Danube water levels 2022 and similar topics - plus tips and info

[notamermaid]

Brief update. Pfelling gauge is at 272cm. Currently virtually no rain over the Danube basin in Germany.

 

Rain coming into Germany from France tomorrow, probably reaching the Danube going into Saturday.

 

notamermaid

 

[AnotherWanderer]

Rained overnight here in Budapest not heavy but constant.

Got notice yesterday from Viking that our ship would likely NOT make it past Passau and they would have to bus us to Regensburg.

That is not for a few days though so maybe there will be rain to change that.

Fingers crossed.

We board tomorrow in Budapest.

[Louise S]

A big thank you to “notamermaid“ for all the valuable info. We sail from Amsterdam to Budapest departing October 8 on Viking. It is our first river cruise.

[notamermaid]

10 hours ago, Louise S said:

A big thank you to “notamermaid“ for all the valuable info. We sail from Amsterdam to Budapest departing October 8 on Viking. It is our first river cruise.

My pleasure. Welcome to CruiseCritic. A few more weeks to go till your adventure but as we all know it will be here before you know it. So much planning to do - for most people-  when staying away from home for so many days. If you would like to plan more and read about river cruises before you go I recommend the stickies (pinned threads) at the top of this board. You could also join a roll call: https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/851-viking-river-roll-calls/

 

Brief update on Pfelling gauge before I give the monthly summary: better. A small but important little hump in the graph, now at 285cm. Still tight for ships with the deepest draught. Hope you are all getting through. Not easy on the nerves...

 

notamermaid

 

[Texas2Cruise]

We leave today for 4 nights in Prague, independently, and then get on Viking Vilhjalm in Budapest Sept 7 sailing to Passau, disembarking on Sept 14. Rain predicted for a few days while we are in Austria! Will post about river levels, but at this point, I don't expect any issues! So excited to finally get this 2 1/2 delayed cruise in!

[RiverCruiser36]

On 9/1/2022 at 5:50 AM, notamermaid said:

Brief update. Pfelling gauge is at 272cm. Currently virtually no rain over the Danube basin in Germany.

 

Rain coming into Germany from France tomorrow, probably reaching the Danube going into Saturday.

 

notamermaid

 

Thanks for your regular updates Notamermaid! We've checking this thread regularly as we board the Viking Jarl on Sept 4 at Budapest bound for Regensburg. Fingers crossed it will be entirely by river!

[judythg]

I would also like to add my appreciation for the information that notamermaid has been providing.  Knowing what the water levels are doing helps ease some of the anxiety - I don't like surprises when we are having such high expectations for our trip.  We will be flying from the US to Prague Sept 15, then boarding a Scenic ship in Nuremberg on the 18th headed down to Budapest.  

[studebhawk]

3 hours ago, judythg said:

I would also like to add my appreciation for the information that notamermaid has been providing.  Knowing what the water levels are doing helps ease some of the anxiety - I don't like surprises when we are having such high expectations for our trip.  We will be flying from the US to Prague Sept 15, then boarding a Scenic ship in Nuremberg on the 18th headed down to Budapest.  

I think we are on the same cruise! Scenic Amber Gems of the Danube.

We leave from Dulles Airport on the 16th. It would bre great to meet you on the ship. We should swap ideas as we approach departure.

[notamermaid]

5 hours ago, Texas2Cruise said:

Will post about river levels, but at this point, I don't expect any issues! So excited to finally get this 2 1/2 delayed cruise in

Always good to hear from people on the ground. Budapest to Passau is certainly the more "fortunate" itinerary in this low water. With just a bit of rain in Austria things should be good, I agree. Have a great time, even more so after that really long wait.

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

@RiverCruiser36 and @judythg welcome to CC. I stumbled a bit with two people on "1 post" count right after another. Thought the software was having a problem, but I guess we really have two new people. The more the better.

 

Just now, studebhawk said:

We should swap ideas as we approach departure.

 

To all three of you the tip to join the roll calls, great place for all those tiny little questions, also to past and current cruisers that may not post on this river cruising board.

 

notamermaid

 

[judythg]

4 hours ago, studebhawk said:

I think we are on the same cruise! Scenic Amber Gems of the Danube.

We leave from Dulles Airport on the 16th. It would bre great to meet you on the ship. We should swap ideas as we approach departure.

We are on Scenic Crystal Gems of the Danube.  We start in Nuremberg and travel to Budapest.

 

[ras5952]

Forgive my lack of geographical knowledge but I believed Pfelling is in Germany? My cruise in September goes from Budapest to Vilshoven. Are your water level readings a good barometer of levels in say Budapest and Vienna? I’m really struggling to figure out what to do at this point as far as going or canceling. 

[notamermaid]

1 hour ago, ras5952 said:

Forgive my lack of geographical knowledge but I believed Pfelling is in Germany? My cruise in September goes from Budapest to Vilshoven. Are your water level readings a good barometer of levels in say Budapest and Vienna? I’m really struggling to figure out what to do at this point as far as going or canceling. 

Yes, Pfelling is in Bavaria, Germany and on the navigable (for big ships) Danube between Kelheim and Budapest considered to be the shallowest point. Generally speaking, in autumn when it does not rain in Germany it has a considerable effect downstream all the way into Austria and beyond in that the level gets low everywhere. But of course there are many tributaries between Kelheim and Budapest that play a role so if the weather pattern is unfortunate we also see little rain along those smaller rivers. If the weather pattern is favourable, i.e. it rains in Austria and beyond it is good for the Danube and does not help Pfelling in Germany. There is a drought in much of Europe and too little water in the river basins in other places too. It all plays a part.

 

Austria has several locks and Vienna is not considered a problem area. Budapest and the outskirts upstream can get low and not suitable for river cruise ships with a deep draught. Vilshofen is before Pfelling for you so you will not get to the shallow stretch in Germany on your itinerary. If the level drops low in Budapest a likely scenario is that you will board your ship in Komarno and be picked up by your river cruise line in Budapest by coach to transfer you to the ship.

 

In short, Budapest to Vilshofen is a pleasant and very much sailable itinerary, possibly necessitating not too long a coach ride. Much better than Budapest to Regensburg or Nuremberg. Have a look at the recent roll call for your itinerary (or a similar stretch) to get an idea of what people think of the coach ride. I myself do not see it as a problem.

 

notamermaid

 

 

Edited September 3, 2022 by notamermaid

[notamermaid]

Update: Pfelling gauge has dropped to 265cm. LIttle rain over the area so far, but rain is coming from France and has just reached the Upper Danube basin in Baden-Württemberg.

 

notamermaid

 

[UDChE89]

Got off the MS Thomas Hardy this morning in Passau.  Over the entire 11 days of the cruise, we had very little rain but also only one water level issue.  We had to approach Esztergom slowly.  When getting back on the ship, I did notice that the water was much lower at the dock than I expected.

[notamermaid]

It is September and time to look back at August river levels at Pfelling gauge. Basically very bad for 18 consecutive days and as such also too early in the year. 36 hours of more or less heavy rain quite likely saved the month from being completely free of 135m river cruise ships (and some of those of shorter length) in the shallow stretch in Bavaria. Here is the graph:

 

The RNW line (290cm) and above is where we want Pfelling to be. While many ships can sail below that every centimetre less makes it harder and the levels of 250cm and below are just abysmal and I know that they have stopped more than two 110m ships. Length does not equal draught equal not sailing but it generally speaking helps to have the shorter ship. Other factors play into this.

 

But that is not all, August I mean. The graph starts on 1 August on my copy/screenshot but you can see that the blue comes into the month at a very low figure already. This is one I copied earlier:

I have not saved earlier graphs when the level was higher, but we can safely say that from 29 July until 18 August the river at Pfelling was impassable for a large chunk of the modern river cruising fleet. That is 21 days in a row. A record? I would say at this time of year yes, in 2018 in autumn, that is September/October, it may have been for longer. If you want to be brutal to yourself, go back to that thread and check what I posted at the time. Warning: not fun reading!

 

notamermaid

 

[AnotherWanderer]

Currently somewhere between Budapest and Vienna on the Viking Var.

Looking at the bank, the water level looks low but good weather and smooth sailing so far!

[Canal archive]

Looks like the barge is lightly loaded, usually uncovered if unloaded but she’s only pulling deeper aft from the power output. Enjoy your cruise.

[notamermaid]

Pfelling gauge update: 256cm. Little change from yesterday so keeping stable for the time being. Isolated patches of rain in the Danube basin this afternoon.

 

notamermaid

 

[SctiMom]

On 9/2/2022 at 4:03 PM, studebhawk said:

I think we are on the same cruise! Scenic Amber Gems of the Danube.

We leave from Dulles Airport on the 16th. It would bre great to meet you on the ship. We should swap ideas as we approach departure.

I believe that we may be on the same cruise. It is on the Scenic Amber that leaves Nuremberg on September 22nd. We are doing the Prague extension prior to the cruise. We fly out of Cincinnati on September 17th.

 

[schoonslawn]

Aapparently Uniworld's River Duchess has been stuck at Passau for 2 days due to low water. Its on the way to Amsterdam for our 14 September departure to Budapest. The passengers are awaiting news if they are able to depart or what is happening next. Lets hope for some rain for us river cruisers.

[Yorkshireoldlad]

Copy of part of my post on Viking Grand European Tour thread, for those needing info on Danube water levels:-

 

Update from Viking Ve en route from Amsterdam to Budapest. Now on Main river. Everything excellent so far. On way to Bamburg this morning and due to arrive at lunchtime. However, notified today that the section of Danube between Regensburg and Passau is not passable. Around Bogan(?) there are no locks controlling river depth and water levels too low. Therefore we will have our normal tour in Regensburg tomorrow morning, go to a restaurant for lunch and then have a bus ride to Passau to join the Viking Rolf, which according to cruisemapper.com is already sat in Passau. 
After Passau currently fine according to our Cruise Director

[notamermaid]

4 hours ago, Yorkshireoldlad said:

Around Bogan(?) there are no locks controlling river depth and water levels too low.

Ah, yes. That is the town called Bogen and near it is the Pfelling gauge station (orange marker, as Pfelling is officially low). Thank you for the info and have a good transition to the Rolf.

 

 

 

Update on Pfelling gauge: stable at the low level of 256cm.

 

notamermaid

 

[Yorkshireoldlad]

9 hours ago, notamermaid said:

Ah, yes. That is the town called Bogen and near it is the Pfelling gauge station (orange marker, as Pfelling is officially low). Thank you for the info and have a good transition to the Rolf.

 

 

 

Update on Pfelling gauge: stable at the low level of 256cm.

 

notamermaid

 

Looking in detail, I have seen the Main-Danube canal goes as far as Regensburg. On the Viking Ve, we are in fact getting a transfer tomorrow to Passau and the Viking Rolf, after our walking tour of Nuremberg, so the Ve seems to be stopping at Nuremberg. I haven’t asked about Wednesday, when we should be at Regensburg, but  we must either be getting  buses from Passau or missing it out completely.

Doyou know if there is a technical reason why the Ve cannot continue to Regensburg tomorrow evening, for us to be transferred Wednesday after touring Regensburg , with less bussing? I assume as the canal continues to Regensburg there will be sufficient water up to there. I am wondering whether out transfer tomorrow is more to cater for cruises stuck in Passau with passengers needing to continue their cruise towards Amsterdam, and we are being transferred early to facilitate that? In other words is our transfer a day early to suit Viking overall, rather than necessary for our ship?

[notamermaid]

1 hour ago, Yorkshireoldlad said:

Doyou know if there is a technical reason why the Ve cannot continue to Regensburg tomorrow evening, for us to be transferred Wednesday after touring Regensburg , with less bussing?

No I am afraid I do not. To be precise I need to say that the Main Danube Canal is officially up to just after Kelheim, not Regensburg. I have always assumed that the locks further downstream, i.e on the Danube up to and including Straubing would keep the level sufficiently high near and in Regensburg. The really shallow stretch is only considered to be between Straubing and Vilshofen where the Danube flows freely. I may be mistaken with the locks. Or Viking has logistical reasons for doing this, you may certainly be right there.

 

notamermaid