How are cruise lines dealing with low water conditions?

I have been following with interest the posts on the Rhine and Danube low water conditions and am curious about how all the cruise lines are dealing with the levels. Riviera appears to have turned a cruise into a bus tour. I have seen comments on how Crystal and Avalon have changed itineraries or canceled cruises. Viking usually does ship swaps. How about AMA, Uniword, Tauck, Evergreen, Vantage, Gate 1? While cruise lines obviously have no control over mother nature, how they handle these situations can make a huge difference. I would rather pay more to cruise on a line that goes above and beyond to make the trip enjoyable than one that automatically turns the cruise to a bus tour.

I have been following with interest the posts on the Rhine and Danube low water conditions and am curious about how all the cruise lines are dealing with the levels. Riviera appears to have turned a cruise into a bus tour. I have seen comments on how Crystal and Avalon have changed itineraries or canceled cruises. Viking usually does ship swaps. How about AMA, Uniword, Tauck, Evergreen, Vantage, Gate 1? While cruise lines obviously have no control over mother nature, how they handle these situations can make a huge difference. I would rather pay more to cruise on a line that goes above and beyond to make the trip enjoyable than one that automatically turns the cruise to a bus tour.

The more ships a company has, the less likely it seems that your cruise will become a bus trip. Also, the ships with less draft (less hiding under the waterline) are less likely to be put out of service when the water level drops.

Our recent Viking Romantic Danube “cruise” on the Gullveig was a bus tour—no ship swap.

Our recent Viking Romantic Danube “cruise” on the Gullveig was a bus tour—no ship swap.

Were you able to cruise any part of the river?

We were docked the first 4 days in Passau, sailed from Passau to Vienna, and then were stuck in Komarom the last two days. It was quite disappointing, to say the least.

We were docked the first 4 days in Passau, sailed from Passau to Vienna, and then were stuck in Komarom the last two days. It was quite disappointing, to say the least.

Did Viking do anything like extra excursions, meals in restaurants, etc to make up for not being able to sil? Did you see any cruise ships that were able to continue to cruise?

We were docked the first 4 days in Passau, sailed from Passau to Vienna, and then were stuck in Komarom the last two days. It was quite disappointing, to say the least.

What is Komarom? What did you do from there?

We were basically just bused back to the ports that we missed, meaning we spent many, many hours on buses.

Since we were often on buses and when in port, rafted to other boats, we saw very little of the river traffic. I really couldn’t tell if other river boats were getting through.

Komarom is a tiny town about 60? miles from Budapest. There was nothing to do there—we were just bused into Budapest from there.

Sorry to hear that.

We were on Viking Romantic Danube last week. We started in Nuremburg. After Regensburg we went further down the river and did a boat swap. Cost us about four hours getting to Passau. Viking pretty much ran all tours, stopping at various places to get people on and off. After Vienna we could not get to Budapest. At Komarom (see previous post) the cruise ended and we went to Budapest by bus (75 minutes) and did our city tour. After that we went to the Hotel Kempinski (a real 5 star) in Budapest. The ship's program director went with us. When we were not with the ship Viking made sure our meals were covered in beer gardens or the hotel. I was happy with the way Viking handled the situation.

MSKAUFMAN, I would have been quite happy with your trip, and I am happy for you that Viking handled your trip so well. I was NOT happy with the way Viking handled ours. No boat swaps, no hotels, just lots of buses.

As I read various accounts of people’s experiences, it really is interesting how even the same company varies in the way each cruise is handled. It seems some work out better than others.

We were basically just bused back to the ports that we missed, meaning we spent many, many hours on buses.

Since we were often on buses and when in port, rafted to other boats, we saw very little of the river traffic. I really couldn’t tell if other river boats were getting through.

 

Komarom is a tiny town about 60? miles from Budapest. There was nothing to do there—we were just bused into Budapest from there.

There is a relatively interesting mid 1800's fort there, Fort Monostor and Fortress Kormano on the other side of the river. The military history in the 1500's and 1600's of that area is quite interesting.

I am following this post with great interest. Can someone tell me if there are official cruise line representitives that also use these boards? And if so, have any of them bothered to post on here with any info for us?

Where do you acquire the Crystal information? We are sailing soon and I can’t seem to find any information on it.

Thanks.

Any Rhine or Moselle issues at the moment? Also, any AMA reports?

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

Where do you acquire the Crystal information? We are sailing soon and I can’t seem to find any information on it.

 

Thanks.

I think there were a few posts about Crystal on the Rhine Water Levels thread.

Any Rhine or Moselle issues at the moment? Also, any AMA reports?

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

The Moselle has no problems with low water levels as the navigation channel is relatively deep.

notamermaid

Maybe some enterprising cruise company could take up this idea when the water runs out:

https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/elblag-canal

I have friends on the AmaViola this week and everything seems to be going as scheduled. Looks like AMA ships made it to Budapest but many others didn't, so had to bus there.

Where do you acquire the Crystal information? We are sailing soon and I can’t seem to find any information on it.

 

 

 

Thanks.

We just returned from our Danube cruise on the Crystal Mozart. Even though we were not able to cruise to Budapest do to low water levels, it was still a wonderful cruise! Once in Passau, it was announced that we would return to Vienna with a new stop in Krems, Austria. Crystal set up new tours and assisted passengers in getting to Budapest who wished to do so.

Sent from my iPad using Forums

Where do you acquire the Crystal information? We are sailing soon and I can’t seem to find any information on it.

 

Thanks.

Crystal seems to be scrambling. We found out our new itinerary 3 days before departure, and they couldn't give any details until onboard. Likewise, there doesnt seems to be any consistency to how they are dealing with the changes. Once onboard we got a nice card and $750 "gift certificate" for onboard use, but when we went to exchange it they tore it up and said there had been a mistake (ouch, especially after we starting thinking how to use it!). Our ship is half full, apparently a lot of people were able to cancel (but no cabin upgrades despite a lot of empty cabins!).

We had heard that Crystal markets more of a luxury experience than they can deliver, and so far we've found that to be true. They have been bad at communicating, inconsistent with what they say, and indifferent. Having said that, at least our ship is on a river and Crystal didn't just put us on busses like some other river cruises have.

Crystal Ravel sailing from Vienna to Basel trip starting August 16th-30th has been modified to a much shorter cruise, six days versus 14 days. We are heartbroken as we booked this cruise 1 year ago as a special trip for my parents 70th wedding anniversary, our friends 50th and our 49th. We are working on rescheduling to another cruise now with the TA, but changing the airline tickets 10 months out is a major nightmare and cost prohibitive. We do understand there is nothing Crystal can do about the water level, but it is still very disappointing to us.

Is this a summer issue or year round? We are scheduled for the Romantic Danube Viking cruise November 2019 and I’m starting to get nervous.

Crystal Ravel sailing from Vienna to Basel trip starting August 16th-30th has been modified to a much shorter cruise, six days versus 14 days. We are heartbroken as we booked this cruise 1 year ago as a special trip for my parents 70th wedding anniversary, our friends 50th and our 49th. We are working on rescheduling to another cruise now with the TA, but changing the airline tickets 10 months out is a major nightmare and cost prohibitive. We do understand there is nothing Crystal can do about the water level, but it is still very disappointing to us.

The Ravel cruise beginning on August 16 is comprised of two sub-cruises: the first part is 6 days (Vienna to Nuremberg) and the second part is 8 days (Nuremberg to Basel), for a total of 14 days. Do you mean to say that the second part has been canceled altogether? What will the ship do for those remaining 8 days? This doesn't make sense.