I trade river level info for pictures ;)

I just wanted to let you guys know that I tried to take care of the river level problem - well at least the problem that information are scattered all across the web: I took data published by several national organisations, sorted them along the river (source to mouth in kilometer) and created a unified visualisation for 327 river level stations along the following rivers: Danube, Elbe, Main, Moselle, Rhine, Rhone, Saar, Saone, Seine, & Vltava. Just go to: http://www.rivercruiseinfo.com/content/rivers - click on a river name and on the tab "waterlevels" - click on a stations name to see the graph. You'll see several lines: Minimum / maximum values, quartiles, median & averages, don't get confused ;) You can change the period of time: 7 days, 30 days, full year. I know, for the danube this might include a lot of clicking, but I discarded the "unfold all" button, as it put a heavy load on the server - if you'll want to see the whole year.

You will furthermore discover two nice spoilers: A.) I am planning to display the official warning levels for each gauge station. B.) at least for the german stations (thanks to german bureaucracy) I already have historical river levels. My plan is to visualize them with a boxplot - so you'll even know if the actual level ist usual for this season or already unusual high / low.

Furthermore you can compare some technical data across all ships http://www.rivercruiseinfo.com/content/compare-ships . I gathered theses data from all different kind of sources, boards, ship spotting sites, investment group pages and so on. Therefore they are officially unproven but quite accurate. Especially interesting might be the minimum and maximum draft of ships.

For the next feature I need your help. I would like to include pictures of cities & ships. Not the fancy high resolution professional stuff used in advertisement (though I certainly would not mind a certain quality), but the real stuff - how these ships (their equipment & cabins) and cities really look like. Status so far: I got ca. 15 / 400 cities myself and ca. 40 - 50 / 250 ship photos (outside only). Therefore I am really looking forward for your help, as you have been out there on the cruises ;)

Thanks, Ingo

Wow! This is incredible information! I'm just starting my research and what are the chances of you posting this today, when I was looking for something comprehensive! I'm wondering what made you want to undertake such a huge project? It is very helpful and I've bookmarked your site for future use!

Thank You, I had contemplated doing something similar, but abandoned the idea quickly as I realized the amount of work needed to keep it up to date. Having the draft and the height posted for each ship is invaluable when deciding which ships to consider under low and high water conditions. Do you have any ideas for handling anecdotal input on problems with water level?

What an excellent resource. I started collecting this for myslef to compare the lines that sailed the Rhine River. You have done most of my work for me. No I will add the prices and the included features.

Thanks,

I'm wondering what made you want to undertake such a huge project?

Well, I guess I was just upset about most websites in this niche.. I actually had a tech blog I put to rest, was thinking of starting just a tourguide blog... Some chats with friends and research on the net let to another. I love the CC forum but do not consider boards as the best way to store information. So I gave it a try and you'll see the result. I got another 2-3 cool things up my sleeve, just wait.. :)

Btw, most have found the contact form at rivercruiseinfo.com/contact , another option is you email me ingo@rivercruiseinfo.com

Having the draft and the height posted for each ship is invaluable when deciding which ships to consider under low and high water conditions.

I agree - but smaller ships usually do not get affected as easily by high-/low water problems.. Furthermore if one is concerned of getting bussed around, I recommend to look for any 2 week cruise with an alternativ cruise taking place at the same time.. Then companies usually swap ships.

Do you have any ideas for handling anecdotal input on problems with water level?

What exactly do you mean? ;)

Great resource... thanks so much for taking the time to do this!!

I will look at my pictures, and see what I have that may be of help.

Do we e-mail them to you directly??

Fran

What a great resource! Thank you so much for posting it. Unfortunately, since I don't have any river cruises planned, it won't be of much help to me for a while.:(

What exactly do you mean? ;)

I was thinking of a tab where cruisers could post changes in status of cruises such as a particular ship being unable to navigate a certain stretch or problems doing so, or a ship being able to navigate, where it wasn't previously being able to, This could be correlated with the technical river condtions, Such information is currently scattered among many web sites.

I can provide a few photos of the Viking Sky. Let me know how to get them to you.

Probably the best way would be to contact me first via email, options would be drop box, email attachments or one click hoster..

I was thinking of a tab where cruisers could post changes in status of cruises such as a particular ship being unable to navigate a certain stretch or problems doing so, or a ship being able to navigate, where it wasn't previously being able to, This could be correlated with the technical river condtions, Such information is currently scattered among many web sites.

That is a good idea. From the database I know where a ship "should" be on a particular day... Let me think about it ;) Other idead are appreciated as well..

Okie, would love to see you pics of Sky. We are sailing her sister Spirit in Dec. my email is fpchef1@aol.com. Thanks, Scott