Amadeus Christens New River Cruise Ship Designed to Tackle High Water Levels

New article on Cruise Critic:

Amadeus Christens New River Cruise Ship Designed to Tackle High Water Levels

https://www.cruisecritic.com/news/news.cfm?ID=8542

No mention of how this new design will do in low water levels

Okayyy, sounds good, but...

There are two things that struck me here before I even read the article. Before I started reading the article, after I had seen the article headline, I immediately thought: "how can you tackle high water levels that does not work, the authorities close the river". They mean to just be able to sail longer than other cruise lines at low bridges before the authorities close the river. This could work at the bridges on the Danube, especially the notorious one at Passau. Make or break between finishing an itinerary or not. On the Main Danube Canal (and part of the Main) the bridges are low and the three-deck ships have their sundeck closed because of the obvious danger to passengers. On the Rhine only some of the bridges are low and the famous Rhine gorge does not even have a bridge, it will often not stop your itinerary from continuing but the authorities shipping ban will be in place that stops it. It depends on which river you are and what bridge might be "in your way".

Secondly, it is flawed advertising - sorry to be blunt - to just say 15cm lower. How does it compare to other ships? The article does not even say if the Amadeus Queen is a two-level or three-level ship! Which makes a crucial difference on the Main Danube Canal for example.

The website of Lüftner helps to solve the puzzle of what the article actually means: https://www.lueftner-************/en/our-amadeus-fleet/ms-amadeus-queen.html

The Amadeus Queen is indeed a three-level ship of standard modern size: 135m by 11.4m (ok, many ships are given as being 11.5m for example the Viking longships, if those 10cm are intentional we cannot tell from the info given). Her being 15cm lower will indeed then give her better odds getting under bridges when other ships cannot anymore. It could help. But one also needs to bear in mind that water levels can rise quickly, 15cm might be the rise in one day or the rise in two hours (in extreme situations).

I am sure Lüftner has put a lot of thought into this and high water has become more of an issue in recent years, for sure, and could increasingly do so in years to come. An interesting idea to stand out from the crowd of 135m ship. I hope it works out for them.

hostjazzbeau, low water is a tricky thing as we all know and unless the 15cm mean a significant reduction in material (which one can doubt) or there is another innovation that we do not know about, the Amadeus Queen will sit more or less as deep in the water as the other ships of her size. She would then perform just as the other vessels, i.e. not likely to sail as long as the 110m ships, but in the end it is down to her captain to stop sailing to ensure everyone's safety.

Thank you for posting this, we do not hear and read much about the Amadeus fleet usually.

notamermaid

Travel Weekly's Michelle Baran has been on the Amadeus Queen and reports this: http://www.travelweekly.com/River-Cruising/Amadeus-Queen-brings-innovation-in-a-sleek-package

notamermaid