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

[greydog]

27 minutes ago, Canal archive said:

Greydog I absolutely love your expression - exudes mild enthusiasm- brilliant, with your permission may I use it in the future?

Adapted for civilian use from my Army training where we learned to show false enthusiasm 😒

[notamermaid]

7 hours ago, Mike R 2018 said:

-Notamermaid-  Your observations and comments were appreciated on Cruise Critic prior to our 2019 Viking Rhine Getaway cruise.  Thank you once again!

Good to read that, thank you for saying hello again. 😊

 

Hope you have a great time exploring the Danube.

 

notamermaid

 

[RDVIK2016]

22 hours ago, notamermaid said:

 

Isa does not comb her hair, instead she turns up in bright dress adorned with a green wreath of reed in her hair to warn skippers. But she may take them to her palace underwater at the treacherous rock in the river if they cannot resist her singing. A mother whose son withstood the allure of Isa had a depiction of the Madonna erected on Jochenstein rock. Since then Isa has not shown herself to skippers anymore.

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jochenstein#/media/Datei:Jochenstein_Donau,_2012.JPG

 

notamermaid

 

 

The key to protection of skippers may actually be the additional presence of a statue of Johannes von Nepomuk. RDVIK

[notamermaid]

1 hour ago, RDVIK2016 said:

The key to protection of skippers may actually be the additional presence of a statue of Johannes von Nepomuk. RDVIK

Ah yes. He is the saint for bridges. Why he is on the rock in this case I do not know. He was Bohemian and a priest in Prague. He was murdered there and his shrine is in the Saint Vitus Cathedral. It has been a very long time since I was in Prague. I may have been to the Cathedral but remember little about it and had to look it all up.

 

Prague is of course the most frequent extension of a river cruise that ends in Bavaria. I have stated in the past that it is a pity that Munich is not used more often. But all in all, if you are coming from North America especially, in my opinion Prague is the superior city as regards exploring different cultures and ways of life in Europe. Another language to listen to, different food from Germany and Austria make Prague an exciting city.

 

Which brings me to the mention of an excursion to Bratislava...

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

11 hours ago, greydog said:

You drive around seeing res embassy buildings and walk around a couple large govt buildings without going inside.  After a family style lunch, you have an hour free time for shopping in relatively small city center.  Basically, there are no major attractions.

It is nearly eleven years ago that I was in Bratislava on my river cruise. The city was a regular stop on this itinerary and we arrived in the early morning. We had a relatively nice morning exploring with our guide. She took us in a mini-train up to the castle. A great view over the river made the ride worthwhile although we did not really see the inside of the castle. There were alleys and buildings we saw and our group walked past churches and renovated interesting buildings. We had about an hour of spare time to look into shops or explore a church. It was interesting to see what remained of the Soviet era and what they had done to the city since. As my previous job is connected to music I just had to take a photo of the theatre/opera house. Here is the castle:

 

The Saint George Fountain:

 

The opera house:

 

I enjoyed the short time we had there, but the couple we spoke mostly to on the cruise did not enjoy the city. Some years ago I spoke to a Slovakian gentleman who told me that if you go to his country go to the countryside, not Bratislava...

 

Would I go on a coach trip to see the city? Curious as I was about this place it was worthwhile for me stop there on the cruise. A coach trip of at least one hour and one hour back, I cannot say that I would recommend it. Staying in Vienna instead gives you more in-depth time in a European capital. If you would like to tick another European capital off your list just to compare it with another, a trip sounds okay. I find fitting your fabulous expression "exudes mild enthusiasm", @greydog.

 

notamermaid

 

 

[RDVIK2016]

2 hours ago, notamermaid said:

Ah yes. He is the saint for bridges. Why he is on the rock in this case I do not know. He was Bohemian and a priest in Prague. He was murdered there and his shrine is in the Saint Vitus Cathedral. It has been a very long time since I was in Prague. I may have been to the Cathedral but remember little about it and had to look it all up.

 

notamermaid

 

St John of Nepomuk is the patron saint of bridges, confessors, and river mariners because he was thrown off Prague's Charles Bridge to drown or maybe had already been tortured to death before being thrown into the river. It is said that King Wenceslaus IV (not Good King Wenceslaus I - who was really only a duke) had Jan Nepomuk killed because the priest refused to betray the secrecy of the queen's confessions. These events led to Johannes von Nepomuk becoming the patron saint of confessors, bridges, and river boatmen as well has Bohemia, Bavaria, parts of Austria and many others. 

 

Five bright stars shown from the sky when Jan Nepomuk's body was retrieved; that's why he is always depicted with a halo of five stars. His statues are ubiquitous in Czechia and Bavaria.

 

I find this period fascinating as it coincided with the life of the reformer Jan Hus. The queen, wife of Wenceslaus IV, was Sophia of Bavaria who was for a time very much fascinated by Jan Hus. Look at Mucha's Slav Epoch panel #9 lower right corner and see Sophia giving rapt attention to a Jan Hus sermon in Bethehem Chapel in Prague.

[notamermaid]

Jan Hus is an early reformer of the Catholic Church and his death was followed by the Hussite Wars, religious conflicts. His legacy, i.e. his ideas and teachings, are the basis of the Moravian Church and Unitas Fratrum, re-emerging in the 18th century. The base was then Herrnhut and from there they spread throughout the world. A mission was established in Pennsylvania on a Christmas Eve, therefore it is called Bethlehem.

 

Alphonse Mucha - I love his version of Art Nouveau. Had never heard of the Slav Epic.

 

notamermaid

 

[RDVIK2016]

10 minutes ago, notamermaid said:

Jan Hus is an early reformer of the Catholic Church and his death was followed by the Hussite Wars, religious conflicts. His legacy, i.e. his ideas and teachings, are the basis of the Moravian Church and Unitas Fratrum, re-emerging in the 18th century. The base was then Herrnhut and from there they spread throughout the world. A mission was established in Pennsylvania on a Christmas Eve, therefore it is called Bethlehem.

 

Alphonse Mucha - I love his version of Art Nouveau. Had never heard of the Slav Epic.

 

notamermaid

 

I went to Lehigh University for two years in Bethlehem, PA. Also in Bethlehem is Moravian College. After my upcoming visit to Berlin I will be in Prague and then Domažlice (Taus in German) a town near the Bavarian border where, in 1431, the Hussites led by Hus's follower Jan Žižka were victorious over the Catholic forces in Fifth Hussite Crusade. In German it was the Schlacht bei Taus. There is a loose connection with that battle depicted in a, folk pageant Der Further Drachenstich, the oldest in Germany, held every year in Furth im Wald, just across the border. Kardinal Cesarini represented the Pope then and has a part in the play. 

 

Slav Epic - Das Slawische Epos - It is Mucha's monumental work - 20 very large panels depicting the mythology and history of the Czechs and other slavs. Currently a palace in Prague is being renovated to accommodate them.  This a detail showing Queen Sophia in rapt attention of Magister Hus while her lady in waiting is totally disinterested. I think the Epic is currently on temporary display in Moravský Krumlov.

 

RDVIK

[RDVIK2016]

4 hours ago, notamermaid said:

It is nearly eleven years ago that I was in Bratislava on my river cruise. The city was a regular stop on this itinerary and we arrived in the early morning. We had a relatively nice morning exploring with our guide. She took us in a mini-train up to the castle. A great view over the river made the ride worthwhile although we did not really see the inside of the castle. There were alleys and buildings we saw and our group walked past churches and renovated interesting buildings. We had about an hour of spare time to look into shops or explore a church. It was interesting to see what remained of the Soviet era and what they had done to the city since. As my previous job is connected to music I just had to take a photo of the theatre/opera house.

 

I enjoyed the short time we had there, but the couple we spoke mostly to on the cruise did not enjoy the city. Some years ago I spoke to a Slovakian gentleman who told me that if you go to his country go to the countryside, not Bratislava...

 

notamermaid

 

 

I had the better part of the day in Bratislava on a Viking Cruise. We were only supposed to be there for the morning, but the water levels were low and we would not be able to get to Budapest. The boat stayed tied up in Bratislava for several extra hours while they made arrangements for us to go as far as Komarom and then be bussed to Budapest the next morning. We had gone with the package included walking tour and then I had several hours to wander on my own as my wife wanted to rest. I followed the coronation route, marked by brass plates in the cobblestone streets and alley ways. I went back to the castle and to St. Martins church where many of the rulers of the Kingdom of Hungary and the Austrian empire had been crowned. I went out to St Elizabeths - "the Blue Church", stopped along the way at a some markers of historic events. It was Czechoslovak national day and a memorial event with music was taking place honoring their first president Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk. Really enjoyed it and thought it was a really fun place to visit. Before we left the dock I got this photo where I was able to get the castle and the "UFO Bridge". You can see from the river bank how low the water was.

RDVIK

Edited March 28 by RDVIK2016
Added last sentence

[notamermaid]

11 hours ago, RDVIK2016 said:

You can see from the river bank how low the water was.

Yes, the steel constructions are at quite an angle.  So is the UFO construction on the Bridge but that is by design. Grin. It is an odd sight. Nice to see a nighttime photo.

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

17 hours ago, RDVIK2016 said:

The boat stayed tied up in Bratislava for several extra hours while they made arrangements for us to go as far as Komarom and then be bussed to Budapest the next morning.

That is one of the scenarios possible in low water.

 

For those new to the topic. On an itinerary from Amsterdam to Budapest there are two bottlenecks, areas that are prone to shallow conditions and can stop you sailing with your ship. Companies will use a ship swap, meaning you transfer from your ship on one end of the shallow section to the ship on the other end of the shallow section. Or you may spend part of your cruise in a hotel and on a coach to get to the next port - or your cruise will end.

 

Shallow section 1: the Rhine Gorge, from around Rüdesheim to around Koblenz.

Shallow section 2: the Bavarian Danube, from around Straubing to Vilshofen.

 

But that is not all. As mentioned in the quote there is also Komarom to Budapest. It is not what I would call a bottleneck as it is so near Budapest and can easily be reached by coach. Low water is not as frequent there as in Bavaria but it can happen.

 

Frequency of low water at shallow section 1: almost every year, some years little impact

Frequency of low water at shallow section 2: every year to varying degrees with impact every year from little (few years) to substantial (the majority of years). Komarom follows suit to shallow section 2 when the impact at section 2 is substantial.

 

That is a rough guide.

 

Can you plan your cruise to avoid it? To some degree. Foreseeable? No more than a few days in advance.

 

notamermaid

 

[RDVIK2016]

5 hours ago, notamermaid said:

That is one of the scenarios possible in low water.

 

For those new to the topic. On an itinerary from Amsterdam to Budapest there are two bottlenecks, areas that are prone to shallow conditions and can stop you sailing with your ship. Companies will use a ship swap, meaning you transfer from your ship on one end of the shallow section to the ship on the other end of the shallow section. Or you may spend part of your cruise in a hotel and on a coach to get to the next port - or your cruise will end.

 

Shallow section 1: the Rhine Gorge, from around Rüdesheim to around Koblenz.

Shallow section 2: the Bavarian Danube, from around Straubing to Vilshofen.

 

But that is not all. As mentioned in the quote there is also Komarom to Budapest. It is not what I would call a bottleneck as it is so near Budapest and can easily be reached by coach. Low water is not as frequent there as in Bavaria but it can happen.

 

Frequency of low water at shallow section 1: almost every year, some years little impact

Frequency of low water at shallow section 2: every year to varying degrees with impact every year from little (few years) to substantial (the majority of years). Komarom follows suit to shallow section 2 when the impact at section 2 is substantial.

 

That is a rough guide.

 

Can you plan your cruise to avoid it? To some degree. Foreseeable? No more than a few days in advance.

 

notamermaid

 

 

Every time I think about that cruise and not being able to sail into Budapest several things come to mind. I was glad to have more time in Bratislava, the Komárom docking situation was not good, everyone should to do pre and post extensions. The photo below is where we had to dock at Komárom. We were rafted as the fourth boat out from the river bank. The busses are lined up to take us and passengers of other boats to Budapest. There is no access to a nearby town from this location. Kudos to the staff on the cruise ships for keeping things organized and making sure everyone got on the correct bus. It was a little more than an hour drive to Budapest.

 

After our tours in Budapest there was another hour plus back to Komárom. The following morning people who had no extensions were just bussed to the airport from Komárom. Those of us with extensions were bussed to our hotel in Budapest, so we had two more days in this beautiful city. I felt really bad for those who had no extension because they got very little time in Budapest. Even worse on our trip we could not even go to Castle Hill because traffic was restricted while Vladimir Putin was in town visiting his buddy Viktor Orbán. 

 

My advice is to always schedule extensions of at least two days on either end of your cruises. Otherwise you are likely to see little of the cities at the start and end of the cruise.

 

RDVIK

 

 

[notamermaid]

It is Good Friday and the church bells are silent. The sound is replaced by ratchets. In Austria this tradition is so big that the government has included this on the national list of intangible cultural heritage: https://www.unesco.at/en/culture/intangible-cultural-heritage/national-inventory/news-1/article/ratschen-during-holy-week

 

In this video the children use the instruments, every hour to represent the "missing" church bells chimes, walk from door to door and say a verse. For their efforts they get cash to donate to charity and sweets: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fah7h2mULA4

 

 

The commentator by the way speaks Austrian Standard High German and the children throw in quite a lot of dialect including a couple of words I am not familiar with.

 

notamermaid

 

[RDVIK2016]

5 hours ago, notamermaid said:

It is Good Friday and the church bells are silent. The sound is replaced by ratchets. In Austria this tradition is so big that the government has included this on the national list of intangible cultural heritage: https://www.unesco.at/en/culture/intangible-cultural-heritage/national-inventory/news-1/article/ratschen-during-holy-week

 

In this video the children use the instruments, every hour to represent the "missing" church bells chimes, walk from door to door and say a verse. For their efforts they get cash to donate to charity and sweets: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fah7h2mULA4

 

 

The commentator by the way speaks Austrian Standard High German and the children throw in quite a lot of dialect including a couple of words I am not familiar with.

 

notamermaid

 

This Ratschen is such nice custom. (This and also the Sternsinger on Epiphany)

I wish I had seen this post before I posted my response on the Rhine Water Level board. It really aligns with what I was saying there.  As we were talking about dialects elsewhere it is interesting the hear the differences between the the Lower Austrian in the video I shared and this Upper Austrian, but just wait until you go farther west into the Tyrol!

[notamermaid]

6 hours ago, RDVIK2016 said:

As we were talking about dialects elsewhere it is interesting the hear the differences between the the Lower Austrian in the video I shared and this Upper Austrian, but just wait until you go farther west into the Tyrol!

Indeed. Austria also has dialects that are distinct from each other and I know for sure that I would have a hard time understanding a full conversation. Through television and holiday I am familiar with the usual differences between "German" and "Austrian" but would fail sitting among locals.

 

notamermaid

 

 

 

[notamermaid]

There has been an accident on the Danube with a river cruise ship. A ship sailing under Bulgarian flag with mostly German passengers on board hit a concrete wall in the lock at Aschach in Austria. Reports say that 17 people were lightly injured. Steering power was briefly lost, but the captain was able to get the electronics going again and sail out of the lock.

 

notamermaid

 

 

 

[Rebel54]

3 hours ago, notamermaid said:

There has been an accident on the Danube with a river cruise ship. A ship sailing under Bulgarian flag with mostly German passengers on board hit a concrete wall in the lock at Aschach in Austria. Reports say that 17 people were lightly injured. Steering power was briefly lost, but the captain was able to get the electronics going again and sail out of the lock.

 

notamermaid

 

 

 

I hope everyone will be ok.  How frightening.

[notamermaid]

German passengers and a Bulgarian ship is an unusual constellation and I only know of one. Indeed, one report shows the livery as being Plantours, so most likely the ship is the Rousse  Prestige.

 

I do not know if this affects the passage through the lock for other ships but a German report says that the ship could sail on to Linz and there is only slight damage to the concrete walls of the lock. Sounds as if as regards material there is not much impact.

 

notamermaid

 

 

 

[notamermaid]

Following the track of the Rousse Prestige online, I cold tell the accident happened at around 21.45 local time last night. According to Austrian reports the captain (second mate in this case) pressed an emergency button whereupon the electronics kicked back in and he could sail and dock the ship at the embankment. Rescue teams, etc. were called to the scene. 17 persons were injured and 11 of them taken to hospital but all injuries are supposed to be minor. You can see from the track that the Rousse Prestige docked for a few hours and that correlates with the report that the authorities later cleared the ship to be allowed to sail on. She left the Aschach lock area during the night and has since sailed on without further problems it seems. She is docked in Vienna at this time.

 

I am posting this screenshot also as it shows you the docking locations in Vienna. The Rousse Prestige is in Nussdorf. Several other ships have the more convenient city locations:

 

notamermaid

 

[Mike R 2018]

Very informative.  Thank you.

[Canal archive]

Thank you Notamermaid, it’s super to see that the tradition of recording the person in control of a vessel be it he/she, second mate or not is accorded the title of Captain and that this one had the training and foresight to carry out the correct procedure. Not like some in the past. Hopefully not to much damage human on inanimate occurred.

[notamermaid]

It is unlikely that we will read more about this. All the better I guess as that would mean that all those taken to hospital will recover quickly or are already back on board. So hopefully no more reporting.

 

@Canal archive if I have understood it correctly when river cruise ships do nighttime sailings this means there are three shifts in a day and three people allowed to steer the ship are on board. That is a captain, someone I believe is called a second mate (not sure about the maritime English actually) and a third one who is learning or can do some sailing. Not sure about the patents needed, etc.

 

That would for me be an interesting topic to follow up on. I spoke to crew and had seen two people steering the ship with a third obviously trained to handle the bridge controls (who I saw when I was in the wheelhouse briefly). But I have no further details on that. If anyone is interested in asking on board and posting...

 

notamermaid

 

[Canal archive]

Notamermaid as far as I know the person in the wheelhouse nominated as in charge is - per se ‘the captain’ and should have a certain basic qualification. Many of the European River Captains are Eastern European and are absolutely brilliant. We had one who actually challenged the cost of working through a lock, (big discussion with some of the  passengers!) Mind you on this cruise many of the passengers got on really well with the crew. Okay some years ago now but an interesting scenario.

[notamermaid]

32 minutes ago, Canal archive said:

Many of the European River Captains are Eastern European and are absolutely brilliant.

The crew on my ship, the MS Belvedere, was Eastern European mostly. The two captains were from Serbia I believe. Interestingly, the younger one was in charge, with the older being the "second captain". It only became clear during the cocktail hour talks. The older one was more experienced with the passengers so talked a bit more. Really nice guy. He was the one who showed us the wheelhouse during an afternoon sail. The hotel staff appeared to be a mix of Eastern European and Austrian and German.

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

Another report on the Rousse Prestige, really good one. 😊 As I was secretly thinking and very much hoping, all injuries are indeed minor. I guess it is the "heavy bump that throws you off balance and against a table or onto the floor". Which would normally result in easy to treat injuries. The accident quite naturally became a topic on Binnenschifferforum and according to one poster all passengers are back on board. Photo of damage to stern: https://www.binnenschifferforum.de/showthread.php?117616-Schiffs-Unfall-auf-der-Donau-17-Verletzte

 

notamermaid