How Emerald handles high water compensation

We just returned from a lovely Rhine Rhapsody on the Viking Odin that went Basel-Trier plus two days in Paris. We extended our stay to an additional four days in Paris and flew home May 8.

The Seine was flooded from Monday May 4 until at least the 8th having overflowed its banks. The Batobus was not able to run altho we did see some other dinner cruise ships on the Seine.

Today our local cruise reporter posted this in his blog and in the local paper. He was on the new Emerald river boat which had been stuck on the Rhine for 5 days unable to move through a lock due to the high water.

I found his report very interesting plus noteworthy of how Emerald is handling the high water by giving their customers choices. Maybe other lines will sit up and take notice.

Since I have not seen any other posts on CC about Emerald and the high water issues it is facing (others posts about on the Rhone yes) I offer this link for your to make your own conclusion.

http://o.canada.com/travel/ports-and-bows/features/sky-high-in-water-wrecks-ports

He doesn't really explain what the compensation is, just barely mentions the choices. Maybe someone else will elaborate.

He doesn't really explain what the compensation is, just barely mentions the choices. Maybe someone else will elaborate.

No one seems to 'elaborate' when they get any compensation...it is only the noisy unhappy, usually Viking customers that post here.

My point was at least the Emerald passengers were given options...stay, go, bus, fly, train...usually people post here that they were held almost hostage unable to make plans, leave, continue etc.

The fact that you are the only one to post a reply shows the general ho hum interest.

..someone got compensation? who cares. :rolleyes:

Someone is bitching? Dog pile onto the thread! :eek:

Someone over on Ask a Cruise Question is complaining about bustitution due to high water, don't know the cruise company. Said they were offered $1000 off another cruise in the future, doesn't think that adequate...EM

The choices offered by Emerald were not good. In view of the high rainfall and weather forecasts they would have done better not to trap the Emerald Sky in the canal. They could have transported passengers by road or rail and avoided being trapped.

Having been trapped they should have offered cancellation prior to boarding but did not.

We expected to admire the scenery from a comfortable cabin rather than being transferred to a cheap coach tour. The video ‘Emerald Sky Jewels of the Rhine’ on Youtube shows it well.

The excursions left us both exhausted and with swollen ankles that took time to recover back home.

We have also been sent the vouchers which are useless for next year’s rail tour.

Hello Allen 50,

Thank you for the insight into your unfortunate and stressful river cruise experience. I am sorry that you could not experience the Rhine in all its splendour.

Living at the river that is so beautifully depicted in the river cruise company brochures I know that in winter, but sometimes also in Spring, it turns into a treacherous, wild and dirty stream rushing towards Rotterdam.

Of course the companies, but even more so the captains and crews know about the river. Compensation is a tricky issue, hmm.

Before one books I can only recommend that everyone reads the small print, especially clauses about force majoure, flooding and other mishaps.

I hope you have more fun on your train tour next year, Allen 50, as a train enthusiast I am already envious! :D

notamermaid

The choices offered by Emerald were not good. In view of the high rainfall and weather forecasts they would have done better not to trap the Emerald Sky in the canal. They could have transported passengers by road or rail and avoided being trapped.

Having been trapped they should have offered cancellation prior to boarding but did not.

We expected to admire the scenery from a comfortable cabin rather than being transferred to a cheap coach tour. The video ‘Emerald Sky Jewels of the Rhine’ on Youtube shows it well.

The excursions left us both exhausted and with swollen ankles that took time to recover back home.

We have also been sent the vouchers which are useless for next year’s rail tour.

Thank you Allen 50 for posting and welcome to Cruise Critic as I note this is your first post.

Although the travel reporter I mentioned was also on the same ship same cruise, as you , his opinion was obviously coloured by the fact that this was his work...not a vacation like yourself. I am surprised that up until your post, not one single passenger on the Emerald that I am aware of posted here on CC.

I had sincerely hoped that the Emerald compensation options were an improvement over the " sit down, shuddup and get on the bus" only option that was forced upon many passengers during the June 2013 floods and that those companies that did poorly, would strive to do better.

As Notamermaid said, read the fine print.

Plus doing "research" here on Cc, and "prepare for the worst and hope for the best" because river cruising holiday planning is very different from ocean cruising. Pack a good dose of patience and good humour as well.

Most of the time it is fine but when the weather, strikes or broken locks interfere, things get bad very very quickly. :eek:

We just got off the Rhine from an APRIL 24 to May 2 cruise Basel to Trier and as Notamermaid can vouch for, it rained every day..as well as the week afterward in Paris. All my pics have red umbrellas in them with me wearing the same raincoat. Oh well :o. Our rain impacted your cruise. The Rhone was always impacted and others have posted here of their experiences.

Sorry to hear your trip was a disappointment. Even sorrier that the compensation options did not meet your satisfaction.

We were on Emerald Sky early May from Basel to Amsterdam. It was docked in Kembs in France on the canal d'Alsace. As we were already in Basel we had to go to the airport to ne bussed to the ship. Due to inclement weather, the ship cruised 45 km to the lock at Breisach. It spent the next 5 days stuck in the lock there with Emerald bussing passengers to the Black Forest (included attraction), then to Colmar on France and finally a whole day tour to Heidelburg (5 hours on a bus) - very strenuous. The last evening the Tour guided announced that everybody must leave the ship the next day and be bussed to Amsterdam missing out some of the included sights and staying in hotels on the way. The alternative was to fly home which is what we chose. So we cruised 45km in 5 days. It was the most expensive bus tour we have ever had. Later Emerald sent a derisory amount of vouchers for money off another booking with them. Once bitten, twice shy.

I forgot to say that nobody really seemed to be in charge of the chaos at the end - everybody seemed to be contractors. Soon after our return home, I used Fleetmonitor to track the empty ship racing back to Amsterdam to pick up the next group of passengers.

Thank you Allen 50 for posting and welcome to Cruise Critic as I note this is your first post.

 

Although the travel reporter I mentioned was also on the same ship same cruise, as you , his opinion was obviously coloured by the fact that this was his work...not a vacation like yourself. I am surprised that up until your post, not one single passenger on the Emerald that I am aware of posted here on CC.

I think another factor that colors a travel reporter's opinion is the fact that they often receive compensation of some type from the company they are "reporting" about.

Plus doing "research" here on Cc, and "prepare for the worst and hope for the best" because river cruising holiday planning is very different from ocean cruising. Pack a good dose of patience and good humour as well.

I agree 100% with your advice. It really applies to all vacations.

In sixty years of touring holidays in mainland Europe we have frequently ‘prepared for the worst and hoped for the best’. Many crises have been dealt with, especially when riding or driving vintage motor bikes and cars. More recently we switched to rail travel and have had few problems there, even if some of the hotels were not quite as expected. Patience and good humour were in plentiful supply. After helping us re-metal six vintage car big ends in St Anton, Austria, the garage lads presented us with edelweiss flowers that they had gathered on the mountain above and the garage owner shut the shop early and bought drinks all round!

For our first river cruise we were entirely unprepared to lose all the money that we had paid in expectation of a luxury holiday. Despite days of adverse weather forecasts. the boat had been stranded in the Alsace canal. Given that problem, we should have been offered the possibility of cancelling as required by the Package Travel Regulations 1992. We did not expect to be offered a gruelling cheap coach tour instead of an interesting cruise down the Rhine valley.

The ‘Allclear’ usually good travel insurance seems restricted to health cover and will not consider this claim. Emerald have certainly succeeded in putting us off river cruising for life.

Hello Allen 50,

sorry to hear the experience has put you off river cruising. Perhaps give it time and with a different line you might have the river cruise you where so much looking forward to.

For a May cruise you have been a little unlucky, water levels are usually not that high. And being stuck in a canal, hmm, cannot comment on transport in the South of Germany / border to France, but Emerald might have contributed to your bad luck ...?

As I understand it you are in the UK. If so, you are covered by different regulations and laws from the North-American CC posters.

Therefore I usually do not comment on this, but here goes: I do not know the Package Travel Regulations of 1992, but found the appropriate European Commission pages on consumer rights: http://ec.europa.eu/consumers/ecc/consumer_topics/package_travel_en.htm

Perhaps this will be an interesting read for you.

And if your thoughts will again turn to the Rhine valley, perhaps a day trip on the great MS Goethe could be a lovely experience. She only travels from April to October in the UNESCO Middle Rhine Valley.

notamermaid

[/url]

Allen 50, do take professional advice if you decide to pursue your rights, but as per the regulations you cite, it is your right to cancel in the circumstances you describe, you are not dependent on being offered the option to cancel, you can either cancel or accept alternative arrangements that are offered.

Also the regulations do permit the company to use the Force Majeure clause to limit their liability for additional compensation.

Hello Allen 50,

 

sorry to hear the experience has put you off river cruising. Perhaps give it time and with a different line you might have the river cruise you where so much looking forward to.

 

 

And if your thoughts will again turn to the Rhine valley, perhaps a day trip on the great MS Goethe could be a lovely experience. She only travels from April to October in the UNESCO Middle Rhine Valley.

 

notamermaid

You mean THIS?

We passed her on the 'castle day' tour on the Middle Rhine and she was lovely. The PD said she had been sunk TWICE during the wars and was originally built in ?1913 . After being sunk each time, she had been raised

and was still going strong 100 years later.

At risk of highjacking my own thread, can you comment Notamermaid of her history?

She's a magnificent ship. Two years ago, we stayed at the wonderful Hotel Krone at Assmanshausen and watched her every day as she sailed just um die ecke to Rudesheim and then back again to Koblenz.

We were on the "Avalon Tranquility II" at the time of the high water levels on the Rhine. We ended up being "stranded" in Strasbourg for 4 days. During this time, Avalon treated us very, very well. We were bused to places such as Heidelberg, Mainz and Rudesheim and returned to the ship at the end of each day. By the fifth day, they arranged for us to swap ships with the "Avalon Visionary" (identical ship) docked at Bingen, Germany. We set sail from there and went through the magnificent Rhine Gorge. When we reached Utrecht, Avalon provided a complimentary excursion to the Keukenhof Gardens. In addition, Avalon is giving us a very generous refund (not vouchers) to our credit card in our own currency in addition to $200 pp for the inconvenience of swapping ships. Of course, we were disappointed with how things turned out, but we still had a wonderful trip and were more than happy with how Avalon treated us. Not one person left the cruise early, and everyone seemed to be very satisfied with how things were handled. We had an experienced and outstanding cruise director Katy Huyskens who remained calm, kept us fully informed, and found good solutions to our predicament.

We were on the "Avalon Tranquility II" at the time of the high water levels on the Rhine. We ended up being "stranded" in Strasbourg for 4 days. During this time, Avalon treated us very, very well. We were bused to places such as Heidelberg, Mainz and Rudesheim and returned to the ship at the end of each day. By the fifth day, they arranged for us to swap ships with the "Avalon Visionary" (identical ship) docked at Bingen, Germany. We set sail from there and went through the magnificent Rhine Gorge. When we reached Utrecht, Avalon provided a complimentary excursion to the Keukenhof Gardens. In addition, Avalon is giving us a very generous refund (not vouchers) to our credit card in our own currency in addition to $200 pp for the inconvenience of swapping ships. Of course, we were disappointed with how things turned out, but we still had a wonderful trip and were more than happy with how Avalon treated us. Not one person left the cruise early, and everyone seemed to be very satisfied with how things were handled. We had an experienced and outstanding cruise director Katy Huyskens who remained calm, kept us fully informed, and found good solutions to our predicament.

Wow..that is amazing. Maybe you should start a " good news" thread with the topic " how Avalon handles high water compensation"!

Hello remydiva,

happy to help in hijacking! :D

You mean THIS?

 

We passed her on the 'castle day' tour on the Middle Rhine and she was lovely. The PD said she had been sunk TWICE during the wars and was originally built in ?1913 . After being sunk each time, she had been raised

and was still going strong 100 years later.

 

At risk of highjacking my own thread, can you comment Notamermaid of her history?

She was built in 1913 indeed, although I could not verify the "twice sunk"-comment. She was sunk once and rescued, so much I could read. The recent refurbishment meant she lost her steam engine (there was protest about that from the general public, nostalgia!). It was replaced by a Diesel hydraulic engine. The ship operates on the UNESCO world heritage site stretch of the Rhine from April to October:

https://www.k-d.com/en/kd-fleet/rms-goethe/

I was on the Goethe as a child before the refurbishment and recall seeing the steam engine in operation. I think you could look into the machine room through a window. Facinating, still love steam engines.

notamermaid

Still on the subject of the flooding, does anyone know how often the lock gates on the Alsace Canal get jammed by high water? Must be a frequent occurrence.

Hello,

Still on the subject of the flooding, does anyone know how often the lock gates on the Alsace Canal get jammed by high water? Must be a frequent occurrence.

This is a difficult one, I think. the ocurrence of flooding in Germany is quite easy to look up (in German), the figures for the grand canal d'Alsace - its French name - are not so easy to find. French is a little complicated for me, in English I could only find this leaflet that might be of interest to you as it gives you the relevant authority in France called DIREN:

http://ec.europa.eu/environment/life/project/Projects/index.cfm?fuseaction=home.showFile&rep=file&fil=Rhin_Plaquette_EN.pdf

Water is taken from the canal to the old Rhine in a complicated fashion according to water levels. Difficult to fathom out when and how much, the German sites are not that helpful either.

notamermaid