bluestocking7

I flew into Vienna today from the north and could see the Danube below--with a cruise ship sailing eastbound, toward Budapest. So this stretch of the Danube is still open. (I couldn't tell from my airplane window which ship it was.)

BBC News has a report today on the Rhine. One of their reporters stands on a rocky former riverbed in Bingen, with (I think) the Mouse Tower behind her, saying you can now wade out to the island the tower is on. You can however seen a barge sailing by. She doesn't discuss cruise ships but makes the point that some of Germany's coal-fired power plants are on the river and rely on coal being shipped in.

@Jangermat Thank you for the update. So perhaps we should expect bus-ing at both ends of our Danube cruise.

After doing a Rhine cruise with Tauck at the end of July that managed to sail the Rhine Gorge, I am now watching this thread, as we have a Budapest-Vilshofen cruise starting August 27 (also with Tauck). The cruise ends with a bus trip to Prague, so I assume if the ship can't reach Vilshofen they'll just have us do a longer bus trip from whatever Bavarian port the ship can reach. (I think it's the MS Joy) From this thread it seems that the water issue is in Bavaria rather than downstream. Is that right?

One other ship sighted by my son earlier today was the other Tauck ship on the Rhine, sailing Amsterdam-Basel. The tour director announced that our captain had decided to go extra slowly through the Rhine Gorge, so we were an hour late arriving in Koblenz. Small price to pay! And yes @notamermaidwe all admired all the castles. So many! Sailing past the Loreley was certainly exciting--very very narrow and windy passage.

Two more sightings south of Koblenz--Viking Tir and the Andrea (not sure which line--their symbol is a seagull).

We are doing the Rhine Gorge! Lots of barges but the only cruise ship I've seen is the Ama Lucia, going south. Just felt a couple of rain drops.....

PS. Saw the MS Edelweiss pass us (moored at Ludwigshafen) sailing north, but it looked like there were no passengers on board, just crew. I guess all the passengers could have been in their rooms with the drapes closed, but wouldn't you expect a few to be on the sun deck?

We made it on MS Inspire as far as Ludwigshafen today. I asked one of the crew if he thought we would be able to sail the Rhine Gorge and he said he thought so, tho the water levels are low. We shall see. Great food and service on this Swiss ship. Lots of fun activities for kids (this is a family cruise).

We boarded MS Inspire yesterday afternoon and remain moored in Basel. (Today's excursion is a gondola ride/cog railway ride up and down Mt. Pilatus.) No word on any itinerary changes - maybe they are hoping Friday's rain will help things out.

We board MS Inspire tomorrow in Basel. Wish us luck!

I'm looking at this thread a couple of times a day now. I arrived in Basel last night--from Scotland, where it is chilly!--and it is very hot here. I haven't heard anything from Tauck about changes to the itinerary. The cruise is scheduled to depart this Wednesday.

Although it was 8 years ago now, we were on an Avalon river cruise from Budapest to Bucharest. Due to low water the cruise ended a day early, and instead of a 2-hour bus trip from the Danube to Bucharest, we did a 9-hour bus trip, stopping at a restaurant on the way for lunch. So not ideal, but could have been worse. (In response to request for people to post their lower Danube low-water experiences.....)

It's Tauck cruise on MS Inspire, which I think is a smaller ship - 120 draft

@notamermaid Thank you for all this information. Sounds like we will be getting on a bus for part of our Basel-Amsterdam cruise July 27. The cruise line handles your luggage for you, right?

Thanks for the info and the link @notamermaid So the standard procedure for low water is to bus passengers past the problem area and put them on a different ship? I don't understand the reference to the Tauck guy about their land-based partners--would they just change the whole thing to a bus tour? Basel is burning up this week. Still forecast to be in the 80s next week, where we are due to board. Yikes! --Jennifer

Yes it's the Inspire. We're doing a Bridges Family tour, so the excursions are a bit different, but I should be able to post some comments on the ship at least. Hope all goes well for both of us.

@notamermaid Thank you again for keeping us posted on Rhine water levels and other issues. Will be monitoring this thread like a hawk until our Tauck Basel-Amsterdam cruise on July 27.

Just heard this! Great news for our family--except for my daughter and her husband and kids, who fly back from Spain to USA tomorrow, Saturday, so still need a negative test.

Thank you @notamermaidfor the helpful updates. Hoping our Rhine cruise in July will have minimal restrictions.