? Not that I know of, but it would be possible. It is 40 minutes by car from Düsseldorf, 50 minutes by car from Cologne and 40 minutes by car from Monheim. All times approximated. Hang on, Monheim?? If you have just stumbled over that place while reading, not to worry. I did not know that they have a dock for 135m river cruise ships until early this year. It is a town between Cologne and Düsseldorf on the right bank of the Rhine and I can honestly say that I have never been in the town itself. Photos look interesting. But that is for another day and possibly another thread. notamermaid

Pfelling gauge at 289cm. Running slightly below the forecast which is firmly pointing towards 300cm for tomorrow afternoon. The margin of error sees the level below that figure but there is a chance that it could get a little above 300cm. The 27th should see even higher figures. That is looking good. notamermaid

The brief 89cm at Kaub gauge yesterday was the bottom (for now) and we see a nice jump has happened overnight. 103cm now and it is cool and rainy. notamermaid

Pfelling gauge at 287cm and the trend is showing a clear line in the right direction. notamermaid

Thank you very much, I am touched. Good to read you enjoyed your trip so much. Cheers to you with a Tempranillo red wine aimed in a wide angle (the raised glass) to make sure it reaches across the pond to you. 🍷 notamermaid

And now for something quite different. Have a look at the marinetraffic.com screenshot of Passau I posted above. There is a place called Broken Glass Villa. We Germans have a bottle collection with deposit system, but surely this cannot have anything to do with it seeing that the bottles must be returned intact? The director's house of a glass recycling plant? No, neither. This is an actual town villa covered in broken glass and it is a work of art. It is difficult to find detailed info in English it seems but Atlas Obscura covers it: https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/broken-glass-villa This is now high on my list of places to see in Bavaria. notamermaid