notamermaid

Glad it is helpful. Unfortunately I am not cruising, but sitting at home checking the sites on my computer. But fingers crossed, next year will see me back on a river. notamermaid

That is nice to read. The Elbe had been doing better lately and overall fared a bit better than the Danube due to the work in the Czech Republic. So I did not post much. You have left Decin. This is the level at Schöna, the first gauge in Germany: And Dresden: Monthly report to follow. Have a great trip. notamermaid

Ah, so the Grand European. Hope the autumn colours will be splendid, the timing is about right. Have a great cruise. notamermaid

Nice to hear from Australia, hello! I tend to get cold easily. We have had cooler than average nights and I think coming from 32 Celsius in the afternoon to 18 Celsius in the afternoon was a shock to my system. The rain and the temperatures that went down to 6 Celsius at night cooled out the flat fast. I think I have adapted now more or less, a bit of extra fat in my diet should help as well. And hot chocolate. Thank you. Which rivers? notamermaid

Generally speaking, Passau to Bratislava experiences very few problems with low water. Pfelling is doing well by the way, 395cm. Passau is at 461cm. So all very good. This gives plenty of water to areas further downstream. Along the river downstream from Bratislava the gauges show a mixed picture. But as a high volume of water is now coming from Germany I am sure the situation will improve wherever the levels are not so favourable right now. Budapest has lost some water but looks to be doing okay: In the opposite direction of problems, i.e. high water, I see no problems arising as of yet. It is raining so I will not rule out this happening at some point in the future at Passau. What I mean is the bridge. This is Passau gauge: https://www.hnd.bayern.de/pegel/donau_bis_passau/passau-10091008 Under "Hochwassermarken" you can read the info: At 630cm some river cruise ships have problems sailing under the suspension bridge. At 780cm all river traffic is halted in this section of the Danube. The levels right now are far away from that. The river can rise fast but as of today, the forecasts both at Pfelling and Passau do not show levels that could get the river at Passau close to 600cm. Monthly summary coming soon. If you have followed this thread for a while I think you can already tell what happened in September: while low at the beginning, overall the levels were better than we feared in August they would be. notamermaid

Perhaps the bubbles in the Baltic Sea from the "strangely suddenly accidentally leaking itself which Germany says was deliberate human intervention" pipe could be repurposed. Would that be reuse or recycling? It is certainly wasted and it is not good for the climate to have bubbles go to waste. Okay, sarcasm off. My point is that we have started to feel the trickle down effect of policies and happenings most people do not want. Breweries, photocopier paper high price rise, butter 20 percent up, heating gas prices going up and up, firewood shortage, etc. Almost everything. Things are not going as well as we would like and call me a boring old disgruntled local but you can partly attribute my unhappiness about all this to my boss stipulating that my office must be kept at 19 degrees Celsius only. Oh, and I put the heating on a few days ago as I did not want to shower in a 17 degrees Celsius bathroom. There is a limit to feeling uncomfortable. I do wonder what will come for the tourism industry. But on a happier note, before this becomes a monologue... The Rhine valley in my area was covered in fog this morning. While it can be disappointing to not see much during cruising you can occasionally get some atmospheric or even spooky photos out of it. If you have just been on the river or are sailing now, whenever you feel like it, do post. Foggy or sunny, all images welcome. notamermaid

Good to read you are all okay. Have not seen footage of the damage elsewhere. That will be part of my evening news. So the storm is not letting go of the coastal areas and a bit inland yet. Certainly worrying. Thankfully we have not had storms this autumn so far but they will come. Hurricane force does not happen often. Touch wood, etc. notamermaid

I suggest you compare cruisemapper to marinetraffic.com and vesselfinder.com. You may get differences. Hopefully someone in the area or a passenger can help you further. notamermaid

Update: the river is rising well. Maxau gauge has gone up to 552cm(!) which is above the mean. Low water? You can more or less forget that - apart from on the Lower Rhine where we have established that it causes few problems for river cruise ships. The high volume of water will be coming to Kaub shortly. The gauge there reads 130cm. No gauges on the Rhine are now classified as official low water, all looking good going into October. Going into the weekend, the high volume of water will reach Cologne and eventually the Netherlands. Temperatures a little on the cool side. Danube and Elbe also looking very good now. Monthly summary to follow. notamermaid

Spangdahlem, have heard of the airbase of course. But I have not been very close or in the grounds. I think I have used the motorway nearby a few times. It is not the remotest part of the Eifel but certainly in the hills away from major towns. The volcanoes are not in abundance in the area, most of them are further Northeast. I think the closest one to Spangdahlem is the Kellerberg, about 16 minutes drive by car. You can follow the volcano route to find out more. Possibly the weirdest thing is the "lava bomb": https://www.deutsche-vulkanstrasse.com/en/geology/lavabombe That area of the Eifel is partly more accessible from the Moselle than the Rhine. Going back closer to the Rhine, here is some info on the Kaiserstuhl volcanoes that are much older. Unlike almost all of the Eifel volcanoes, these in the South of Germany are clad in vineyards. This is one producer: https://staatsweingut-freiburg.de/the-volcanic-kaiserstuhl notamermaid

It is potentially a little complicated. Perhaps a past cruiser has compiled such data. You can get an idea by looking up where the ships are on a ship tracker site. Or we can just give you a notion by saying "close to", "needs a coach ride", etc. It varies on the Danube and will be slightly different in almost every port. Passau and Vienna are the two ports that now appear to have the greatest variety of location. Many river cruise ships use the prime spots but there can be exceptions. In Vienna the basic difference is city centre or Nussdorf district. If a past cruiser confirms one or the other for the respective company, this will normally be the spot they dock at. But I would not rely on it that this will be 100 percent the location all the time. Some locations are on the cruise companies' websites with addresses. notamermaid

You are going to take us along on your journey! Thank you. I look forward to it. A not quite so frequent embarkation port and slightly unusual route. Have a safe trip and great cruise. notamermaid

Oh nice. Not a fan of nutcrackers but I would love to see their baubles range. Perhaps I will find some time between now and Advent to hop in the car and drive there. https://www.kaethe-wohlfahrt.com/en/kaethe-wohlfahrt-ruedesheim-en/ I have walked past the shop in York, the one in Riquewihr and the one in Rothenburg ob der Tauber. Never had time to browse. Personally I like many of the designs of Inge-Glas, which you can get online and in some good home accessories shops. Probably also on some Christmas markets. But back to autumn. It is a delight to walk to the greengrocers right now. Chestnuts, autumn fruits, pumpkins in all colours and shapes. Even saw butternut squash which is not a standard offer but seems to be coming more to my area these days. The first bottles of Federweisser (young wine). And I nearly bought some Weinbergspfirsich, the peaches from the Moselle, but would have been too busy to prepare them. Maybe on another day. Nearly forgot: Kaub is at 107cm. notamermaid

I reckon this Christmas market cruise has a different schedule then. That makes sense when it leaves from Düsseldorf. You get to see Baden-Baden, I am sure that will be lovely. All the other stops sound good of course, too. A pity that I cannot see the details for each day. That is download via giving personal details only. Christmas markets and castles - oh I cannot resist looking at such photos. Here is an upcoming event at Satzvey castle in the Eifel hills. I recall giving info to a past cruiser on Satzvey but I do not remember which company offered an excursion to there. https://www.rlp-tourismus.com/en/veranstaltung-1/event/20221210/Burgweihnacht-auf-Burg-Satzvey_Mechernich5/event.html Namedy castle (also originally moated), which I posted about a few days ago, also has a market on one weekend. Small but cosy. It is so close to Andernach that a taxi ride is worth the price to see it I find. Date given is 27 November, admission is 5 euros. Music, food, handicrafts and high quality gifts for the home and clothes accessories are on offer. I would not go out of my way to see the place but if you happen to be in Andernach it is a nice experience. notamermaid

Pfelling did drop further yesterday and for a moment it looked as if a problem could arise. But rainy, cool weather means that overnight the level rose from 308cm yesterday lunchtime and is now at 315cm. There is rain coming from the West which has now reached the Danube catchment area in notable amounts. notamermaid

Have a good flight and I hope you have a great meet at Frankfurt airport with your sister. Looks as if the weather could be a bit rainy and cool when you arrive in Germany. But I am sure it will be great to see the castles along the Rhine and Moselle nevertheless. This kind of weather adds drama to the hilly landscape. Have a great cruise. notamermaid

I think the excursion is a standard with Tauck, only with them I believe. I recall reading about Schloss Ehreshoven with them before, but have so far not seen it mentioned with another cruise line. The Schloss East of Cologne: https://www.castle-ehreshoven.com/index.php/start.html It is an area rarely explored by a river cruise line. There are tons of moated castles, or let us say Wasserschloß (plural is Wasserschlösser) because the term describes it better, around Bonn and Cologne. I had mentioned those a bit earlier in the year. Must get back to that topic some time... notamermaid

Eltz Castle. We have talked about this magnificent edifice in the small valley of the Elz river several times. The small stream has a picturesque waterfall that you may want to see if you happen to be in the area. Here is a description. The video does not load properly with me, but you can access the video via youtube directly as well: https://www.europeanwaterfalls.com/waterfalls/elzbach-wasserfall/ Nearest ports are Alken (23min. by car) and Cochem (25min. by car). notamermaid

Thinking of booking a Christmas market cruise at short notice? Hurry, but if you are flexible you can still get some cabins, according to the article: https://www.travelweekly.com/River-Cruising/Insights/Christmas-market-river-cruises-in-Europe-selling-fast notamermaid

Andernach on the Rhine is geologically kind of the eastern end of an active volcanic area, the Vulkaneifel, although there are extinct volcanoes on the other side of the Rhine as well. Those are much older and belong to a different geological era. I say active as recent years have shown much activity deep down in the ground. Notable for us casual visitors to the area are the bubbles in lakes and the (cold water) geysers. This is the Vulkaneifel: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vulkaneifel#/media/Datei:Eifel_-_Deutsche_Mittelgebirge,_Serie_A-de.png West of Andernach, i.e. in the hills behind, you can find the typical buildings made of the volcanic stones and museums dedicated to volcanism. But the different types of stone are also actively mined. So that is the stone, what about the beer that I mentioned in an earlier post? This is a story about the special relationship between the geology of the area and the brewers that took advantage of it. I leave it to a presenter of the regional television station SWR to tell you the story. SWR has kindly subtitled the series about special stones in Rhineland-Palatinate with English (or French, or Dutch) subtitles. Here is the Eifel stone, basalt: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0o_-IqTznfU Recently, experts have started recording the volcanic activity in the Eifel region with new methods and appear to come to the conclusion that the Eifel is more active than previously thought. Therefore the term "extinct" is no longer used for the whole of the Eifel volcanoes. A minimal rise in elevation has been detected in the whole area, meaning there is pressure from within the earth's crust, from the lava plume deep down. A disturbing thought? The centre doing the mapping reassures us that there is absolutely no hint of an eruption any time in the future that may be relevant to us. A German article about the seismic measure mapping project: https://www.vulkane.net/blogmobil/vulkaneifel-seismische-messkampagne-gestartet/ As a result of all the CO2 making its way up through the ground, mineral water companies and producers of carbon dioxide for industry are major employers in the area. notamermaid

Hmm, interesting. Not sure that I would want the cuckoo and the chime at the same time... It may also depend on whether you want to mix woods or look for a similar grain and shade. That waterfall is probably the one at Triberg, really beautiful area: https://www.europeanwaterfalls.com/waterfalls/triberger-wasserfalle/ notamermaid

The level at Kaub has gone up a little earlier than expected and there has also been rain overnight in the Middle Rhine valley. Kaub gauge now reads 101cm. Good. And the rain has come in time to keep the levels on the Lower Rhine dropping much further. It is good when this trend is halted. While the navigation channel is deeper beyond Koblenz downstream into the Netherlands, we nevertheless see the navigation channel depth at Cologne reduced to 255cm. That is good compared to Kaub which is 213cm (translated from the gauge saying 101cm) but it is always good to have a comfortable level at Cologne, seeing that landing stages can be low in the water and Cologne also has a tricky shallows area (I mentioned this in a previous post). The weather is a little on the cool side unfortunately, but we cannot have our cake and eat it, can we? notamermaid

A barge with crane has unloaded some of the cargo off the coal barge. Then shortly after that the ship could resume sailing, meaning the stranded barge was able to free itself without the help of another ship or tug boat. The authorities have allowed river traffic to resume. notamermaid

It has been a full year since the Spirit of the Rhine started sailing, so here is an article on the ship's life and sailings so far: https://www.seatrade-cruise.com/ship-operations/saga-marks-first-anniversary-spirit-rhine Some nice info in there, one thing stuck out for me: excursion to Lake Titisee. That sounds unusual to me. Titisee is a lake high in the Black Forest and therefore is quite a distance from the Rhine. An hour by car from Breisach will get you there. The Black Forest is a standard area for excursions from Breisach of course but the Lake is rarely mentioned here on CruiseCritic. Am I right in assuming North American lines go to other areas of the Black Forest, like Triberg and around Freiburg? notamermaid

I cannot see it yet, but it can happen at Passau that the river level rises fast and ships cannot pass under the bridge. For now, in Germany all good of course. One may wonder if we will see high water levels later in autumn, despite scenarios and the press in August having made us worry about the contrary lasting into November. Thankfully at the moment it does not look as if a scenario like the one in 2018 will accompany us through October. But who knows... Pfelling is at 324cm, i.e. in slow steady decline. Light rain is sweeping over Bavaria. Passau is at 441cm which leaves over 150cm till the bridge becomes a hazard in high water. notamermaid