Danube water levels 2023 and similar topics - plus tips and info

[notamermaid]

In post #370 I mentioned A-Rosa. Now, I really need to be fair to the company. While the newer ships are 135m like the Viking Longships, the older ones are shorter and fall into the category of the "inbetweeners". Note that I only mean the ships for the Danube, etc. not the Douro or outside of Europe. I have no idea how the shorter ships fare in low water.

 

Pfelling gauge at 267cm.

 

notamermaid

 

 

[notamermaid]

Pfelling gauge at 268cm, a standard daily fluctuation.  No rise. And that is not indicated for the next 36 hours either.

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

Pfelling gauge at 255cm.

 

notamermaid

 

[rcaruso]

1 minute ago, notamermaid said:

Pfelling gauge at 255cm.

 

notamermaid

 

Thanks for the level.  I see on Cruise Mapper, no one is coming through from Nurnberg to Regensburg.  A few ships are going up to Vilshofen, but back again to Passau.  Our July 18 cruise is looking more like ship swaps unless there is considerable rain.  Not an issue for us, but maybe for others.

[notamermaid]

The decidedly low level at Pfelling has had me wondering if Hungary has low levels as well now. This is Budapest:

Certainly "losing" water. Could be something to watch.

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

Since 2018, the disastrous year for river cruising, I think people have been more aware of the possibility of low water. It appears to be more in the international news as well. Perhaps you are wondering, like me, what it was like before let us say 2015. Is it more, is it just more reported on, is it happening to more ships, as a result of that to more passengers, meaning more stories to share with friends and neighbours? I was not familiar with the Danube before my river cruise in 2013 so have no memory of such scenarios. Therefore I have been roaming around historical data a bit.

 

Two things (the nutshell). One: There has been low water, I mean really low, at Pfelling more than once before 2015. Two: There were fewer river cruise ships on the river before 2015. That is the easy info that will not surprise you, I am sure.

 

More details I will put in subsequent posts.

 

notamermaid

 

[rcaruso]

41 minutes ago, notamermaid said:

The decidedly low level at Pfelling has had me wondering if Hungary has low levels as well now. This is Budapest:

Certainly "losing" water. Could be something to watch.

 

notamermaid

 

Oh no, Komarno.  Been there, done that.  That's river cruising, be flexible.

[CastleCritic]

1 hour ago, notamermaid said:

Since 2018, the disastrous year for river cruising, I think people have been more aware of the possibility of low water. It appears to be more in the international news as well. Perhaps you are wondering, like me, what it was like before let us say 2015. Is it more, is it just more reported on, is it happening to more ships, as a result of that to more passengers, meaning more stories to share with friends and neighbours? I was not familiar with the Danube before my river cruise in 2013 so have no memory of such scenarios. Therefore I have been roaming around historical data a bit.

 

Two things (the nutshell). One: There has been low water, I mean really low, at Pfelling more than once before 2015. Two: There were fewer river cruise ships on the river before 2015. That is the easy info that will not surprise you, I am sure.

 

More details I will put in subsequent posts.

 

notamermaid

 

I wasnt aware of it until Fall 2019 (which is funny considering we booked our first trip around April 2018...Id probably been watching these forums years earlier if I had known about it).  When I got quite a number of "we'll weren't you lucky" type comments from guests about our April 2019 Rhine trip from passengers on another in November who were using cruise credits from 2018's "fun".

 

Not to sound like a broken record but I always check my "goto" Danube big ship the AMAManga since I know she ended up short of Budapest a few times last years..  She's way down in Serbia at the moment and headed east so they must not be super worried about it (or just resigned that there was nothing to do so run this and next weeks cruise and hope for the best before they have to deal with getting north/west of Budapest the week after).  But the tracker DOES show she's slightly higher in the water than usual by .1M ..could be a fluke....dunno.  Everyone do a rain dance I guess...

[Canal archive]

Maybe they’ve ditched on-board water and are just topping up a little when required, it’s  about the easiest way to lighten a ship. To make it ride higher in the water.

Edited June 29, 2023 by Canal archive

[notamermaid]

1 hour ago, rcaruso said:

Oh no, Komarno.  Been there, done that.  That's river cruising, be flexible.

Yup, not sure at what figure it will happen, but like you I see the scenario of Komarno being used as the alternative port for Budapest coming closer with every drop in the figures. We will see how it goes, perhaps luck in the shape of more rain in Austria than is forecast in Germany will happen.

 

notamermaid

 

Edited June 29, 2023 by notamermaid

[notamermaid]

Well, we have got some rain coming in from the West. Not a lot but it is a start: https://www.wettergefahren.de/wetter/deutschland/aktuell/radarfilm.html

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

Pfelling gauge at 249cm. Could we have that rain a tiny bit faster please? Radar imaging shows that heavy rain is coming down in the Lech river valley, so hopefully things are okay there. That volume of water will get to the Danube where it will help Pfelling later this weekend and into next week. But the clouds are also moving over the Danube directly so this could show an effect around Regensburg during the night, no idea of quantity, though! Forecast does not suggest a rise that is substantial.

 

notamermaid

 

[BluebonnetTexan]

On 6/23/2023 at 9:46 AM, gers said:

Thank you for your informative posts on the water level of the Danube. We are set to leave for Bucharest as our Viking cruise from Bucharest to Budapest on the Vidar is set to leave on June 28.   Hoping our cruise doesn’t turn into a bus trip!  Do you have any idea how the Danube is doing down at that end of the river?

I hope you will report back on how your cruise went. We are looking at this one for 2024 or 2025, but it might have to be late summer. Thus I’m curious how often this segment experiences low water levels as compared to the west of Budapest. Maybe you can ask the some of the staff about typical conditions? I’ll try to follow the info at the site helpfully posted by @notamermaid, too. 

[notamermaid]

Pfelling gauge now says 260cm. I would still call this daily fluctuation but there is an upward trend in it a bit already potentially, the current forecast shows a higher level tomorrow from about lunchtime, that appears to continue into Sunday. Difficult to see in the scale, it could be 270cm to 280cm. The margin of error (probability calculations) is quite wide. Looking forward to seeing this up-trend a bit more clearly after work tomorrow.

 

notamermaid

 

 

 

[notamermaid]

In other news, the ship spotters have posted that Argo with the hull Amina arrived in Regensburg yesterday. Later in the day she was already tied and secured to the pushboat Zasavica III and ready for the next leg of her journey, that is the Main Danube Canal and the Main river. They are now in the Canal. Destination in the AIS info is given as Mainz.

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

A good jump - Pfelling gauge now at 282cm.

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

Pfelling gauge is at 283cm, looking stable apart from standard fluctuations. It is Sunday and no trend is issued at Pfelling. Stations further upstream do not indicate a rise, i.e. not much volume of water for Pfelling. We will just need to wait and see.

 

In other news: A ferry and a barge collided at Regensburg on Friday afternoon. Noone was injured. German news calls the ferry a "Gierseilfähre". An interesting construction and these days not many are in operation on the Danube and the Rhine, but can still be found in bigger numbers on other rivers. The English is "reaction ferry".

 

notamermaid

 

[gnome12]

2 hours ago, notamermaid said:

German news calls the ferry a "Gierseilfähre". An interesting construction and these days not many are in operation on the Danube and the Rhine, but can still be found in bigger numbers on other rivers. The English is "reaction ferry".

Would that be an on-demand ferry, as opposed to one with a fixed schedule?

[notamermaid]

7 hours ago, gnome12 said:

Would that be an on-demand ferry, as opposed to one with a fixed schedule?

I cannot say for certain but it looks to be on demand, i.e. the ferryman takes you across when needed. It has fixed opening times but no actual sailing times like every ten minutes or so given. However, you cannot steer yourself it seems, so no random times use.

 

It is on this website of the local authorities: https://www.pentling.de/freizeit-kultur/#faehre

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

Pfelling gauge is stable, but annoyingly stuck below 290cm - now at 282cm.

 

notamermaid

 

[Daisi]

We have several 'on demand" ferries here, some are supposed to operate on a schedule, but if demand is high, they just go ahead. I have seen the cable ferries down east in New Brunswick, quite an interesting operation. Our ferries do take cars though. 🙂

 

[notamermaid]

Pfelling gauge is at 268cm, running below the forecast. We may have stayed over 270cm...

 

So, again waiting for rain. The Rhine is doing better, but the Elbe is also too low.

 

notamermaid

 

[reeves35]

10 hours ago, notamermaid said:

Pfelling gauge is at 268cm, running below the forecast. We may have stayed over 270cm...

 

So, again waiting for rain. The Rhine is doing better, but the Elbe is also too low.

 

notamermaid

 

There has been a decent amount of rain in  UK over past 24 hours with play at Wimbledon suspended.  This system appears to be heading towards continental Europe with potential to fall across Rhine catchments in Germany.  Hopefully it will give a welcome top up.

Edited July 4, 2023 by reeves35

[UDChE89]

On 6/29/2023 at 8:11 PM, BluebonnetTexan said:

I hope you will report back on how your cruise went. We are looking at this one for 2024 or 2025, but it might have to be late summer. Thus I’m curious how often this segment experiences low water levels as compared to the west of Budapest. Maybe you can ask the some of the staff about typical conditions? I’ll try to follow the info at the site helpfully posted by @notamermaid, too. 

I was on a Viva cruise last year in late August that was a round trip from Passau and turned around at the Iron Gates in Serbia.  No water issues south of Budapest partially because we were less than 40% of capacity.  Only place we had any issues was coming into Esztergom on our way back to Passau.

[notamermaid]

Pfelling gauge at 269cm. Situation and trend upstream from Regensburg look undecided. Not clear at all if the weather pattern will have a good effect extending to Straubing and Pfelling. Some rain with heavy showers in parts has come down in the area and more clouds are sweeping into Germany from the West. Will see how it goes. Remember, the Isar river coming from the Alps through Munich cannot help the low stretch around Pfelling.

 

notamermaid