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

[notamermaid]

While doing a bit of research on the MS Heidelberg, I came across the webcam of Engelhartszell. A really good one with an archive search function. Here it is. A busy place these days with river cruise ships. And a very attractive Baroque monastery, looks an even prettier setting than I had expected: https://engelhartszell.panomax.com/penzenstein

 

Today's footage shows the MS Heidelberg indeed docked there, as I expected from her signal yesterday. Reports have stated that she would return to Passau from Budapest. That may still happen, but Engelhartszell is very much an alternative embarkation port (for Passau) for German river cruise ships these days.

 

Still no clue as to which company is chartering the ship. If you happen to be in Engelhartszell yourself, perhaps you happen to "bump into" some info.

 

notamermaid

 

[rcaruso]

4 hours ago, notamermaid said:

While doing a bit of research on the MS Heidelberg, I came across the webcam of Engelhartszell. A really good one with an archive search function. Here it is. A busy place these days with river cruise ships. And a very attractive Baroque monastery, looks an even prettier setting than I had expected: https://engelhartszell.panomax.com/penzenstein

 

Today's footage shows the MS Heidelberg indeed docked there, as I expected from her signal yesterday. Reports have stated that she would return to Passau from Budapest. That may still happen, but Engelhartszell is very much an alternative embarkation port (for Passau) for German river cruise ships these days.

 

Still no clue as to which company is chartering the ship. If you happen to be in Engelhartszell yourself, perhaps you happen to "bump into" some info.

 

notamermaid

 

One of the reports said it was a charter for Chinese, if that helps.

[notamermaid]

Thank you, that is an area into which I did not look, geographically. The timeline is correct, the ship was deleted from the Swiss register in March and this gentleman who had worked on repairs posted farewell photos on facebook on 28 March: https://www.hugo-dircks.de/home.html

 

The MS Heidelberg was sold to the Chinese, he says.

 

notamermaid

 

 

[notamermaid]

Quick update on the river in Germany. Pfelling gauge is fairly high, but the river can take it. Passau gauge is forecast to stay below 600cm today and tomorrow.

 

notamermaid

 

[posalttrav]

2 hours ago, notamermaid said:

Quick update on the river in Germany. Pfelling gauge is fairly high, but the river can take it. Passau gauge is forecast to stay below 600cm today and tomorrow.

 

notamermaid

 

Thanks for the update!  We will be heading south, through Passau, on Tuesday.  Hoping it's still good then!

[notamermaid]

2 hours ago, posalttrav said:

Thanks for the update!  We will be heading south, through Passau, on Tuesday.  Hoping it's still good then!

Exciting! Have a great time on the river.

 

This is a bridge which should not cause any water level problems, it is at Esztergom. I think not many river cruises with the North-American lines stop at Esztergom. My German cruise stopped there and I remember it well, an enjoyable morning:

 

notamermaid

 

 

[posalttrav]

1 hour ago, notamermaid said:

Exciting! Have a great time on the river.

 

This is a bridge which should not cause any water level problems, it is at Esztergom. I think not many river cruises with the North-American lines stop at Esztergom. My German cruise stopped there and I remember it well, an enjoyable morning:

 

notamermaid

 

 

Looking forward to it!   Yeah, that's not one of our stops.

[RDVIK2016]

On 5/22/2024 at 7:38 AM, notamermaid said:

The Bavarian Forest has seen a lot of rain which will drain into the Danube via the Regen river to a large degree. That is the river that gives Regensburg its name. As of now, we are seeing a rise at Passau but staying under 600cm most likely in the next 24 hours. Now at 584cm.

 

notamermaid

 

Three weeks ago, when my wife and I were in the Bavarian Forest, we wandered around an artificial lake that partially serves as flood control for the Regen and a tributary, the Chamb, that joins the Regen at the town of Cham. Two photos are attached, one looks across the lake, called the Drachensee, towards the north and you can see the dam that holds back the waters of the Chamb. It was an interesting project and serves also as wildlife habitat and for recreation. There is additional cleared area upstream so much more water can be contained. The second photo is in the opposite direction - One can just make out mountaintop towers in both photos - relics of Cold War electronic intelligence gathering - one of the NATO in (West) Germany the other an installation of the Warsaw Pact in Czech-ia/(-oslovakia).

[notamermaid]

The Bavarian Forest is a beautiful region with some high mountains. I went to Cham many years ago. It is a pity that it is not visited really from river cruise ships. I guess people do travel via that road on the way to Prague occasionally, not sure. It is not spectacular but a really nice contrast to the valley. It is just under an hour away from Regensburg.

 

notamermaid

 

 

 

[RDVIK2016]

3 hours ago, notamermaid said:

The Bavarian Forest is a beautiful region with some high mountains. I went to Cham many years ago. It is a pity that it is not visited really from river cruise ships. I guess people do travel via that road on the way to Prague occasionally, not sure. It is not spectacular but a really nice contrast to the valley. It is just under an hour away from Regensburg.

 

notamermaid

I can think of a few four to eight hour excursions that a cruise company might take to the Bavarian Forest. Deggendorf on the Danube would probably make for the shortest drives to the most likely destinations.

 

In the second photo the highest mountain in the Bavarian Forest is poking it's summit up far in the distance between two hills just to the left of center. That's Großer Arber at about 1,450 meters. Others in the photos are between 1040 and 1300 meters.

 

Going to Prague from the Danube at Regensburg, Deggendorf, or Straubing the route through Cham could be a good choice, but would add too much time from Passau. This recent trip we took the train from Prague to Cham and rented a car there.

[notamermaid]

We expect some flooding along the Rhine, but the rain clouds are also sweeping East quite fast. There is now a (pre)alert for heavy rain from Friday for most of Bavaria. River levels fine for now. We will know more on Friday.

 

notamermaid

 

[DocHifi]

We are taking the Viking Romantic Danube long boat trip from Regensburg to Budapset. I received this email yesterday (4 days before our trip begins): This message is to update you regarding a change in your embarkation. Due to high water levels on the Danube River near Passau, your ship will be unable to reach its regular embarkation port in Regensburg and you will now embark in Passau (75 miles east of Regensburg). As a result of these changes, we have made the following adjustments to your program: Day 1: On arrival at the airport on Day 1 of your itinerary, please collect your luggage, exit customs and find the Viking airport representative in the arrivals area for transfer to your ship.  Day 2: On day 2 of your itinerary, your Regensburg shore excursions will operate out of Passau by motorcoach. Day 3: Resume previously advised itinerary.

I am curious if anyone who has taken this trip before can elaborate on what we should expect on day 2.  It appears we will be bussed from to Passau to Regensburg, which from Google maps appears to be about a 1.25 hour bus ride one way. Does this mean our time in Passau will be reduced by 2.5 hours due to round trip bussing? 

Edited May 29 by DocHifi

[steamboats]

Interesting that Viking knows in advance about a high water situation as currently there's no high water at all 🤣.

 

As notamermaid wrote we do expect a lot of rain during the next four days and therefore floodings are pretty likely. But even the WGs were not yet able to say how much rain we will get. I'm referring to the forecast in todays prime time news.

 

steamboats 

[notamermaid]

Welcome to Cruisecritic.

2 hours ago, DocHifi said:

We are taking the Viking Romantic Danube long boat trip from Regensburg to Budapset.

Interesting - and good of Viking - that they announce the change in good time. The high water does not show on the gauges yet but can well be anticipated. On your itinerary it revolves around the fact that there is the low bridge at Passau which I reckon Viking is seeing as becoming impassable. Hence the fact that you will be embarking at Passau, i.e. the most likely explanation for the change. In order to still give you the experience of Regensburg they offer the coach tour. This has been mentioned on Cruisecritic before and from what I recall it was a loss of time in Passau. Should you not get an answer directly from a past cruiser the respective roll call may be helpful. Access it via https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/851-viking-river-roll-calls/

 

Have a great trip.

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

14 minutes ago, steamboats said:

But even the WGs were not yet able to say how much rain we will get. I'm referring to the forecast in todays prime time news.

 

Quite a bit of speculating, you are right. The graphs for the Rhine do not look good but keep changing a little by the hour. As of now Kelheim (before Regensburg) is showing a definite rise in the forecast on Saturday but how all that rain will translate into the gauge readings at Passau is guesswork. Viking is guessing the rise will be substantial, from what I read they could be right about that bridge. Other than that - "schaun wir mal". We will see. Hope the Isar will behave.

 

Passau now is at 581cm so all good and likely to stay that way tomorrow.

 

notamermaid

 

[Yorkieboy1972]

Hi

 

been Following this thread for a while and have just joined.

 

we’ve just docked in Vienna and are heading to Frankfurt. We’re due in Passau on Saturday, should we be expecting fun and games?

[steamboats]

Passau is currently even dropping. The Isar already had a bit of water yesterday (I had a couple of minutes to watch the river) and as of today it´s raining. There is much more rain in the forecast and we do have a pre warning starting tomorrow by noon. There can be 10l/sqm/h which is a big amount of water (equivalent of a month´s amount within 24 hours). So we do expect floodings and even severe floodings along the Danube river. But nobody can tell by now where and when this water is coming and causing floodings.

 

steamboats

 

 

[notamermaid]

5 hours ago, Yorkieboy1972 said:

Hi

 

been Following this thread for a while and have just joined.

 

we’ve just docked in Vienna and are heading to Frankfurt. We’re due in Passau on Saturday, should we be expecting fun and games?

Welcome to Cruisecritic.

 

Unfortunately what may likely stand in your way of getting to Frankfurt is that bridge in Passau. That is for now where I see the main problem. I will go with steamboats and say that right we cannot know what will happen on Saturday exactly. To some extent the volume of water coming from Regensburg can be controlled with the locks, the Isar river comes in at Deggendorf so that is a factor to consider as well, for the forecast. Does not look promising. Bad weather:

Passau gauge is at 582cm, steamboats mentioned that it is down a bit on yesterday. Until tomorrow afternoon things look good but after that the high volume of water may prove too much for the river and there is a risk of the gauge going over 630cm during the evening.

 

Note that passage under the bridge(s) will depend on the superstructure of your particular ship so any figure I give is only a guideline.

 

The authorities in Bavaria have written it here. "some cruise ships":

 

notamermaid

 

 

[Yorkieboy1972]

36 minutes ago, notamermaid said:

Welcome to Cruisecritic.

 

Unfortunately what may likely stand in your way of getting to Frankfurt is that bridge in Passau. That is for now where I see the main problem. I will go with steamboats and say that right we cannot know what will happen on Saturday exactly. To some extent the volume of water coming from Regensburg can be controlled with the locks, the Isar river comes in at Deggendorf so that is a factor to consider as well, for the forecast. Does not look promising. Bad weather:

Passau gauge is at 582cm, steamboats mentioned that it is down a bit on yesterday. Until tomorrow afternoon things look good but after that the high volume of water may prove too much for the river and there is a risk of the gauge going over 630cm during the evening.

 

Note that passage under the bridge(s) will depend on the superstructure of your particular ship so any figure I give is only a guideline.

 

The authorities in Bavaria have written it here. "some cruise ships":

 

notamermaid

 

 

Thank you for that, I think.

 

We’re on the TUI Isla, hopefully we have the right kind of superstructure but knowing our luck probably not. The rep on the boat claims there shouldn’t be any issues. She wouldn’t want to scare the horses? 
 

What happens if it is impassable?

[steamboats]

20 minutes ago, Yorkieboy1972 said:

What happens if it is impassable?

 

Then you simply can´t go any further upriver on the Danube river. The ship won´t fit under the bridge anymore.

 

If the company has another ship going downriver then a common procedure is swapping ships. So you pack up everything and are bussed to the other ship and get the same cabin on that one while the passengers of the other ship are being bussed to your original ship.

 

If there´s no other ship close your cruise might turn into a bus trip with hotel stays. And you might miss some planned "port stops" on the bus trip.

 

steamboats

[notamermaid]

24 minutes ago, Yorkieboy1972 said:

We’re on the TUI Isla, hopefully we have the right kind of superstructure but knowing our luck probably not.

The main difference is the number of passenger decks. I think the TUI Isla is the standard large size (135m) and standard height. Which is not good for passage under that bridge. Your captain will know best of course what will be possible and when.

 

24 minutes ago, Yorkieboy1972 said:

The rep on the boat claims there shouldn’t be any issues. She wouldn’t want to scare the horses? 

That may be the case.

 

24 minutes ago, Yorkieboy1972 said:

What happens if it is impassable?

Plan B kicks in. River cruise companies do have them and your cruise director will know this. Ship swap, cancellation or bus trip spring to mind. Or just plain waiting till the wave has passed.

 Edit: same time posting as steamboats

 

notamermaid

 

 

Edited May 30 by notamermaid

[bvm49]

I'm following this discussion. As our Viking cruise leaves from Bucharest on July 10th, we don't get to Passau until July 22nd. Hope water levels are fine by then.

Brian 

[AnhaltER1960]

22 hours ago, steamboats said:

Interesting that Viking knows in advance about a high water situation as currently there's no high water at all 🤣.

 

steamboats 

Reading the weather reports is no rocket science. And there had been forecasts of massive rainfalls around for several days now. While the weather models had not been clear so far, how much rain in how much time will fall, and where exactly, it was quite clear that the catchment area of the Danube (and probably the Elbe too) will be hit. Adding 2+2 comes inevitably to the result that there will be a flood of the Danube. Where exactly, when exactly, we will see.

[steamboats]

@AnhaltER1960 but even the WGs still don't know where exactly and how much rain we will get.

 

It's pretty likely that there will be high water in the Danube River. Bit when and how long...

 

I had a pre warning for tomorrow starting at noon. Now it's a red alert on KatWarn starting at midnight. And the red alert is for quite a big area.

 

And it's surprising that Viking ist rerouting so early. Usually they are the last to do so and totally surprised by the situation.

 

steamboats 

[AnhaltER1960]

38 minutes ago, steamboats said:

@AnhaltER1960 but even the WGs still don't know where exactly and how much rain we will get.

 

It's pretty likely that there will be high water in the Danube River. Bit when and how long...

 

I had a pre warning for tomorrow starting at noon. Now it's a red alert on KatWarn starting at midnight. And the red alert is for quite a big area.

 

And it's surprising that Viking ist rerouting so early. Usually they are the last to do so and totally surprised by the situation.

 

steamboats 

For somebody living in Bavaria it is of interest, which area/river will be exactly affected how much, because this may mean to abandon the flat or not. Yes, the weather forecasts dont have that accuracy yet. However, the water will end in the Danube and for somebody running ships on the Danube you only have to know there will be a flood, which will impact your operations. Give and take a couple of inches, a couple of hours does not matter if you prepare and place the ships, where they could do plan b.
Starting to prepare early by Viking, well call it a learning curve. Maybe they do not want a bunch of bad news for their new shareholders, but show they can handle an extreme situation professionally....