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51 minutes ago, notamermaid said:

The water looks a little less brown as well, less current I guess. Which island is that? I am not so familiar with the topography, it has been a long time since I was there. Do you have boats or floats on the river around there? That would be a nice pre-cruise or post-cruise time on the water.

The island is called Schwindinsel. The part above the bridge is better known, the Praterinsel.

No, there are no boats on the Isar river. It's not navigable. Upriver in the region of Bad Tölz the wooden rafts start downriver to the South of Munich. There's an area called Floßlände where the rafts stop and are dismantled.

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Here's our Isar river. You can compare to last weeks photo. It's still on the higher side but gone down significantly. You can see the peak of the island again.

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MSC has a Big Band with 16 musicians onboard the MSC Euribia for a year now. Those shows are packed. There are two singers and the band.

So "largest orchestra on sea" is relative as MSC had it already.

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@Kenster and @RDVIK2016 actually the proper German term is "Schiffsführer" (pilot) on a river boat and not "Kapitän" (captain). Nevertheless the master is commonly called captain and the other pilots are called officers just to stick with the nautical language.

@Canal archive There are hardly any stretches where local pilots (like on ocean vessels) are required. As I said before, you need to be licencend for a certain part of a river and at least one pilot onboard needs that licence. So in case the regular pilots don't have that qualification the ship needs an additional local pilot.

Anyway it's never the ship or the company needing a licence it's the persons steering the ship.

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11 hours ago, Canal archive said:

If it’s an area where a pilot is required.

Pilot is the person steering the ship. Actually on rivers there is no "captain". Usually the head pilot is called master. Usually a river cruise ship has at least one master and two pilots.

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9 hours ago, Yorkieboy1972 said:

Keep your eyes on the TUI Skyla. Her travails and that of her passengers could become the stuff of River Cruising legend. I’m guessing that TUI needs a Licence to operate on the big rivers and I’d not be surprised if said licence will be removed after the debacle of the way they’ve handled the floods? 
 

TUI’s third ship, MAYA seems to be the only one with a secure mooring?

Sorry, there is no licence to operate on the Danube river for a company or a single ship. The pilots need a licence for a certain river. But you can have a non licenced pilot (one who has the gernal licence to steer a ship but not for this certain river) as a trainee supervised by a licenced pilot.

Not even Viking got anything "revoked" after that tragic accident in Budapest. It´s alway the pilot who is the one to blame.

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The main problem is that this legislation is very unprecise. Even the paper which was supposed to precise it caused even more confusion. You can read more here (in German - my DH tried to follow the "traces" of this legislation).

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On 6/4/2024 at 10:37 AM, vistaman said:

it seems only Portugal , France and Spain so far 

doubtful it is legal 

Never heard of "problems" in Portugal. But sometimes it was charged in Italian ports. NCL was the first one which tried to charge it in France but soon quit (after sort of a passenger revolt). It´s an EU legislation from 2006 (RICHTLINIE 2006/112/EG DES RATES vom 28. November 2006 über das gemeinsame Mehrwertsteuersystem). The countries can make exemptions for ships. Spain has no such exemption and actually has some sort of deal with the cruise lines. The main problem is that this legislation is so complicated that even the experts don´t understand it.

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Levels are dropping everywhere although we do have rain here in the South. But it´s not as much rain as we had during those days which caused the big floodings.

From Deggendorf to Passau the levels are on 3 but dropping. Upriver from Passau it´s 2 and 1 (Regensburg) or even back to "green".

So it´s definitely getting better fast. The wave is now going downriver and may cause higher levels there.

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I can see ships moving upriver between Budapest and Vienna. I also see ships going upriver towards Linz and Melk.

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1 hour ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

If the Countess and Duchess were built as casino boats – as I understand it they weren't designed to sail, but to be moored permanently in a pond to get around then-existing bans on casinos on land in certain states.  So isn't it likely that the later conversion into sailable vessels was difficult and long-term problematic?

No, the boats were totally stripped and got a new superstructure. Actually they only used the hull. Technically both boats are newbuilts.

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@chengkp75 as @ericosmith said both the Countess and the Duchess are diesel boats and don't have a steam engine. Both boats are fairly new. And I do know that former chief engineer in person. So I definitely trust him when he says there never were any plumbing problems.

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@goksucats in case you´re looking for some nice Bavarian restaurants nearby the Sofitel I can recommend

Irmi

or

Münchner Stubn

Irmi has a nice beergarden plus my favorite beer - Giesinger Bräu. It´s inside the Hotel Le Meridian but open to the public. They do have a separate entrance in the side street but you can also use the hotel entrance and walk through.

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13 hours ago, CJSANDFS said:

Thanks for that. I'm also a bit concerned about what Regensburg and Passau will be like, that is, will the poor residents still be cleaning up the mess from the flooding.

 

No need to be worried! Both cities are used to flooding and are well prepared. The Wurstkuchl is now flooded but on purpose. They kept the water out with pumps but decided to stop this and get it flooded. Currently at Regensburg the major problem is that the level is on a constant high and not peaking. That causes problems with the groundwater which wants to level with the river level. Streets are breaking up with groundwater coming up like a fountain. They are on that high level for quite a while.

Passau has already dropped more than one meter. They have already started with the clean up.

12 hours ago, goksucats said:

They are putting us up in the Sofitel Munich Bayerpost which is right next to the main central train station.  After the extension we are going to Paris for a few days before flying home. Currently I have train tickets schedule for June 26th from Munich to Paris, but hearing about all of the travel issues by rail almost has me more worried then the river issues.  

The Sofitel is a nice hotel. There are some "obstacles" to get to the train station right now due to a construction site.

As for DB - seems like there is still a problem on the route to Switzerland which won´t affect you. And currently the route between Nuremberg and Würzbug is closed. Munch to Nuremberg is open again. I didn´t read anything about Munich - Stuttgart anymore which was closed as well. That would be the route to Paris too.

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Here are two photos of Munich and the Isar river which is currently at 2.69 m and had crested at 3.66 m.

The tree on the right side is usually the tip of the Island between the river and the canal on the right side.

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Passau peaked at 9.99 m and is currently dropping (9.10 m at 8 am). Upriver it´s peaking.

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1 hour ago, notamermaid said:

I see that the Isar is also quite high in Munich still.

Yes, there was another wave coming through. But the level is dropping already and we´re almost down to Level 1.

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@notamermaid I just read the Rhine river is closed from Mainz upriver (Middle and Upper Rhine river).

Passau might have hit the 10 m mark in the meantime. The last level was 9.97 m at 12:45 pm.

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@DocHifi I realized that all Viking ships were rapidly going downriver from their high water mooring places into the direction of Vienna. Austria closed the Danube river for all kind of traffic from Linz upriver to the German border. So they tried to get their ships out as soon as possible.

BTW Passau is at 9.59 m and is supposed to crest today at about 10 m. The record of 2013 was 12.89 m. 2002 it was 10.81 m. Now the square in front of the city hall is flooded.

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@DocHifi that's exactly the type of communication and customer service Viking is known for. That's why I was surprised you got that e-mail.

@Yorkieboy1972 you have experienced the worst a river cruise can be. Don't give up on it. It can be much better. But those are the risks you can have on a river cruise. I had many cruises rerouted, shortened or got stuck in some weird place. Anyway I will still go on a river cruise. Nobody can change the weather. My biggest complaint is that - despite Social Media and the internet - the river cruise companies still haven't learned to communicate with their customers - neither those onboard nor those waiting to go on their vacation. O.k. some have... 

Even when a river cruise company can't change the weather the passengers feel much better when then captain explains the situation and options and why he decided to do so.

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Passau has reached the Level 4 stage. But it´s still looking fine. The square in front of the town hall is not yet flooded.

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25 minutes ago, Yorkieboy1972 said:

TUI certainly have lot to answer for. They had to evacuate a ship at speed yet found the time to cover the TUI signs and names on the ship.

Sorry, I had to giggle... Police and fire fighters asked to put out a white sheet in case someone needs help. So when I saw your photo I was immediately thinking of this and not that TUI is covering the ship´s name.

The head of county administration said to BR online that everyone would have been able to stay onboard but it would have been caused difficulties in a case of medical emergency onboard. 

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3 hours ago, brian1 said:

Just had news we are evacuating TUI Isla today by emergency ribs and being bussed to Munich airport.Out of sight out of mind,lol.

You´ve booked a river cruise. Now you get an expedition cruise ;-).

As @notamermaid said we do have limited train service in Munich. The tracks to Nuremberg are sort of flooded and trains are currently rerouted via Regensburg. The tracks to Stuttgart are blocked as well as to Switzerland. Even the Autobahn to Nuremberg is closed for 50 km due to flooding.

Deggendorf is close to A92 which is going directly to Munich airport. So you should be fine regarding this.

I´d say it might be possible to get the boat to Frankfurt by Friday. The Danube river is supposed to crest by Tuesday. But then it´s still a matter of how fast the water will drop. And even with no stops it´s more a 3 day trip from Deggendorf to Frankfurt maybe longer. The Canal and the Main river are fine. But I´d say it´s a pretty close call...

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All river level upriver of Passau are already up to Level 4. Passau is rising and still on Level 3 but will reach Level 4 later today. The wave is already cresting in some areas.

As we didn´t have that much rain along the Isar river that one has crested and our flood level went down from 2 to 1.

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9 hours ago, DocHifi said:

In Regensburg the area that is UNESCO sight is flooded and off limits

No, it´s just the levee area not the historic downtown. Regensburg has mobile flood walls which have been installed. They also go around the Wurstkuchl. Anyway the Wurstkuchl and also the big building next to the bridge (Salzstadl) have emtied their basements and first floors - as well as all other buildings close to the river. All of the owners are used to floodings and are prepared for them. Usually the damage there and in Passau is minimal compared to the other areas which are currently flooded.

Here´s a photo in the local paper of Regensburg. You can see the flood walls, the Salzstadl and the Wurstkuchl.

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