"Rafting" (esp. on Emerald Waterway Ships). Steepness of stairs? Any photos?

I keep seeing references to "rafting" with regard to river cruise ships. I am especially hoping someone can post a photo of the walkways

When we rafted, once we were able to walk straight through to our ship. One the other occasion we had to use the steps on the other ship and then get to our ship. Since you never know which ship you will raft next to, there is no telling what stairs on the other ship will be like. Will you have to climb stairs to get to the sun deck on your Emerald ship? Those stairs will give you some idea of what to expect.

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It does not seem easy to find the type of stairs I needed to climb to get to the sun deck and, in Vienna, to be able to leave the boat, as we were third in row. But I found one that gives you an idea what such a staircase on a modern ship could look like. Here is the William Shakespeare by Riviera Travel, the fifth photo counting from top and left to right: http://www.rivercruising.co.uk/blog/river-cruise-reviews/riviera-travel-william-shakespeare-review

This modern ship has a lift on the staircase. Most older ones will not be equipped like this but the stairs will look similar and even narrower sometimes. Past cruises have reported not going to the sun deck. You will need to check with Emerald (or their website). Having to use the sundeck to get onshore is not the standard. If you dock at Vienna out in the suburb of Nussdorf see it as the norm, though, rather than be surprised about it when there.

I found the site by googling the photo options with the search: stairs to sun deck "river cruise"

notamermaid

Every river ship I have been on (Danube, Main, Rhine, Elbe, Rhone, Dutch Waterways) has a stair climber/seat on the steps to the sun deck. It does require patience to use it since the whole ship will disembark at about the same time.

Thanks very much for your replies. I honestly do appreciate the help!

For some reason, when I posted my question late last night, most of my inquiry didn't post! My husband can go up and down most stairways. (We have a 2 story home, for one thing. He's also able to go up the steps you see on ocean going cruise ships, inside or exterior steps, which are just like the photo in the link provided above.) However, a hand railing is important and extra steep ramps or stairs require a fair degree of extra caution.

It isn't getting to the sundeck or walking up from one deck to another that would be much of a problem. (Unless you have to go up a ladder.) Although getting the lowdown on any type of method used for "rafting" is helpful, since we are considering Emerald Waterways, info. re: their ships is especially helpful. In a review of one of their ships, someone mentioned having to go up very steep steps to a ramp or walkway that ran above the top deck of it's sister ship (docked between the reviewer's boat and the shore), then back down another very steep set of stairs to get down to the shore or dock. So I am wondering just how steep or unusually difficult these stairs and their walkway are to use. (?)

A special thanks to notamermaid for the link and effort to find a photo. I tried a search before my OP but didn't find any stair or access photos. Just some of riverboats tied up next to each other and these weren't from an angle where one could tell anything about access.

The problem should not be with sister ships. In that case all of the heights are the same and you should just walk through from one reception area to the next.

The problem is when the heights are different. Then you go up and over, but it is likely that the sundecks don't line up either. Then they put a ramp from one to the other, and it might be steep depending on the configuration. Since you don't know with what ship(s) you might be rafting, and your ship's position in the pile (which will likely change while you are out on an excursion) you don't really know what to expect.

gnome12, you make some good points. I hadn't thought of those particulars. Also, no doubt sometimes the Emerald ships are not tied up to another Emerald ship. Having said that, in one review post someone suggested that Emerald NOT do the exact same itinerary on the same days with one of the other Emerald ships. She complained that whichever of the 2 ships arrived at the port first got to tie up first. Without digging for the particular reviews, I'm not sure which had complaints about going up and over instead of through the ship closest to the shore.

Thanks for the input and info!

A lot depends on what route you are taking. We did a week on the Seine last fall and never rafted or saw anyone rafted the entire trip. We did the Rhine during Christmas market season and saw rafted ships at almost every stop. We were fortunate and we were always the ship docked so we never had to go over or through any others although most days there were other passengers passing through our ship. We were fortunate again on a Rhine summer cruise where we saw many ships rafted at probably 1/2 the stops but again never had to be the ones rafted. All those were on Viking so I have no idea if the line you are using makes any difference in docking location or position. My guess is position is determined solely by arrival schedules.

mhb1757, I'm not surprised about hearing a lot of Viking ships were rafted. When I was searching for Rhine cruises, I noticed they often have multiple ships doing the same itinerary on the same dates.

I had a look at the Viking website some time back and concluded that for the Rhine Getaway itinerary they have a ship starting in Amsterdam and one in Basel, them sort of meeting in the middle of the itinerary then. Great for organizing ship swaps. However, with two more ships employed this year I do not know what that means for the itineraries. There are certainly lots of Viking ships around.

Because of its history with KD river cruises - explained on a couple of other threads - Viking have their own docking place in most harbours and do not raft with other companies, usually only with another of their ships. Other companies raft with whoever comes along - determined by arrival time and allocated by the harbour master in most ports. If a ship is not on schedule things can change at short notice. Amsterdam and Basel, both being newer ports for river cruise ships, do not fit into the historic picture.

notamermaid