Danube water levels 2024 and similar topics - plus tips and info

[Canal archive]

Notamermaid we are going to look into adding to your name such as Detective or Holmes’s super reasoning.

[notamermaid]

I must admit that I like a bit of detective work now and again. Never will be a Holmes, though, much above my deductive powers.

 

Good to read that there was not much damage to the lock, I had a "oh, no!" moment when I heard the news. The locks had only just finished their annual maintenance. And we know what happened at Iffezheim on the Rhine.

 

So back to water levels. Recap of April coming soon. Spoiler, no spoiler as you can tell from the few posts in the last weeks. All was good.

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

It is May, time to have a look at what the river did in April. This is Pfelling gauge:

We see that the river is at a good level. Weather conditions led to a spike in the second half of the month but that will have caused no real problems.

 

Interesting is the comparison with Passau. A spike at Pfelling can of course lead to a brief problem at the low bridge in Passau:

Yes, you are seeing this correctly - there is no spike. All good. My guess is water was retained by the locks and the Isar which joins at Deggendorf did not contribute much water. The latter we can show:

 

A rise certainly but not enough to speak of as significant in the grand scheme of the river basin of the Danube.

 

All looking good for now. Although I find that the river has lost a bit of water in the last few days. Still, 362cm at Pfelling is more than sufficient.

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

Bayern Erleben - Experience Bavaria - is the title of a documentary that I have enjoyed watching, a series actually, this episode is set on the Danube, the Canal and the Main. This German river cruise on the "Elegant Lady" started in Passau and ended in Aschaffenburg if I have understood it correctly. It was filmed in 2017 but I have only found it recently in the broadcaster archives. Perhaps this is interesting to compare a German cruise company (Bulgarian flag) ship to an international one. Lovely footage of towns and some interesting shots of a lock in action. I must say, the Main looks so narrow compared to the Rhine. It is in German but the scenery can of course be enjoyed without the commentary.You can put the subtitles in German on. If you have any questions about the text, let me know: https://www.ardmediathek.de/video/bayern-erleben/eine-flusskreuzfahrt-durch-bayern/br-fernsehen/Y3JpZDovL2JyLmRlL2Jyb2FkY2FzdC9GMjAxN1dPMDA3ODU1QTA

 

notamermaid

 

Edited May 6 by notamermaid
clarification

[HawaiiTraveler]

On 5/6/2024 at 11:26 AM, notamermaid said:

Bayern Erleben - Experience Bavaria - is the title of a documentary that I have enjoyed watching, a series actually, this episode is set on the Danube, the Canal and the Main. This German river cruise on the "Elegant Lady" started in Passau and ended in Aschaffenburg if I have understood it correctly. It was filmed in 2017 but I have only found it recently in the broadcaster archives. Perhaps this is interesting to compare a German cruise company (Bulgarian flag) ship to an international one. Lovely footage of towns and some interesting shots of a lock in action. I must say, the Main looks so narrow compared to the Rhine. It is in German but the scenery can of course be enjoyed without the commentary.You can put the subtitles in German on. If you have any questions about the text, let me know: https://www.ardmediathek.de/video/bayern-erleben/eine-flusskreuzfahrt-durch-bayern/br-fernsehen/Y3JpZDovL2JyLmRlL2Jyb2FkY2FzdC9GMjAxN1dPMDA3ODU1QTA

 

notamermaid

 

Aloha notamermaid…thank you for posting the link to the episode of the Bayern Erleben “Experience Bavaria” documentary…I thoroughly enjoyed watching the video this afternoon…it was so interesting to see the same cities and sights that we have visited while on the previous Viking River cruises we have taken, but viewed through the eyes of passengers aboard the boat of another cruise line …it was also very interesting to compare the layout, facilities and activities aboard the Viking long boats themselves with the layout, facilities and activities aboard the “Elegant Lady”…as always, I really appreciate your posts with reports and updates on river conditions here on CruiseCritic…as I mentioned in a prior post, we are returning to Europe again for another Viking “Grand European Tour” that will coincide with the Kriskindlmarkt’s in various cities that we will stop in…we arrive in Budapest in mid-November and depart Amsterdam in mid-December…the cruise is fifteen days but this time we are extending our visit in both Budapest and Amsterdam, so we can spend more time in both of those lovely cities…thanks again…🙂

 

 

[notamermaid]

The recent rain has helped the rivers, not that it is much needed yet on the Rhine and Danube, but it is good to have some back-up now for June. Right now, the Elbe has benefitted the most. For Rhine and Danube it has made no real difference but it is good to see the figure at Pfelling gauge: 403cm.

 

notamermaid

 

[Izengolf]

For those on a Lower Danube cruise, this website shows the water levels in Romania in English. All points are green right now!

https://www.afdj.ro/en/content/danube-water-level

Edited May 10 by Izengolf

[papa B me]

We sail from Budapest on June 2 to Passau June 9.  Notamermaid can I interpret your last post that things are looking positive for the Danube on June 2?

[notamermaid]

31 minutes ago, papa B me said:

We sail from Budapest on June 2 to Passau June 9.  Notamermaid can I interpret your last post that things are looking positive for the Danube on June 2?

Hmm, I would say so very tentatively. It is just too far out to say it being only the 10th of May, but currently the weather is good yet not too hot and the river is "operating" in a good range. It is just giving me a good feeling. Your itinerary looks very good to not be impacted apart from the minor issue of docking before the low bridge at Passau. The problem on the German Danube is the limited operating range of Pfelling being too low and Passau being too high, the bridge that is. Long downpours can get the river up fast. On the other had, if the authorities decide to divert more water to the Main river system then the Danube will potentially suffer. This happens via the engineering on the Main Danube Canal. There is no long term forecast like we have on the Rhine so conditions will only become clear about three days out from embarkation day. But, all in all a Passau to Budapest (or vice versa) itinerary is a very safe bet.

 

For those new to the topic: if your cruise (from Budapest sailing upstream) starts or ends in Vilshofen you will not be affected by mild low water conditions, but flooding applies to you. Your ship may not be able to pass under said bridge at Passau.

 

notamermaid

 

[posalttrav]

18 hours ago, notamermaid said:

Hmm, I would say so very tentatively. It is just too far out to say it being only the 10th of May, but currently the weather is good yet not too hot and the river is "operating" in a good range. It is just giving me a good feeling. Your itinerary looks very good to not be impacted apart from the minor issue of docking before the low bridge at Passau. The problem on the German Danube is the limited operating range of Pfelling being too low and Passau being too high, the bridge that is. Long downpours can get the river up fast. On the other had, if the authorities decide to divert more water to the Main river system then the Danube will potentially suffer. This happens via the engineering on the Main Danube Canal. There is no long term forecast like we have on the Rhine so conditions will only become clear about three days out from embarkation day. But, all in all a Passau to Budapest (or vice versa) itinerary is a very safe bet.

 

For those new to the topic: if your cruise (from Budapest sailing upstream) starts or ends in Vilshofen you will not be affected by mild low water conditions, but flooding applies to you. Your ship may not be able to pass under said bridge at Passau.

 

notamermaid

 

We sail from Vilshofen to Bucharest on 5/27 - what is the water level that would keep us from passing under the bridge at Passau?  Right now, it looks like the water level at Passau Donau is 513, Passau Ilzstadt is at 522, and Achleiten is at 324 (not sure which of these I should be watching).

[notamermaid]

6 hours ago, posalttrav said:

what is the water level that would keep us from passing under the bridge at Passau?

You need to look at Passau Donau, for example here: https://www.hnd.bayern.de/pegel/meldestufen/donau_bis_passau

zoom in and hover over the Passau area, the Danube gauge will then show up. The two relevant figures for river cruising are in here:

 

At 630cm passage under the bridge can get tricky for some river cruise ships, it depends on the superstructure of the ship course. At 780cm river traffic is suspended in that section of the Danube.

 

Welcome to Cruisecritic and have a great cruise.

 

notamermaid

 

[posalttrav]

Thank you @notamermaid!  So, on this page Water level Passau / Danube (bayern.de) it shows this which means right now all is good since it is less than 630? We will be on the Amabella.

[notamermaid]

27 minutes ago, posalttrav said:

it shows this which means right now all is good since it is less than 630?

Exactly. The suspension bridge in Passau is this really annoying little bit that may be all that stands in one's way between having a perfect river cruise from Amsterdam to Budapest or an interrupted one. But all is good now and unless the Danube gets real downpours it will stay that way.

 

notamermaid

 

[posalttrav]

31 minutes ago, notamermaid said:

Exactly. The suspension bridge in Passau is this really annoying little bit that may be all that stands in one's way between having a perfect river cruise from Amsterdam to Budapest or an interrupted one. But all is good now and unless the Danube gets real downpours it will stay that way.

 

notamermaid

 

Excellent!  Thanks for helping me understand! We will hope it stays like it is now. We were on the Rhine in Aug 22 and couldn't get through the Rhine River Gorge due to LOW water. I don't want this one messed up because of HIGH water!

[notamermaid]

3 hours ago, posalttrav said:

We were on the Rhine in Aug 22 and couldn't get through the Rhine River Gorge due to LOW water.

Oh dear, yes that was a bad month. Kaub gauge fell below 40cm which in effect means very few river cruise ships could sail. A rare occurrence.

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

I thought I may put the high water and low water "trouble spots" into context of the European waterway that connects the North Sea and the Black Sea. For river cruising that is Amsterdam (for commercial traffic normally Rotterdam) to Tulcea or Constanca. I have taken the liberty of using an old map from Nicko Cruises for that. That was a 29 day itinerary that the company had offered. You can follow my explanation with this:

 

From Amsterdam you go through the canal onto the Rhine. Between Koblenz and Rüdesheim is the Rhine Gorge and part of that section is the short stretch around Kaub that is the shallowest on the whole Rhine. When the river gets really low that whole section and further upstream up to Mainz gets too low for large river cruise ships. From just after Mainz you sail up the Main. There is no low water but the bridges are low which could stop your ship when the river is very high. But more likely the sun deck is closed on the Main due to the low bridges. It can happen all the way to Bamberg and will depend on the hull design of your ship and company (ship crew) policy. In the Main Danube Canal there are usually no issues but again there are a few low bridges. The next shallow section is between Straubing and Passau, but to be precise I need to say between just after Straubing and up to Vilshofen (not marked) before Passau. Right at Passau is the infamous low bridge, a problem in flooding. A shallow section that only becomes a problem after Pfelling already is, i.e. at an even lower river level, is from the "Donauknie" into Budapest. Sections of the Danube further downstream can become shallow where uncontrolled by dams and locks. But I cannot give details on those.

 

Hope this is helpful.

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

I mentioned the shallow section from the Danube bend to Budapest. That is a slightly rough explanation as I do not know the exact kilometre from where the river may be regarded as too low typically. What we know is that the port that river cruise ships use as an alternative to Budapest and from where you will be taken by coach to the city is Komarom. Komarom is a town but also two towns in that it is divided by the Danube and in two countries with two different languages, hence the two versions of the name: Komárom and Komárno. Famous for the fortresses, the cooperation between Slovakia and Hungary has just seen the completion of another renovation project: https://hungarytoday.hu/fort-igmand-in-komarom-renovated-in-cooperation-with-slovakia/

 

Here is more information on one of the two: https://visitkomarno.eu/en/sightseeing/fort-igmand/

 

notamermaid

 

[posalttrav]

23 hours ago, notamermaid said:

I mentioned the shallow section from the Danube bend to Budapest. That is a slightly rough explanation as I do not know the exact kilometre from where the river may be regarded as too low typically. What we know is that the port that river cruise ships use as an alternative to Budapest and from where you will be taken by coach to the city is Komarom. Komarom is a town but also two towns in that it is divided by the Danube and in two countries with two different languages, hence the two versions of the name: Komárom and Komárno. Famous for the fortresses, the cooperation between Slovakia and Hungary has just seen the completion of another renovation project: https://hungarytoday.hu/fort-igmand-in-komarom-renovated-in-cooperation-with-slovakia/

 

Here is more information on one of the two: https://visitkomarno.eu/en/sightseeing/fort-igmand/

 

notamermaid

 

Great info!  Thanks!

[notamermaid]

The weather has turned a bit so we are getting thunderstorms with partly heavy rain. On the Rhine it appears we will see the effect more than on the Danube. No fast rise is indicated on the German Danube yet.

 

notamermaid

 

[posalttrav]

14 minutes ago, notamermaid said:

The weather has turned a bit so we are getting thunderstorms with partly heavy rain. On the Rhine it appears we will see the effect more than on the Danube. No fast rise is indicated on the German Danube yet.

 

notamermaid

 

Thanks for the update!  Fingers crossed for the Danube. Right now, it's at 500 in Passau

[notamermaid]

17 minutes ago, posalttrav said:

Thanks for the update!  Fingers crossed for the Danube. Right now, it's at 500 in Passau

Yes, all good.

 

Here for everyone's interest is a historical photo. In 2013 Passau saw one of the worst flooding in history. There is a wall where they put the significant markings. On Wikipedia is a photo that shows the old figure scale just after the water had receded and before they painted the 2013 figure on. You can see where the wall is wet:

 

They also made a correction so the new scale looks a little different.

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

The Danube river is mostly still in the clear as regards the thunderstorms in Germany. If the weather heads the usual direction this can still change. Here is a map to follow along:

https://www.dwd.de/DE/wetter/warnungen_gemeinden/warnkarten/warnkarten_node.html

 

notamermaid

 

[loriva]

On 5/13/2024 at 7:48 PM, notamermaid said:

I mentioned the shallow section from the Danube bend to Budapest. That is a slightly rough explanation as I do not know the exact kilometre from where the river may be regarded as too low typically. What we know is that the port that river cruise ships use as an alternative to Budapest and from where you will be taken by coach to the city is Komarom. Komarom is a town but also two towns in that it is divided by the Danube and in two countries with two different languages, hence the two versions of the name: Komárom and Komárno. Famous for the fortresses, the cooperation between Slovakia and Hungary has just seen the completion of another renovation project: https://hungarytoday.hu/fort-igmand-in-komarom-renovated-in-cooperation-with-slovakia/

 

Here is more information on one of the two: https://visitkomarno.eu/en/sightseeing/fort-igmand/

 

notamermaid

 

 

When we faced low water in that section in October 2021, the Crystal Ravel sailed out of Esztergom, Hungary, instead of Budapest.  The ship actually made it to dock near the Elizabeth Bridge in Budapest--where we saw it and snapped some photos--but it sailed there only with crew to pick up supplies then turned around and went to Esztergom where we boarded.

[notamermaid]

1 hour ago, loriva said:

 

When we faced low water in that section in October 2021, the Crystal Ravel sailed out of Esztergom, Hungary, instead of Budapest.  The ship actually made it to dock near the Elizabeth Bridge in Budapest--where we saw it and snapped some photos--but it sailed there only with crew to pick up supplies then turned around and went to Esztergom where we boarded.

Interesting that you mention that, I thought about Esztergom when I posted about Komarom. Seeing that my ship docked in Esztergom as part of its regular itinerary I was wondering why we here so little about that port. Good to know that it is used in low water. It is closer to Budapest than Komarom but still before the Danube bend:

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

The thunderstorms are indeed travelling East so warnings have been extended into Bavaria. A rise of the Danube in reaction to the rain is now indicated in the forecast for tomorrow (Upper Danube in Germany) and to some extent for Saturday (Lower Danube in Germany). We will see how this develops when the thunderstorms have passed during the night and tomorrow.

 

notamermaid