Danube water levels 2018 and similar topics - plus tips and info

[pully8]

JAG64 all the best with your decisions too. 

Its not easy for any of us  especially since we are so close to Christmas/new year holiday season.

We love being in Europe at spring/autumn winter will mean shorter days but we prefer the cooler weather so we were looking forward to our trip.

Frustrating having to wait for definitive news and plans.  

 

[Mark_T]

On 11/15/2018 at 5:44 AM, madda said:

Very impressed with APT on how they are handling the current water level situation. We are supposed to be on the AmaVenita departing Budapest on 24/11/2018 however the boat cannot get to Budapest. We have been given three options: Option 1. A modified 11-day cruise staying in a hotel in Budapest the first night, bus to Vienna for two nights then flying to Amsterdam where we will board the AmaVenita and cruise through The Netherlands and Belgium as well as 20% credit on the value of our cruise. Option 2: Defer our cruise until 2019 and do another European tour. Option 3: Full refund. Just have to make a decision between Options 1 and 3 as we already have two holidays planned for next year. Have to decide quickly as we leave Adelaide on Monday for Prague.

Those are exactly the options we started with, but fortunately the water levels allowed this to rapidly change and we were on our way down the Rhine as far as Koblenz, via Cologne after the first couple of days. With the Rhine gorge on a day boat after a visit to Rudesheim we got to do a lot of the original itinerary.

 

Right now we are cruising on the Mosel and we will return to the Rhine for our visit to a Namedy castle and end in Düsseldorf before being flown to Vienna for 2 nights then on to Budapest for 1 night.

 

Flexibility on the part of APT has been very good. 

[Mitina]

13 hours ago, Rappersmom said:

 

Jcat2010: It looks like my husband and I are on the same cruise as you--Dec. 9 Viking Atla in Budapest. 

This is our cruise as well.  Viking Atla B-N and like you, we're in Budapest early.  We have a private tour booked as well as Viking's optional Taste of Budapest.  As long as we stay overnight on the ship in Budapest on the 9th, our private tour should be OK.

[JAG64]

3 hours ago, pully8 said:

JAG64 all the best with your decisions too. 

Its not easy for any of us  especially since we are so close to Christmas/new year holiday season.

We love being in Europe at spring/autumn winter will mean shorter days but we prefer the cooler weather so we were looking forward to our trip.

Frustrating having to wait for definitive news and plans.  

 

Thanks pully8. Still haven't decided what to do yet, but as this was the trip of a lifetime and a 25th wedding anniversary cruise for us and our friends, we are very disappointed. We do not blame APT of course, but the trip they propose compared to what we were going to do isn't really comparable. I hope everything goes well for you and it looks like I will have to start saving again, as this cruise has been something I have wanted to do for a very very long time. Agree also about the cooler weather. We may have been lucky to get some snow along the Danube but this new cruise goes south, so none expected. Never spend the summer in Australia on the Gold Coast, as it's way too hot and always head for somewhere cold. Good luck!

[pully8]

Sounds as if you do not have much time to decide, when were you due to fly to Europe?

Curious about how you were contacted via your TA  or APT, and how much notice you were given? 

 

We did Budapest to Amsterdam with APT a year or so ago and enjoyed it. We had 5 nights in Budapest independently pre cruise, easy city to get around on public transport. 

We did not do the Salzburg day and train excursion, one of the highlights, we rested on the ship that day, beautiful scenic cruising. We had been to Salzburg before and needed a quiet day.

We were hoping to do the train this time, its not offered next year, however with the changed itinerary it will not be done this year either, as things stand.

 

Just have to wait for any updates from APT or our TA. Meanwhile we will look at other options, in case they are required. 

 

[seahags]

...waiting, however impatiently, for Mother Nature!  We have ten days in Munich, Prague and Frankfurt before we are scheduled to board in Nuremberg late December.  This will be our first ever river cruise so really wondering how Uniworld may handle it and whether or not we will have any information before we leave home!  Certainly a different animal from the changed itineriaries and cancellations we've had with ocean cruising!

 

[bubbulz]

1 hour ago, seahags said:

...waiting, however impatiently, for Mother Nature!  We have ten days in Munich, Prague and Frankfurt before we are scheduled to board in Nuremberg late December.  This will be our first ever river cruise so really wondering how Uniworld may handle it and whether or not we will have any information before we leave home!  Certainly a different animal from the changed itineriaries and cancellations we've had with ocean cruising!

 

A friend is on the Maria Theresa right now and not happy at all with Uniworld's communication nor compensation so far. They had to be bused to Passau for the start of their trip, and the boat could go no further than Vienna so they are being bused to/from Bratislava and then the next day being bused to Vienna and put up in a hotel for the last days. I understand completely about the low river levels, but I was disappointed to hear that Uniworld is stepping up to make things right so far.

[Rappersmom]

3 hours ago, Mitina said:

This is our cruise as well.  Viking Atla B-N and like you, we're in Budapest early.  We have a private tour booked as well as Viking's optional Taste of Budapest.  As long as we stay overnight on the ship in Budapest on the 9th, our private tour should be OK.

We've booked a tour for all day on the 8th and the morning of the 9th. Right now it seems like there are few boats able to actually get in to Budapest and Viking has several boats stacked up in Vienna. If water levels don't improve I'm thinking we may need to be bussed to Vienna. If that happens, I'm hoping we can just stay in the hotel we already have on the 9th. But this seems to be anybody's guess at this point, so not going to worry because there's nothing we can do about it but watch and adjust when the time comes. We'll enjoy it no matter what, right?

[seahags]

51 minutes ago, bubbulz said:

A friend is on the Maria Theresa right now and not happy at all with Uniworld's communication nor compensation so far. They had to be bused to Passau for the start of their trip, and the boat could go no further than Vienna so they are being bused to/from Bratislava and then the next day being bused to Vienna and put up in a hotel for the last days. I understand completely about the low river levels, but I was disappointed to hear that Uniworld is stepping up to make things right so far.

That's really disconcerting!  I like to think that a portion of that may be their proximity to the horrible fires in SoCal (I'm originally from close to there), and that they'll get their act together now.  Our boat leaves from Nuremberg and our 'shore' days are prior to boarding there so that portion of our trip won't be impacted.  I'm extremely hopeful that we won't spend 13 days and nights on a bus when we've paid premium dollars for the Beatrice!   At this point, nothing we can all do but wait.  I know your trip is at least two weeks before ours on the ships, can't wait to see your report and sure hope it's all river!!!

 

[kellyirwin610]

41 minutes ago, Rappersmom said:

We've booked a tour for all day on the 8th and the morning of the 9th. Right now it seems like there are few boats able to actually get in to Budapest and Viking has several boats stacked up in Vienna. If water levels don't improve I'm thinking we may need to be bussed to Vienna. If that happens, I'm hoping we can just stay in the hotel we already have on the 9th. But this seems to be anybody's guess at this point, so not going to worry because there's nothing we can do about it but watch and adjust when the time comes. We'll enjoy it no matter what, right?

We depart tomorrow and Viking notified us that in addition to being bused between Regensburg and Passau, we will be bused between Vienna and Budapest and spend the night on a Viking ship in Budapest. I believe we'll be on a total of 3 different Viking ships and two bus rides. The first email from Viking was sent about 10 days out, the second email arrived about 5 days out.

[ckcruise]

LillyBliss

Sounds like you have a good Cancel for any Reason insurance policy. Ours would only refund 50% although we never really considered canceling our cruise. From my research prior to departure, we were pretty certain that we would complete most of our cruise. As it turned out we had 10 of our 14 nights onboard a riverboat plus we had an additional 9 nights on land between our pre and post stays.  I feel like your situation is quite different as you may only have 3 or 4 of your 8 nights onboard a river boat...that's half of your cruise! Unless a miracle happens, the rest of your trip will be by bus and hotel. Do you also have a land stay booked??  

I'm reluctant to say exactly how much compensation we received as I feel everyone's experience this year has been different and the exact value of the disruption is hard to quantify.  I'm sure Scenic has to work with their insurance company to decide compensation for each scenario. I will say we did not receive 25% back. However we were satisfied with the rebate and most people we talked to felt the same. 

It's a difficult decision...as you say, 10,000$ is a lot to pay for what could be half riverboat/half bus tour.  I wish you the best whatever you decide. 

[bubbulz]

7 hours ago, seahags said:

That's really disconcerting!  I like to think that a portion of that may be their proximity to the horrible fires in SoCal (I'm originally from close to there), and that they'll get their act together now.  Our boat leaves from Nuremberg and our 'shore' days are prior to boarding there so that portion of our trip won't be impacted.  I'm extremely hopeful that we won't spend 13 days and nights on a bus when we've paid premium dollars for the Beatrice!   At this point, nothing we can all do but wait.  I know your trip is at least two weeks before ours on the ships, can't wait to see your report and sure hope it's all river!!!

 

Hoping for rain in the meantime. My husband and I are fortunate in one aspect: The only really significant potential impact (at least at this point!) would be not being able to board in Budapest. I did have a long talk with a Uniworld rep today and I'm feeling fairly comfortable that they have reasonably good contingency plans in place.

[jklc123]

1 hour ago, bubbulz said:

Hoping for rain in the meantime. My husband and I are fortunate in one aspect: The only really significant potential impact (at least at this point!) would be not being able to board in Budapest. I did have a long talk with a Uniworld rep today and I'm feeling fairly comfortable that they have reasonably good contingency plans in place.

 

Bubbulz, is it your understanding that Uniworld will transport you from the Budapest airport to the ship in Vienna? We are booked on the Maria Theresa from Passau to Budapest for the Christmas - New Years cruise and just hoping we can sail at least as far as Vienna. Of course, our flight home is from Budapest, an early morning flight. If the river doesn't rise, I'll call when it's closer to our departure.

 

I'm glad you were able to get info.about contingency plans and wish you well for your voyage.

[madda]

15 hours ago, Mark_T said:

Those are exactly the options we started with, but fortunately the water levels allowed this to rapidly change and we were on our way down the Rhine as far as Koblenz, via Cologne after the first couple of days. With the Rhine gorge on a day boat after a visit to Rudesheim we got to do a lot of the original itinerary.

 

Right now we are cruising on the Mosel and we will return to the Rhine for our visit to a Namedy castle and end in Düsseldorf before being flown to Vienna for 2 nights then on to Budapest for 1 night.

 

Flexibility on the part of APT has been very good. 

We received another updated itinerary last night - there will be no bus travelling YAY. From Budapest to Vienna we catch the Majestic Imperator where we will stay for two nights (with all meals included) and then a chartered flight to Amsterdam. Cologne has also been re-introduced as a day excursion (only 1.5 hour travel). We are just happy to go with the flow as they say. As regards the 20% credit, we are lucky that we had already booked another tour with APT next year and are able to put the 20% credit towards that. Safe travels and thanks for the updates and photos. We were on the Mosel last year and loved it.

[madda]

17 hours ago, pully8 said:

madda Thanks for your reply.

A full refund of cruise/land/business air sounds very good.

Can understand taking the alternative itinerary offered too, especially if people have other arrangements in Europe.

We are not keen on herding and bus trips but can tolerate in small doses.

The 20% off next cruise offer would suit people who can travel next year to Europe, not all would be free to do so or already have plans.

Curious if it was applicable to other products in the APT/APG like Botanica?

We have enjoyed their garden trips and found them extremely well done, albeit not cheap. We hopefully will get some definitive offers closer to our date. We are communicating with our TA and APT, but still getting we will contact you type emails, so far.

Nevertheless pleased you have something organised now to look forward too.

That's all we all want when booking and paying for a premium travel trip.

 

With regards to the 20% credit, we are lucky because we have another tour booked with APT for next year so we could put the 20% towards that.

[pully8]

Thanks Madda  appreciate the updates. fascinating changes, so on board the train for 2 nights Budapest to Vienna? Originally it was a day trip on the Majestic Imperator to Salzburg and back to the ship.

Fly to Amsterdam from Vienna and then start sailing.  We usually have other trips/cruises booked for next year some with APT/Botanica but are reluctant at this stage given the uncertainty of the current situation.

Fortunately as you know we have many choices and options. Thanks again.  

[madda]

54 minutes ago, pully8 said:

Thanks Madda  appreciate the updates. fascinating changes, so on board the train for 2 nights Budapest to Vienna? Originally it was a day trip on the Majestic Imperator to Salzburg and back to the ship.

Fly to Amsterdam from Vienna and then start sailing.  We usually have other trips/cruises booked for next year some with APT/Botanica but are reluctant at this stage given the uncertainty of the current situation.

Fortunately as you know we have many choices and options. Thanks again.  

We are only on the train to Vienna, which I think is about 2.5 hours, then we'll be in Vienna at a hotel for two nights. We were really looking forward to the train trip to Salzburg, but at least we still get some time on it. 

[bubbulz]

7 hours ago, jklc123 said:

 

Bubbulz, is it your understanding that Uniworld will transport you from the Budapest airport to the ship in Vienna? We are booked on the Maria Theresa from Passau to Budapest for the Christmas - New Years cruise and just hoping we can sail at least as far as Vienna. Of course, our flight home is from Budapest, an early morning flight. If the river doesn't rise, I'll call when it's closer to our departure.

 

I'm glad you were able to get info.about contingency plans and wish you well for your voyage.

Yes, they will transport us from Budapest to wherever the boat may be ... Vienna, Bratislava, or somewhere in between Vienna and Budapest. They said that in the event they cannot get to Budapest, they are trying to get as close as they can.

[JAG64]

22 hours ago, pully8 said:

Sounds as if you do not have much time to decide, when were you due to fly to Europe?

Curious about how you were contacted via your TA  or APT, and how much notice you were given? 

 

We did Budapest to Amsterdam with APT a year or so ago and enjoyed it. We had 5 nights in Budapest independently pre cruise, easy city to get around on public transport. 

We did not do the Salzburg day and train excursion, one of the highlights, we rested on the ship that day, beautiful scenic cruising. We had been to Salzburg before and needed a quiet day.

We were hoping to do the train this time, its not offered next year, however with the changed itinerary it will not be done this year either, as things stand.

 

Just have to wait for any updates from APT or our TA. Meanwhile we will look at other options, in case they are required. 

 

Have decide by Monday and still waiting for final details. We will miss out being able to visit Salzburg and Regensburg but nothing much can be done about the weather. Will keep you updated as we are leaving Wednesday 21/11 to fly to Budapest for a few days and then six weeks post cruise.

[JAG64]

9 hours ago, madda said:

We received another updated itinerary last night - there will be no bus travelling YAY. From Budapest to Vienna we catch the Majestic Imperator where we will stay for two nights (with all meals included) and then a chartered flight to Amsterdam. Cologne has also been re-introduced as a day excursion (only 1.5 hour travel). We are just happy to go with the flow as they say. As regards the 20% credit, we are lucky that we had already booked another tour with APT next year and are able to put the 20% credit towards that. Safe travels and thanks for the updates and photos. We were on the Mosel last year and loved it.

Hi Madda, we haven't received that updated itinerary from our TA yet. Would be good to visit Cologne!

[madda]

12 minutes ago, JAG64 said:

Hi Madda, we haven't received that updated itinerary from our TA yet. Would be good to visit Cologne!

 

12 minutes ago, JAG64 said:

Hi Madda, we haven't received that updated itinerary from our TA yet. Would be good to visit Cologne!

I think they are trying to organise the people leaving earlier, we leave Adelaide on Monday 19th November so APT probably want to make sure everyone knows what is happening

 

Edited November 17, 2018 by madda

[madda]

2 minutes ago, madda said:

 

 

Edited November 17, 2018 by madda

[pully8]

Thanks for your reply, appreciate the updates.

We will be keen to hear what options, if any we will be offered.

We have been fortunate to river cruise that route previously and like the longer cruises to relax and enjoy the passing scenery. It can be busy if you all the excursions but there is no pressure to do so.

We loved the scenic cruising in the Wachau valley and visiting the little towns on the Maine river. We have experienced interruptions on river cruises low/high water and lock strikes but this season seems particularly severe to be so disruptive for so long.

 

 

 

 

[pully8]

17 minutes ago, madda said:

 

I think they are trying to organise the people leaving earlier, we leave Adelaide on Monday 19th November so APT probably want to make sure everyone knows what is happening

 

Gosh that is very short notice but at least its some prior information.

So basically we may get the same options a few days before departure too.

One issue for us is if we accept the full refund offer, which maybe better for us, it is so close to Christmas and new year holidays we will too late to book anything to replace for that period. 

Realistically we cannot see AMAVenita getting to Budapest but it may happen. Safe flight to Doha and Prague. We enjoyed Qatar business on our last trip the staff and food were excellent. 

[JAG64]

36 minutes ago, madda said:

 

I think they are trying to organise the people leaving earlier, we leave Adelaide on Monday 19th November so APT probably want to make sure everyone knows what is happening

 

Safe travels and we may see you on board in Budapest. Making our final decision Monday.