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

[notamermaid]

While the Rhine at Kaub has risen to 108cm and is now at a favourable level for sailing - important for the Grand European journeys - the Danube is still too low for comfort. But my good feeling from yesterday remains. Pfelling has risen to 274cm.

 

The Rhine has still not clocked any confirmed ship swapping days this year and may now with a high probability not do so in the weeks to come, I have lost count on the Danube. But a review of that I may do later in the year. Ship swapping appears to be a given every year around Pfelling now, it is just a question of in which month it happens and for how long that situation lasts.

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

I have just read of a new hull transport heading up the Danube. Spotted yesterday in Krems, a Scylla river cruise ship hull is being towed alongside the trusted barge Vigilia II. Current assumption is that this is a ship destined for the Douro, once completed.

 

notamermaid

 

[Canal archive]

Interesting as usually the Portuguese like the ships using the Douro to be built in Portugal. 

[Smokey31]

19 hours ago, notamermaid said:

Welcome to Cruisecritic. You have already had a response. I will add that the Canal is a man-made construction that also utilizes existing rivers and the purpose of it is to cross the watershed connecting two otherwise separate river basins (apart from a tiny anomaly in a mountain which is another story). It has a complicated system of reservoirs, pumps and up and down locks, i.e. to go up the hill from the Main and down the hill to the Danube.

 

If you are interested in the Main river: https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2670259-the-river-main-infos-and-river-cruising-experiences/

 

notamermaid

 

 

Thank you for the link...interesting. 

Also which rain radar do you use? And from which direction is best for rain bands to help the water level of the Danube with it's source I think is in the Black Forest?

[notamermaid]

1 hour ago, Canal archive said:

Interesting as usually the Portuguese like the ships using the Douro to be built in Portugal. 

You are right, that is a good point. Will keep watching this Kaskotransport, as we call it, one of these days I will be able to take a photo of one hopefully.

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

1 hour ago, Smokey31 said:

Thank you for the link...interesting. 

Also which rain radar do you use? And from which direction is best for rain bands to help the water level of the Danube with it's source I think is in the Black Forest?

That is DWD, Deutscher Wetterdienst. The radar website: https://www.wettergefahren.de/wetter/deutschland/aktuell/radarbild.html

 

Example from current photo:

 

This band of rain has come in from the Southwest rather than the more usual West to Northwest. Look at the squiggly line going from the left to the right above Konstanz. That is the Danube. It flows in an arch North of Munich (obscured by the rain clouds colours) and hits the DWD logo bottom right, where Austria is.

 

Above Nuremberg you can see the line of the Main river which flows West to Frankfurt and then into the Rhine.

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

284cm at Pfelling.

 

Budapest at 93cm at 7pm.

 

notamermaid

 

[BwanaJim]

13 minutes ago, notamermaid said:

284cm at Pfelling.

 

Budapest at 93cm at 7pm.

 

notamermaid

 

Thanks for the update(s). Looks to be trending in the right direction! And with the rain forecast over the next 10 days or so, may be smooth sailing for a bit...

[steamboats]

Although it rained yesterday and today it wasn´t really much rain. Most of it may have been absorbed by the extreme dry soil. So even this rain may only cause a temporary rise of the Danube river and not really much of a rise.

 

steamboats

[notamermaid]

1 hour ago, steamboats said:

So even this rain may only cause a temporary rise of the Danube river and not really much of a rise.

It is not much rain for sure, but continued grey days and drizzle have helped a little. The constant back up from the Upper Danube is good and hopefully that can sustain the level where it needs to be. But we are not quite there yet. Pfelling at 289cm this morning. It this was the plot of a film I would call it a cliffhanger. On the Rhine we may be at really pleasant sailing conditions for some time but the Danube will continue to give us nervous days I would say.

 

notamermaid

 

[Jimmy_Buffett]

Indeed, this is a  cliffhanger we are following closely as we are on the Viking Modi from B to A and arriving shortly at Melk for a tour,it is raining quite a bit,and no mention of a ship swap yet. But I will keep you posted. 

We haven't fully unpacked our bags yet waiting to hear about Sunday first.

[notamermaid]

2 hours ago, Jimmy_Buffett said:

Indeed, this is a  cliffhanger we are following closely as we are on the Viking Modi from B to A and arriving shortly at Melk for a tour,it is raining quite a bit,and no mention of a ship swap yet. But I will keep you posted. 

We haven't fully unpacked our bags yet waiting to hear about Sunday first.

So your cruise director may be looking at the river level even more often than me. 🙂

 

Pfelling gauge at 291cm.

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

For those who enjoy tracking. Check out the Viking Gullveig. She has left Passau and is sailing upstream. Signal is lost but the ETA says Regensburg so I believe she may be doing the passage. If all goes well a tracking website should pick her up tonight at Regensburg.

 

notamermaid

 

[Racr]

Hi, we are doing A to B and started on Scenic Opal and supposed to change to Emerald Sky at Nuremburg. Currently we are in Bamburg and sailing to Nuremburg tonight.

After our day excursion in Nuremburg tomorrow, we bus to Regensburg to pick up Emerald Sky, Overnight in Regensburg, then do our daily excursions the next day before heading off again.

[HawaiiTraveler]

51 minutes ago, notamermaid said:

For those who enjoy tracking. Check out the Viking Gullveig. She has left Passau and is sailing upstream. Signal is lost but the ETA says Regensburg so I believe she may be doing the passage. If all goes well a tracking website should pick her up tonight at Regensburg.

 

notamermaid

 

We are traveling on Viking Skadi from Budapest (Komárom) to Amsterdam, and left Passau last night. We are currently on the way to Regensburg and have been told that we will not be having a ship swap and will stay on Viking Skadi all the way to Amsterdam. We docked between Passau and Regensburg in the middle of the night, and I asked the crew why we had stopped. The answer was that water levels were rising from rain near the Black Forest, and that we were waiting for the river to rise a bit more. We then departed at around 5:30am and are currently bound for Regensburg. I saw what looked like an extremely low water area near a large power plant along the river. There were a lot of rocks showing and the ship slowed down considerably as we traversed that area. Otherwise, we are moving steadily.

Edited October 27, 2023 by HawaiiTraveler

[Mrsbags]

On the  Gullveig, almost at Deggendorf. We are told we will make Regensburg tonight. 

[WestCoastCruiser33]

It seems like Viking fleetwide is full speed ahead through Pfelling. We are on the Viking Skadi and were told we are also passing through. 

[Jimmy_Buffett]

Thanks HT,

This is great news,we are one day behind you on VE Modi,and have just finished fully unpacking.

 

2 hours ago, HawaiiTraveler said:

We are traveling on Viking Skadi from Budapest (Komárom) to Amsterdam, and left Passau last night. We are currently on the way to Regensburg and have been told that we will not be having a ship swap and will stay on Viking Skadi all the way to Amsterdam. We docked between Passau and Regensburg in the middle of the night, and I asked the crew why we had stopped. The answer was that water levels were rising from rain near the Black Forest, and that we were waiting for the river to rise a bit more. We then departed at around 5:30am and are currently bound for Regensburg. I saw what looked like an extremely low water area near a large power plant along the river. There were a lot of rocks showing and the ship slowed down considerably as we traversed that area. Otherwise, we are moving steadily.

 

[notamermaid]

Thanks for all the replies, especially directly from the Skadi and the Gullveig.

 

I think this calls for a celebratory drink for me tonight. Be assured of a toast to captains and nature from this girl on the Rhine.

 

Hoorays and 🍷.

 

notamermaid

 

P.S. The river has surprised steamboats and me. Pfelling at 303cm. This may or may not last but that is for another post if it so needs to be.

 

[Canal archive]

Notamermaid - feet up with an excellent glass of German wine and reflect on a job well done! What a tour de force. 👌

[notamermaid]

2 hours ago, Canal archive said:

Notamermaid - feet up with an excellent glass of German wine and reflect on a job well done! What a tour de force. 👌

Thank you Canal archive.

 

The red wine was Chilean but good.

 

I am so much in the habit and curious, too, that I could not resist looking this morning - Pfelling gauge at 324cm.

 

notamermaid

 

[NU72]

Received email yesterday, longship switch from Bragi to Skadi for Viking Amsterdam to Budapest starting Saturday, November 4th.  Happy to see Skadi  making such progress.  Happy sightseeing everyone, excited to be aboard soon.

 

[Kristal Blade]

Capella is in Budapest, ready for us boarding tomorrow.

I just checked on ship traffic to see her docked near the Liberty Bridge.

Packing day today!

 

[notamermaid]

Pfelling doing well, 328cm. Past the peak and on the way down but another band of rain is sweeping over Germany Southwest to Northeast, covering the Northern tributaries of the Danube mainly this evening.

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

Let us have a look at historic water levels again. That is, I have done it for Pfelling (in Bavaria) a bit more. We hear and read so much about low water levels these days and I have stated that we can see it as given that this happens. So how bad is it really? I have checked the last twenty years, the yearly graphs from 2003 to 2022. The river gets low every year, some years are bad, some years are really bad. So is there any year among that time frame which was okay for river cruising (in Bavaria)? Seeing that we can assume that ships need to at least adjust sailing at a figure of 290cm with below that soon followed by ship swaps (or bussing or cancellations) I changed the settings on the amazing Bavarian website to give me the lowest levels in all of those years. There was only one year where the whole year shows no 290cm or less and that is 2010. No reason to "praise" that year for being better though - the lowest figure was 291cm on 12 July.

 

Which leads me to conclude that all the reports about low water would not be in abundance if the ships were smaller. Clearly, the river is not doing much differently to twenty, fifteen, ten or five years ago...

 

notamermaid