moonriver54

This is the latest on Budapest:

I just took this screenshot of the live webcam on the Buda side of the Danube in Budapest.

I just copied this Danube - Budapest data from a few different web sites. Unfortunately it's looking like a tough few days ahead for the city, with peak flooding occurring this Saturday, 21 September. At risk of doing public math, the current water level is 720 cm in Budapest, with a forecast peak water level of 846 cm on Saturday. 846 cm - 720 cm = 126 cm, or for the Americans...an additional 4.1 feet of water yet to go. Live Budapest webcam on the Buda side of the river showing a walk UP to each moored ship vice the more typical walk DOWN to the ship: https://www.earthcam.com/world/hungary/budapest/?cam=hotelvictoria#google_vignette

The latest data on the Danube River in Budapest: https://www.danubeportal.com For the sake of comparison, the bottom chart below shows Budapest water levels during the flooding in November/December 2023.

Here's the current Budapest water level chart with measurement taken hourly.

I found this news video covering Storm Boris posted about six hours ago on YouTube. This is very sad news.

My wife and I were discussing all the rainfall feeding the Danube last night while trying to look at the bright side, despite all the river cruise interruptions. Imagine if the Danube had already been at much higher water levels when this current deluge began. That could've spelled a real flooding disaster in many locations. And as Izengolf mentions above, this rainfall has been helpful to the drought-stricken regions. So maybe a blessing in that regard...

I apologize...I missed your question earlier today! The Passau water level chart is from the DanubeHIS web site: https://www.danubehis.org/results/DE10091008_HYDRO?symbol[h]=h If you scroll down you'll see the current water level chart. It appears they're updating measurements every 15 minutes...for good reason!

For the sake of comparison, I gathered the data on water levels at Passau last November/December 2023 during the flooding that occurred then.

I was poking around this morning looking for information regarding current Danube water levels and found the following site. If you select "More" for any of the individual stations it offers quite a bit of information. Passau is quite interesting with a very sudden rise in water levels. Good luck to everybody departing this week on river cruises. We cruised last May during extensive flooding on the Moselle River and Avalon took EXCELLENT care of us despite the circumstances. We still had a wonderful time and I hope you do too! https://www.danubehis.org/latest-results/

Any idea how water levels are looking for river cruises on the Lower Danube between Bucharest (Oltenita) and Budapest?

https://www.copernicus.eu/en/media/image-day-gallery/arctic-front-brings-unseasonal-cold-western-europe Some interesting satellite imagery. Looks like quite a front!

FWIW...here's a photo of the Avalon Tranquility II with the upper deck cleared/lowered for steaming on the River Main during our cruise in May 2024. The ship's wheel house has been hydraulically lowered in to its "recess" in the upper deck.

Thank you!! Please feel free to pass any and all information on your lower Danube cruise. We'll be all ears!!

@notamermaid Thanks very much again. We'll be flying in to Bucharest, Romania and will board the Avalon Passion a few days later at Oltenița, Romania which is about 65 km south of our hotel in heart of Bucharest.

Thank you so much! Now I can at least monitor the water levels to get a feel for the lower Danube. This is greatly appreciated!

Thank you!

@notamermaid Well there's some excellent news for Danube travelers! I'm wondering...is there some sort of crucial low water point similar to Pfelling on the lower Danube between Budapest and Bucharest (docking location Oltenita) for those cruising that portion of the river? Is there a link where I might be able to monitor lower Danube water levels leading up to our river cruise there aboard the Avalon Passion this October? Thank you!

Thank you! We're arriving in Bucharest three days prior to boarding the Avalon Passion, and will spend two nights in a hotel we chose and the final night in the Avalon-selected hotel. We'll add the Palace of Parliament to our list. This will be our fourth Avalon cruise. We're hoping we don't run in to any Lower Danube low water level issues during mid-October...so fingers crossed. We did an Avalon Moselle River cruise in May and never touched the Moselle due to flooding. That said, Avalon did a SUPERB JOB essentially creating an entirely new cruise beginning on the Rhine in Koblenz where our ship awaited us...after a very nice land tour of Luxembourg, Trier and the Moselle River Valley. IMV it turned out to be a BETTER CRUISE than originally planned. LOL! Avalon went way beyond the call to ensure we weren't disappointed, and then gave us a significant credit towards our next cruise. I know I probably sound like an Avalon shill, however I assure you I'm not. They do a wonderful job!

I can only imagine how interesting that cruise must've been! Good on you. My wife and I are doing a mid-October lower Danube cruise aboard Avalon from Oltenita, Romania to Budapest. We're spending a few extra nights in Bucharest before boarding the ship. Do you have any comments and/or recommendations you could offer regarding travel through the Balkans?

My wife and I are looking forward to our lower Danube trip in mid-October aboard the Avalon Passion from Oltenița, Romania to Budapest, Hungary. This will be our fourth Avalon cruise. For those that might not know @notamermaid she is the absolute *BEST* regarding European river water levels. Her knowledge is astounding. No...it may not always be good news...however she'll tell you the way it is.

We FULLY AGREE with your river cruising philosophy. On our first river cruise we did both the morning and afternoon excursions each of the seven days. Although we truly enjoyed the excursions, we were exhausted by the end of our week aboard. On our second cruise we took a much more relaxed approach, and only went on the excursions that truly interested us. A few mornings we just wandered around on our own and loved that! We remained aboard the ship one morning when most guests took an excursion while the ship re-positioned downriver in their absence. We remained aboard and loved it. It was like having our own 445' yacht, complete with crew! LOL!! On our first two cruises we immediately signed up for excursions as they became available at the 90-day-to-go point. On our upcoming cruise this May we're going to just go with the flow each day predicated upon what the cruise director suggests each evening during his/her briefing for the following day's events. If there are still seats/availability...fine. If not, fine as well. We can always take the ship's very nice bicycles out for a pleasant ride!

We've taken two cruises recently with Avalon and loved every minute of our time aboard. They do a truly wonderful job. The food is excellent, the service exquisite and the atmosphere is SO PLEASANT. We made many good friends. We're signed-up for a third cruise with Avalon in May on the Moselle.

LOL...yes...mooring camels were neither graceful or pretty. In fact most were quite banged-up!