Danube Water Levels Low

[editor@cruisecritic]

BGTraveler, thanks for the heads up.

 

Carolyn

 

 

 

Quick update from Avalon Panorama. Left Vienna as scheduled last night and made it to Durnstein/Melk as scheduled. Ninthisland, sorry to hear our good luck may have been at your expense. We are headed to Linz and Passau now. Scheduled to reach Passau around 5PM tomorrow. Discussion of our schedule by cruise director this evening indicates they are expecting we will make it through to Nuremberg. (We will have to see) Rain has been forecast since we arrived in Vienna, but we have only had a minor shower one day. Don't know where it may have rained to effect the water levels so we are keeping our fingers crossed. Will post later to advise if we were able to continue beyond Passau. So far it has been enjoyoable trip other than the drama about water levels and how river cruisers in general are being effected.Hope it rains somewhere soon and that those of you who have upcoming trips are able to enjoy them.

[Sekhmet]

Dear Viking Travelers,

 

With cautious optimism we are happy to report that our nautical department predicts that current rain along the Danube and particularly in the drainage area of the Rhine, will lead to improved sailing conditions. Based on this information we are continuing to work on adjustments to each itinerary and ship affected. We believe that by next week only minor modifications to our itineraries will be needed — and hopefully in some cases, no modifications at all.

 

We ask that you please continue to bear with us. For those departing on December 10th or 11th, we will again update you via email as soon as possible regarding contingency plans for your itinerary, but no later than Wednesday. Again, these updates will also be posted to our website: http://www.vikingrivercruises.com/about/vikingnews.aspx

 

Please contact us at TellUs@vikingrivercruises.com with any additional questions.

 

Thank you for your continued patience,

Viking River Cruises

 

We are sailing Budapest to Nurenberg in late December - are you keeping UK passengers updated, and can the updates also be posted on to your .co.uk website, to which I get diverted if I try to access your .com address above.

 

Thanks

[imisseurope]

I'm as new to this as you are. :)

 

I got a message saying something like: "thanks for submitting a review. We'll review your review (to that effect, forgot the original wording) and post them. It'll take a couple days at most".

 

Any news? Still can't find your review.

[ninthisland]

I do agree that the permanent crew of the Panorama was "Marvelous". Many were the same we had on our 1st Avalon cruise in Oct. 2010 on the Affinity and they transferred over to the new Panorama when she was launched. We were so happy our 2 days on the Panorama being with the familiar crew faces we knew so well from our 10 days on the Affinity. Dan the Hotel Manager, Peter the Restaurant Manager, the Front Desk Receptionionist and even Vesko, the Muscian. They are wonderful, it felt like being back with old friends and I know how many different passengers they see on a weekly basis.

 

Ninthisland, if it is of any help to you to pursue a letter to Avalon Corporate, we all had a formal letter in our cabins of the Tapestry at embarcation from a Sabine C. Steffen (VP of Product Development with Avalon) who outlined their "good will" reimbursement provided by Avalon to those who decided not to cancel but continue on with the cruise with the ship changes as made. Obviously the communication of this good will trip reimbursement vs total trip cancellation with the option of total trip cost reimbursement was via their contact persons who spoke with our Travel Agent the day we were packing to fly to Budapest. Maybe communication to this VP at Avalon might get you a better response. Good Luck!!

 

Thanks for the information with respect to contacting Avalon further up the chain than the person who replied to me on their website. As you said the permanent crew were great. I think Avalon need to be reminded of how effective communication, forward planning for such conditions which obviously happen fairly often and having a Cruise Director who is able to communicate and converse with the passengers.

There were many positives about the cruise but the several important negatives far outweighed these. They should also remember where their repeat business often comes from.

[at_nyc]

Any news? Still can't find your review.

I haven't been able to see it myself either.

 

I did one for another forum. It pretty much included all of the port review & the Christmas markets, as well as the Viking boo-boo:

 

http://www.theskidiva.com/forums/showthread.php?t=13299

 

I'll be adding photo's as I go through them too.

[steamboats]

An update to the situation on the Danube river:

 

It´s still raining South of the Danube. Currently there are no low water warnings effective for the Danube river!!

 

I´ve told you it can change pretty quickly and within one or two days depending on the amount of rain. It didn´t rain very much (except for right now). But obviously that was enough.

 

steamboats

[BPCruiser]

Thanks for the information with respect to contacting Avalon further up the chain than the person who replied to me on their website. As you said the permanent crew were great. I think Avalon need to be reminded of how effective communication, forward planning for such conditions which obviously happen fairly often and having a Cruise Director who is able to communicate and converse with the passengers.

There were many positives about the cruise but the several important negatives far outweighed these. They should also remember where their repeat business often comes from.

 

Ninthisland, you never mentioned......who was the CD, on your cruise that was obviously very poor with communication as the on board representative of Avalon? Curious if it was same as ours since your cruise backed to ours? Initials RZ?

[ninthisland]

Ninthisland, you never mentioned......who was the CD, on your cruise that was obviously very poor with communication as the on board representative of Avalon? Curious if it was same as ours since your cruise backed to ours? Initials RZ?

 

Yes that was the CD - same one as yours.

[beavershat]

I'm not sure how many of you have upcoming Christmas market trips with Avalon, but this is on their Facebook page:

 

"Some of you may have read that the Danube is experiencing lower-than-ideal water levels. Currently, we have just one ship sailing Europe - the Avalon Panorama - on our Christmastime itineraries on the Danube. And, while the water levels are lower than we'd like, Germany has received some rain – GREAT NEWS! As a result, our Christmastime cruises are operating normally (as scheduled) – even better news!

 

So … What if the situation changes? As soon as itinerary changes become necessary, we reach out to our impacted agents and travelers directly, providing them several options. If water-level issues arise on-trip, we also have several solutions mapped out, including, during the Christmastime cruise season, having an extra Avalon ship on-hand (one that can more easily traverse low water levels) for cruisers to continue to enjoy their full - and fulfilling - cruise vacation.

 

If you’re scheduled on one of our Christmastime cruises and have additional questions, feel free to call your booking agent or our team toll-free at 1-877-380-1535 for details."

[ninthisland]

I'm not sure how many of you have upcoming Christmas market trips with Avalon, but this is on their Facebook page:

 

"Some of you may have read that the Danube is experiencing lower-than-ideal water levels. Currently, we have just one ship sailing Europe - the Avalon Panorama - on our Christmastime itineraries on the Danube. And, while the water levels are lower than we'd like, Germany has received some rain – GREAT NEWS! As a result, our Christmastime cruises are operating normally (as scheduled) – even better news!

 

So … What if the situation changes? As soon as itinerary changes become necessary, we reach out to our impacted agents and travelers directly, providing them several options. If water-level issues arise on-trip, we also have several solutions mapped out, including, during the Christmastime cruise season, having an extra Avalon ship on-hand (one that can more easily traverse low water levels) for cruisers to continue to enjoy their full - and fulfilling - cruise vacation.

 

If you’re scheduled on one of our Christmastime cruises and have additional questions, feel free to call your booking agent or our team toll-free at 1-877-380-1535 for details."

 

I was very interested in this response from Avalon. The cruise before the one we took did result in Avalon using two ships to enable the passengers to complete the cruise, complete with compensation. We asked our travel agent to check with Avalon, who assured her that everything was fine for our cruise to proceed normally.

The water levels were not at all fine but after what I knew of the previous cruise I did think that the previous option of using the other ship again would be put into action. No such thing but rather a bus trip involving many, many hours in coaches with average at best accommodation instead.

Imagine our surprise when find that the ship made it to Vienna without us or our luggage on it and the following cruise left as planned.

I am sorry but their facebook blurb is not exactly honest.

[bgtravler]

Arrived in Nuremberg this morning. Made it through the stretch from Passau to Regensburg with no apparent problems. Had light rain and mist two of the days and about 2 hours of heavy rain while in Regensburg. Don't have any feel for how this has effected water levels. We'll be leaving the ship heading to Prague in the morning. For those staying on and new people arriving indications are that there will be no problems heading on up the river. This will be our last post until we are back in the states. We will do a review of the cruise at that time. Good luck to those of you cruising later in the month.

[caviargal]

Imagine our surprise when find that the ship made it to Vienna without us or our luggage on it and the following cruise left as planned.

A ship without passengers weighs far less and requires less draft than one filled with passengers so this is not so surprising that they were able to travel virtually empty.

[Avalon Waterways]

I was very interested in this response from Avalon. The cruise before the one we took did result in Avalon using two ships to enable the passengers to complete the cruise, complete with compensation. We asked our travel agent to check with Avalon, who assured her that everything was fine for our cruise to proceed normally.

The water levels were not at all fine but after what I knew of the previous cruise I did think that the previous option of using the other ship again would be put into action. No such thing but rather a bus trip involving many, many hours in coaches with average at best accommodation instead.

Imagine our surprise when find that the ship made it to Vienna without us or our luggage on it and the following cruise left as planned.

I am sorry but their facebook blurb is not exactly honest.

 

 

We appreciate your posts. This post on our Facebook page was meant to provide travelers an update on the current situation. As indicated in that update, we do not foresee any low water level-related interruptions to current or future Christmastime itineraries, thanks, in great part, to the recent rain in Germany and future weather forecast. While this news doesn't make-up for the low water levels we experienced on your cruise, it is our best effort to keep our agents and travelers well-informed on the current situation.

 

We can also appreciate your frustration. As you can imagine, on Day 5 of your vacation (November 30), we were disappointed to have to make the difficult decision and announcement that our travelers would need to disembark the Panorama on December 1 and can assure you that decision was not made lightly. The hotel rooms we provided you the final two nights of your vacation were in the heart of Brataslava and not in Vienna because every quality hotel in Vienna was booked. We also tried to help the situation by compensating you - with a full refund - for the two nights you did not experience the Panorama and by offering other complimentary meals and optional excursions. We apologize that these efforts did not make-up for your disappointment.

 

If you haven't already been in touch with our team directly, we encourage you to call us toll-free at 877.380.1535. Thank you, ninthisland, and best wishes.

[minimotorin]

Sounds like Avalon did more than most lines as all I heard Viking offering was a discount on a future cruise, no refund of any type was offered.

[editor@cruisecritic]

Absolutely -- news stories are going up on both UK & US.

 

Carolyn

 

 

We are sailing Budapest to Nurenberg in late December - are you keeping UK passengers updated, and can the updates also be posted on to your .co.uk website, to which I get diverted if I try to access your .com address above.

 

Thanks

[at_nyc]

imisseurope, in the other review I left off the ship reviews since it's a not a cruise forum. I thought I should share here.

 

I didn't keep a copy of the review I did here (I also didn't keep the automatic e-mail I got initially to ask about what happen to my review). So I'll have to keep it short.

 

Since we had the "luck" to pack and unpack into 2 ships, I get to compare them.

 

Viking Prestige:

 

Very new and it shows. Everything works, including the internet!

 

However, there's one thing very annoying (to me). The toilet flushes with great fanfare! Each time sounds JUST like a thunderstorm going off!!!

 

During the day, we eventually got used to it and stop looking outside expecting to see rain. ;)

 

But at night, that's quite annoying to have frequent "thunderstorm" going off from time to time. Especially since we had to board bus early in the morning, that means non-stop "thunderstorm" from 5 o'clock on, for two out of 3 days on board! :mad:

 

Legend:

 

Going from the Prestig to the Legend making the latter look like it's been build the last century! It just LOOK old. When in reality it isn't that old. And after the second day, not only did we got used to it I like it (marginally) better!

 

For one thing, the toilet on the Legend doesn't make that awful loud noise at all. I barely notice it when it's in my own cabin, and can totally ignore other cabins'.

 

The trade off is, the bath stall isn't really a stall. There's no door, but only a shower curtain. And it didn't have a threshold either. So water simply floods the entire bathroom! We only had 2 nights on it, both of us skipped shower after the first night (and it's winter anyway).

 

Also, the internet on Legend was totally unusable. And as I browse through old reviews, seem its internet was NEVER functional since day 1!

 

I did one for another forum. It pretty much included all of the port review & the Christmas markets, as well as the Viking boo-boo:

 

http://www.theskidiva.com/forums/showthread.php?t=13299

[imisseurope]

thanks for the info on the ships. I think the one I'd be one would be the Viking Europe (one of the older ships, I believe). How was the food and service?

I find it so interesting that your review has still not posted under member reviews!

I don't know if you've seen my thread, Viking "Custom Air" what would you do?

I did send Viking my info, haven't heard back from anyone....

[at_nyc]

thanks for the info on the ships. I think the one I'd be one would be the Viking Europe (one of the older ships, I believe). How was the food and service?

I saw the Europa docked next to us at Vienna. It's a much older ship than even the Legend.

 

I didn't see the interior of the Europa so can't say. Search the ship name in the review section and see if you find anything. When I read travel review, I only read the negative ones.:) Like Tolstoy wrote: "Happy family are all the same, while unhappy family each have their own unhappiness". I don't need to read the same happy ones. ;)

 

The easy questions first:

 

Service: No complains. One day, the cabin cleaning missed some part of our cabin. A quick reminder got them done right away.

 

Food: Well... It's ok. Both quality and quantity are only average. If you're thinking of the eat-all-you-can type of buffect in ocean cruises, you'll be in for a disappointment.

 

You don't get the sense you're in Europe either. No local delicacy. Whatever they name as Europe dishes, tend not to come out all that great. The more standard fare turned out better. (still, they can't make eggs/omelettes!)

 

If you're a foodie, a cruise is really NOT the way to see Europe. Eating on the ship, you missed out all the local/national foods! Granted, German aren't known for their cusine. Still, there're good dishes worth trying.

 

I don't know if you've seen my thread, Viking "Custom Air" what would you do?

Here's something else to keep in mind. Europe is in a bit of a unstable time. I wouldn't want to COMMIT to a trip so far in advance. God knows what might happen next summer. Viking is a European company

 

With 60 day prior to departure for the final balance, you have a lot more freedom to change your plan if the situation changes drastically. Trying to get money from Viking once you've given it to them is... well, you're read enough so I won't repeat.

 

I find it so interesting that your review has still not posted under member reviews!

I thought I kept the initial e-mail so I could ask for the status. But I must have accidentally delated it. So I don't even know how to ask what happen to it.

 

Anyway, the other review pretty much covers the same. I'll be adding more photos for Vienna (and a bit of Budapest after dark). You're going in July so you wouldn't care about the Christmas market after all!

[steamboats]

Granted, German aren't known for their cusine. Still, there're good dishes worth trying.

 

I think I should invite you to a culinary tour through Germany!!:D

 

Most of my fellow Germans would say that US cuisine consists out of hamburgers, fries and hot dogs. I sure know better. But don´t underestimate the German cuisine. There might be lots of hearty stuff and meats but it always depends on how you prepare it... BTW I´ve been to the Hofbräuhaus in Newport Kentucky and couldn´t find a real German dish there. Who the heck is thinking we are eating fried pickles???

 

steamboats

[rcaruso]

Fried pickles! Only in the South! You are right about German food. We went to England this summer and have always heard about the bad food, well it was fine. Our daughter is a vegetarian and unlike the US they have items marked for vegetarians and lower in calories and fat. Lot of fresh rocket which I love.

 

The food on the Helvetia was good. Very nicely seasoned (no need for the old salt and pepper shakers), well presented. I was not disappointed. The size of the food portions is much better for you in the long run, but if you needed something else they would bring it. They always had a steak that you could order and that was good sized.

[caviargal]

We very much enjoy the food in Germany. While there are heavy dishes, we have also had the best venison fillet ever in a small inn about an hour from Munich and have enjoyed many delightful meals throughout the country.

 

I am a picky eater and like my food fresh and healthy; I never touch fast food and very rarely eat meat in the USA. In Germany, the freshness and quality of many things is far superior to that in the USA - from seafood to ethnic restaurants, we have generally been delighted over the course of 8 trips.

 

As for river cruises, the quality of the food we had on our recent AMA cruise ranged from excellent to very good. On Avalon (3 cruises) it was good to very good.

 

<If you're thinking of the eat-all-you-can type of buffect in ocean cruises, you'll be in for a disappointment. >

 

I cannot think of anything less appealing than a buffet on an ocean cruise so thank goodness, we had nothing like that on any of our river cruises. The quality of food is one reason we stopped going on ocean cruises, along with crowds of people, too many kids, tons of extra costs and the size of the new ships. On our last half dozen ocean cruises we opted for the extra charge restaurants every night so we could dine in a more intimate setting and enjoy good food and service, and avoid the noisy, crowded dining rooms serving banquet style food. We will only cruise on small ships these days, whether ocean or river.

 

Also, in Germany some of the food areas at the large department stores are excellent. We have had great meals at KaDeWe in Berlin, the Viktualienmarkt in Munich ( wonderful Thai, excellent seafood) and fresh and tasty food at a department store in Munich whose name escapes me.

 

We prefer the food in Europe overall to the food in the states. Can't wait for some venison and tafelspitz when we go back in 2 weeks.:)

[followyourheart]

 

I cannot think of anything less appealing than a buffet on an ocean cruise so thank goodness, we had nothing like that on any of our river cruises.

 

We used to eat at the big midnight buffets in our younger days, then over time that changed into just taking pictures of the food. Now we are usually asleep by midnight. :)

 

Do you happen to have any favorite places to eat in Amsterdam?

[at_nyc]

I think I should invite you to a culinary tour through Germany!!:D

I would jump on such opportunity!

 

It's not that German has terrible food. And I do find most European country tend to have fresher ingredian than many us grocery supermarkets. That, does mean many dishes are fresh and tastey without a lot of salt and pepper. We did tasted a few on our own expense and enjoyed it.

 

My comment was more directed to people who go out of their way to hunt down special foods. Germany isn't as well known as say, France or Italy.

 

(I would NEVER even think of doing an all-meal-included cruise in France, for example!)

 

The one meal Viking forced fed us at Passau (@Ratskellor) was very disappointing. And it's in the choice of dish Viking chooses. They must had picked the cheapest meat dish on the manu! I knew just enough about German/Austrian food to taake a chance on the "dietary restriction" alternative. It was miles better than the deault choice. Most others left their dish with half of the food. Only those of us optting the alternative finshed our dishes.

[steamboats]

Germany isn't as well known as say, France or Italy.

 

We don´t have many country wide signature dishes like Pizza, Pasta, Baguette... But we do have a lot of regional specialties which you have to know of to enjoy them.

 

I think you´ll never have a superb meal with a group of 100 people or more especially when it´s made up short time. Deilmann (once a real 5 star river cruise company) took us to Budapest by bus out of Vienna (due to high water). We were all bussed to a local restaurant with local food... Let´s say even for local food it was simply bad (and definitley not up to the Deilmann standards). I had much better food in Budapest on a private trip.

 

steamboats

[nordski]

We don´t have many country wide signature dishes like Pizza, Pasta, Baguette... But we do have a lot of regional specialties which you have to know of to enjoy them.

 

I think you´ll never have a superb meal with a group of 100 people or more especially when it´s made up short time. Deilmann (once a real 5 star river cruise company) took us to Budapest by bus out of Vienna (due to high water). We were all bussed to a local restaurant with local food... Let´s say even for local food it was simply bad (and definitley not up to the Deilmann standards). I had much better food in Budapest on a private trip.

 

steamboats

Great point!

 

If you look at the ratings on Tripadvisor, the Ratskellor in Passau (the restaurant mentioned in the previous post) is ranked 7th in that city. Not a lot of responses but most of them German which may reflect familiarity with local cuisine.

 

When large groups are involved, quality becomes more problematic.