Rhine water levels 2018 and similar topics

[Begete]

millebe and beckmars.  we are on the very next cruise after yours, will you lease keep us updated?’ That would be much appreciated. thank you

[beckmars]

17 minutes ago, millebe said:

We are also on the River Queen on Nov. 2.  Would love to hear from Passengers on the ship this week. Have not heard a thing from Uniworld if the itinerary will be modified.

Looks like the River Queen is moored right now, in Duisburg.  I am wondering if it is even on a trip right now.  I couldn't find an itinerary for it during this time.

 

[beckmars]

34 minutes ago, Begete said:

millebe and beckmars.  we are on the very next cruise after yours, will you lease keep us updated?’ That would be much appreciated. thank you

Sure.  By the way, I have family on Whidbey Island - in Clinton.

[Begete]

16 minutes ago, beckmars said:

Sure.  By the way, I have family on Whidbey Island - in Clinton.

lol.   We are in Coupeville but have many friends in Clinton. Can you private message someone here on cruise critic?

[beckmars]

7 minutes ago, Begete said:

lol.   We are in Coupeville but have many friends in Clinton. Can you private message someone here on cruise critic?

I am not sure.  I will try.

[kathywin53]

11 hours ago, Coli said:

Looking at marinetraffic.com it looks like AMAPrima has changed her 10 day Rhine/Moselle to Rotterdam/Amsterdam. Her track also shows previous voyage was Amsterdam/Rotterdam.  At least passengers get to stay onboard for voyage. I’ve been following this thread as we’re scheduled to be on Prima for her November 17 Wine Rhine voyage. Do know things can change and I’m great at adapting. Very much appreciate everyone’s input on this thread.

On the same cruise and starting to wonder about alternate plans. Had hoped to stay extra in Basel for the markets. ? Waiting some notice from AMA, considering cancellation or adding transportation to Basel afterwhatever cruise we end up with. Continuing to hope for lots of rain. 

[gadugger]

2 hours ago, kathywin53 said:

On the same cruise and starting to wonder about alternate plans. Had hoped to stay extra in Basel for the markets. ? Waiting some notice from AMA, considering cancellation or adding transportation to Basel afterwhatever cruise we end up with. Continuing to hope for lots of rain. 

I am on same cruise (our first river cruise). We have post cruise plans leaving Basel by train to Paris. Trying to get AMA to provide assurance that if they cancel our cruise , they will not cancel our air reservations as we plan to do our own Amsterdam to Basel trip followed by our already booked Paris trip if they do cancel. . Also trying to get them to indicate how many days notice they will provide. Will let you know what I find out. 

[notamermaid]

It is a busy week for bomb disposal units. This weekend after having got rid of finds in Mainz and Leverkusen during the week, and Urmitz last weekend, two units will head out in Rhineland-Palatinate alone to dispose of a bomb near Konz on the Moselle (unrelated to the low water levels) and to Neuwied on the Rhine where another bomb has been found near a bridge. I reported on the last bomb not so long ago. The bridge was heavily bombed by US-American planes but never destroyed. The recent two bomb finds in the low water of the Rhine are that legacy. The evacuation radius has not been determined yet.

 

Other finds in the low water are a bit more valuable, like a hoard of coins in the Danube. But I will post that on the Danube thread.

 

Business is struggling with reports having come in of logistical problems, empty filling stations and force majeure production cuts at major plants along the river.

 

But here is a somewhat more light-hearted report of problems resulting from the low water levels on the Rhine:

 

"Niedrigwasserfrei" for pupils on island

In the river Rhine just South of Bonn is an island called Nonnenwerth. It is a nunnery with girls' high school for the surrounding area. From both banks of the river there are ferries taking the pupils to school each day. On Monday the school declared "Niedrigwasserfrei" as the ferries cannot sail to the island any more. The children are getting days off school due to the low water and that is what the German word means. The school promised to arrange "emergency schooling" in the schools in the area by the end of the week.

 

The river levels today: Maxau 318cm, Kaub 29cm, Koblenz 24cm.

 

The graphs for Kaub and Koblenz show a rise in the levels for Monday but that is a prediction not a forecast. Will we get back to 50cm at Kaub next week? I still doubt it but am hope more hopeful than three days ago.

 

notamermaid

 

 

[Mark_T]

31 minutes ago, notamermaid said:

The river levels today: Maxau 318cm, Kaub 29cm, Koblenz 24cm.

 

The graphs for Kaub and Koblenz show a rise in the levels for Monday but that is a prediction not a forecast. Will we get back to 50cm at Kaub next week? I still doubt it but am hope more hopeful than three days ago.

 

Continued thanks for the update.

 

I really should have been paying more attention at the point where the 135m ships stopped transiting the Rhine Gorge, but do you have a sense of what we need to be seeing on the levels for them to get through the gorge again...?

[notamermaid]

I am not sure myself. I'd prefer not to be nailed down with giving a figure. With the signals being so bad in the Rhine gorge I have found it too tedious to follow ships.

Here are some tips. At 71cm at Kaub Viking ships sailed through. On another day an Amawaterways ship did it with a little less. At 55cm Viking did ship swaps. I do not know when the last 135m one managed.

 

Only as a rule of thumb I would say that when Kaub reaches 50cm again we can envisage it. When they actually can we would need to hear from the people on the water as it depends of course on ship, captain and company.

 

notamermaid

Edited October 26, 2018 by notamermaid

[Mrs Miggins]

We did the Rhine Gorge from last week on a smaller excursion ship organised by Scenic.  That was better than missing it completely but obviously not nearly as nice as it being part of the cruise. We had packed our bags  in Frankfurt the night before (not on our original itinerary) coach to Rudesheim for the musical museum visit, plus cable car and lunch followed by 2 hours sailing the gorge.  Then on a coach for a further 2 hours to Cologne for our ship swap.  Everybody had to take part in the excursions in order to join the new ship.  

[Mark_T]

22 minutes ago, notamermaid said:

Here are some tips. At 71cm at Kaub Viking ships sailed through. On another day an Amawaterways ship did it with a little less. At 55cm Viking did ship swaps. I do not know when the last 135m one managed.

 

Only as a rule of thumb I would say that when Kaub reaches 50cm again we can envisage it. When they actually can we would need to hear from the people on the water as it depends of course on ship, captain and company.

 

Thanks that is a great help. Definitely not trying to nail you down to a number, just needed to be reminded of the general levels we need to see.

 

 

Edited October 26, 2018 by Mark_T

[notamermaid]

I try to be as exact as possible in my observations and honest about the situation, but am anxious to be misquoted. Not that some official one day knocks on my door and asks in a stern voice: "Are you notamermaid"? As we all know in this day and age if one wants to find us they will😨.

I stood at the landing stage in Engers the other week. But the notsosafe looking small bridge at the end of the landing stage kept me from knocking on the glass door and saying hello to reception. Thought of asking how things are going. Perhaps on another trip out.

 

notamermaid

 

[kathywin53]

10 hours ago, gadugger said:

I am on same cruise (our first river cruise). We have post cruise plans leaving Basel by train to Paris. Trying to get AMA to provide assurance that if they cancel our cruise , they will not cancel our air reservations as we plan to do our own Amsterdam to Basel trip followed by our already booked Paris trip if they do cancel. . Also trying to get them to indicate how many days notice they will provide. Will let you know what I find out. 

Thanks for the input. Also first river cruise and really hoping to keep some sort of river cruise in the vacation. We have independent air so that will not change if AMA cancels the cruise. Biggest issue might be finding best way to get to Basel, will AMA help with that as other companies have. Will post any updates.

[notamermaid]

This is Kaub:

 

The line that tells us the navigation channel is at 1.90m is nowhere to be seen yet. It is 78cm. As you can see the river level fluctuates during 24 hours and a 10cm rise in a day is certainly possible after some rain has fallen. This is what the last month looks like on the big scale:

 

 

We want to be close to the line with GlW (78cm) on it, ideal would be to be over the line that says MNW to give us no worry about low water any more.

 

On 31 October the statistics for temperature and precipitation in October this year compared to previous years will be published. I think we can guess that the precipitation bars for the Rhine areas will be smaller than in years past even if it rains all of Saturday and Sunday.

 

You might think that surely much water must be coming from the Rhine further upstream from Basel. It does not. This article and video tells you the situation there: https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/multimedia/hot-weather_rhine-falls-water-level-at-historic-low/44493698

 

notamermaid

 

[Mark_T]

Excellent detail there, thanks.

 

I just started to play with the Pegel Online site and figured out how to find the similar graphs. Not good reading sadly, but good information for sure.

[Coli]

2 hours ago, kathywin53 said:

Thanks for the input. Also first river cruise and really hoping to keep some sort of river cruise in the vacation. We have independent air so that will not change if AMA cancels the cruise. Biggest issue might be finding best way to get to Basel, will AMA help with that as other companies have. Will post any updates.

 

Pretty sure they won’t let us know until at least 48 hours out from the trip. Nice to see a few more people on this trip though! We’re booked airfare and post trip with AMA. Very much hoping we get to Lucerne/ Zurich post trip no matter where we are.

[Tahoebum]

We are scheduled with Viking for the Basel to Amsterdam cruise departing November 2nd.  We received an email informing us that we will be transferring to a sister ship halfway through the journey but are waiting to hear back with more details.  I will post here once I have more information.  This is our first cruise ever on the Rhine so we will stay optimistic that the busing can be kept to a minimum.  

[ganski]

We are also scheduled with Viking for the Amsterdam to Basel cruise departing November 2nd . Today we received the email from Viking that we are departing on the Eir instead of the Mani. It appears the Rhine needs a month of solid rain to get to it's proper level. We are going to make the best of it having booked this trip 14 months ago. I am hoping for minimal bus riding and a ship swap will not be the worst thing. Rain is predicted this weekend but I doubt it will improve the level very much.  

 

[notamermaid]

Tahoebum,

 

welcome to CruiseCritic. Not sure if you are new to the Rhine or new to river cruising. May I recommend our host jazzbeau's stickies at the top of the main page to you? There is lots of info on river cruising in general and specifics about the individual rivers.

 

I hope Viking is able to get you onto an excursion boat to do the Rhine gorge on the day of your ship swap. That stretch is more or less in the middle of your normal itinerary.

 

ganski,

 

it sounds as if you will be swapping ships with Tahoebum. Again, I hope Viking is able to get an excursion boat for you for the Rhine gorge.

 

To both of you: have a great trip.

 

notamermaid

 

[millebe]

22 hours ago, beckmars said:

Looks like the River Queen is moored right now, in Duisburg.  I am wondering if it is even on a trip right now.  I couldn't find an itinerary for it during this time.

 

Still no info from Uniworld on the Nov.2 AMS-BAS Cruise.  Sent them an email yesterday requesting and update but no reply as of the time of this message.  Sounds like Viking is be proactive and communicating....I wish Uniworld would be more customer oriented.

[notamermaid]

 

6 minutes ago, millebe said:

Still no info from Uniworld on the Nov.2 AMS-BAS Cruise.  Sent them an email yesterday requesting and update but no reply as of the time of this message.  Sounds like Viking is be proactive and communicating....I wish Uniworld would be more customer oriented.

 

The River Queen has moved to Düsseldorf. Uniworld might be waiting for the updates on water levels after the rain this weekend.

 

I do hope they send you some info soon.

 

notamermaid

 

[beckmars]

9 minutes ago, millebe said:

Still no info from Uniworld on the Nov.2 AMS-BAS Cruise.  Sent them an email yesterday requesting and update but no reply as of the time of this message.  Sounds like Viking is be proactive and communicating....I wish Uniworld would be more customer oriented.

They are probably inundated with email & phone calls.  I can understand why they would wait to notify us with changes, because of Mother Nature being so unpredictable.

 

[beckmars]

3 minutes ago, notamermaid said:

 

 

The River Queen has moved to Düsseldorf. Uniworld might be waiting for the updates on water levels after the rain this weekend.

 

I do hope they send you some info soon.

 

notamermaid

 

The River Queen is one of the "shorter" ships (I think).  110 meters - 361 feet.  It will be what it will be :)  Adventure time!

 

 

Edited October 26, 2018 by beckmars

[gadugger]

17 hours ago, gadugger said:

I am on same cruise (our first river cruise). We have post cruise plans leaving Basel by train to Paris. Trying to get AMA to provide assurance that if they cancel our cruise , they will not cancel our air reservations as we plan to do our own Amsterdam to Basel trip followed by our already booked Paris trip if they do cancel. . Also trying to get them to indicate how many days notice they will provide. Will let you know what I find out. 

Still no word from AMA. Train fare from Amsterdam to Basel has gone up in the last few days to a little over $500 for two people first class going to Paris on one train then transferring to another train going on to Basel.