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

[Izengolf]

Yes, exactly, the captain and Uniworld decided not to risk having the ship stuck on the wrong side of Passau. They are trying really hard to help the few passengers not continuing on to Prague to make the best arrangements possible to get to their flights. 

[notamermaid]

13 minutes ago, Izengolf said:

Yes, exactly, the captain and Uniworld decided not to risk having the ship stuck on the wrong side of Passau. They are trying really hard to help the few passengers not continuing on to Prague to make the best arrangements possible to get to their flights. 

No matter how often they have done this before it will always be a logistical challenge for them to get the best done for all passengers when things need to be rearranged. No idea how they manage to organize this, really admirable.

 

A pity there was not a bit more rain to keep the level at Pfelling satisfactory for a little longer. It is not too low for sailing as such but Uniworld can clearly see where the river's level is headed.

 

notamermaid

 

[island lady]

13 hours ago, notamermaid said:

Looks as if the rain is through now and the majority of Europe is under the influence of this high pressure weather. Should continue until well into Wednesday when clouds will come to the continent via Brittany, turning into the Netherlands and then sweeping East into Germany. Rain along the Rhine the night into Thursday. Probably reaching the Danube Thursday afternoon.

 

notamermaid

 

 

Thanks!  Hope we stay lucky for water level the next 2 weeks.  🙂 

[island lady]

11 hours ago, Izengolf said:

The captain is announcing as I type that we will NOT go from Regensburg to Nuremberg tonight as planned but will instead return to Passau due to low water at Pfelling that is continuing to get lower from the 2ft of clearance they had last night. We will still have a full day of sailing as planned but this direction can have the sundeck open 👍

 

 

Oh dear.  😞 

[notamermaid]

Pfelling gauge at 296cm - stabilized then? According to the forecast the level could hold or at least stay above 290cm today and into tomorrow. But Pfelling is Pfelling so I would not bet on it.

 

If the weather is a bright along the Danube as it is with me on the Rhine you are having a great day of sailing the Wachau valley or exploring towns and cities.

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

After initially keeping above 290cm during the morning, Pfelling is now at 285cm. It is still a bright day but clouds are forming. No rain of any note in Southern Germany though for today.

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

Pfelling is down to 282cm. Let us have a look at Budapest:

You can clearly see the flooding we had at the beginning of the month. Since then the Danube has gradually lost water again, first fast and then more slowly. With the weather being pleasant throughout most of Europe the slow decline continues but quite possibly Budapest will see a rise with rain that is to come just before it gets too low for comfort. Fingers crossed.

 

You are probably not wondering but here for your info is the figure for Budapest in the extreme drought of 2018: 36cm on 25 October 2018. Still a long way to go from 150cm to that.

 

notamermaid

 

[island lady]

9 hours ago, notamermaid said:

Pfelling is down to 282cm. Let us have a look at Budapest:

You can clearly see the flooding we had at the beginning of the month. Since then the Danube has gradually lost water again, first fast and then more slowly. With the weather being pleasant throughout most of Europe the slow decline continues but quite possibly Budapest will see a rise with rain that is to come just before it gets too low for comfort. Fingers crossed.

 

You are probably not wondering but here for your info is the figure for Budapest in the extreme drought of 2018: 36cm on 25 October 2018. Still a long way to go from 150cm to that.

 

notamermaid

 

 

Thanks from Budapest!  Currently many, many cruise vessels tied up here with none having any problems.  There were 5 Viking Long ships in our group...with more other lines than I have ever seen.  Most were all continuing up river from here, and all hoping we will make it all the way up. 

 

Thanks again for all you do!  🥰

[notamermaid]

In my post above I called it "flooding" in the graph. A bit awkward perhaps, I only meant it in relation to the amount of water that came through in a short space of time. A wave. As you can see that level was not high enough to be called flooding of the kind that would alert the authorities.

 

Up here in Germany at Pfelling the situation has worsened since yesterday. The figure now is 276cm. A screenshot of the graph (the data centre is in Regensburg, hence the name in the bottom right corner):

 

notamermaid

 

[Canal archive]

Not joking but it really looks as if someone has pulled out the plug.

[island lady]

Oh no....ughhh....

 

We are leaving for Vienna in a few hours.  Not sure how far we will get up river on our way to Amsterdam now.  😞 

[notamermaid]

2 hours ago, Canal archive said:

Not joking but it really looks as if someone has pulled out the plug.

Well, a few years ago I created the legend of a malevolent giant snake that gobbles up the water at will. It may just be the lock personnel retaining the water upstream from Straubing but I am still suspicious.

 

1 hour ago, island lady said:

Not sure how far we will get up river on our way to Amsterdam now.  😞 

Sorry. Up to Passau (and Vilshofen) things should be fine but there is a risk that Viking may need to make the dreaded announcement... The clouds have shifted so the rain will sweep through but with the centre having moved further North and taking more of the water to the Czech Republic and the Elbe basin rather than to the Danube basin. Rain currently expected in Bavaria for the early hours of Saturday. If the direction remains as forecast the Danube in Austria will get more water than the Danube in Germany. Current forecast for Pfelling suggests that the level will not fall much further and could rise a little but most likely stay below 290cm. Again, Pfelling is Pfelling so the situation is highly uncertain.

 

Over on the Rhine the level is satisfactory but also falling.

 

notamermaid

 

[Canal archive]

All fingers and toes crossed sending out good vibes to those pesky little water sprites.

[island lady]

15 hours ago, notamermaid said:

Well, a few years ago I created the legend of a malevolent giant snake that gobbles up the water at will. It may just be the lock personnel retaining the water upstream from Straubing but I am still suspicious.

 

Sorry. Up to Passau (and Vilshofen) things should be fine but there is a risk that Viking may need to make the dreaded announcement... The clouds have shifted so the rain will sweep through but with the centre having moved further North and taking more of the water to the Czech Republic and the Elbe basin rather than to the Danube basin. Rain currently expected in Bavaria for the early hours of Saturday. If the direction remains as forecast the Danube in Austria will get more water than the Danube in Germany. Current forecast for Pfelling suggests that the level will not fall much further and could rise a little but most likely stay below 290cm. Again, Pfelling is Pfelling so the situation is highly uncertain.

 

Over on the Rhine the level is satisfactory but also falling.

 

notamermaid

 

 

Thanks!  Water snake...too funny!  😄 

[notamermaid]

The level at Pfelling is now at 274cm. It fluctuated during the night with minimally higher figures but keeps the downward trend. Regensburg is now (again) on its official statistical low water level.

 

notamermaid

 

 

 

 

 

[notamermaid]

Closure of the case of the horrible accident in Budapest? It may finally be but the captain can appeal. Just for your info (I decided against dragging up the thread from five years ago): https://travelweekly.co.uk/news/tourism/river-cruise-ship-captain-jailed-after-fatal-danube-crash

 

notamermaid

 

[DM314]

We are on the Viking Skirnir, traveling Amsterdam to Budapest on the Grand European Tour, and received news last night (Sept. 29) that due to low water levels in Pfelling, we will be swapping ships Monday Oct. 2nd. Moving to the Modi…which was our originally assigned ship, but we were shifted to the Skirnir a week before embarkation due to an earlier ship swap. It does impact some optional Nuremberg excursions, and requires a 3.5 hour bus ride on “swap day”, but once on the Modi we will be back on track for the remaining week of sailing. As a whole, all onboard seem a bit disappointed by the news, but taking it in stride. 

[reeves35]

21 hours ago, notamermaid said:

Closure of the case of the horrible accident in Budapest? It may finally be but the captain can appeal. Just for your info (I decided against dragging up the thread from five years ago): https://travelweekly.co.uk/news/tourism/river-cruise-ship-captain-jailed-after-fatal-danube-crash

 

notamermaid

 

On our recent cruise, the cruise director said we were the first Travelmarvel cruise to do the evening sightseeing cruise in Budapest since the accident.  It was truly spectacular.  Obviously, there have been some changes to operations with the ships now cruising well out of Budapest before turning around.

 

[reeves35]

37 minutes ago, DM314 said:

We are on the Viking Skirnir, traveling Amsterdam to Budapest on the Grand European Tour, and received news last night (Sept. 29) that due to low water levels in Pfelling, we will be swapping ships Monday Oct. 2nd. Moving to the Modi…which was our originally assigned ship, but we were shifted to the Skirnir a week before embarkation due to an earlier ship swap. It does impact some optional Nuremberg excursions, and requires a 3.5 hour bus ride on “swap day”, but once on the Modi we will be back on track for the remaining week of sailing. As a whole, all onboard seem a bit disappointed by the news, but taking it in stride. 

I did a ship swap last month between Nuremberg and Passau due to low water approaching Regensberg.  The cruise lines handle it really well and the ship you transfer to will probably be identical so you'll barely notice the difference.

[Izengolf]

We did the spectacular Budapest evening cruise as the port location changed from across from Margaret Island to down by the Central Market. If it's at the start of your cruise, totally worth battling the jetlag to enjoy. 

[Mucciano1]

We board in Budapest on October 6th and travel to Regensburg.  How are the water levels looking on that stretch?

[island lady]

1 hour ago, Mucciano1 said:

We board in Budapest on October 6th and travel to Regensburg.  How are the water levels looking on that stretch?

 

We left Budapest on Friday morning and it was fine.  I am worried about this next section getting up to Passau in two days, leaving from here in Vienna tonight.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited September 30, 2023 by island lady

[notamermaid]

 

2 hours ago, Mucciano1 said:

We board in Budapest on October 6th and travel to Regensburg.  How are the water levels looking on that stretch?

Welcome to Cruisecritic.

 

Pfelling gauge at 271cm. All other stretches down to Budapest naturally better as a general rule. If Pfelling falls much further and no rain falls in Austria the Danube Bend (Esztergom) can get too low. No reliable forecast for 6 October available yet. Forecast for Pfelling (36 hours) not looking good.

 

notamermaid

 

 

Edited September 30, 2023 by notamermaid
added info, changed term to Danube Bend

[MotherDaughterTravels]

Thanks, Notamermaid!  I have been reading your posts for past 4 or 5 years.  So informative. Heading back to the Danube in 2 weeks - Budapest to Passau. Hoping levels are ok.

[wlucas]

Hello MDT, we will be on same trip.  Praying that levels stabilize or increase.  From Nota' posts, it seems its fine for our trip now.  Question is, what is the precip forecast for the basin?