AMA boat stuck in lock - Rhone River

I'm currently on MS Chardonnay. The lock between Avignon and Tournon has been struck and 2 vessels are stuck inside. One is a cargo vessel and the other is an AMA boat. A part to fix the hydraulics is coming from Marseille. We have been stationery since lunch time yesterday when we arrived at the lock to head north. We relocated to Cruas and are currently sitting it out. All the other pax have gone on a coach ride and tour to Lyon. I have no idea whether the Pax on the AMA vessel are still on board or whether they have been able to re-locate.

Is that why they call it a lock?

I'm currently on MS Chardonnay. The lock between Avignon and Tournon has been struck and 2 vessels are stuck inside. One is a cargo vessel and the other is an AMA boat. A part to fix the hydraulics is coming from Marseille. We have been stationery since lunch time yesterday when we arrived at the lock to head north. We relocated to Cruas and are currently sitting it out. All the other pax have gone on a coach ride and tour to Lyon. I have no idea whether the Pax on the AMA vessel are still on board or whether they have been able to re-locate.

Hi I wonder if you could a picture of it? Also, what AMA boat is it, can you tell?

Many thanks

Is that why they call it a lock?

Good one! :D Situation isn't funny of course, but sometimes you just have to laugh!

Adam Coulter: Can only be Amadagio or Amalegro, they operate on the rivers in France.

(Edit: checked marinetraffic.com, can only be the Amadagio, the AMalegro is on the Seine)

Hi I wonder if you could a picture of it? Also, what AMA boat is it, can you tell?

Many thanks

I have a pic of the lock from when we originally arrived there but obviously not of the boats that are stuck inside. Am still trying to upload Avignon pics.

Cruise Critic have posted an article about it here

Thanks NorbertsNiece for telling us about this this morning. And kudos to

CC-UK for doing an article so quickly! Cruisecritic, both members and

editors, is simply the best.

Our cruise ends tomorrow. We will be debarking at 2pm and spending 2 nights in Lyon, hotel yet to be advised but on a full board basis. Various excursions will be organised. We head for Paris on Friday for the 3 nights already included as part of the itinerary. The crane from Marseille has yet to arrive at the lock.

certainly not the year for river cruising in Europe with the floods, lock workers strikes and now in France, a damaged lock. Let's hope low water doesn't exacerbate things. I leave in 2 weeks for my Saone and Rhone cruise and will be sadly disappointed if I encounter any issues with the rivers or the locks. Thanks NN for taking us on your journey

newfirsttimer: I forgot about you and the question how to rate the waterlevels on the Saone, Rhone.. Sorry, here are now some values (Q25, Median, Q75) based on this year so far:

Rhone:

Ternay: 140, 160, 190

Valence: 250, 262, 290

Avignon: 333, 340, 345

Saone:

Cendrecourt: 119, 130, 144

Pics taken of the lock yesterday whilst we were at lunch and pulled up waiting.... there is a road that traverses across the front of the lock.... wonder how that's affected.....

4 am.

We are under way.

I am woken by the racket from the engines.

I'm just off AmaWaterway's AmaPrima (Danube) and literally all key staff were rushing off to the Rhone to deal with this latest issue. One of the Europe-based execs concurred with your comment Newfirsttimer -- said it has been an exhausting year for crises on the river. But he said it with a smile....

Carolyn

Carolyn Spencer Brown

Editor in Chief

Cruise Critic

certainly not the year for river cruising in Europe with the floods, lock workers strikes and now in France, a damaged lock. Let's hope low water doesn't exacerbate things. I leave in 2 weeks for my Saone and Rhone cruise and will be sadly disappointed if I encounter any issues with the rivers or the locks. Thanks NN for taking us on your journey

Thanks NorbertsNiece for telling us about this this morning. And kudos to

CC-UK for doing an article so quickly! Cruisecritic, both members and

editors, is simply the best.

Thank you! We try – but it's largely down to you guys for letting us know what's going on the ground (or the river/sea I should say!).

Best wishes

If anyone is on AmaDagio (or I should say, was on it before it got stuck), or indeed any other of the boats that have been delayed by this incident, I wonder if you could send a picture of the crane winching out the boat? – we would love to see it, and will of course give you a credit.

Many thanks

If anyone is on AmaDagio (or I should say, was on it before it got stuck), or indeed any other of the boats that have been delayed by this incident, I wonder if you could send a picture of the crane winching out the boat? – we would love to see it, and will of course give you a credit.

Many thanks

We were told the gates were opened around 3am.... not clear whether any boat winching was done.... seems the accident caused all the hydraulics to be disabled when the AMAdagio was at the top of the lock... the pax walked off.... my understanding is that both boats in there were damaged.... that the gates had to be repaired / removed / replaced...... our sister ship, the Provence, had been stuck in Tournon. Their pax had been debarked to hotels I guess; as we were on board and good to go we were the first through the opened gates.

certainly not the year for river cruising in Europe with the floods, lock workers strikes and now in France, a damaged lock. Let's hope low water doesn't exacerbate things. I leave in 2 weeks for my Saone and Rhone cruise and will be sadly disappointed if I encounter any issues with the rivers or the locks. Thanks NN for taking us on your journey

I concur:

Sad tale of woe re the floods and how they were mishandled by the company on this link.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1892421

I concur:

Sad tale of woe re the floods and how they were mishandled by the company on this link.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1892421

This sounds like "the company" is AMA -- it is not.

This sounds like "the company" is AMA -- it is not.

NO. I did mention the name at the start of the article.

"The Company" is Evergreen Tours, a subsidiary of Scenic Tours, based in Australia and doing massive advertising at this time.

Got a message from AMA on Facebook. The amadagio is free of the lock. They are giving passengers a 50% credit in the amount of the fare paid on any future cruise through 2016. I think that is really generous, ESP considering it wasn't AMA's fault.

Got a message from AMA on Facebook. The amadagio is free of the lock. They are giving passengers a 50% credit in the amount of the fare paid on any future cruise through 2016. I think that is really generous, ESP considering it wasn't AMA's fault.

Wish they could teach Scenic Tours a thing or two!

Or better yet, take them over completely!

NO. I did mention the name at the start of the article.

 

"The Company" is Evergreen Tours, a subsidiary of Scenic Tours, based in Australia and doing massive advertising at this time.

I don't know what you THINK you posted, but this is what I saw:

I don't know what you THINK you posted, but this is what I saw:

My humble apologies to AMA and all readers.

Meant to type

I concur:

Sad tale of woe re the floods and how they were mishandled by a company on this link.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1892421