notamermaid

Hope you are able to take a photo of the Kaub gauge, the Pegelhaus, from river, happily from your river cruise ship that you are supposed to be on. Please do not shoot the messenger, I am only here to report. Have a good trip. notamermaid

That is a fluid (no pun intended) figure so to speak. Below 70cm at Kaub they stop sailing one by one. 70cm is a vague figure, that is not to say that the first ship stops sailing at that level. A captain may choose to stop sailing at 74cm. Looking at it from the other end, the low figures: a river cruise ship with a favourable hull construction and draft and shorter than 105m can still sail at 35cm at Kaub. We kind of established that in 2018. As far as I know no river cruise ship that is predominantly booked on the North-American market falls into that category. That is as close as I can get to answering your question. Hope this helps. notamermaid

Here it is. Hover over the dot and the figure comes up. Click on the dot and you are taken to its respective data sheet: https://www.pegelonline.wsv.de/gast/karte/standard notamermaid

The 100cm at Kaub now appear in the table of figures for Tuesday. It looks like the 13th will bring the lowest level, when it could drop to below 90cm. That may affect sailing minimally but more likely just adjustments like changing a docking location. Remember, there is no ban on river traffic in low water, so "the captain's decision on sailing is final". notamermaid

Pfelling gauge: 276cm. After more favourable figures during the night (280cm to 285cm). Shall we have a look at Budapest? notamermaid

To put the low water stretch on the map for you - here is the enlarged map with gauges (German "Pegel"). Straubing to just before Vilshofen is the notorious bit. The green marker at Bogen is Pfelling gauge: Regensburg gauge has dropped to orange, meaning into its zone of statistical low water. notamermaid

Quite a bit of work to organize this logistically, but the companies are used to this of course. From Nuremberg to Passau - that is a fair distance so will cost the company quite some extra euros. Hope all goes well and you have a great cruise from Passau. notamermaid

Welcome to Cruisecritic. The ship's problems and the rearranged itinerary are to due with the low water on the Danube. The ship apparently cannot reach Regensburg. It is not something the companies shout about but will make clear that such alterations can happen, it should be in the small print of your contract. You may find info in there on getting money back if you miss ports but if you see the port on a coach rather than the ship you will most likely not get any money back. Low water is a natural and annual occurrence that is often so extensive that it interrupts an itinerary. The company are familiar with it, have a plan B and normally everything sorted. You may be surprised by the fact that there is low water but your crew will be prepared! 🙂 Do talk to the cruise director on board if you have any further questions and get everything in writing that relates to the itinerary and refund. Have a good trip and great time on the Danube despite the circumstances. notamermaid

Pfelling gauge at 279cm. Which is better than yesterday but only brings us closer to where we were on the 3rd. The trend does not suggest anything of significance for an improvement beyond 290cm. And it is doubtful whether it will actually get to that figure. notamermaid

Thank you, an interesting perspective on the annual levels. Wesel is some kilometres from Düsseldorf, but in the grand scheme of the river close. 🙂 One river of some significance for volume of water still joins the Rhine between Düsseldorf and Wesel, that is the Ruhr at Duisburg. But it does not give enough water to alter the picture the river gives at for example Cologne compared to Wesel. One major difference between Kaub and the stations further downstream from Koblenz is that the Moselle has joined the Rhine (after the gauge at Koblenz) and this major tributary can alter the river level significantly. But in the annual graph this difference will not show up much. And yes, the trajectory appears to be similar to 2022. All in all, a standard thing but a bit too early and a bit from too low a baseline for my liking. It is dry again in the valley, the storms have subsided and the temperatures are rising. On Sunday we may see thunderstorms. Kaub gauge at 115cm. The 100cm are very much coming into view for Monday, with a likelihood for a level below that for Tuesday. notamermaid

It is July, time to have a look at what the river did at Pfelling gauge in June: The month started on a good level but without rain, the level went gradually down. This led to a real low, too low for the large river cruise ships. Just like on the Rhine, the wide-swept rain gave a good rise around the 22nd. But while the Rhine kept the level high enough for river cruise ships the Danube went back down relatively fast and to the official low water line (even below). The level went back up a little at the end of the month (lock operation will have played a part in all this, not quantifiable by me of course) but is still too low. June is an early month to have low water levels one may think so it is a good idea to have a look at previous years - if such data is available. It is of course and for this gauge easy to retrieve: We see that in 2021 June was a good month without problems whereas in 2022 the river struggled for a few days, falling below 290cm. Last year the month ended on a better level than it has this year and we may rightly wonder what July will bring. As of now things are not looking bright. Hopefully this latest weather system bringing rain, now in the area, will help. notamermaid

It is July, time to have a look at what the river did at Kaub gauge in June: From the good level at the beginning of the month the level fell - in the absence of rain - steadily till a good amount of rain gave a short rise that could not get us back to a really comfortable level for the logistics companies, so the month ended on a relative low for barges. Nothing that would affect river cruise ships. Overall a satisfying month but with that niggling feeling that there is not enough volume of water to sustain a decent level above 100cm. We now mainly rely on rain in the catchment area of the Rhine to get us through summer as the major natural reservoir of the Rhine, Lake Constance which the river flows through, looses water when spring snow melt has finished. The Lake is certainly able to still help but the level is going down (notice the small hump in the graph created by a higher level when much rainfall in the area led to a higher volume of water): This is a standard occurrence and the level of this huge lake is still above the mean. So nothing to really worry about up there just yet. It is just not raining enough in my opinion all over the Upper Rhine valley. But let us see how July develops. notamermaid

Pfelling gauge at 269cm. Situation and trend upstream from Regensburg look undecided. Not clear at all if the weather pattern will have a good effect extending to Straubing and Pfelling. Some rain with heavy showers in parts has come down in the area and more clouds are sweeping into Germany from the West. Will see how it goes. Remember, the Isar river coming from the Alps through Munich cannot help the low stretch around Pfelling. notamermaid

Busy week, visit from dear people I have not seen in three years. Exciting! Higher work load due to events season. Visit to dear people not possible as they have cancelled the party - leak in the water pipes, they need to rip up part of the kitchen floor. Holiday plans amended, will most likely stay in Germany, staying clear of France. Hope you all have had a good Canada Day and are enjoying celebratory 4 July. notamermaid

Pfelling gauge is at 268cm, running below the forecast. We may have stayed over 270cm... So, again waiting for rain. The Rhine is doing better, but the Elbe is also too low. notamermaid

Same route, same distance covered (more or less, a variation in the Dutch Rhine stretch is possible), most ports the same most likely and excursions similar. I think Scenic has a couple of exclusives on this route that no other company offers. But you would need to check the details. With such an itinerary it is difficult to vary the "important" ports unless you very much change sailing schedules. A ship can only cover so much distance in a day - mostly night. To make the journey in 14 days you need to get in daytime sailing really, Viking sails a stretch while passengers are on excursions on the Main, I think twice. There are enough interesting ports to turn this into a 16 night itinerary which I hope a company will one day offer. Which may reduce the occurrence of rafting a little. notamermaid

Welcome to Cruisecritic. I am afraid not. Perhaps I can say that there is a sense - a feeling - in the news that we may see low levels in summer, earlier than is "normal". Which is not unreasonable, seeing that the levels were pretty low in August last year and it has been indicated that there was insufficient rainfall in Spring. But the probability graph only goes 14 days into the future, so we are not near your date with that. Looking further into the future there is a computer model that takes in historical data and other parametres, so only deals with "statistically we may expect...", etc. For now it looks as if we will have a summer with a reduced volume of water and low-ish levels in July but how low August will be - no real idea other than that the computer modelling bars do not look to be going far down into the below 100cm area, so not dire. The margin of error is large so far into the future... notamermaid

Not fun, not fun at all what is happening around my country borders and further afield. My country(side) is quiet, touch wood. Of course, you sail through Alsace on the Rhine so there could be some problems, who knows. I have been checked at the border by the French in the North and they mean business, with bright lights to dazzle you while tough guys with machine guns look at your car closely. Hopefully all stays quiet on my river - well there is always something happening on several hundred kilometres and not all good. That is enough for all of us, thank you. Do not need any more. By the way, scaremongering headlines about low water online again, you know, Bloomberg and such. Tons of ships sailing constantly, less cargo but all running. @Host Jazzbeau have a good holiday, hope the experience will improve swiftly once you have unpacked and settled down. notamermaid

Pfelling gauge is stable, but annoyingly stuck below 290cm - now at 282cm. notamermaid

If you downsize and I mean really, you get to the converted barges that sail on small and large rivers and canals. I have come across a rather unusual case of a river cruise ship that is not a converted or new barge type of boat but a purpose-built ship the size of a small barge. And she can only be found in a rather different place from what you are used to read. Not a river, not a canal but a lake, several lakes. The "MS Classic Lady" was built in 2003 and sails the Masurian Lake District. This specialist German tour operator offers cruises, unfortunately only in German: https://www.dnv-tours.de/ms-classy-lady/ If you feel confident enough in German, this I think is a great offer. I have been to the area and highly recommend exploring this landscape in Poland. notamermaid

Yes, most number of castles on that length of river anywhere in the world they say. 65kms of "there is one - there is another one". But there are many more elsewhere along the river and nearby. Just the combination of hills, castles, villages and the sheer number of them is wonderful in the Rhine Gorge and that is what makes it so scenic. notamermaid

Yeaahh, I understand that. Could be a bit on the low side later in July but there is not that much to worry about. From what others have reported the ship swap is handled smoothly, it just is a bit of a long drive on a coach potentially on that day. I do admit that it is kind of annoying that what is regarded as the most scenic part of the Rhine is the one that causes the low water problems. Hope everything runs smoothly for you and all others this Summer. notamermaid

I would be wary of mixing countries, in this case I mean booking conditions and credit cards of US and UK. I agree with getting a TA to help with the UK booking. Also T&C in the UK are better overall with Viking due to the different consumer rights laws and what is customary in the UK (and EU). If possible you may be better off doing everything through the UK. But again ask a TA what may cause you a headache at borders, boarding a plane, etc. Good luck sorting this. notamermaid

I cannot say for certain but it looks to be on demand, i.e. the ferryman takes you across when needed. It has fixed opening times but no actual sailing times like every ten minutes or so given. However, you cannot steer yourself it seems, so no random times use. It is on this website of the local authorities: https://www.pentling.de/freizeit-kultur/#faehre notamermaid

So, Kaub gauge has risen to 125cm. Good. But we still need to anticipate a drop to 90cm later in July. But first a look back at June. In other news: an excursion boat has hit an embankment wall in Duisburg this week - seven people injured. A captain of a barge has hit a tanker - drink driving. The former ferry at Königswinter called "Alte Liebe" has become a restaurant. Thousands of people celebrated "Rhine in Flames" last night in Bingen and Rüdesheim. Largest of the fireworks events coming up at Koblenz on 12 August. notamermaid