Elbe River Christmas Market Cruise?

[Second seating]

I was in Dresden December 2017 and noticed a river cruise ship docked in town. I could not see a logo on it and I have had no luck finding an Elbe River Cruise in December.

 

Thank you,

Second seating

[CPT Trips]

I wouldn't be surprised to hear it was stuck in the mud. 😉

[steamboats]

Never heard of any Elbe river Christmas Market cruises. This year the whole Elbe river season was a total miss due to the low water anyway. There are a couple of nice Christmas Markets along the Elbe river including the oldest one in Dresden.

 

You don´t remember the name of the ship you´ve seen? For there are two bigger excursion boats located in Dresden (next to the paddlewheelers). Dresden river front is definitely not a place for wintering a boat.

 

steamboats

[notamermaid]

Second Seating, I looked into this during the 2017 season and remember seeing very little activity on the river in November and December. This year has been disastrous, of course, and I stopped following the activities on the Elbe. But through consulting a commercial German website (linking not allowed) I found a river cruise operator that did offer a Christmas market cruise earlier this month. The same company is offering one in 2019. The 2018 offer is still on the website, just in case it disappears soon: it was a five-day cruise Potsdam to Dresden on the Swiss Ruby. The website is www.viva-cruises.com 

The 2019 cruise is four nights Dresden to Magdeburg on the Junker Jörg, which is the former Theodor Fontane. That cruise is listed on the commercial website I cannot link to.

 

A little surprisingly perhaps, a quick glance at CroisiEurope revealed no cruises on the Elbe in November and December of 2019.

 

notamermaid

 

[steamboats]

The Junker Jörg is the former Theodor Fontane (operated by Viking). It´s now owned by the captain. I saw a photo recently on FB when she was in Dresden on Dec 15th. But she was on a run downriver as the water levels are pretty low and the Czechs did close the dams to keep the water on their side.

 

I never heard of Viva Cruises before. The Junker Jörg is also offered by 1A Vista (also a German river cruise line) but not for Christmas market cruises.

 

steamboats

[notamermaid]

steamboats, I had never heard of Viva Cruises before either, i.e. before this morning. Cruises on the Elbe beyond October do seem to be rare (or non-existent) on the Anglo-American market. A quick look at the UK has revealed nothing. Neither Saga Travel nor Riviera Cruises is offering any in winter. I doubt a closer look would show much.

 

The Junker Jörg is described as using German and English as on-board languages but before I booked a cruise on that ship I would enquiry about that for details of the daily use of both languages.

 

notamermaid

 

[Second seating]

Thank you everyone for you answers!  I think this will be a rail trip starting in Prague.

 

Second seating