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Low Waters Divert Danube and Elbe Cruises


Host Jazzbeau
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Thank you for this. We're doing Vikings Amsterdam to Budapest leaving Aug. 5 and definitely don't want a bus tour...since we have the "cancel for any reason" insurance, I'll keep looking here to check status in a month or so. Then we can decide what to do.

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Thanks for the update, it's time for me to start watching...we leave in Sept, Lower Danube (Budapest to Bucharest) we've got generous insurance, so we would exercise that option if this scenario was the case. Right now this seems to be affecting only the upper part of the river, but by Sept I suppose it could affect the lower part.:confused:

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Hello host jazzbeau,

 

Thank you for the update. I hope you have a great experience walking the spiritual path. Will it be the Spain section to Santiago de Compostela or a section in France or Germany?

 

Back on topic: it is definitely a good idea to keep checking reports and good, informative weather reports as the rivers in Germany are low. One thing to note, though. Do not confuse the actual levels with the navigation channel levels. Here on the Rhine, Bingen (near the popular stop of Rüdesheim) reports a water level of 1.39m and falling. That would sound as if the ships with a high draft have to stop sailing soon. This is not the case as the navigation channel is deeper.

 

Ingo_e is the expert for the Danube. :) My tip: search for his previous posts. Lots of information there.

 

As I have explained in a different thread on the topic of water levels, it is not the cruise company (and it should not be) in the end that decides on when to stop sailing at low levels. It is up to the experience of the captain to decide what is save and what is not. However, with the boats having got longer and wider over the years some have also got more draft. If you are interested, have a look at the respective companies and boats.

 

I wonder if that could make a prospective cruiser decide between one company or another? Just a thought...

 

notamermaid

 

Temperatures today between 60F and 70F, cloudy and slightly windy.

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We are scheduled on the Viking Idi on 7-1-14 leaving from Amsterdam and ending in Budapest (Grand European Cruise). We were following the Idi on the Marine Tracking System and once the ship reached Vienna (coming from Budapest), she was taken off the tracking system. No Viking ships are shown anywhere near Vienna. The closest is way into Germany. I am concerned that our first Viking cruise is going to be cancelled, on the other hand I don't want to spend half of my cruise on a bus. We have travel insurance but have paid for a driver/guide in Budapest and we cannot get a refund on airfare at this date. We were going to celebrate my husband's 77th birthday on July 4, 2014. We haven't heard anything from Viking so will call tomorrow.

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Hello Worldcrzr,

 

the tracking system is great fun for following the ships. However, the (free) site has its draw-backs. Close to Vienna seems to be a signalling "cut-off point". Ships often sort of disappear towards Linz and Passau. There is a way of finding the ships, but I cannot explain this.

 

A good idea to call the company, if you are doubt.

 

notamermaid

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Minor factual error in the article: I have never seen a Viking Longship with a draft of 1.50m, usually they draw around 1.90-2.00m of water.

 

As I have noticed (here and by email), some found it rather tricky to read the waterlevel charts, so I programmed a new feature - a one click solution. It consists of two fields. One compares yesterdays level with all levels from this month of the year, the other is an overall comparision. You#ll see a lot of RED / LOW warnings everywhere atm:

 

http://rivercruiseinfo.com/content/river-levels

 

I#ll write a more detailled explanation later ..

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My parents are on the Viking Alta. They emailed me to tell me that because of the low river levels, they are going to take a bus to Vienna. They will be there 2 days and then they will see if the water levels get better to have them board another ship or if the cruise will continue by bus. They are so disappointed!

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It is surprising how things can change so rapidly in such a short period of time.

 

On my cruise from Bucharest to Amsterdam ,between the 15 May and the 8 June this year, the problem was very high water levels.

 

We were advised that in certain places the Danube was 6 metres above it's normal level with between 30-40,000 people displaced by flood water.

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Hello host jazzbeau,

 

Thank you for the update. I hope you have a great experience walking the spiritual path. Will it be the Spain section to Santiago de Compostela or a section in France or Germany?

 

notamermaid

 

OK, one off-topic reply and then back to business:

We will be doing the route from St-Jean-pied-de-port in France across northern Spain to Compostela (driving most of it, then walking the last 100km or so).

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We just talked to a rep at Viking and she assures us that there are no problems and all of the cruises are proceeding. Should ours be cancelled, we will be given 24 hour notice. My husband asked about buses and she said that they try to hook up with a ship in port. It took a long time to get through and I'm sure many people are concerned about their cruise. I don't believe for one minute that there are no problems and everything is going fine. I have read too many reviews that say otherwise. Some say Viking sent an email while they were in the air saying the cruise was cancelled and they didn't know until they landed in Europe. We paid too much for this cruise and if Viking can't provide what we paid for, at least offer the opportunity to schedule a different date. Strange thing is other cruise lines are able to navigate the river and are making their schedules. I am the last one to take unnecessary chances but if other ships are doing fine, maybe Viking is over-cautious...or the others are over-confident. Either way, we are disappointed that our first river cruise has so much drama.

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My parents are on the Viking Alta. They emailed me to tell me that because of the low river levels, they are going to take a bus to Vienna. They will be there 2 days and then they will see if the water levels get better to have them board another ship or if the cruise will continue by bus. They are so disappointed!

 

Your parents will probably be able to pick up a ship in Vienna if they are headed to Budapest. Our ship, the Viking Idi cruised from Budapest to Vienna with no problems. It is there now so will probably turn around and take passengers back to Budapest. The Idi is a brand new ship and we were to be on her 4th sailing. Now, we don't know what we will get. We were to board on 7/1/14 in Amsterdam.

Edited by Worldcrzr
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Viking ships have a deeper draft than other lines' [instead of Longships they should have been called Leadbottoms ;)]

 

Viking also has a pattern of not canceling -- even last year during the historic flooding they ran bus tours when other lines cancelled and refunded the money.

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Hello ingo_e,

 

Minor factual error in the article: I have never seen a Viking Longship with a draft of 1.50m, usually they draw around 1.90-2.00m of water.

 

As I have noticed (here and by email), some found it rather tricky to read the waterlevel charts, so I programmed a new feature - a one click solution. It consists of two fields. One compares yesterdays level with all levels from this month of the year, the other is an overall comparision. You#ll see a lot of RED / LOW warnings everywhere atm:

 

http://rivercruiseinfo.com/content/river-levels

 

I#ll write a more detailled explanation later ..

 

The confusion in the info has probably arisen from the fact that the draft can be varied by lightering the ship, i.e. a ship gets rid of some of its freight. A cruise ship can get rid of weight (and draft then) by getting rid of water from the tanks. Which also means less water for drinking, cooking, etc. available. Tricky.

 

With the Viking longships, according to a German website, the draft can vary from 1.50m to 2m.

 

A random search produced this: draft of the ArosaAqua 1.60m, draft of the MS Modigliani 1.30m.

 

notamermaid

Edited by notamermaid
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Viking ships have a deeper draft than other lines' [instead of Longships they should have been called Leadbottoms ;)]

 

Viking also has a pattern of not canceling -- even last year during the historic flooding they ran bus tours when other lines cancelled and refunded the money.

 

Hello all,

I would like to share 2 river cruises taken by 2 friends of mine during summer 2013. We are all Canadians.

 

The first river cruise was taken in June with Avalon from Amsterdam to Budapest. The water level was too high so my friend had to pack her belonging twice to be changed ship. Everybody understood the situation and were grateful to be move so the daily bus trips would not be too long. At the end of the 15-day trip, Avalon told everyone that they would receive a cash reimbursement for the trouble... I do believe my friend and her husband received close to $2,000 in cash.

 

The second river cruise was in July with Viking from Amsterdam to Budapest. The water level was good for cruising but a German lock strike happened. When her Viking ship arrived in Germany, the trouble started. They had to travel from the ship to the towns by bus. Everyday, the time on the bus increased. The whole ship was VERY UPSET and asked to be transferred to another ship (east) so the commute by bus would not be so long as one day they drove 2 hours to get to where they had to visit and another 2 hours to get back to the ship. They were also told they had to pay for lunch as the bus would drive them back to the ship if they wanted to have lunch on the ship. WHAT? Excuse me but do you think people would lose precious time to take the bus back to the ship, then back on the bus to visit some more that afternoon (if you would have time to go back out there....) and then back on the bus to get back to the ship?

It went on like that for several days. They even miss a stop as they had lose too much time due to the lock strike. Meanwhile, my friend found out that the cruisers on an Avalon ship were transferred to another ship...

Finally, people were MAD, COMPLAINED, YELLED... Name it. Viking could have cared less. At her return, my friend/husband and 2 other couples travelling with them had their TA complained to Viking. Viking came back with "Too bad it's not our fault. However, we will give them a $500 certificate good for another river cruise booked within a year." What an insult! They will never travel with Viking so that certificate was pointless. To make a long story short, they had found that one of their cruise mate (a lawyer) had received a settlement but could not discussed it as she had signed legal documents with Viking. My friend and her cruise mates (2 couples) had a letter sent by an American law firm and Viking was a little bit more willing to satisfy her customers. My friend and cruise mates received a settlement but they can not discussed it! My friend just said "It's not much but it's more for the principle!".

 

You make your own mind about what river cruise company to select: one (Avalon for example) that will reimbursed you a reasonable amount in CASH without even asking OR Viking who might give you a "voucher" to be used on a future cruise booked within a year after you beg them to look at your situation. And if you are lucky enough to have an American lawyer, you could receive a SETTLEMENT if you signed legal documents stating you will not be able to discuss the case.

 

Well, I know for sure I will never cruise with Viking. I know a lot about ocean cruises but didn't know much about river cruises until last summer. The only thing I knew about river cruises was that your ship would disembark you in the middle of a town where you could explore on your own or with a group. I didn't know the water level could change a dream trip into a very disappointing trip. It's why people spend so much money on a river cruise, to be disembarked exactly in the middle of a town and not getting therea by riding a bus! Water level problem should be mentioned in their brochures as it is happening often (well, last year and this year...). The company should mention what they would do to help cruisers... Viking could have shown some compassion by trying everything they could and at least move the cruisers to another ship so their commute by bus was not have been so long...

 

A lot to think about when you book an expensive river cruise!:rolleyes:

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Viking ships have a deeper draft than other lines' [instead of Longships they should have been called Leadbottoms ;)]

 

Viking also has a pattern of not canceling -- even last year during the historic flooding they ran bus tours when other lines cancelled and refunded the money.

 

A little foresight and they would have added wheels

 

 

12229979.jpg

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Just received email from viking to say our boat has changed. Embla cannot make it to amsterdam so we are now travelling on Aegir on 30 July . Couple of years ago it was floods, now drought causing problems.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums mobile app

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Just received email from viking to say our boat has changed. Embla cannot make it to amsterdam so we are now travelling on Aegir on 30 July . Couple of years ago it was floods, now drought causing problems.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums mobile app

 

Over a month away and they have already anticipated the change? :eek:

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notamermaid: yeah, I know, there is range concerning the draft. Maybe the lowest draft for the longships is 1.50m, but in reality (including food,fuel, crew..) I have never seen them below the 1.80 mark on the bow.. Btw, please contact me for the source of your information, got the longships at minimum draft of 1.80m.. Would like to get it more accurate if possible - and "Danke für das Heads Up" :)

 

pbnjrockette: Eek indeed. But to be fair, that page will always show you a lot of eeks, as it only shows the measures BELOW or ABOVE on at least one of the two items. All levels in the "comfort zone" are excluded. To get detailed information, just click on the river name and check the charts. But I agree, there is a lot of red right now.. But as English Voyager said, there the levels might change very fast, so just keep track yourself - it is going to get relevant about 10-14 days prior your departure. And to be fair, the levels in Germany are quite accurate (actually I got them back until 1901 - love german bureacracy), but for all other stations they are only based on the last 1.5 years. So don't be worried too much at the moment.

 

(EDIT): sippican: Well, what the companies are doing right now is switching ships. E.g. the Embla does not make it from Passau to Regensburg right now. So the Embla PAX are going to disembark there, are bussed to Regensburg and embark another longship that can not go from Regensburg to Passau (while their PAX are boarding the Embla). So all PAX are more or less going to take the same cruise on the same ship type. But that means, the Embla won't be in AMS in 7 Days, but in BUD. So until everything is solved and the ships are back at *where they are supposed to be* it takes some time. This also means, the guests embarking the week after some high/low water issue are usally facing a ship switch as well.. I guess the top priority for the cruise lines is to keep the ships where they should be according to the seasons itinerary, so it is easier for them to have a second group switching ships instead of altering the whole plan (and making even more guests unhappy or confused due to ship changes)..

Edited by ingo_e
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Just received email from viking to say our boat has changed. Embla cannot make it to amsterdam so we are now travelling on Aegir on 30 July . Couple of years ago it was floods, now drought causing problems.

Sent from my iPad using Forums mobile app

 

:(EDIT): sippican: Well, what the companies are doing right now is switching ships. E.g. the Embla does not make it from Passau to Regensburg right now. So the Embla PAX are going to disembark there, are bussed to Regensburg and embark another longship that can not go from Regensburg to Passau (while their PAX are boarding the Embla). So all PAX are more or less going to take the same cruise on the same ship type. But that means, the Embla won't be in AMS in 7 Days, but in BUD. So until everything is solved and the ships are back at *where they are supposed to be* it takes some time. This also means, the guests embarking the week after some high/low water issue are usally facing a ship switch as well.. I guess the top priority for the cruise lines is to keep the ships where they should be according to the seasons itinerary, so it is easier for them to have a second group switching ships instead of altering the whole plan (and making even more guests unhappy or confused due to ship changes)..

 

So perhaps Annabell 4006 is on June 30th sailing rather than July 30th?

Edited by sippican
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I can't speak for other companies but as of this writing and after checking the Tauck forums there is no indication that the current river conditions are effecting Tauck boats at this time. Perhaps it's because their drafts are shallower than Vikings and always have been.

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Over a month away and they have already anticipated the change? :eek:

 

More than likely that some of their ships are out of sync for the schedule and it would be tough to get them back in sync.

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