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

[braemar12]

2 hours ago, notamermaid said:

It is actually a 15 night cruise - it starts off in Passau, on to Vienna, Esztergom, Budapest, then onto new territory for me to Belgrade, Vidin, Olenita/Fetesti (for tours to Bucharest), St Gheorge, Harsov/Festesti (for Constanta), Rousse, Svishtov, Novi Sad, Vukovar, Mohacs, Kalosca and finally onto Budapest, Bratislava, Durnstein. Emmerdorf and back to Passau.

2 hours ago, notamermaid said:

 

[braemar12]

3 hours ago, Izengolf said:

Braemar12 - I live in Romania and the short answer is Bucharest yes, Constanța no.

Your feedback back up what I was told by someone else. So it appears that Constanta is not worth taking a tour to.

[rennebird]

Hello, I am new to this forum and appreciate all of your most helpful information. We are cruising with Gate 1 from Budapest to Giurgiu in October. It's the first time we've cruised on the Danube beyond Budapest. Since there are fewer major cities on the lower Danube, and sailing through the Iron Curtain area is on our "bucket list", we're concerned about water levels & our ability to stay on the boat. 

Does anyone have information about predicted rainfall and water levels for Fall cruises?

 

Edited August 7, 2023 by Host Jazzbeau
changed size to default for readability

[notamermaid]

On 8/5/2023 at 5:17 PM, Izengolf said:

Braemar12 - I live in Romania and the short answer is Bucharest yes, Constanța no.

My interest in Bucharest comes from the connection of Queen Elizabeth of Romania to her birthplace on the Rhine at Neuwied. I would like to see Peles Palace in Sinaia one day where the Royal Couple lived. I would definitely go on an excursion to Bucharest just to get a feel for the city and its recent history as well.

 

I enjoyed seeing the remnants of Soviet times in Budapest.

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

@braemar12 That is a busy long itinerary. Esztergom Cathedral is something between magnificent and serene I find. The bridge:

 

The Cathedral frontage with statue:

 

Enjoy your cruise.

 

notamermaid

 

 

[notamermaid]

Pfelling gauge has risen to 428cm. So plenty of water to keep the ships sailing comfortably for hopefully quite a few days in August - or, hmmm, a problem arising at Passau? The level at Passau went close to being rather high at the infamous bridge. The river stopped short at 620cm, that is only 10cm below the figure that the officials have put down in the list of important levels as being the one that may cause problems for passage for some river cruise ships. At 594cm now, the level looks pleasant. Hopefully, not too much water will come from the Upper Danube in the next 48 hours. It is still raining over the whole Danube basin (more or less).

 

notamermaid

 

 

[Izengolf]

6 hours ago, notamermaid said:

My interest in Bucharest comes from the connection of Queen Elizabeth of Romania to her birthplace on the Rhine at Neuwied. I would like to see Peles Palace in Sinaia one day where the Royal Couple lived. I would definitely go on an excursion to Bucharest just to get a feel for the city and its recent history as well.

 

I enjoyed seeing the remnants of Soviet times in Budapest.

 

notamermaid

 

Although a vacation home and not a castle I heartily recommend a visit to Peleș! I toured it with my mother who said, although on a smaller scale and a much different style, only Catherine the Great's palace came close for opulence.

[RobInMN]

7 hours ago, Izengolf said:

Although a vacation home and not a castle I heartily recommend a visit to Peleș! I toured it with my mother who said, although on a smaller scale and a much different style, only Catherine the Great's palace came close for opulence.

We agree. The Ama Brasov extension goes to Peles. It's very cool. As I noted in my review post of AmaMagna's Grand Danube, Peles Castle was used in the Netflix "A Christmas Prince" trilogy. Also, in the next town over, Busteni has a Billboard proclaiming another large mansion there as being the exterior location for Wednesday's Nevermore Academy.

[notamermaid]

Peles is indeed a "newbuild", a 19th century mixed styles countryside palace. From the photos I have seen I think this must have worked very well as a film location for winter!

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

A quick look at Pfelling. 479cm with the probability to rise further. The Regen river (flows towards Regensburg) has risen so much it is over the flood mark 2. Passau okay, but we will need to see how the high volume of water coming from the tributaries translates into figures at Pfelling and further. The Isar river is at a good, not too high level.

 

It is rare but there has been flooding in August on the Danube, notably in 1991.

 

The weather should change to more summery temperatures this week.

 

notamermaid

 

[Kevdog71]

We just got word that Viking has moved the docking location for our Sunday P to B cruise on the Aegir from Old Town to Hafen Racklau. Anyone knowledgeable about this area of the Danube know the reason for this? Is this a water level issue or a docking space issue? How does it make sense to move an eastbound ship farther to the west if water level issues are at play?

[rcaruso]

24 minutes ago, Kevdog71 said:

We just got word that Viking has moved the docking location for our Sunday P to B cruise on the Aegir from Old Town to Hafen Racklau. Anyone knowledgeable about this area of the Danube know the reason for this? Is this a water level issue or a docking space issue? How does it make sense to move an eastbound ship farther to the west if water level issues are at play?

We were docked in Racklau too.  Viking did run a shuttle to Passau, this was due to low water in July. Also they use Lindau too, both out of town. Could be too many ships docked in old town.  If high water an issue they will move the ship to Lindau or Old town.  Usually they board at old town and then disembark at Lindau or so.

[Kevdog71]

1 hour ago, rcaruso said:

We were docked in Racklau too.  Viking did run a shuttle to Passau, this was due to low water in July. Also they use Lindau too, both out of town. Could be too many ships docked in old town.  If high water an issue they will move the ship to Lindau or Old town.  Usually they board at old town and then disembark at Lindau or so.

The best explanation I’ve received so far is that there is a waterfront concert series in Passau from the 11th to the 19th, and the floating stage takes away some space normally allotted to cruise ships.

[notamermaid]

33 minutes ago, Kevdog71 said:

The best explanation I’ve received so far is that there is a waterfront concert series in Passau from the 11th to the 19th, and the floating stage takes away some space normally allotted to cruise ships.

Could not find anything specific. Sounds a very probable explanation to me. Passau is a very busy place, has been struggling with allotting space in the old town in the past (just before Covid). The out of town port should not be a big deal. I am sure Viking will be very good at organizing this.

 

notamermaid

 

[Bill Y]

Just back from an Amsterdam to Budapest cruise 24 Jul – 7 Aug. Booked for 2021 pre covid could not go then, due to go in 2022 but cancelled due to Austrian vaccination restrictions. But followed the water levels on here, until then was not aware of frequency of problems with water levels, something that is not mentioned by the people selling cruises although it’s covered in the small print. We had hoped that 2022 was an exception. The sailing the ship was due to make previously from Amsterdam to Budapest on 26 Jun stopped at Nuremberg then passengers presumably bussed to Passau. When we arrived at Amsterdam on 24 Jul the ship was in position and nothing was mentioned about water levels until the following evening when it was announced that we would be two hours late docking in Cologne due to speed reductions due to low water levels 75cm under hull. The day after Cologne people had been complaining that it had rained there and the Cruise Director said that we needed the rain as it was only fifty fifty that we would continue without a ship swap. A day or two later it was announced that we would not be swapping ships. When on a tour in a drizzling Regensburg 1^st Aug, the local guide said the rain was welcomed as virtually no cruise ships visited in July, although a imagine that people were bussed in. I hope that the recent rain was enough to ensure that the ships continue to get through.

[notamermaid]

Things are looking fine on the German Danube. Pfelling at 468cm, Passau at 551cm.

 

notamermaid

 

[ILoveToCruiseNCL]

My husband, Bill, and I are on the August 19th Grand European sailing of the Egdir from Amsterdam to Budapest. We are also doing the pre extension in Amsterdam and the post extension in Prague. This will be our first Viking cruise and we are very excited and are also so happy that the river levels have improved to facilitate a cruise without ship swapping!  
 

[notamermaid]

9 hours ago, ILoveToCruiseNCL said:

My husband, Bill, and I are on the August 19th Grand European sailing of the Egdir from Amsterdam to Budapest.

Welcome to Cruisecritic and thank you for saying hello. Have a great cruise.

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

After a plateau on the 10th going into the 11th, the figures at Pfelling gauge started a long slow decline and the figure on the graph is now 340cm. Pfelling is notoriously difficult to predict and the current figures are running below the forecast for today so the week ahead is almost a mirky crystal ball for me. Definite seems to be a further decline until Tuesday but there is no clue if the level will go down after that. The temperatures have risen somewhat and there is less rain.

 

notamermaid

 

[UDChE89]

On 8/5/2023 at 7:15 AM, braemar12 said:

As I very much enjoyed my river cruise in April cruising the Danube between Passau and Budapest, I have taken the plunge and have booked the full Danube cruise on the Amadeus Brilliant which will go from Passau all the way to the Danube Delta and back to Passau. Does anyone have any feedback on must see attractions in Belgrade, Vidin, St Gheorge, Rouse, Svishtov, Novi Sad and Vukovar? Also is it worth going to see Bucharest and Constanta which is offered as an option from one of the Romanian ports?

 

Thanks.

I dad round trip to the Iron Gates with Viva last August.  Excursions aren’t included on Viva so I did most of it on my own.  Novi Sad is the capital of the ethnic Hungarian portion of Serbia.  The town is small and very walkable.  The offered excursion was a city walk followed by a visit to an apiary.  I just did a city walk on my own and enjoyed some time in a cafe.  In Belgrade, we docked right near the Belgrade Fortress.  I walked through the fortress and the zoo right next to it.  It was blazing hot and there’s a very long and steep staircase to get up to the fortress so that’s all I did.  If you have an option for a visit to Lepenski Vir, I’d skip it unless you’ve never been to a Neolithic village before.  Golubac fortress was interesting but it was extremely warm with little shade there.

[notamermaid]

Pfelling gauge at 326cm. If the forecast is correct we may well see 310cm tomorrow.

 

notamermaid

 

 

[notamermaid]

The forecast has been spectacularly wrong in a good sense. Pfelling gauge at 329cm. It is raining over the Danube catchment area.

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

Although overall on a downward trend, the level at Pfelling is still doing fine. 323cm. Budapest had risen a lot apparently, now down to 226cm. That is still pleasant of course.

 

notamermaid

 

 

 

[notamermaid]

Being German and interested in literature I am familiar with the Nibelungenlied, a very old saga. You may know parts of it in the shape of the Wagner opera "Das Rheingold" and other works. The work is associated with towns along the Rhine – as the word Rheingold suggests – but Wagner used some artistic license. Worms is a city mentioned in the epic work though. I was a bit surprised to read and experience on my river cruise that Linz on the Danube is associated with the saga. They have a monument and a bridge. This is the monument: https://stadtgeschichte.linz.at/denkmal/Default.asp?action=denkmaldetail&id=1251

And this is the bridge: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nibelungenbrücke_(Linz)#/media/Datei:Nibelungenbruecke_Sept06.JPG

 

Other than that the city is a bit quiet about it.

 

At the Nibelungen Bridge is the landing stage for river cruise ships:

https://www.donauregion.at/en/services/danube-shipping/landing-stages/oesterreich-poi/detail/430002006/shipping-pier-linz-nibelungen-nr-12.html

 

More docks in Austria:

https://www.donauregion.at/en/services/danube-shipping/landing-stages.html

 

notamermaid

 

 

 

[MisterBill99]

17 hours ago, notamermaid said:

Although overall on a downward trend, the level at Pfelling is still doing fine. 323cm. Budapest had risen a lot apparently, now down to 226cm. That is still pleasant of course.

 

notamermaid

 

Pardon my possible ignorance, but is the bottom line that for my Prague-Vilshofen cruise next Tuesday that I should not have any water level issues? 

 

Thanks for the continued updates in this thread.