Rhine water levels 2022 and similar topics

[bluestocking7]

PS.  Saw the MS Edelweiss pass us (moored at Ludwigshafen) sailing north, but it looked like there were no passengers on board, just crew.  I guess all the passengers could have been in their rooms with the drapes closed, but wouldn't you expect a few to be on the sun deck?

 

[notamermaid]

On 7/28/2022 at 8:22 PM, Daisi said:

Avalon had them pack their bags, bussed them to Heidelberg, which was the next excursion, put them on a day cruise so they could see the middle Rhine, then bussed them to Keil where their new ship was waiting.

So good Avalon was able to organize an excursion boat ride. Keil may be Kehl, it sounds similar. That is opposite Strasbourg. Seems a long way up the river, though.

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

On 7/29/2022 at 8:13 PM, grandmailu said:

Notamermaid, it appears that the Viking Einar has been stuck at Breisach for a couple days. Am I reading the vessel status site correctly? Thanks!

the signal was probably lost. I am sure you have spotted her again in the meantime. Current port 23:30 hours local time is Rüdesheim.

 

Question is what will happen tomorrow.

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

11 hours ago, bluestocking7 said:

I asked one of the crew if he thought we would be able to sail the Rhine Gorge and he said he thought so, tho the water levels are low.  We shall see.  

Taking it day by day. No other way to do it right now I reckon. It rained heavily along parts of the Main yesterday (where I was), apparently it has not rained that much in the Middle Rhine valley (according to my sources).

 

Maxau dropped on 28 July but regained it all by yesterday evening. Downward trend in the forecast.

 

Lake Constance still falling slowly.

 

notamermaid

 

[Daisi]

39 minutes ago, notamermaid said:

So good Avalon was able to organize an excursion boat ride. Keil may be Kehl, it sounds similar. That is opposite Strasbourg. Seems a long way up the river, though.

 

notamermaid

 

 

Yes, I think you are right. I knew there was something like that around Strasbourg, but couldn't find it on a quick check. 

[notamermaid]

10 hours ago, bluestocking7 said:

PS.  Saw the MS Edelweiss pass us (moored at Ludwigshafen) sailing north, but it looked like there were no passengers on board, just crew.  I guess all the passengers could have been in their rooms with the drapes closed, but wouldn't you expect a few to be on the sun deck?

 

Bit odd. The MS Edelweiss, according to the Swiss operator's website, should have started in Basel today for an itinerary going to Amsterdam. No idea what is happening there.

 

Kaub at 69cm. Not looking promising. Forecast says stable at 66cm Sunday, Monday similar.

 

notamermaid

 

[loriva]

7 minutes ago, notamermaid said:

Bit odd. The MS Edelweiss, according to the Swiss operator's website, should have started in Basel today for an itinerary going to Amsterdam. No idea what is happening there.

 

notamermaid

 

 

The Scenic Jade we were on last month ended its upstream cruise from Amsterdam in Breisach and we boarded there for our trip to Amsterdam instead of boarding in Basel.  The explanation from Scenic was a strike by the lock workers in or around Basel.  (A communication we received in email two days after we boarded the Jade--luckily the tour director for our land package received word directly from operations.)

 

Could that be the reason for the MS Edelweiss?

[bluestocking7]

We are doing the Rhine Gorge!  Lots of barges but the only cruise ship I've seen is the Ama Lucia, going south.

 

Just felt a couple of rain drops.....

[bluestocking7]

Two more sightings south of Koblenz--Viking Tir and the Andrea (not sure which line--their symbol is a seagull).  

[dsskn]

We are on the Viking Kara Basel to Amsterdam leaving August 14.  Hence, we have somewhat obsessively been checking the various ship tracker websites to see its location and that of other Viking longships on the Rhine.   According to those websites, the Viking Kara left Amsterdam last Sunday July 24 and arrived on schedule in Basel today without any obvious detours or issues.   Similarly, the Viking Hlin which left Basel last Sunday July 24 arrived on schedule in Amsterdam today.    Keeping fingers crossed!

[notamermaid]

1 hour ago, bluestocking7 said:

Two more sightings south of Koblenz--Viking Tir and the Andrea (not sure which line--their symbol is a seagull).  

Andrea is a Phoenix Reisen ship.

 

Lovely to read that ships are doing the Rhine Gorge. Saw the river from an elevated level yesterday. So much sand exposed between the groynes and along the embankments.

 

Thanks for posting, you should be looking at the castles 😁!

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

12 hours ago, loriva said:

 

The Scenic Jade we were on last month ended its upstream cruise from Amsterdam in Breisach and we boarded there for our trip to Amsterdam instead of boarding in Basel.  The explanation from Scenic was a strike by the lock workers in or around Basel.  (A communication we received in email two days after we boarded the Jade--luckily the tour director for our land package received word directly from operations.)

 

Could that be the reason for the MS Edelweiss?

Absolutely no idea. I hear little of what goes on up there beyond Maxau. The company's website has not mentioned anything unusual about the ship and news reports showed nothing on mishaps.

 

notamermaid

 

[DavidPlunkett]

14 minutes ago, dsskn said:

We are on the Viking Kara Basel to Amsterdam leaving August 14.  Hence, we have somewhat obsessively been checking the various ship tracker websites to see its location and that of other Viking longships on the Rhine.   According to those websites, the Viking Kara left Amsterdam last Sunday July 24 and arrived on schedule in Basel today without any obvious detours or issues.   Similarly, the Viking Hlin which left Basel last Sunday July 24 arrived on schedule in Amsterdam today.    Keeping fingers crossed!

Good news! We are scheduled to sail on the Gymir from Basel tomorrow. I will keep you updated. 

[notamermaid]

2 hours ago, bluestocking7 said:

Just felt a couple of rain drops.....

Rain drops in the Rhine Gorge are nice for nature. Separately speaking for the river it makes little difference of course for its level. We need that water also much further upstream. Where and how that needs to be in relation to weather maps will be the next geography lesson. I have already mentioned the important Aare river in Switzerland. We will have a look at the geography in the Upper Rhine valley next, the Aare is in the "Hochrhein" or High Rhine area.

 

Kaub level is at 72cm (beating the forecast nicely) but Maxau has dropped to 360cm. I expect the Rhine Gorge got a bit of extra water carried through from smaller tributaries and the Main yesterday. Along the Main it rained quite heavily in parts on Friday. That would not be shown on a graph at Maxau as that gauge is much further South.

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

4 minutes ago, DavidPlunkett said:

Good news! We are scheduled to sail on the Gymir from Basel tomorrow. I will keep you updated. 

Great. Have a fabulous cruise.

 

notamermaid

 

[Poulsbo Cruisers]

We boarded Avalon’s Imagery II on Thursday in Amsterdam. We are currently on the Moselle. We are scheduled for the Koblenz-Rhine Gorge in three days. It may be iffy that this occurs. While no announcements have been made, I’m planning on having to change boats. 

[bluestocking7]

• One other ship sighted by my son earlier today was the other Tauck ship on the Rhine, sailing Amsterdam-Basel.

The tour director announced that our captain had decided to go extra slowly through the Rhine Gorge, so we were an hour late arriving in Koblenz.  Small price to pay!

And yes @notamermaidwe all admired all the castles.  So many!  Sailing past the Loreley was certainly exciting--very very narrow and windy passage.

 

Edited July 31, 2022 by bluestocking7

[notamermaid]

1 hour ago, Poulsbo Cruisers said:

We boarded Avalon’s Imagery II on Thursday in Amsterdam. We are currently on the Moselle.

Lovely. Have a great time in Trier and where ever else you are going on that river. Fingers crossed for the Rhine Gorge.

 

notamermaid

 

[momofthre3]

Any news on how the Uniworld River Cruises are doing going up and down the Rhine? Particularly the S.S. Antoinette.  I know it is still a bit away, but sail from Amsterdam to Basel August 21st.

[dsskn]

DavidPlunkett - According to https://www.*****/cruise-ship-tracker/viking  after some issues in Amsterdam last Sunday (Google it) Viking Gymir is headed to Basel and should be good to go tomorrow. 

 

Momofthre3 - According to the same website at this very moment the SS Antoinette is currently moored in Basel. 

[notamermaid]

5 hours ago, momofthre3 said:

Any news on how the Uniworld River Cruises are doing going up and down the Rhine? Particularly the S.S. Antoinette.

Hmm, yes, Uniworld does not seem to have been mentioned much yet. ninaks was on the River Queen but it was too early in July for the cruise to be impacted I think. The S.S. Antoinette ins in Basel today and the River Queen is in Speyer scheduled to go to Trier. Hopefully someone can answer your question in the next few days.

notamermaid

 

 

[notamermaid]

Talking about levels in July. It is now the end of July (for me here) so let us recap. We all know it has been a far too dry month and the level at Kaub went right down, far more than is normal in July. When did this start? Not at the beginning of the month although the signs were there that the river may struggle earlier than is normal in the course of a year. In the first week not visible in the graph yet, but a slight uneasy feeling was there, knowing that Spring had been relatively dry. The second week shows the start of the decline. On 13 July the level at Kaub fell below 100cm and the little rain there has been has not been able to get the level back up. It has stayed below that figure since then and on 16 July for the first time this year fell below the GlW figure of 78cm:

 

To compare: in 2021 Kaub fell to the level of 78cm* on 31 October for the first time. It had been low and below 100cm* on a few previous dates last year but enough rain always fell for the river to regain many centimetres. In 2020 it was on 23 September that 78cm* were reached, after which the river recovered and slowly went up again, never to reach that low figure again on a later day that year.

 

*For historical data those figures are daily averages, meaning fluctuation and minimal changes have been eliminated, the figures may have been for example in the range of 76cm to 80cm in 24 hours.

 

.notamermaid

 

[fairydustca]

notamermaid, 

Thanks for all your advice posted here. Most of it is way above my head! I know you don't have a crystal ball, but do you expect things to get better or worse in August? We are booked on Viking Magni Budapest to Amsterdam sailing 8/28/22 and not sure whether to postpone or not. BTW, are you a riverboat captain?

[notamermaid]

12 hours ago, fairydustca said:

I know you don't have a crystal ball, but do you expect things to get better or worse in August?

I think I need to go with the experts and say that it will most likely not get better. It could get worse. Apart from the dramatic headlines about shipping (commercial transport) there is a real sense of problems continuing into Autumn. One always needs to make a distinction between commercial transport on the river and river cruising. An example: at 100cm at Kaub gauge a commercial ship cannot go at full load. Transport costs rise. A river cruise ship can sail happily along. A business website will say that the river is too low etc., a river cruise company will not inform their guests about low water as it expects no problem for the itinerary.

 

We are far below the 100cm so low water affects all shipping. Hence the fact that I can go with the general view that things will not improve, i.e. I expect river cruising to be affected in August. September? Really no idea...

 

12 hours ago, fairydustca said:

BTW, are you a riverboat captain?

No. I work in tourism. The closest I have been to a steering wheel on a river cruise ship is standing next to the captain while sailing on the Danube. He lowered the wheelhouse and everything went dark... Blind radar sailing - they have my admiration!

 

notamermaid

 

[gentlemancruiser]

Here is what AMAWaterways have on their site

 

Sailings Impacted by Water Levels

Our experienced teams are monitoring the situation in Europe very closely and no sailings have been suspended.

Safety remains our top priority and we have alternative plans in place should the local authorities temporarily curtail river traffic on any portions of the Rhine or Danube rivers. These plans may include alternative docking locations, modified shore excursions as well as ship swaps, if necessary.

As the water levels on the rivers can change quickly, we have a dedicated communications team in place to alert our guests and valued travel advisors of any modifications affecting their upcoming river cruise vacations and assist with any changes that may be required. Whatever itinerary our ships sail, our staff and crew around the globe remain dedicated to ensuring that our guests have the most enjoyable vacation possible.