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

[Yorkieboy1972]

1 hour ago, notamermaid said:

There is one more ship still tied up where it should not be and that is the Avalon Impression:

 

She got stranded at Kelheim and is as you can see on the Altmühl. Confused? That is actually the Main Danube Canal which at this point is the engineered Altmühl river. The Danube is coming from the left in this screenshot.

 

German regional news picked up the topic and says that the ship had gone through the lock on Sunday morning (2nd of June) and then was told that traffic on the Danube had just been banned, so they had to stop in Kelheim. The passengers were supposed to be taken off the ship during the day and then presumably taken to Linz. https://www.mittelbayerische.de/lokales/landkreis-kelheim/flusskreuzfahrtschiff-strandet-hinter-kelheimer-schleuse-prognostizierter-scheitel-wurde-nach-oben-korrigiert-16167153

 

The situation has improved now of course. It has been a long week for the Impression but she will soon be able to sail again.

 

notamermaid

 

Keep your eyes on the TUI Skyla. Her travails and that of her passengers could become the stuff of River Cruising legend. I’m guessing that TUI needs a Licence to operate on the big rivers and I’d not be surprised if said licence will be removed after the debacle of the way they’ve handled the floods? 
 

TUI’s third ship, MAYA seems to be the only one with a secure mooring?

Edited June 9 by Yorkieboy1972

[notamermaid]

On 5/31/2024 at 8:08 PM, notamermaid said:

Currently a barge is travelling upstream which is "carrying" a special precious cargo, another river cruise ship hull. The "NB212" has come from Kladovo and will be taken to the Netherlands. Looks like the transport will be delayed. Okay, no need to flatten the top deck with this ship - it has no functioning wheelhouse yet. Still, the river level may well prove to be too high.

 

notamermaid

 

I did not see that one coming although at the time I posted it was clear that things were not quite right. The NB212 being taken alongside the MS Insomnia, as of tonight, is still at the railway bridge at Bogen! That is more than a week now, I wonder if that will cause problems for the shipyard in the Netherlands.

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

2 minutes ago, Yorkieboy1972 said:

Keep your eyes on the TUI Skyla. Her travails and that of her passengers could become the stuff of River Cruising legend.

The Skyla? What happened there? She is in the middle of (Danube river) nowhere in Hungary??

 

She was hit by the flooding on the Rhine in December by the way and CC reported on it as an editor was on board at the time.

 

I got it wrong by the way, the Isla had her next itinerary scheduled for Friday, not Saturday. Sorry.

https://www.ttgmedia.com/cruise/rising-water-levels-force-tui-river-cruises-to-evacuate-ship-46782

 

notamermaid

 

 

[Yorkieboy1972]

16 minutes ago, notamermaid said:

The Skyla? What happened there? She is in the middle of (Danube river) nowhere in Hungary??

 

She was hit by the flooding on the Rhine in December by the way and CC reported on it as an editor was on board at the time.

 

I got it wrong by the way, the Isla had her next itinerary scheduled for Friday, not Saturday. Sorry.

https://www.ttgmedia.com/cruise/rising-water-levels-force-tui-river-cruises-to-evacuate-ship-46782

 

notamermaid

 

 

Skyla is moored in Kalocsa. As I understand it the next set of passengers are being bused there tomorrow to embark instead of Budapest. They will be given their new itinerary once onboard and given £50 for the inconvenience. 
 

From what I can see Kalocsa “port” is like Deggendorf with curtains. If it’s stuck there for a few days I’m sure the passengers will enjoy their 90 minute walk into town to see the sights?

[notamermaid]

A really small port. I wonder if it means that there is indeed a problem at Budapest? Or downstream? Or just TUI? I have read no reports other than that the lower embankment is closed. The flooding is slowly leaving Budapest, the river has peaked there. The wave is still in Hungary, this is Paks, near where the TUI Skyla is docked:

 

notamermaid

 

[RDVIK2016]

4 hours ago, notamermaid said:

There is one more ship still tied up where it should not be and that is the Avalon Impression:

 

She got stranded at Kelheim and is as you can see on the Altmühl. Confused? That is actually the Main Danube Canal which at this point is the engineered Altmühl river. The Danube is coming from the left in this screenshot.

 

German regional news picked up the topic and says that the ship had gone through the lock on Sunday morning (2nd of June) and then was told that traffic on the Danube had just been banned, so they had to stop in Kelheim. The passengers were supposed to be taken off the ship during the day and then presumably taken to Linz. https://www.mittelbayerische.de/lokales/landkreis-kelheim/flusskreuzfahrtschiff-strandet-hinter-kelheimer-schleuse-prognostizierter-scheitel-wurde-nach-oben-korrigiert-16167153

 

The situation has improved now of course. It has been a long week for the Impression but she will soon be able to sail again.

 

notamermaid

 

When looking at the the current position of Avalon Impression she seems to be tied directly to the seawall next a to dock labeled "Viking". I did not know that Viking had a dock there, but makes sense to let passengers off there for Weltenburg excursions while the ship then continues to Regensburg.  Avalon Imagery II finally got underway from Schwabelweiß/Regensburg but got a far as Kelheim and moored to the Anlegestelle close to town.

 

There was quite a lot of resistane in the Altmühltal to the canal coming through there as it had  so much more impact than the old Ludwig-Donau-Main-Kanal

 

RDVIK

[steamboats]

9 hours ago, Yorkieboy1972 said:

Keep your eyes on the TUI Skyla. Her travails and that of her passengers could become the stuff of River Cruising legend. I’m guessing that TUI needs a Licence to operate on the big rivers and I’d not be surprised if said licence will be removed after the debacle of the way they’ve handled the floods? 
 

TUI’s third ship, MAYA seems to be the only one with a secure mooring?

 

Sorry, there is no licence to operate on the Danube river for a company or a single ship. The pilots need a licence for a certain river. But you can have a non licenced pilot (one who has the gernal licence to steer a ship but not for this certain river) as a trainee supervised by a licenced pilot.

 

Not even Viking got anything "revoked" after that tragic accident in Budapest. It´s alway the pilot who is the one to blame.

 

steamboats

[Canal archive]

If it’s an area where a pilot is required.
Viking as it were got away with the Budapest debacle although it appeared that the captain was fully qualified but I thought he got 5 years or did Vikings money get him off? Not being nasty here but it was absolutely horrific.

Edited June 10 by Canal archive

[notamermaid]

In brief: situation on the German Danube still difficult. Level rising again at Kelheim. Indication of an incident at a lock in Austria. Traffic build-up showing late last night on marinetraffic. Not sure if situation resolved.

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

Lock situation back to normal it seems, ship that was blocking the lock at Wallsee last night is gone. Work boats and patrol are in the German Danube section (Pfelling) checking the navigation channel and presumably adjusting or replacing buoys. That area is not fit for sailing for commercial traffic yet according to the authorities.

 

notamermaid

 

[Canal archive]

The guys and girls doing that job have certainly got some nerve.

[steamboats]

11 hours ago, Canal archive said:

If it’s an area where a pilot is required.

 

Pilot is the person steering the ship. Actually on rivers there is no "captain". Usually the head pilot is called master. Usually a river cruise ship has at least one master and two pilots.

 

steamboats

[notamermaid]

Inn and Danube have risen again so that the small town of Schärding on the Inn river has put is flood defenses back up: https://ooe.orf.at/stories/3260552/

What does this mean in figures? It does not show much in the graph but at this point in time it is crucial that both rivers do not rise again:

 

You can see the tiny rise, it is not much but it means that rather than going further down into the range of flood level 2, the river level has risen and is staying on flood level 3. Note that the long-term mean water level at Passau has been set at 490cm.

 

notamermaid

 

 

 

[notamermaid]

As a side note: I read in the roll calls that even Viking has cancelled river cruises. The disruption has just been too much.

 

German river cruise companies have of course also cancelled cruises or rerouted them. Passau is the main embarkation port for the German cruise lines, together with Engelhartszell. When these ports are not accessible, the companies take passengers from Passau to the next available port for embarkation. Almost all German river cruises on the Danube are round trips.

 

On the Rhine the logistics are different and embarkation ports vary a lot more.

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

18 hours ago, RDVIK2016 said:

Avalon Imagery II finally got underway from Schwabelweiß/Regensburg but got a far as Kelheim and moored to the Anlegestelle close to town.

Yes, I saw they were both together in Kelheim last night.

 

notamermaid

 

[Kenster]

1 hour ago, steamboats said:

 

Pilot is the person steering the ship. Actually on rivers there is no "captain". Usually the head pilot is called master. Usually a river cruise ship has at least one master and two pilots.

 

steamboats

We’ve been on five river cruises so far. In all cases the ship master was called Captain and his assistants were introduced as Second Captain. I’ve never heard or read of a river cruise captain being referred to as a pilot. 

[Canal archive]

It’s a bit of a technicality as a pilot usually has expertise in a particular stretch or area of water.

[Kenster]

4 minutes ago, Canal archive said:

It’s a bit of a technicality as a pilot usually has expertise in a particular stretch or area of water.

That’s my understanding.  And that a pilot comes onboard for a short period of time and is not an employee of the ship company. 

[Luckylucy18]

Do you think the Avalon Impression will cruise Belgrade to Bucharest on June 20th?

[julieannr1]

Sailing from Bucharest to Vienna next week on the Viking Rinda, June 22. Do you think there will be any issues?

[notamermaid]

36 minutes ago, Luckylucy18 said:

Do you think the Avalon Impression will cruise Belgrade to Bucharest on June 20th?

Welcome to Cruisecritic. The ship is still tied up in Kelheim and although allowed to sail from there is unable to make it to Budapest or even leave Germany. A small section of the river is still banned for traffic. Not sure when that will be free and she can actually try to get to Hungary.

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

It appears that there is also a lock closure in Austria again:

 

notamermaid

 

[Lovely1234]

We are scheduled to sail Nuremburg to Buda on Danube 6/17 despite heavy flooding.  We want to rebook but Scenic is not budging.  Worried about health & safety & stress of itinerary changes.  We will lose 100%.  Insurance says they wont cover.  Any ideas to help us would be appreciated.

[RDVIK2016]

6 hours ago, steamboats said:

 

Pilot is the person steering the ship. Actually on rivers there is no "captain". Usually the head pilot is called master. Usually a river cruise ship has at least one master and two pilots.

 

steamboats

5 hours ago, Kenster said:

We’ve been on five river cruises so far. In all cases the ship master was called Captain and his assistants were introduced as Second Captain. I’ve never heard or read of a river cruise captain being referred to as a pilot. 

 

On "hotel ships" it seems the lead officer is called "Captain", but "Master" seems to be used most often when talking about cargo vessels on the river.

 

On our first Viking river cruise, during presentation of the crew, the Captain was most informative about his officers and he very clearly called his two deck officers "Pilots". He and those two pilots were qualified to navigate the ship unsupervised. On our other cruises they referred to both of their two qualified helmsmen/navigators as first officers. I saw a Dutch language job posting for Viking river cruises for a "Tweede Kapitein" - 2nd Captain, but in English the posting for the same job was for "1st Officer" and a job requirement was to have a Boatmaster's license with a "Patent" for the Rhine and/or Danube. Somewhere I saw that someone called a 2nd Officer is in training and can steer the ship under supervision.   

 

Nautical terminology is sometimes rather opaque and esoteric.

 

 

[RDVIK2016]

CEST 05:45

Avalon Imagery II has left Kelheim - She had been stopped at Regensburg on 29 May on her way to Budapest. Cruise Mapper shows her next itinerary is 4 June from Budapest to 18 Jun Amsterdam and should be in Roth 11 June. Well she will be there. I wonder how the passengers on this B to A itinerary got from Budapest to Kelheim to meet the ship or it that cruise was canceled and Avalon just wants to get the boat to Amsterdam for its next cruise.

 

Avalon Impression is still at Kelheim.