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The Elbe river 2018 - not just water levels


notamermaid
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Let me start with the basics: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elbe

 

In recent years the increasing river cruise traffic has shed light on what plights the Elbe: river level issues. While the lower Elbe is a major trade route and controlled by locks the sections most frequented by international cruise lines is free-flowing leading to problems, especially when this is not known to river cruisers before they embark on their journey. The Elbe in that area does not have the barge traffic that you will find on the Rhine and Danube which gives that river in the East of Germany much credit, though, with interesting towns and a great landscape different from other areas of Germany.

 

In consequence, one river cruiser justifiably asked the question, "Is the Elbe worth sailing?" Here are the answers: https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2583942

 

notamermaid

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Is the Elbe Worth Cruising on? We think so! You have two of Europe's most interesting cities as bookends in Prague and Berlin, with some really historic and scenic cruising in between. Here's a taste of an Elbe River Cruise:

 

For what it is worth, our 2018 season is nearly sold out on both the Elbe Princesse and the Elbe Princesse II, so we have plenty of guests who believe it's worth giving a go!

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We're giving it a go this year! Have read previous discussions and know there's a risk on water level but hope we are going early enough to avoid that. The two bookends and wonderful ports in between make it worth a try.

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Thank you CroisiEurope for the video. Some of the landscape shots show well how narrow the Elbe can be. So much more intimate than the mighty Rhine!

 

CroisiEurope sails into Prague, something which other international river cruise lines do not or cannot do with their ships. Of the German river cruise lines both Nicko Cruises and Plantours have ships on the Elbe that can sail into Prague. The cruise (and land tour, etc.) operator DERTour charters ships of both those companies and of CroisiEurope therefore also offering itineraries going as far upstream as Prague.

 

Hokiepoq,

 

have a great cruise.

 

notamermaid

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  • 3 weeks later...

The water level of the Elbe looks good at Dresden, currently at 153cm. I wonder when the first river cruise ship sailings start? The season for the steam ships has started: https://www.saechsische-dampfschiffahrt.de/# You can switch to English in the top right corner.

 

Here is a drone flight over Dresden, a little blurred from the sunlight, but one gets an idea of the Baroque (rebuilt) splendour: http://www.dw.com/en/dailydrone-dresden-skyline/av-37250910

 

notamermaid

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Hello! The Elbe Princesse already has her wheels in the water, navigating between Berlin and Prague as we speak.

The Elbe Princesse II is ready to go, with crew on board applying the final touches before her maiden voyage. We're ready for another wonderful season on this spectacular river! :D

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Is the Elbe Worth Cruising on? We think so! You have two of Europe's most interesting cities as bookends in Prague and Berlin, with some really historic and scenic cruising in between. Here's a taste of an Elbe River Cruise:

 

For what it is worth, our 2018 season is nearly sold out on both the Elbe Princesse and the Elbe Princesse II, so we have plenty of guests who believe it's worth giving a go!

a

 

Beautiful video! It's made me more likely to sail with Croisieurope! My main reservation about sailing with them has been the set menu, but sailing the Elbe might make it worthwhile!

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Beautiful video! It's made me more likely to sail with Croisieurope! My main reservation about sailing with them has been the set menu, but sailing the Elbe might make it worthwhile!

 

 

I hope you'll give us a try. It's true our chefs prepare a chef's choice menu, but that doesn't mean we can't be accomodating. We regularly serve Vegetarians, Gluten Free, Low Sugar - all sorts of diets. Menus are always posted in advance, so if it is something you are not interested in, you can get an alternative. We are proud of our French Tradition and think the Chef's Choice is the best in most cases, but we aim to please.

Bon Appetite!

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Hello! The Elbe Princesse already has her wheels in the water, navigating between Berlin and Prague as we speak.

The Elbe Princesse II is ready to go, with crew on board applying the final touches before her maiden voyage. We're ready for another wonderful season on this spectacular river! :D

 

Thank you for the info, CroisiEurope. I know the Elbe Princesse II like her older sister was built in St. Nazaire, France. By chance I found the video which shows how she got from the shipyard to the Elbe. A long journey on the Atlantic and through the English channel on the Rolldock Sky:

 

Wishing here safe travels always!

 

notamermaid

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Fascinating piece of film. I've often wondered how these low river craft are managed through the North Sea. I assume they use the same system to get river ships to the Rhone going along the Atlantic coast and Mediterranean.

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  • 2 weeks later...

While it is not on the Elbe, but the Spree river through the centre and the Havel river along the outskirts of town, Berlin nevertheless fits into this thread as both an end destination of CroisiEurope's river cruise itineraries and a pre- or post-cruise destination for Viking's itineraries for example. Berlin is a diverse city of many areas, partly quite distinct from one another. If you feel like seeing something different from the usual tourist spots, here is an article for you: https://www.thelocal.de/20180404/10-spots-in-berlin-that-are-actually-quite-pretty

 

I certainly agree with Spandau, really enjoyed my few hours there many years ago. The Gendarmenmarkt in the city centre typically shows how Berlin grew with the influx of the religiously persecuted protestants and was enriched by the Huguenot refugees. But economic reasons also played a part in the edict of Potsdam that gave those people the right to freely move and settle in Berlin. The architecture of the square with its German and French churches very much reflects the Berlin and Prussia of the 18th century.

 

notamermaid

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  • 2 weeks later...

How are things on the Elbe? As regards river level, from what I have learnt over the past two years the current level at Dresden is fine for sailing. If you would like to follow the level, here is the page for Dresden: https://www.umwelt.sachsen.de/umwelt/infosysteme/hwims/portal/web/wasserstand-pegel-501060 As I write the latest published figure is 145cm.

 

If you are on the Elbe right now or have been recently, why not write us a line here. :)

 

notamermaid

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Since this year is the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation, tourism along the Elbe will be much higher than normal. If busing and/or hotel accommodations are needed due to water levels, things may be more complicated that in previous years.

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Since this year is the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation...

 

Martin Luther posted his 95 theses October 31st 1517, so the big anniversary was last year.

 

 

The cruise companies on the Elbe have sufficient experience on low water levels now and either dont sail at all in the critical months like Saga/Johannes Brahms or CroisiEurope/Elbe Princess or place their ships strategically that they can be used as hotel ships like Viking does with the ships staying in port and only the passengers moving. So no issue with hotel capacities.

 

Water levels of the Elbe have been well in the comfort zone so far this year. Meaning that all schedules cuises took place as planned and probably will do in the near future.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Lack of rain in the area has brought the Elbe water levels down to a degree, which will be affecting (or even does by now) cruises on the Elbe.

 

First ship, which had to rearrange their schedule was the MS Johannes Brahms, thought also with 120 cm having the deepest draft. But now also Viking warns that their cruises started May 13th and starting May 18th with both ships Astrild and Beyla will be affected by low water levels (https://www.vikingrivercruises.com/my-trip/current-sailings/index.html#noscroll ). Also the Elbe Princesse is currently not sailing the Elbe as scheduled.

 

Needs some rain in Bohemia soon, it is a bit early in the year to have these low water levels.

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Thank you for the update, AnhaltER1960,

 

I have just seen that the Elbe at Dresden is at 86cm. What a pity that it should affect river cruisers so early in the year. The Elbe levels in the Czech Republic appear to be stagnating or even falling, but I saw one forecast for a slight rise in two or three days time, it does not look promising, though. The weather is very sunny in the East of Germany which of course means not enough rain. The weather pattern is currently similar in Bohemia I suppose, have not looked at details, although some rain was sent from Bavaria over there into the hills earlier today. Here in the West we have had enough rain to keep us going for a while, the flooding at the beginning of the year helped, but whether there will be enough rainfall to take us through July we will need to wait and see.

 

Thank you again.

 

notamermaid

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Some rainfall in Saxony and the Czech Republic yesterday with some more predicted might help to ease the situation a bit. At least the Viking Beyla today in Wittenberg set sails for her upriver cruise as planned. Elbe Princesse apparently chose to stay in the safe waters of the Elbe-Havel Canal near Magdeburg and not to proceed into the Elbe. Still hope that all passengers will have a decent cruise, and sorry for the weather, but the rain is essential now.

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Wittenberg will be celebrating "Luther's Wedding" on the second weekend in June, commemorating the wedding between Martin Luther and Katharina von Bora in 1525. That is is year the weekend from June 8th to 10th. It is one of the largest public festivities in Germany with an attendance of around 100.000 people during the weekend. Parades in historical costumes, medieval music, markets, plenty to see, taste, smell, hear.

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  • 3 weeks later...

On 24th May a WWII bomb partially exploded in Dresden. It was a more difficult job than usual but in the end the defusion was succesful: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-44237025 A sad reminder of terrible times for the city.

 

 

Beyond the standard river cruise ship routes, from a North-American perspective that is, between Hamburg and the mouth of the Elbe a deepening of the channel is planned to start this year and is still debated among those fearing negative consequences for wildlife.

 

 

Upstream on the usual river cruise route the low water is causing problems again - on and off. Rain in the Czech Republic and down towards the Dresden region is not steady and substantial enough to keep it at a comfortable level. It fluctuates and is keeping close to the official low water mark at Dresden. You can follow along here: https://www.pegelonline.wsv.de/webservices/zeitreihe/visualisierung?ansicht=einzeln&pegelnummer=501060 The graph always shows a month and is updated every 15 minutes.

 

 

A rise in temperatures during the week will result in thunderstorms at the weekend. Forecast is for no rain till the thunderstorms and then rain into the next week.

 

 

But to end this post on a good note here is a video from Deutsche Welle from last year about what you can see along the Elbe and also gives a glimpse into the area that you can explore cycling the Elbe river cycle route: http://www.dw.com/en/along-the-elbe-river/av-40820777

 

 

notamermaid

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UNESCO world heritage sites are certainly very diverse and give you many insights in the range of what mankind has come up with as regards culture. Germany has many sites from Roman remains, the Rhine river valley and its castles, abbeys, churches, palaces, industrial sites, garden architecture to the modern architecture of the Bauhaus school. Having seen the Bauhaus architects' buildings in Berlin (I have not been to Dessau) I cannot say that it is something I care for much but at its time in the early 1900's it was certainly revolutionary, hence the recognition by UNESCO. The origin of Bauhaus is in Weimar, but in Dessau it had its home the longest. Judge for yourselves: https://www.bauhaus-dessau.de/en/index.html

 

 

 

River level: The Elbe between Dresden and Dessau is now on or close to official low water status, depending on gauging station. The river level at Dresden is at 75cm, temperature is currently (11.15am local time) 26 degrees and forecast to rise up to 30. A hot day is forecast for tomorrow as well with no rain before Saturday.

 

 

notamermaid

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Although rain was forecast for Saxony for yesterday and flash floods have been reported from areas hit by thunderstorms, the impact on the river level at Dresden has been more than disappointing. The gauging station shows 67cm as of 11am local time. It is going to be a hot day again and thunderstorms are forecast for almost all of Germany for this evening. Apparently the experts in the Czech Republic do not expect much rising water levels for the Upper Elbe (Labe in Czech). Here is the page for the area: http://hydro.chmi.cz/hpps/index.php?lng=ENG The line that appears the largest is the Elbe and when you move the mouse over one of the squares in the top left of the page you get the graph for Labe, Decin. Click on it. In fact, after a rise today, the forecast is for the level to fall. There was an article in a German local newspaper a few weeks ago that reported a problem with retaining the water in the Czech Republic. The reservoirs there retain the water from snow melt and the authorities drain more water into the Elbe in low water situations. Not enough water is in the reservoirs these days to even out the current situation.

 

 

 

notamermaid

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Only looking at the Dresden readings comes too short. The had been rainfall in Bohemia last night, lifting the water table at Decin and Schöna (Czech-German border) by almost 2 feet within the last 12 hrs. Depending on further rainfall it might be yet again only a short peak, which will reach Dresden tonight and early morning tomorrow. There also has been some rainfall in Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt, keeping the water levels there stable, however still fairly low.

 

This week Viking ships are cruising almost as normal. The Viking Beyla has started cruising in Bad Schandau downriver to reach Wittenberg on Wednesday (so missing out only a couple of miles between Decin and Bad Schandau from the standard itinerary). The Viking Astrild today left Wittenberg upriver for Dresden with the option to sail beyond Dresden still open.

 

I am not aware how the Elbe Pricesse is doing this week, as she has an Elbe cruise on the plan this and/or next week.

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We are taking the June 12th Elbe river cruise with Viking. We have been advised that the river is low and we may not be sailing. They will bus us from docked ship to docked ship if necessary. They have not cancelled the trip.

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