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

[G.M.T.]

On 11/15/2018 at 3:23 PM, Crowefamily4 said:

So what will it take to bring the Danube back to comfortable sailing levels?  We are booked on the Viking Romantic Danube in April, 2019.  What are the chances that the river levels will be back up to good sailing levels for this coming spring?  Bad - not good - pretty good - good - very good?  With of course the understanding that long range forecasts are a crapshoot.  Thank-you....

Your guess is as good as mine, no one knows. Every month since June we have thought Oh next month will better - still waiting.

[G.M.T.]

On 11/15/2018 at 3:39 PM, notamermaid said:

Over to G.M.T. who is better at reading the coffee grains in the Passau cafés...

 

notamermaid

 

 

More like reading the beer froth sta the botton of a Weizen glass.

[G.M.T.]

On 11/15/2018 at 4:42 PM, worldtraveller99 said:

We travel to Vienna on 24/11 and onto the Amadeus ship (assuming it ever moves from Linz!) on 28/11. Half the weather forecasts are for snow showers - and half are just for very cloudy. What do you think - re the likelihood of snow, and will this enable us to reach Regensburg then Nuremberg after Monday 3rd December?

Snow will make no impact on the river levels (only when it thaws and that depend on how much snopw has fallen. The stretch Regensburg to Nuremberg presents no problem as heer the levels are conrolled by locks.

[G.M.T.]

Another perfect day, sunny, blue skies, bit chilly (perfect for the "natives").

 

The Danube has fallen a couple of cm in various points, no rain in the pipeline on the skies at that.

 

Two weeks time  will be attending the first Christmas Market, with this weather I think I will order a frozen cocktail and not hot glühwein. Desisions decisions.

 

Heard a rumour that the Christmas Market organisers because of the warm weather, ar thinking about banning flip flops and bikinis after 6:00 pm.

 

 

 

[Rappersmom]

On 11/16/2018 at 10:52 AM, kellyirwin610@gmail.com said:

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.

Yikes. I guess you're on your way and board tomorrow. It looks like there are two boats sitting in Budapest and at least 3 in Vienna. I hope your trip goes well. Keep us informed. 

[Rappersmom]

4 hours ago, G.M.T. said:

Another perfect day, sunny, blue skies, bit chilly (perfect for the "natives").

 

The Danube has fallen a couple of cm in various points, no rain in the pipeline on the skies at that.

 

Two weeks time  will be attending the first Christmas Market, with this weather I think I will order a frozen cocktail and not hot glühwein. Desisions decisions.

 

Heard a rumour that the Christmas Market organisers because of the warm weather, ar thinking about banning flip flops and bikinis after 6:00 pm.

 

 

 

At least my husband will be happy. He was afraid it was going to be too cold. 

 

[bubbulz]

5 hours ago, G.M.T. said:

Two weeks time  will be attending the first Christmas Market, with this weather I think I will order a frozen cocktail and not hot glühwein. Desisions decisions.

 

Heard a rumour that the Christmas Market organisers because of the warm weather, ar thinking about banning flip flops and bikinis after 6:00 pm. 

Saw a video online of the arrival of the huge Christmas tree arriving by truck in Passau so it looks like they're starting to get things ready!

 

Maybe we can buy you a beer when we're in town to say thanks for keeping us all informed here. All of the input from the locals has been a huge help here!

[G.M.T.]

1 hour ago, bubbulz said:

Saw a video online of the arrival of the huge Christmas tree arriving by truck in Passau so it looks like they're starting to get things ready!

 

Maybe we can buy you a beer when we're in town to say thanks for keeping us all informed here. All of the input from the locals has been a huge help here!

Thanks for the invite.

 

I have had a lot of help in the past from CC members for my ocean cruises, so it was only natural I should try and help others.

[steverhodes]

We are going Passau to Budapest on Viking in just over 2 weeks. I know we will probably be bused from Vienna to Budapest. 

 

My question is whether the Passau to Vienna stretch still has Viking ships sailing between them. 

 

Anyone know?

[G.M.T.]

7 hours ago, steverhodes said:

We are going Passau to Budapest on Viking in just over 2 weeks. I know we will probably be bused from Vienna to Budapest. 

 

My question is whether the Passau to Vienna stretch still has Viking ships sailing between them. 

 

Anyone know?

Currently, the Danube stretch Passau to Vienna is passable.  Viking has enough ships on the river, if there were moored end to end you could walk from Passau to Vienna without going on shore.

[suspaul]

I’m not sure this link will work but I find it very interesting how many ships, boats, etc are docked in and around Linz, including the Avalon Illumination (our boat) which hasn’t moved in over a week.

 

https://www.marinetraffic.com/en/ais/index/ships/nearby/shipid:330428/mmsi:269057453/shipname:AVALON ILLUMINATION

[PaulS]

Our cruise on the Avalon Illumination ended on November 9 when we went to Prague. At the time, the crew was all leaving for about 10 days at home before the first Christmas cruise. It was my understanding that the ship was going to stay in Passau until the crew comes back this week.

[suspaul]

1 minute ago, PaulS said:

Our cruise on the Avalon Illumination ended on November 9 when we went to Prague. At the time, the crew was all leaving for about 10 days at home before the first Christmas cruise. It was my understanding that the ship was going to stay in Passau until the crew comes back this week.

 

Thanks PaulS!  It makes me feel a little better!

[suspaul]

PaulS, how was your river cruise?  So I’m assuming you started in Budapest, were you able to do the complete river portion without disruptions or changes?  Again, thanks for any input. 

 

We begin in Prague 12.4 then embark in Nuremberg 12.7 to Budapest ending 12.14.

 

I hope you had a nice trip.

[JZTravel]

Good evening. We have been following this post in anticipation of a Christmas cruise from Nurenberg to Vienna on the AmaSerena on November 30. Like most of you, the information is limited and with the expectations we all have for a perfect vacation, we share your anxiety. I wanted to share what AmaWaterways offered us this week. To put it simply, we are actually more excited about their plan B than we were with plan A.

 

Plan A is to cruise as scheduled assuming the weather cooperates (not likely, but showing some promise next week).

 

Plan B has them meeting us in Nuremberg to bus us to Vilshofen and adding Budapest (via an upstream port) and Bratislava - circling back to end in Vienna.

 

All 7 nights will be on the AmaSerena as planned with only the extra bus time from Nuremberg to Vilshofen and the loss of Nuremberg.

 

We went have gone from anxious to excited and can’t wait! We are also thrilled with how AmaWaterways has worked to minimize the impact. 

 

I will report back after the cruise and best of luck to our fellow cruisers.

Edited November 19, 2018 by JZTravel

[deec]

Great plan B!!!  Budapest is wonderful!

[perkyblue]

Trying to be realistic. Avalon told us on Thursday that we’ll have to bus for most of our Budapest to Nuremberg cruise (cruising only from Vienna to Passau). But I can’t help but get my hopes up. Look at all the rain forecast for Regensburg! Maybe there’s a tiny chance we can actually sail all the way through from Vienna to Nuremberg? (We were scheduled to leave Passau for Regensburg on Dec. 4.) 🤞🏼

[chromatographer]

On ‎11‎/‎16‎/‎2018 at 4:52 PM, kellyirwin610@gmail.com said:

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.

We're on the same boat. We hope for the best, but are going to try to keep spirits up and be flexible with the boat changes. We are just glad that the staff on the Jarl seems to be going with the flow and still providing the excellent service we remember from our last Viking river cruise in 2016. We look forward to running into you, we're the couple from New Mexico on honeymoon.

[kellyirwin610]

Awesome, we’re the couple traveling with our two twenty something sons from California.

[G.M.T.]

Woke up this morning to the first snow of the season, only a slight dusting but it is a start.

 

Over the next 8 days, it will remain cold, temerature hovering around 0°C with the cold blast coming from the east. Will be cloudy with sunny intervals and some rain, BUT the rain will only be very slight and will most probably fall as snow. Short showers will not help as the ground will soakup such small amounts as it is still not frozen. Next Monday more heavier rain is forecasted, but lets wait and see what Friday says. River levels remaining constant(ly) low.

 

A word of caution as I see someone posted a weather forecast chart going 8 to 14 days prediction. We have seen countless times this year where rain was predicted in two weeks time, this got peoples hope raised high, only to be dashed when the sun kept shining, stick to the next week forecast. Also the charts might show rain but that is not enough, you have to drill deeper to see how many liters per square meter and over what time period. So time to get off my horse.

 

For me there is nothing so romantic as standing in the Passau Christmas Market with loved ones and friends drinking a white wine glühwein, listening to Christmas Carols and watching the snow fall through the flood lights from the Passau Dom. Now less than two weeks.

 

Wishing all cruiser, be you on a boat or in a bus (with hopefully enough "P" stops) a great day.

 

[Coral]

I am currently in Vienna. When I woke up - there was a pretty dusting of snow coating the city. Now, it seems like a rain/snow mix with mostly rain. Getting ready to hit a few museums.

[bubbulz]

3 hours ago, G.M.T. said:

For me there is nothing so romantic as standing in the Passau Christmas Market with loved ones and friends drinking a white wine glühwein, listening to Christmas Carols and watching the snow fall through the flood lights from the Passau Dom. Now less than two weeks.

 

And this is exactly what we are looking forward to! Still hoping for rain in the meantime, but excited it's cold enough for snow since the last time we only saw a bit of rain on our cruise and hoarfrost on the grass.

[Bizmark'sMom]

17 hours ago, JZTravel said:

Good evening. We have been following this post in anticipation of a Christmas cruise from Nurenberg to Vienna on the AmaSerena on November 30. Like most of you, the information is limited and with the expectations we all have for a perfect vacation, we share your anxiety. I wanted to share what AmaWaterways offered us this week. To put it simply, we are actually more excited about their plan B than we were with plan A.

 

Plan A is to cruise as scheduled assuming the weather cooperates (not likely, but showing some promise next week).

 

Plan B has them meeting us in Nuremberg to bus us to Vilshofen and adding Budapest (via an upstream port) and Bratislava - circling back to end in Vienna.

 

All 7 nights will be on the AmaSerena as planned with only the extra bus time from Nuremberg to Vilshofen and the loss of Nuremberg.

 

We went have gone from anxious to excited and can’t wait! We are also thrilled with how AmaWaterways has worked to minimize the impact. 

 

I will report back after the cruise and best of luck to our fellow cruisers.

This is fantastic news. Thank you!  We are due to board AmaSerena Dec 7 in Vienna.  

Perhaps we'll see each other in passing.

[mtkprint]

Were Plan A and Plan B an option or does Plan B only come into play if there is no rain and Plan A can't work. Or is it majority rules? When will the final call be made on what is happening.  We are on AMACerto on 22 December from Vienna to Nuremburg. Are still waiting to hear what is happening as we leave Australia on 7 December for a sea cruise first and fly to Vienna the day we finish the sea cruise. Lets hope the wifi is working on the sea cruise or we will have no idea what is going on.

[seahags]

23 minutes ago, mtkprint said:

Were Plan A and Plan B an option or does Plan B only come into play if there is no rain and Plan A can't work. Or is it majority rules? When will the final call be made on what is happening.  We are on AMACerto on 22 December from Vienna to Nuremburg. Are still waiting to hear what is happening as we leave Australia on 7 December for a sea cruise first and fly to Vienna the day we finish the sea cruise. Lets hope the wifi is working on the sea cruise or we will have no idea what is going on.

We are in a similar situation...we are on Uniworld SS Beatrice on 22 December from Nuremberg to Budapest.  We leave the U.S. on 12 December for several stops before boarding in Nuremberg.  There's not a lot we can do other than watch...hoping for LOTS of rain between now and then.  It's cold here, 20s at night but 50s during the day (until Thursday hi 33), so we're getting ready to spend a lot of time in cold weather whether on the water or the roads!