Rhine water levels 2022 and similar topics

[notamermaid]

Brief update on river levels. Maxau in reaction to the rain showed a nice rise of 15cm but peaked at lunchtime already. Means a small wave is coming towards the Rhine Gorge but not before tomorrow, not clear how many centimetres that will give at Kaub - if any. Kaub gauge dropped to 70cm this afternoon but is now back at 72cm. Forecast does not put this little wave into the modelling, suggests 66cm tomorrow afternoon and falling further. Seriously puts the term "ship swap" back on the table for some.

 

notamermaid

 

 

 

[notamermaid]

With the air refreshed from yesterday's rain and very warm but not hot temperatures it has been a very pleasant day in the Rhine valley (at least in my region) crowned by a glorious sunset. What a sight this must have been live on top Ehrenbreitstein Fortress, the webcam was great to watch already, a snapshot time stamp 7:56pm:

 

 

But as promised I will have a look back at a difficult month on the river. The levels at Kaub gauge in August:

 

The Danube at Pfelling was already at a critical low for river cruise ships by the end of July and a few days later the Rhine at Kaub followed but at the beginning of the month the impact was not as severe as on the Danube. By the second week of August the problems had increased and one by one the large river cruise ships stopped sailing in the Rhine Gorge. The third week then saw the disruption of itineraries for some smaller vessels as well. Always remembering that length does not equal draught nor equal not sailing but as a general idea it works to distinguish between 110m and 135m ships. And the second week saw altered itineraries not just because passage of the Rhine Gorge became increasingly too dangerous but also because landing stage and ports further away could not reached or not in decent time due to slow sailing. These are general comments and may not apply to your particular cruise on a specific day.

 

The heavy rain sweeping over mostly the Southern half Germany gave the Danube a high wave of water and we see the corresponding (in time line) wave at Kaub. However, the volume of water actually reaching the Rhine basin was not as high as in the Danube basin. On the other hand, the distribution of rain, especially over the natural reservoir that is Lake Constance, meant that the Rhine Gorge and within it Kaub could profit a little longer and more sustained from the rain than the Danube in Germany.

 

The level is back to an unpleasantly low level for large river cruise ships and we need rain to back up what is left over from the rain and keep the level at this height. Could the rain yesterday help? As I said in my previous post, the computer does not think so.

 

Let us have another quick look tomorrow.

 

Have a good week.

 

notamermaid

 

 

[patrickmoran]

Anyway, back to the topic on hand. How's the river level? Getting any rain? We'll be on the Rhine next month and feeling hopeful.

[MrsKMB]

We leave September 16 for B to A. I will be doing a daily rain dance until then! 

[MrsKMB]

Anyone on Viking Gersemi, Aegir, or Hervor who can comment if you'll be swapping or traveling the Gorge? There are also some Ama ships heading towards it.

 

[notamermaid]

Just now, patrickmoran said:

Anyway, back to the topic on hand. How's the river level? Getting any rain? We'll be on the Rhine next month and feeling hopeful.

See post #951. No rain of note today. Update some time tomorrow, latest Tuesday.

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

Just now, MrsKMB said:

Anyone on Viking Gersemi, Aegir, or Hervor who can comment if you'll be swapping or traveling the Gorge?

Speaking of the Gersemi. Apparently she had an emergency stop at Braubach this morning. There was a technical fault in an electrical system in the engine room it seems which caused the fire detection system to alarm the crew. The ship had just left Braubach and managed to stop and dock there again. Everyone was evacuated and is unhurt. There was no open fire. The German news article made it sound as if the Gersemi was soon on her way again but I cannot verify this.

 

Back to your question. Hopefully someone will answer soon, but some people are happier to only post in the roll calls so you may want to have a look there.

 

notamermaid

 

[Bet & Peg]

We leave tomorrow for Amsterdam (2 days) and are scheduled to board the Hervor on the 8th to begin our River cruise. We've received all sorts of Info from Viking but no mention of low water on the Rhine or possibility of ship swapping! We'd be completely unprepared if it weren't for CC! Thank you all for posting - will try and report back as we travel!!!! 

[geekette]

We will depart Amsterdam on Wednesday, and the forecast (on my phone) shows rain, rain, rain for every port. 
 

Are they calling for a lot of rain?  Just showers?  It would be weird to have a ship swap in the rain!

[RDVIK2016]

On 9/3/2022 at 2:02 PM, CPT Trips said:

If your schedule is flexible, last minute specials can provide significant savings. 

Hi CPT, My DW and I have talked about setting ourselves up to take advantage of last minute deals.  I just recently retired and her retirement is coming up at the end of the year.  We have a cruise scheduled for this coming April.  After that we will be keeping our eyes open for good deals.  Cruises, flights, bus tours, international, domestic, whatever!  Let's go!

[gentlemancruiser]

Ludwigshafen / Mannheim continues to be a problem.    We had to dock in Mannheim because the docks on Ludwigshafen side are dry or almost totally out of the water.      

 

 

[notamermaid]

4 hours ago, gentlemancruiser said:

Ludwigshafen / Mannheim continues to be a problem.    We had to dock in Mannheim because the docks on Ludwigshafen side are dry or almost totally out of the water.      

 

 

Thanks for that info. I remember now reading this in the 2018 drought. As the two cities are quite close to each other generally speaking for itineraries this should not be too much of a problem, but logistics may be a bit awkward. Hope everything went smoothly for you.

 

Kaub gauge update: 70cm. Forecast ignores the little wave at Maxau yesterday, put shows stable figures between 71cm and 68 cm. Sounds as if at least the level will not fall further. I am not fully convinced about that modelling today. We will need to see how it develops.

 

And also:

9 hours ago, geekette said:

We will depart Amsterdam on Wednesday, and the forecast (on my phone) shows rain, rain, rain for every port. 
 

Are they calling for a lot of rain?  Just showers?  It would be weird to have a ship swap in the rain!

I have not looked at details but rain with thunderstorms are forecast for Wednesday in Germany. That could be isolated showers or a bit more widespread rain but it again sounds like a short affair. Swapping a ship in the rain is a weird thought, isn't it? But unfortunately, this can happen if the rain comes when the water is very low. It could of course mean the ships two days later do not need to swap anymore. Have a great cruise.

 

notamermaid

 

[OwenSmith]

On 9/2/2022 at 1:53 AM, RDVIK2016 said:

I smile every time I hear the phrase "aquarium class".  I would actually like to try the a lower deck cabin sometime.  It would save money and we try to out of our rooms as much as possible anyway. 

I had one of those cabins once on the Douro with Riviera, it was one of the two "no single supplement" rearmost of aquarium class. The cabin was fine but I couldn't sleep with the near constant noise of the plumbing from other cabins in the ceiling above me. Even earplugs didn't help. Never again, top deck for me and to hell with the single supplement cost.

[OwenSmith]

On 9/4/2022 at 12:29 PM, ural guy said:

Viking is set up differently on the long boats with the offset hallway; you pay more to upgrade to a french balcony, and are in a smaller room than steerage below; the room taken from the FB cabins for the next jump up to full balconies.

Yeah, I don't like that aspect of the Viking longships. All the cabins are tiny, except for the enormous (and very expensive) ones. There is huge gap in the cabin sizes right around the size we normally book. It pretty much rules out Viking for us on rivers.

[Host Jazzbeau]

I think calling the lower deck 'swan class' would be confusing.  The middle deck cabins are the ones where the swans come up to your French balcony expecting handouts.  Two 'swan' decks?–too confusing!  Let's stick with the accepted terminology.  😀

[notamermaid]

On balance I would go with "aquarium class" although swans sounds more graceful. Sounds as if for many people seeing the full birds is not possible as the windows are too high. For a proper aquarium feel you would need to have larger windows of course but safety makes it impossible. Not sure that I would want to be able to see what goes on in the murky waters of the Rhine, I mean it is not the clean "Sea Life Centre" experience.

 

Talking of seeing into the water, you can watch the migrating fish (when they come, not guaranteed) in the fish pass centre at Koblenz on the Moselle: https://www.mosellum.de/en/index.html

I have never been but it looks to be interesting, at least for a different perspective of the river.

 

Update on Kaub gauge: 75cm. As I expected, a bit better than the forecast had suggested for today. New forecast for today: stable, the tiny wave passing through, lower figures for tomorrow, probably 70cm and a little below that. As a reaction to the rain forecast for tomorrow, the probability chart puts the figures above 78cm as the most likely scenario for Sunday with the outlook for Monday and Tuesday certainly being promising for a further rise, 90cm is a real possibility. But first, we need to see if the rain does come down in the right places and take it from there.

 

notamermaid

 

 

[gentlemancruiser]

This morning we left the AMACerto docked in Basel.   The captain expressed concern about the trip northbound and wasn't sure he would make it to Nuremburg with the low water between Mainz and Mannheim.    

[rove312]

I don't know if this relates to water levels, but I've been following on Vessel Finder Uniworld's River Princess going from Amsterdam to Nuremberg; we'll be taking the reverse route in October.  From this it would seem that the stop in Cologne, the biggest city stop on the route, is rather short and late in the day, and isn't local time two hours ahead of UTC?  If I'm remembering correctly, when I looked on that day in what would have been an early afternoon time, it showed closer to Düsseldorf than Cologne; would they have let people off there for the Cologne tour, then picked them up at Cologne later, or some variation where this Cologne stop would have been for another reason?

 

 

 

[notamermaid]

Just now, rove312 said:

From this it would seem that the stop in Cologne, the biggest city stop on the route, is rather short and late in the day, and isn't local time two hours ahead of UTC? 

Interesting. Certainly an unusual time. We are on UTC+2 now in Germany, you are right. What exactly was going on only the people on board and the harbour master would be able to tell you but I think it is a good scenario that you have suggested, dropping people off in Düsseldorf for Cologne. Coach rides from Zons into Cologne to safe time (make up time that was lost due to slow sailing) or Speyer/Mannheim/Ludwigshafen scenarios for the Heidelberg excursion as a routine on itineraries are seen.

 

notamermaid

 

[gggold18]

Hello. Husband and I will be traveling with Tauck on the MS Grace from Amsterdam to Basel Oct 19, 2022 and then continuing on to Milan for a few more days, as part of their Enchantment of the Rhine tour. We understand that water levels on the Rhine might require bussing between stops or itinerary changes. Hope that's not so but keeping an open mind as that's the thing about travel, gotta go with the unexpected. Would be interested in hearing your exp if you've recently been on this tour.

 

Looking for suggestions - We'll be spending 2 days in Amsterdam ahead of the cruise. Looking for a small group tour and guide for one day to visit the windmills, etc outside of the city. Also, how long should we plan for the Rijksmuseum? Any other must-sees while we're there? We already have our Anne Frank House tickets. Thanks.

[Ted&Molly]

14 hours ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

I think calling the lower deck 'swan class' would be confusing.  The middle deck cabins are the ones where the swans come up to your French balcony expecting handouts.  Two 'swan' decks?–too confusing!  Let's stick with the accepted terminology.  😀

On the Viking long ships, the lowest deck with guest cabins is known as "aquarium class".

[worldtraveller99]

Hi gggold18 - we are travelling with Tauck for the Christmas Market cruise in November. I will be really interested please if you can give us a review / tell us whether you made it down the Rhine, on your return?

[worldtraveller99]

PS We spent a week in Amsterdam some years ago. The Rijksmuseum took us 3 hours, but we love art galleries. Re Zaanse Schans   Plan your visit - Zaans Museum at the Zaanse Schans  we took the train I think. Definitely easy to book entry online and just get the train (and probably a lot cheaper).

[OwenSmith]

1 hour ago, gggold18 said:

Also, how long should we plan for the Rijksmuseum?

Depends what you want to see in it. I have friends who would consider a month insufficient, and I'm not exaggerating.

[notamermaid]

Just now, OwenSmith said:

Depends what you want to see in it. I have friends who would consider a month insufficient, and I'm not exaggerating.

I can sort of relate. I have been to the British Museum in London six times now I think and I still need lots to take in at my next visit whenever that may be. Three hours sound sufficient to fill a brain with images. Does the museum have a kind of "principal things to see on a short visit" guide? I found this quite useful at the British Museum.

 

notamermaid