notamermaid

We will try our best, river levels summary for May coming soon. brosen1 has already been very helpful in replying to you from beyond Budapest, which I am completely unfamiliar with. Perhaps I can add to this with a graph: The Danube at Mohács was brought close to alert level, other stations' graphs further downstream look similar or reaching the first alert level. September will of course be a month where levels are more likely to be low instead of high. But fingers crossed you will find the river to be perfectly around the mean. Have a great cruise. notamermaid

Just two ships should work. I agree Canal archive that there is a small market especially among those not being able to travel for the reasons you mentioned. After all, Viva Cruises found out that they could arouse enough interest to go into a second season. But of course Viking will not mention other than in the small print that river levels can be an issue. Ahh, ship swap you may say, start one ship in Amsterdam and the corresponding one in Basel. Yeaahh, that would work if it was low water. We do not get low water on the Rhine in winter (98 percent correct). Flooding is the problem which Viking cannot get around with the usual ship swap. Authorities ban river traffic and Viking has no influence over that. I recognize that the problem is small but "avoiding the Kaub bottle neck" is not what would solve it. The Upper Rhine valley would be more likely to through a spanner in the works, i.e. disrupt a Basel to Amsterdam itinerary. notamermaid

Oh I am sure I have come across Australians before, passing each other in the street in Koblenz, or somewhere in England. I just never consciously met any and spoke to them. It was fun listening to them. You know, they told me they appreciated the sunshine as they have a cold winter down there now. Not sure if it is just a fun story or true: they said that Canberra became the capital of Australia because Sydney and Melbourne argued over the honour. So Canberra was chosen. If true, it applies what we say: "Wenn zwei sich streiten, freut sich der Dritte". When two (people) quarrel, the third one rejoices. notamermaid

It has been a busy weekend, tourists are out and about, getting more international again even away from the trodden paths. Certainly feels that way to me as I have finally met the first Australians! Here I was moaning a few weeks ago about never having met "proper" Australians and there they appeared, complete with real Australian accent and it seems not able to speak German (beyond a few words). A pleasant couple happy to share a story. 🙂🙂 Apart from that I have been able to find strawberries from Niederwerth, the only island in the Rhine river that is a village. It is well-known for its fertile land and good produce. Hope you all had a good Whit Sunday and Monday or generally a good weekend. notamermaid

A splendid week to be on the river I would say! The river levels are perfect although falling a little due to the high temperatures. It is sunny and very warm. Think cocktails on the sundeck watching the sunset in short sleeves. Oh I am getting just a little envious. Perhaps I should head to the nearest beer garden one evening. Have read about the latest renovations of the MS Stadt Köln. An interesting boat. But that is for another post to explore this. notamermaid

Things are looking rather splendid along the Bavarian Danube. Pfelling gauge is at 394cm. A steady flow of water is to come from the Upper Danube in the next few days. The temperatures are high, it is very warm for several days. How the river levels will develop towards the end of the week is not clear yet, the warm temperatures may lead to short thunderstorms. For now it looks to be a perfect time to be on the river! notamermaid

Linz in Austria has a webcam overlooking the river which shows one docking location for river cruise ships very well: https://www.linztourismus.at/freizeit/reise-planen/service/webcam/ notamermaid

Then you probably know Winningen well seeing that it is so small. Myself, I still have not been to the museum that also has info on August Horch (the car engineer). Yes, I find the Moselle lovely, too and I almost favour the dramatic parts in Luxembourg and in France (Sierck-Les-Bains). You can actually go all the way up to Nancy-Frouard (smaller ships), but very few ships go that far. It is mostly bike & barge. There are a few sailings up to Metz, but in general ships when they do not go to Luxembourg (Grevenmacher or Remich) divert to the Saar river. I have written a bit about such possibilities in the Moselle thread where you can also read about the itinerary that @gnome12 did. notamermaid

If you are in the UK this may be of interest to you: https://travelweekly.co.uk/news/tour-operators/avalon-waterways-launches-dedicated-brochure-for-uk-market Yes, people still like paper. Nothing like receiving a big, colourful magazine to rustle through in the post or taking one home from the high street travel agent. Almost as good as a new pair of shoes, for me anyway. notamermaid

@Canal archive You were kind of right about the tow path talk. Apparently, someone had heard something and new someone, etc. The story is here: https://www.sagafarmann.com/posts/1449 Talking of tow paths. In times when ships had no engines they were of course towed against the strong current by horses. The tow paths in many parts of the Rhine still exist. Treidelpfad is the German word. notamermaid

The two ships have parted company and the Heike Lucie is sailing upstream on the Main on her own. The Saga Farmann is remaining in Gustavsburg/Bischofsheim and according to a local newspaper is planned to stay there till Sunday morning. notamermaid

Yes, a community in the best sense. A barge may have been just a ship mobile service (telephone) call away. Here the two are caught on webcam at Rüdesheim courtesy of the hotel Papa Rhein: https://heimatzeithotels.panomax.com/bingen notamermaid

Just a brief look at the weather and the river levels. We can look forward to a sunny Whitsuntide. Monday is also a public holiday in Germany, by the way. As a result of no rain and higher temperatures we see the levels drop. But only slowly going down steadily. At Kaub all looks well, the first week of June will most likely see figures between 170cm and 205cm. After that potential rain may give a rise which at this time of year should lead to good levels but no high levels close to flooding. notamermaid

Oh, good. Explained then. Had not noticed that. I also find the itineraries nice. Really something to consider beyond the standard lines and operators that we usually talk about here on CC. notamermaid

Well, then I think not much should be changed. notamermaid

Yes, grin, it is certainly a more unusual cargo. In one of the videos posted on youtube a person from the Saga Farmann says that "the captain certainly knows his stuff, he has done this before". It is actually a standard procedure on the Rhine to take a ship alongside if it cannot sail by itself. Normally this means a part-finished ship, i.e. a hull that has no engine or at least no steering unit. A river cruise ship constructed in Serbia for example may be finished in the Netherlands and is normally first pushed by an "Argo" then another pushboat and then near the Main confluence with the Rhine attached to a barge. A procedure like that with a ship going upstream I have only heard of once in the last two years when an unfinished hull was - due to unfortunate financial circumstances - sent to Eastern Europe. Earlier this year the "Achim" barge was, being deemed unfit to sail after she had sunk in a lock chamber on the Danube, taken alongside a barge down the river to I think Romania. I also would be interested to know how they looked for a barge to take the Saga Farmann up the Rhine. The authorities? A job offer through the various inland waterways shipping organisations? notamermaid

Yup, they usually carry at least one car around with them. notamermaid

The engine, I think the term is unit, is indeed separate from the passenger unit and the reason is noise and vibration reduction. They are kind of fixed though, meaning they cannot be uncoupled like with a pushboat and its barge unit. On this shipyard website they do not use the term unit though: https://www.meyerwerft.de/en/ships/premicon_twincruiser.jsp There is a German Wikipedia page: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/TwinCruiser Here the shipyard that built the Premicon Queen, which was then the Thurgau Ultra and is now advertised as the River Crown, uses the phrase "The back half of the drive unit hosts the spacious restaurant": https://www.neptunwerft.de/en/press/press_detail/the_sixth_twincruiser_is_built_in_rostock.jsp I am not sure if this automatically reduces the number of cabins possible, need to leave that to a technician. Perhaps it can be figured out from the text or drawings on other websites. notamermaid

In the Rhine thread I have written about the epic journey of the Norwegian Viking replica boat, The "Saga Farmann". It has left the Rhine and is now on the Main. As I write she is still tied to the Heike Lucie at the port Bischofsheim. I had understood from the videos posted by the boat crew that the barge would take her as far as Mainz. We will see tomorrow what has happened and if there was a change of plan. It is easy to track and try and spot the boat on the river as like other ships she sends a signal (this is the 21st century not the tenth 😉). https://www.marinetraffic.com/en/ais/details/ships/shipid:6781228/mmsi:257081140/imo:0/vessel:SAGA_FARMANN notamermaid

Yes. What will Noble Caledonia still change? From the photos I gather the hull will get a new colour scheme. According to a German report called "Farewell Thurgau Ultra" it was a very popular ship that had sailed with Thurgau Travel for quite a few years but had been short-time chartered by other companies as well. Thurgau Travel has replaced her with the new "Thurgau Gold" that was supposed to have been christened this month. Have not checked if it has taken place. There are a few videos online that show the interior of the Thurgau Ultra. There is a good website with review and photos but unfortunately it is also a travel agent so no linking allowed. notamermaid

The courts decided yesterday that the excursion boat which sank in Brohl is a "boat" not a "shipwreck". This has implications for the court case with auction. But first for me it means hooray there is hope yet for this ship that also has had me twice as a passenger (many years ago). notamermaid

The Heike Lucie with the Saga Farmann left Engers at dawn and after a stop at Boppard has left the Rhine. The captain of the Heike Lucie has kindly provided some photos for upload on Binnenschifferforum. Here they are: https://www.binnenschifferforum.de/showthread.php?115130-Saga-Farmann-FGS-257081140&p=458449#post458449 notamermaid

The Danube at Passau showed a tiny wave yesterday, after all the rain. The level there is now 572cm. No rain coming and the weather will be sunny and warm over Whitsuntide. Upstream at Pfelling will most likely stay at good levels over 400cm, giving no rise for concerns that the level could drop too fast. Computer modelling for next week looks pleasant (this is not available for Pfelling or Passau but available for Kelheim). Whit Monday is a public holiday in Austria, Germany and Hungary. You can check other countries here: https://www.feiertagskalender.ch/feiertag.php?geo=0&jahr=2023&klasse=5&ft_id=35&hl=en notamermaid

Thank you. Good to read. I am intrigued, why have you got a German saying on a sign in your avatar, if I may ask? notamermaid

Good point. I have had a look and it seems that Marksburg Castle is open all year. But would I want to be up there in winter? Snow looks great but icy ground is dangerous in that place. I think such an itinerary needs adapting to the weather conditions. A Black Forest coach trip is fabulous in snow, but, again, icy or rainy and blustery? Not my thing. notamermaid