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

[steamboats]

While Austria is open Hungary isn´t. My friends are stuck so far.

 

steamboats

[notamermaid]

3 hours ago, steamboats said:

While Austria is open Hungary isn´t. My friends are stuck so far.

 

steamboats

Interesting. Budapest is basically accessible but the South is a different matter. I have no info on what level triggers the river traffic ban and when the authorities choose to lift it. Falling levels of course mean that the situation eases, not that sailing is allowed... and what individual companies decide is best on their itinerary.

 

Still, the Amaverde left Budapest for Giurgiu during the night so that is a good sign. And a few others' tracks are showing them as sailing. The Victoria is about to enter Budapest for example.

 

notamermaid

 

 

[notamermaid]

So with all that rain we have had the river in Germany is high and there is no risk of low water? Correct. The lower temperatures and the recent rain have made sure that the shallow section at Pfelling is not shallow and the German Danube will remain comfortable for sailing for a while. Well... that is if we do not get downpours again. Then it will be again a matter of fitting ships under the two low bridges. Quite frankly, A-Rosa is doing it best, they very often now let the passengers arrive in Passau and sail from the downstream ports (short coach ride). No problem with low bridges that way and no low water issues. But that is a different discussion.

 

Pfelling gauge is at 423cm and will rise tomorrow. So will Passau in due course. A look back in the archives reveals that Pfelling gauge was at 296cm on this day last year and fell below the dreaded 290cm the following day. Quite a different situation last year. We are looking at a good week on the German river with some rain and a bit of wind, but compared to the Rhine and the hills in the Middle of Germany, where we have strong winds and storms with some heavy rain, the weather should be cool and mild.

 

Right now, Austria has all lock chambers back apart from one. But available depth is reduced at two, which should not be a problem for river cruise ships more for the loaded barges. Repair work will happen at Abwinden-Asten lock in October.

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

Certainly I do not want to criticize them, the geography of Germany may not be so easy to understand if you are far away in Australia, but there has been no flooding on the Rhine in September: https://cruisepassenger.com.au/news/floods-on-the-danube-and-rhine/

 

Also important to note is the fact that the photo is of a ship hull transport stuck on the Danube in June.

 

But there may be a few interesting notes in the text and in the comments for you.

 

notamermaid

 

 

[3kidslater]

We just returned from cruising the lower Danube - Bucharest to Budapest. Boarded Sept.12th and worried that the water was too low. We were able to set out with only 10inches of water below the ship (or so we were told) we had one change in where we docked early in the cruise due to low water. As you can imagine, things changed drastically by the end of the trip. We were not able to go to Budapest by ship, bussed there from Ilok Croatia. All in all, not much change to the site seeing, and one less night onboard. Budapest seemed to be dealing with their flooding as well as can be. Still lots of activity and tourists in Budapest.

[3kidslater]

Here is a photo of a ticket office along the Danube in Budapest

[moonriver54]

7 minutes ago, 3kidslater said:

Here is a photo of a ticket office along the Danube in Budapest

Thank you very much for posting this update!  We'd be curious how you compare a cruise on the Lower Danube to the Upper Danube or Rhine if you've cruised on those stretches.  Sounds like you had a great time despite the minor disruptions as you neared Budapest.  

 

[3kidslater]

4 minutes ago, moonriver54 said:

Thank you very much for posting this update!  We'd be curious how you compare a cruise on the Lower Danube to the Upper Danube or Rhine if you've cruised on those stretches.  Sounds like you had a great time despite the minor disruptions as you neared Budapest.  

 

This was our first river cruise. We have traveled extensively and cruised on small ocean ships (Windstar) many times. Though we did enjoy ourselves, I don't think we will do any more river cruises for a variety of reasons. This was however an educational trip and a nice way to see the Balkans

[CJSANDFS]

11 hours ago, notamermaid said:

Certainly I do not want to criticize them, the geography of Germany may not be so easy to understand if you are far away in Australia, but there has been no flooding on the Rhine in September: https://cruisepassenger.com.au/news/floods-on-the-danube-and-rhine/

 

Also important to note is the fact that the photo is of a ship hull transport stuck on the Danube in June.

 

But there may be a few interesting notes in the text and in the comments for you.

 

notamermaid

 

 

Coming from Australia,  I have been avidly following this thread.  Quite a learning curve and much appreciated.  I swapped my June Danube cruise to one that leaves first week in November.  Hoping all is OK by then. What also amazes me is how the communities along the Danube cope. We had very bad floods around Lismore, Northern Rivers NSW in 2022 and there are still problems.

[UDChE89]

23 hours ago, moonriver54 said:

Thank you very much for posting this update!  We'd be curious how you compare a cruise on the Lower Danube to the Upper Danube or Rhine if you've cruised on those stretches.  Sounds like you had a great time despite the minor disruptions as you neared Budapest.  

 

My first river cruise was with Viva round trip from Passau but it turned around after the Iron Gates so I can speak to part of the lower Danube.  I found the stops in Serbia to be great.  We did a mid-day stop in Novi Sad, an overnight in Belgrade with the Serbs partying until 2 AM, cruised through the amazing Iron Gates, and stopped at the Golubac Fortress.  I blogged the trip here and would do it again in a heartbeat.

[steamboats]

Seems like Hungary opened up. My friends are on their way to Vienna.

 

steamboats

[ural guy]

Boarding in Budapest for a RT lower Danube tour, 14N.  We took this route in 2016 with Vantage, and had low water issues then and couldn't make it all the way to Constanta.  Hoping for better luck this time around.

 

 

[notamermaid]

Things are certainly looking better in Hungary and the river looks to have peaked at Vukovar as well. The wave is still in Novi Sad. Budapest gauge has fallen to 409cm so has been doing well but the decline in figures is now slow. That should not be too much of a problem now.

 

It is raining in Bavaria so again we are looking at the German Danube. Passau gauge has risen to 631cm. A bit too high for comfort but the problems at the suspension bridge should still be small.

 

notamermaid

 

[moonriver54]

Here's a screenshot from the Google Flood site of the Lower Danube as of a few moments ago...Saturday, 28 SEP.

 

https://sites.research.google/floods/l/46.312885023370406/19.504752979962337/8.065815112464032?layers

 

 

[notamermaid]

Interesting map, thank you. Some of the smaller rivers coming from the West, like the Drau (you say Drava in English), were also carrying larger volumes of water that contributed to the flooding and like with the Mur at the far left of the photo still show elevated levels. They may not all have been very high but certainly higher than they would normally be in September. Some more, some less, with the worst flood waters coming more from the left (here: Northern) tributaries than the right (here: Southern) tributaries of the Danube. One of the large tributaries has intrigued me in the last week while I roamed around the geography past Budapest (on online maps). We will have a look at that one soon.

 

The level at Novi Sad started falling during the night, minimally.

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

The Danube in Germany is certainly running at higher levels than is normal at this time of year. But Passau gauge is done a bit, now at 621cm. That is good. I would say, for now, the volume of water coming from the Upper Danube is manageable at Passau.

 

The rain and cooler weather are keeping the Danube's levels high in Austria but from what I can ascertain all looks manageable.

 

For the Grand European journeys: Canal of course fine, Main good, Rhine very good. Minor incidents that I cannot know about always excepted.

 

notamermaid

 

[ural guy]

We arrived in Budapest today, the water levels really have fallen.  We walked along the river for a bit, saw 7 Viking longships, but very little flooding evidence.  I expected to see some mud and sludge still clinging to things.

 

Spotted our ship, the Emily Bronte, wandered on board and verified that they'll be moored at the same spot tomorrow.  We can board at 1500, not the 1700 in the documents they sent out, which is nice.  Going to take a short train ride tomorrow and check out Szentendre.

[moonriver54]

Great news!  Enjoy your cruise!

[notamermaid]

44 minutes ago, ural guy said:

Going to take a short train ride tomorrow and check out Szentendre.

Enjoy. I only spent a couple of hours there. Found it to be interesting and unique. A bit touristy now. We went to the Serbian Orthodox Church, the town is characterized by an strong Serbian community that came in the 17th century.

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

The Novi Sad Danube level peaked at 546cm yesterday morning. It had been a little below 100cm before the wave began. It is now at 535cm (9pm local time). A really slow decline but it is there.

 

I noticed that lines for flooding as defined by the authorities were either reached for level 1, got close or are getting close, but not "dangerous" lines have been crossed. And according to a German version of a Serbian online news article it is true that there were and are no dangerous levels of the Danube expected in Serbia. https://www.slobodenpecat.mk/de/se-zgolemuva-nivoto-na-dunav-ja-ochekuvaat-li-srbija-poplavi-kako-vo-centralna-evropa/

"In den flussabwärts gelegenen Teilen des Baches, von Slankamen bis Belgrad, wird der Wasserstand ansteigen, aber kritische Werte nicht erreichen."

So no critical figures from Slankamen to Belgrade.

 

notamermaid

 

[Host Jazzbeau]

36 minutes ago, notamermaid said:

And according to a German version of a Serbian online news article

…according to the English translation of our intrepid reporter—I love the multiculturalism of Cruise Critic!

[notamermaid]

43 minutes ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

…according to the English translation of our intrepid reporter—I love the multiculturalism of Cruise Critic!

Great indeed. By the way, I had a good chuckle when I read that they call the Danube a "Bach", that is a brook or small river. You know, the type that flows through your village and you can use a paddle boat or canoe on it.

 

notamermaid

 

[RDVIK2016]

5 hours ago, notamermaid said:

Great indeed. By the way, I had a good chuckle when I read that they call the Danube a "Bach", that is a brook or small river. You know, the type that flows through your village and you can use a paddle boat or canoe on it.

 

notamermaid

My language nerdiness got the better of me again: Once I found the article in the original (North) Macedonian it appears a better translation instead of "Bach" should have been something like "Strömung" as in English "the flow" or "current".  The Macedonian word was "течениет" meaning "flow". "Bach" would be "Бах" (actually pronounced Bach) or "поток". 

RDVIK

[Canal archive]

For someone like myself, sadly only an English speaker the nuances of languages sometimes get lost but the origins of words don’t so when a language is able to accept words and phrases from other languages it’s a bonus.

The father of my eldest daughter’s friend was a Professor of ancient French at an English University now to me that’s really odd as the French specifically try to keep their language as they say pure. Why not borrow from another language the fun is working out which one and following these discussions on CC.

[brian1]

8 minutes ago, Canal archive said:

For someone like myself, sadly only an English speaker the nuances of languages sometimes get lost but the origins of words don’t so when a language is able to accept words and phrases from other languages it’s a bonus.

The father of my eldest daughter’s friend was a Professor of ancient French at an English University now to me that’s really odd as the French specifically try to keep their language as they say pure. Why not borrow from another language the fun is working out which one and following these discussions on CC.

It's even confusing amongst the "Romance" languages.Burro is Italian for butter.When we went to Spain I wondered why the waiters were laughing at me when I asked for a donkey to put on my toast.