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Budapest to Amsterdam River levels?


travelling man123
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Hello, Travelling Budapest to Amsterdam August 19 with Viking.. information on river levels has been confusing. Some websites say low water, Viking say high levels? Does anyone have up to minute information or a good web page to follow?

Also anyone know Vikings current policy regarding changing riverboat to bus if boats can't pass? Hope someone can help. Its our first river trip

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Hello travelling man123,

 

welcome to cruisecritic.

 

I can understand the current river situation is making you nervous, especially as this is your first river cruise. And you have chosen a long itinerary!

 

Unfortunately there is no way of knowing or even predicting the water levels more than a few days in advance.

 

Right now a band of rain is sweeping over Western Europe and the river levels are rising.

 

As regards the ship/bus issue that is something I would ask Viking via phone closer to the date. Viking has so many ships on the rivers now, it is unlikely that you will be off a boat for long on such a long itinerary.

 

To explain the rivers on your itinerary a bit:

 

You will cross the European watershed on your journey. This means basically that the Rhine and Danube are naturally unconnected rivers and can differ in their current water level situation. The Main is a tributary the Rhine. The Main-Danube-Canal connects you to the Main and then the Rhine. Essentially that means four different types of navigation channels each with their own water level scenarios.

 

The water levels are low on all those four at the moment, lower than normal for this time of year.

 

But currently it seem that even on the tricky Regensburg stretch on the Danube boats are sailing.

 

This is an official site you can come back to. The current rain situation over Germany:

 

http://www.wettergefahren.de/wetter/deutschland/aktuell/radarbild.html

 

Rainfall from low to high: yellow, green, aqua, blue, pink, red.

 

Water levels for Germany:

 

https://www.pegelonline.wsv.de/gast/karte/standard

 

The green dots are good, you do not want to see those orange dots when travelling. Those mean possible problems but not that a ship cannot sail. That is - in the end - entirely a decision taken by the captain of a ship (the cruise company has a say in the matter for logistic reasons).

 

And check out the site:

 

http://www.rivercruiseinfo.com/

 

And do not worry too much - if you can - about the bus trips. The changing water levels are something we live with and it can make your journey a bit unpredictable, but also adventurous in a positive sense, and you might see something interesting that was not in your original itinerary.

 

While counting the days towards your cruise read cruisecritic. :) Lots of info from past travellers.

 

notamermaid

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Thanks for the fabulously detailed reply on river conditions. Can you please tell me the best time of year/month to avoid any disruption on the river.

It's a long way from Australia to have a bus trip ha!ha!

 

These days no one can predict water levels, June / July this year the Danube is suffering from low water levels, June 2013 we suffered the worst floods ever.

 

As previously stated these days the various cruise companies have multiply of boats, so now adays instead of long bus rides as in the past boats are switched. On the Danube one of the first places to be affected by low water is Straubing, so if you had to switch boats Regensberg / Passau this would entail a bus journey 120 km and about 2 hours drive.

 

Have a great cruise.

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  • 2 weeks later...

We are on the Budapest to Amsterdam Viking cruise on 7/26. We were supposed to be on the Lif but now will be boarding the Skadi. Hopefully we will be able to stay on the ship for the whole cruise.

 

Have a great next cruise.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

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At least all of the Longships have similar layouts but I was looking forward to one of the newest ships, Lif. I wonder if they will ever get back on schedule...don't know how they will...We board in Amsterdam on the 20th of September.

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At least all of the Longships have similar layouts but I was looking forward to one of the newest ships, Lif. I wonder if they will ever get back on schedule...don't know how they will...We board in Amsterdam on the 20th of September.

 

It only takes about an hour to get back on schedule.

 

All they have to do is rename the boats to fit the published schedule.:D

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I doubt that the original schedule will ever be correct given how messed up they are now. But in reality I guess it really doesn't matter which Viking Longship you end up on since they all are very very similar.

 

Has anyone heard anything about the river levels recently???????

 

Thanks

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We just went thru, Budapest to Amsterdam on the Avalon Impression (7/2-7/16). Slow going between Passau and Regensberg when we went thru, but two days later heard water there was high(er). It's apparently a crap shoot. Avalon goes thru unless the river is shut down, I believe. Week before we went, that section WAS shut down by authorities.

 

 

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