notamermaid

To the river levels. I see in the forecast for the High Rhine and the Upper Rhine that a rise is expected. At Maxau we could see a relatively high level for May but no flooding on the 18th. This will have no strong effect further downstream although the levels in the Middle Rhine valley will of course rise in due course. The figures will be just above 300cm most likely at Kaub on 19/20 May. The current level is 232cm. notamermaid

The Moby Dick is an excursion boat of a Bonn company. The boat sails in the Bonn area but also upstream to Linz regularly with a few trips up to Koblenz. It was built in 1976 and named after the whale in the Rhine. Here is a short video of the boat sailing on the Rhine, with aerial footage: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QFHK0yncPb0 So why "Moby Dick"? In 1966, a beluga whale got lost and sailed up the Rhine. This is the story: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moby_Dick_(Rhine) notamermaid

I see they also have the Fleur in the portfolio. Have never heard of the Anna Antal, interesting one, not sure what is meant by "former shuttle barge". As for the two ships on the Seine that I have looked at, they are both sailing under Dutch flag, they are called the Fleur and the Zwaantje. Both also do trips in the Netherlands but come to the Seine for some time of the year. Hang on - sailing from the Netherlands to Paris?? Correct. Being the size they are they can do what large river cruise ships cannot do. A river cruise ship needs to sail from Amsterdam to the Rhine and then the Moselle to Luxembourg and then you take the coach to Paris. The small river cruise ships, i.e. barges, go the other way. We will explore that further, but first up is the route to Melun or even up to Sens on the Yonne. This is the waterway map: https://www.water-ways.net/de/laender/frankreich/riviere-seine-marcilly-paris.php notamermaid

Another lovely one! Thanks for the photo. It seem that the Colibri is err, let us say, two levels up from a bike and barge cruise, at least judging from these photos: https://www.bargecolibri.com/gallery.php notamermaid

The rivers and canals of France offer fantastic landscapes and you can crisscross the country on boats for years... The rivers - well there is the Seine of course which is so popular and large that we do not need to talk about it here. Or do we? And what about the Yonne, ever heard of that one? You will find out if you go to Paris and head in the "wrong" direction. It is perhaps not commonly known that ships of 110m and shorter are allowed to sail further than the Port de Grenelle. It must be an amazing sight sailing through Paris and out the other way (until you see the industrial area). But you never read of such itineraries in the standard brochures, not even in German or Dutch. Barges sail quite a way up the river beyond Paris to important ports for bulk, like grain for example. The challenge in Paris city centre are the bridges so restrictions apply and later on the narrowing locks eventually make the river impassable for large ships. So, do river cruise ships sail upstream from Paris? Yes and no. The trips I have found lately are all declared as bike and boat. That means the ships are small. Yet, they are river cruise ships in the broadest sense. One itinerary that I found gives the location for embarkation as Quai de Bercy. That is on the other side of Paris already, as compared to Quai de Grenelle: Another cruise ends "near Notre Dame" as they write it. Hmm, neither sail through Paris, meaning from around the Eiffel Tower upstream. A pity. I guess one could start in Honfleur and sail up the Seine to Paris, then change to an excursion boat, sail to the other side and board the next ship at Quai de Bercy to go to port x offered on the smaller ship. That would be the longest river journey on the Seine possible. Unless you then hop onto a self-drive motorboat. But let us ignore that last bit. Question is: would you want to leave your luxury river cruise ship and take the next journey in a far smaller cabin? We will have a look at the ships and the Yonne river in a next post. notamermaid

Of the popular rivers in Europe the Elbe is our "Sorgenkind" right now, the child we need to worry about. So let us have a look. Dresden gauge is down to 98cm and the next 48 hours do not indicate a noticeable improvement. 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

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

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

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

The emphasis is on the almost. It is worth comparing the German lines to the international ones, for sure. Viva Cruises includes many alcoholic drinks but not excursions for example. The info is here: https://www.viva-*****/en/onboard-abc notamermaid

This is a high quality webcam, a snapshot, you can see the northern lights, high in the Alps: https://www.foto-webcam.eu/webcam/funtenseetauern/ This photo is from midnight. notamermaid

Oooh, yes, I count myself fortunate to be able to get to lovely places very fast. Actually, tonight we have had a lovely sunset that I have been able to enjoy. We are supposed to be even able to see Northern Lights due to the sun's strong activity but I did not get out in time to be able to direct my vision at North. I have been working today so have been a bit busy well into the evening. You say two to three hours, in that time I would be able to get to Luxembourg or France. It would be great to hear a different language again. Perhaps in a couple of weeks time. Getting to mountains within two to three hours or to the beaches is great. You can certainly call that getting away from everyday life. A lovely weekend trip... I think to the beaches is a bit further for me, close to four hours probably. Very manageable of course. I prefer the French Pas-de-Calais region, that is nearly five hours. Not many people want to go there but I enjoy it. notamermaid

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

That is how recall it with the names, too. Two of the founders of Amawaterways are (were, if they are now US citizens) German. notamermaid