notamermaid

Have fun, some great itineraries out there during December. Good to hear your insurance covers the cancellation. Just a note: you will readily find the other North-American companies during research, but you may want to compare their offers to the European lines like Riviera Travel, Arosa and Viva Cruises. Or even CroisiEurope if you like French style. notamermaid

I do keep things close to my chest a lot of the time, but did not want to sound mysterious. A bit of a coincidence this time. Well, I have returned from the tour de force, meaning my travel companions forced me to go up hills and I am truly feeling it. Best to give up trying to keep up with the youngest in my group with the long legs and much younger in years... The river: the Deimel. Not even big enough to put a narrowboat on. That is the biggest one I remember the name of. Had a good time, saw interesting places and had a few surprises (able to handle them all, from getting lost in roadworks to huge spider in the hotel room). No area worthy of long excursion from river cruise but interesting if you want to be off the beaten international tourist track. More on that another day. Rest of holiday will be used for rest and day trips. notamermaid

Kaub gauge better than had been forecast - it is at 139cm. notamermaid

The maximum is easy to say. It is the figure set by the authorities, the official ban on river traffic. Depending on stretch. For the section that includes Kaub it is 640cm. The minimum is decided by the captain of each individual ship - to give you an idea, we can more or less say that such a ship of 135m length at Kaub can sail at 90cm and cannot sail at 40cm. There is no ban on river traffic in drought. notamermaid

Sounds as if you are a bit daunted by the upcoming trip. Fully understandable. I am sure you have planned everything well that can be planned. Everything else will happen just fine. Have a great time. notamermaid

A standard occurrence with the company and a not untypical reply from the company. My recommendation if you are concerned about health issues is to choose a different company. So many choices out there. Bear in mind that Viking can legally not do this in Europe... Oh, and get good travel insurance that is independent from the tour operator. notamermaid

All three ships are still in a winter harbour on the Waal (Rhine). I suppose it means they have not sailed this year yet? notamermaid

Perhaps a misunderstanding then. Sorry. Every gauge is its own thing, so we need to calculate. At Pfelling 290cm has been given by an authorities' spokesperson as the figure that can cause problems for passage for the large river cruise ships. The river depth and the navigation channel depth are different figures, so for ships it means that at 290cm the navigation channel has a depth of 190cm - basically. The river is not regulated by a lock there, meaning we have no effect of a dam that could keep the level high enough. There exists no long range forecast, so we need to look at computer modelling further upstream to what may happen further than 36 hours into the future. A factor that makes the situation more unpredictable are the two locks upstream from Pfelling. Water can be retained and take a few centimetres off the reading at Pfelling. A captain needs to calculate the time needed to get through the shallow section and upstream and downstream direction make a difference, too. All factors thrown into the mix - including draft of the indivdual ship - make the decision for or against sailing. This decision could literally be made just a few hours before you are due to sail the stretch of river. Pfelling gauge at 265cm. notamermaid

Pfelling gauge at 283cm. Running above the forecast a little. A good sign? I doubt it, the forecast at Kelheim does not indicate high volumes of water. Happy to be proven otherwise. notamermaid

Peak at Kaub gauge earlier this morning. Now at 150cm. 135cm forecast for tomorrow morning. notamermaid

That is probably the best thing to do. Could not find out in the German website as such but did find info that children get reduction on some cruises (prices info boxes in the download catalogue). Which would suggest that children of all ages are okay. But best to check for the itinerary you are looking at. notamermaid

Had a thought - historic water levels. Perhaps it is helpful to understand that drops in river level at Kaub vary during the year. A drop when being on high figures is faster than a drop when being on low figures. You are faster down from 200cm to 150cm than you are from 150cm to 100cm. It again slows down a bit more with figures under 100cm. notamermaid

Welcome to CC. As posted before end of July looks promising now. As regards historical figures, interesting question. Need a bit of time for that. Will try and find a sample drop/rise to give you an idea of what the river can do. notamermaid

So ships did use what I call a window of opportunity. The level is down to 270cm. A windy day, storm warnings for the coasts. No warning for Bavaria yet. Rain going through the valley (Regensburg into Bavarian Forest and Czech Republic). Could be a bit of water for the Elbe. Thank you for checking the ship movements. Have a great time on the rivers. notamermaid

Unfortunately I need to agree. notamermaid

Such a pity. The rain was not widespread or substantial enough to relieve the lack of water in the system of the Elbe. Rhine doing better. Danube up and down, really sketchy and unpredictable. notamermaid

River has risen well after some rain. Kaub gauge at 146cm. Peak is expected to be tomorrow at just over 150cm. Relax about the water levels? Could be - long range forecast suggests figures over 110cm for basically the rest of July. We will review later in the month. notamermaid

Sketchy connections and alternative phone! Having an interesting time. Tired from walking around a lake and up to a castle. Next castle visit should be to a moated one... notamermaid

No doctor, no nurse. One medically trained person for the itinerary beyond Budapest. My experience of how European lines deal with this. notamermaid

Kaub gauge at 107cm. notamermaid

Last night I had an apparition at least that is what I thought. But the level at Pfelling did rise well over 300cm. Window of opportunity? Back down a bit now. notamermaid

Welcome to the wonderful world of river cruising. My tip: join a roll call if you have not done yet. Would love to see a post or two from people on the river. End of July is very much up in the air as regards river levels. Pfelling gauge: 264cm, definite trend upwards, forecast suggests 270cm and further. Late on the 13th the 290cm is even a high probability. I believe it when I see it... notamermaid

Back wheelers on the Elbe (CroisiEurope), side wheelers several on the Elbe as excursion boats. Only river cruise ship on the Loire is a side wheeler (CroisiEurope). The "Mainz" confirmed to be in Mülheim, one enthusiastic spotter on Binnenschifferforum has already posted photos from the shipyard. notamermaid

If the dinner is as good as the decorations on the ship I saw years back then it will be splendid. Yes, the Dutch laws and customs differ from ours. I am sure there will be lots of opportunities to do shopping in Amsterdam. Christmas Eve is half day closure and 25th and 26th are full day closures in Germany. notamermaid

It is well into July and time to have a look at what the river did at Dresden in June: The month started with a still adequate level and we see the river react to rain the following week but it went gradually down from there. The Czech authorities control the level with the reservoirs and dams and this shows as far as Dresden. By the end of the month the level had nearly reached the mean low water line. As AnhalterER1960 has confirmed, this is too low for the river cruise ships. And the low water has continued. Dresden gauge is now at 56cm. While it is raining in the West there is hardly any precipitation in the East. But this is likely to change during tomorrow when localized thunderstorms are forecast for Saxony. notamermaid