Water levels on the Danube River

[Marebear]

We are taking a Uniworld cruise on September 7 that boards the River Princess on September 11, 2006. Does anyone know if the Danube River will be open for river boats then? Our tour goes from Prague to Budapest.

Thank you!

[couchking]

We are going the following week. Keeping our fingers crossed.

[jc719]

We just returned from Viking Pride (Nuremberg-Budapest) Aug 28-Sep 4. Water was high and the ship could not reach Nuremberg. We were bussed from Nuremberg to Passau (~3 hours). They moved north to Degensdorf Sun night and we were then bussed to Regensberg for that tour (~1 hour). Moved north again to Regensberg Mon night and were bussed to Nuremberg for that city tour (~1.5 hours). Tuesday, back to Passau and we were back on schedule. We did not see Weltenberg Abbey or any river north of Regensberg. The Cruise Mgr said at the end that Weltenberg was still closed. So we saw pretty much everything. Water levels continue to fall and should be fine by now.

 

http://www.hnd.bayern.de/ shows river levels in Germany (it's in German but green is good and during the flood a couple weeks ago, there was lots of red and purple.) We had no water level problems in Austria or Hungary.

 

It was interesting that as late as Thursday before we were scheduled to board on Sunday, the Viking US Call Center told us that Danube operations were normal, even for the northbound BUD-NUR leg then in progress, which clearly was not true.

[Byairorsea]

We just returned from Budapest to Nuremberg cruise (Aug21-28) on River Princess Uniworld. We could only travel as far as Engelhartszell, Austria about 15 miles before Passau due to high water. We were quite disappointed but also realize noone can control weather/flooding. We did feel that Uniworld could have done more to help us get to Passau (they provided minivan for E10.00 pp) and we took train at our own expense to Nuremberg. We felt Uniworld had a "contract" to provide transportation to our final destination.

More comments see Uniworld vs Viking.

[Carhut]

I just returned yesterday from Budapest to the Black Sea on the Danube. The river was high, probably 12 ft. higher than usual, but we had no troubles because of it. There was only one railroad bridge that we had to lower everything on top, so we could get under the bridge. Think this was in Belgrade.

[JAKUEHNLE]

What company were you with?

[Carhut]

GCT (Grand Circle Travel).

[RBob]

My wife and I just returned from a Uniworld Vienna-Amsterdam cruise and, while water levels on the Danube were higher than normal, we encountered no problems through the entire trip. For most of the passage on the Main-Danube canal, the "sun deck" was closed and cleared of all furniture and the railings lowered to allow passage beneath bridges, but we were able to continue.

 

Surprisingly, there was no sign of any damage from flooding in any of cities we visited along the route.

[kodidog]

Thanks for the updated info regarding the current river level.

 

A little off topic, since I haven't received a reply to my question about the River Empress, below; what was the temperature like, "warm, cold, or comfy" , in the dining room on the Uniworld ship? Thanks.

[ama22]

We will be doing the Vienna to Amsterdam cruise in October. I hope you don't mind some questions. Were the excursions worth doing, or is it better to sightsee on your own? Did you feel like you had enough time in each port? What was your opinion of the food? Are slacks and a shirt for dinner okay?

 

We are going to be in Vienna for 2 days before sailing. Should we plan to visit St. Stephan on our own or do they cover it on the tour of the city. The brochure is very vague on that issue.

 

We leave in less than a month and haven't received our documentation yet. Did you receive yours this late?

 

Any information, hints, ideas you can pass along would be great. It seems to be hard to find any info on this or anyother board about Uniworld.

 

You can email me if you want at mlp22@comcast.net

 

Thanks in advance

 

Mary Lou

[pacmom]

Dining room----no jeans or shorts, male or female. The only optional trip we did was dinner out in rudesheim---well worth the time and money.. We did go on all the included excursions. Lots of cobblestones---make sure you have sturdy, comfortable walking shoes. Ours was a music cruise---we had musical type entertainment many nites.. If you have any questions, just post them here. Will read til 1 Oct., when we leave for cruise Istanbul to Athens on the Insignia. About 6 time biger than a river cruiser. Pat

[RBob]

We will be doing the Vienna to Amsterdam cruise in October. I hope you don't mind some questions. Were the excursions worth doing, or is it better to sightsee on your own? Did you feel like you had enough time in each port? What was your opinion of the food? Are slacks and a shirt for dinner okay?

 

We are going to be in Vienna for 2 days before sailing. Should we plan to visit St. Stephan on our own or do they cover it on the tour of the city. The brochure is very vague on that issue.

 

We leave in less than a month and haven't received our documentation yet. Did you receive yours this late?

 

Due to the way the cruise operates, you can do both the side-trip and independent sightseeing in most cities. The boat often docked quite some distance from the "target" city where busses were waiting. Once the busses were loaded, the boat immediately took off to ultimately meet the busses at the "target" city later in the day. Since the busses travel faster and more directly than the boat, which is forced to follow the river at a much slower speed, the boat would often not arrive 'til just before the bus tours returned to the boat, usually in time for lunch. Then, you'd be free to make your own way into town on your own for a second pass if you'd like. In cities where the boat was docked at the target city in the AM, you'd have a choice of how to proceed initially. For some towns, there was way more than enough time during the supplied excursion, but for others, like Vienna, I'd have liked to stay for a week. We viewed the cruise as just a sampler for future trips, so the fact that we didn't get in-depth coverage of any city wasn't a big problem for us.

 

As to the food, breakfast and lunch were merely OK, but dinner was always an event. Dress was always quite casual; dress up was only on the next-to-last night for the Captain's reception and dinner.

 

St. Stephen's in Vienna was visited, but if you're interested in more than a quick fly-by and you have the time, make your way there on your own.

 

Our paperwork arrived almost exactly three weeks before departure; of course if you're concerned, a phone call couldn't hurt.

[RBob]

A little off topic, since I haven't received a reply to my question about the River Empress, below; what was the temperature like, "warm, cold, or comfy" , in the dining room on the Uniworld ship? Thanks.

 

On the River Duchess, the temperature in the common rooms tended toward the cool side, but never chilly. Wearing a long sleeved shirt or a sport jacket, I was never too warm, and for breakfast or lunch I never felt cold when wearing a short sleeved shirt. During our cruise we experienced unusually warm weather, in the mid to upper 80s most days, so the A/C was always running.

[ama22]

Thanks for the info RBob. I'm really looking forward to this trip. I hope the rivers aren't too high. I really don't look forward to being bussed from one port to the next.

 

Mary Lou

[kodidog]

Thanks RBob! I'm a bit relieved to find that ALL the stuff I've packed isn't wrong, haha! Looking forward to checking out those river levels this weekend. :-)

[kodidog]

On the other hand, I've just checked the weather forecast for Budapest, Vienna, etc. for next week while we are there and they are calling for rain, rain, and more rain. Looks like we may not be utilizing that sundeck as much as I'd hoped... :-(

 

We have umbrellas, but I guess the cobblestones will be slick. I might be watching my feet as much as the sights, eh? Cross your fingers for us, and our fellow cruisers on the River Empress for the next two weeks.

[couchking]

We are leaving tomorrow evening for Budapest. Really looking forward to the trip. Hope water levels are OK and the weather report is wrong. Thanks for all the information.

Larry