Leaving in one week for Danube Viking cruise

I heard of the low water levels on the Danube. We are traveling Budapest to Passau in one week. We have travel insurance and can cancel anytime. Can the boat get through any of the 8 day trip? Does anyone know the present conditions, not getting details from Viking just a generic- type letter. Thx

I heard of the low water levels on the Danube. We are traveling Budapest to Passau in one week. We have travel insurance and can cancel anytime. Can the boat get through any of the 8 day trip? Does anyone know the present conditions, not getting details from Viking just a generic- type letter. Thx

The water level varies by the hour so your cruise may be OK in a week's time. We just came back last Saturday from Budapest and our Viking ship had to dock in Vienna instead of sailing to Budapest because water in the Danube was simply too low to sail safely and Viking bused us from Vienna to Budapest and vice versa for the passengers waiting in Budapest. There's a separate link here on CC that pertains to the level of Danube river that you may want to monitor. You can also check the latest with the affected cruises in Viking's website ....

www.vikingrivercruises.com/my-trip/current-sailings/index.html

Great information and site - thank you.

Did they skip the stop to Bratislava? And drive you straight to Budapest?

Great information and site - thank you.

Did they skip the stop to Bratislava? And drive you straight to Budapest?

Bus drove 3.5 hrs straight to Budapest from Vienna with pit stop in between. Once in Budapest, we had a group lunch at a local restaurant and began the city tours immediately afterwards.

I heard of the low water levels on the Danube. We are traveling Budapest to Passau in one week. We have travel insurance and can cancel anytime. Can the boat get through any of the 8 day trip? Does anyone know the present conditions, not getting details from Viking just a generic- type letter. Thx

Currently there are problems around Budapest with low river levels, Vienna to Passau is cruiseable (the levels are better controlled by locks)

At present it is raining in Passau and along the Danube, which should imrove the situation between Vienna and Budapest in a couple of days.

I have read personal reports from people on Viking that they were able to sail from Vienna to Budapest just the last day or so.

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Great information and site - thank you.

When you logged in, did the site give you any more specific information about your sailing date? Our cruise is in a little over two weeks and when I log in there is absolutely nothing about our itinerary possibly changing. I understand that's a little far out for them to want to start speculating, just trying to get a handle on how far out they are actually posting anything for particular sail dates. As of now, all the generic message (that you can see without logging in) says is that itineraries in August might be altered. Seeing as we are two days from Sept 1, I sort of expected that message to change by now but it hasn't. Personally we ok (more or less) with the "adventure" that comes with an adjusted itinerary, BUT we have 9 family members traveling with us and expect to hear quite a bit of complaining from one or two of them in particular....just hoping to be as prepared as possible, by knowing what to expect, in order to help counteract those attitudes.

For anyone who has been scheduled to embark in Budapest but had to be bused to Vienna:

At what point did you have to board buses to Vienna? Was it embarkation day? I'm wondering because we have a 1/2 day private tour arranged in Budapest on our embarkation day. Our plan was either check bags on the boat or leave checked at our hotel, do our private tour, and return later in the afternoon to actually board the boat. It sounds like it's probably that we will be bused from Budapest to Vienna and I'm wondering what the time frame is for that. If we have to cancel our private tour to be to the bus on time, I'd like to be able to give our guide as much notice as possible. Hoping there are multiple bus departure times!

When you logged in, did the site give you any more specific information about your sailing date? Our cruise is in a little over two weeks and when I log in there is absolutely nothing about our itinerary possibly changing. I understand that's a little far out for them to want to start speculating, just trying to get a handle on how far out they are actually posting anything for particular sail dates. As of now, all the generic message (that you can see without logging in) says is that itineraries in August might be altered. Seeing as we are two days from Sept 1, I sort of expected that message to change by now but it hasn't. Personally we ok (more or less) with the "adventure" that comes with an adjusted itinerary, BUT we have 9 family members traveling with us and expect to hear quite a bit of complaining from one or two of them in particular....just hoping to be as prepared as possible, by knowing what to expect, in order to help counteract those attitudes.

Viking doesn't know what the weather and river conditions will be like in 2 weeks' time since mother nature changes hourly so they won't notify passengers booked on the affected cruises until maybe a few days before departure. Besides, Viking has extensive experience anticipating this type of issue for many years so they always position their ships in opposite direction should a ship swap becomes necessary. With 69 long ships in Viking's fleet, you are in good hands. Our original ship couldn't sail on the Rhine to reach Amsterdam to pick us up so a sister ship in Amsterdam took us in. A week later we swapped ship in Nuremburg back to our original ship but Viking continued with the excursions as if nothing had happened. When we reached Vienna, captain told us ship could not sail to Budapest due to low river level so we were all bused to Budapest and Viking didn't miss a beat. Viking put 120+ of us in the luxurious Ritz Carlton and rest in Hilton who were doing the extension. Viking did a hell of a job in this difficult situation and despite the hiccups, we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. Was everything perfect? No, but then life is not perfect either.

We were sent an email a week before stating that alternative transportation maybe necessary and possible change in itinerary. That was all for now.

Thank you all for recent info- our group is feeling optimistic for a complete river ride. Never thought I'd be praying for rain on a vacation.

I have read personal reports from people on Viking that they were able to sail from Vienna to Budapest just the last day or so.

 

 

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Yay! Thank you. That's very encouraging.

Viking doesn't know what the weather and river conditions will be like in 2 weeks' time since mother nature changes hourly so they won't notify passengers booked on the affected cruises until maybe a few days before departure.

Thank you, as I indicated, I'm well aware that Viking can't predict the weather that far out. I am just trying to get an idea of how many days out there ARE telling pax on particular sailings that there might be a change, when they are going from a general "there might be a change" to "this is what's happening.' When you are flying 2 days early, have private excursions arranged, have 9 other family members looking to you for guidance, and have the possibility of needing to alter your plans, there's a big difference between getting an email 1 day out or getting one 4 days out. Add to that I have read very mixed reviews of how Viking has handled both notification and logistics when changes have been necessary.

I find it a little frustrating that the generic message on the Viking site still refers very generally to sailings in the month of August, even though it is currently 8/31. I'm curious what they are telling people who are scheduled to sail this weekend, for instance....What they were told and when they were told. I'm not looking for any guarantees or definitive information about MY sailing in several weeks; again, just wondering what folks sailing this weekend for instance are beign told and when. :)

We fly out in two days for the pre trip and Embark in four days 9/2 for our Viking cruise originating in Budapest to Passaue, no additional notices. Only the form letter last Tuesday. No specifics stated-

I hope this means minimal to no deviations for our trip. Fingers crossed for rain.

Thank you, as I indicated, I'm well aware that Viking can't predict the weather that far out. I am just trying to get an idea of how many days out there ARE telling pax on particular sailings that there might be a change, when they are going from a general "there might be a change" to "this is what's happening.' When you are flying 2 days early, have private excursions arranged, have 9 other family members looking to you for guidance, and have the possibility of needing to alter your plans, there's a big difference between getting an email 1 day out or getting one 4 days out. Add to that I have read very mixed reviews of how Viking has handled both notification and logistics when changes have been necessary.

 

I find it a little frustrating that the generic message on the Viking site still refers very generally to sailings in the month of August, even though it is currently 8/31. I'm curious what they are telling people who are scheduled to sail this weekend, for instance....What they were told and when they were told. I'm not looking for any guarantees or definitive information about MY sailing in several weeks; again, just wondering what folks sailing this weekend for instance are beign told and when. :)

We were told about 5 days before the embarkation that a possible ship swap could take place but no details. The confirmation came about 2 days before that we were to board a different but same configuration ship in Amsterdam with no changes to the original boarding time. About a week into our cruising, our cruise Program Director told us we would need to swap ship in Nuremburg since the ship couldn't proceed further. We put our luggage out by the door early in the morning and the crew took care of luggage delivery to our cabins in the new ship while we continued on our scheduled excursions. About a day before our arrival to Vienna, we were told ship couldn't sail to Budapest from Vienna on the Danube and Viking would put all passengers at either Ritz or Hilton in Budapest on our last day in Vienna. However, due to the long 3.5 hr bus ride from Vienna to Budapest, a few optional excursions had to be canceled but rest of excursions were carried out as scheduled. If you have booked a private tour, it's best to let them know ahead of time there's a chance of a delay or possible changes the last minute. They should understand full well of the river conditions. The best person who should be able to provide an accurate answer to your question is your ship's program director since he gets the latest info from the ship's captain. Calling Viking now before your departure likely won't do any good since they have no clue of the possible changes. Just remember the email you get from Viking pertaining to possible ship changes is essentially a form letter with no specifics. It just says your ship may be affected. Nothing is confirmed until maybe 2 days out. Every evening around 6:30pm, the ship's program director will give updates to all passengers about the river conditions and whether there's a need to swap ships in the days ahead and whether any optional excursions are affected.

YWW's experience jibes with several recent posts from different cruise lines where people were informed about one possibility at the start of the cruise, and then weather conditions changed and the actual experience was different. All the cruise lines are scrambling to adapt each sailing to the river levels as they go day by day -- rather than locking into definite plans/promises based on weather forecasts that everybody knows are wrong 80% of the time. I understand why you want to know more, but it just isn't going to be possible for you to get the information you want before you fly.

We were told about 5 days before the embarkation that a possible ship swap could take place but no details. The confirmation came about 2 days before that.... Every evening around 6:30pm, the ship's program director will give updates to all passengers about the river conditions and whether there's a need to swap ships in the days ahead and whether any optional excursions are affected.

Thank you. This is the type of information I was looking for, re: what they told you and when. Just to get a better idea of when we might expect to hear anything.

I understand why you want to know more, but it just isn't going to be possible for you to get the information you want before you fly.

Thank you. Again though, I am not looking for Viking to give me any specific information about our sailing at this point. I know that's not possible and I don't expect it. I'm simply trying to find out more from other pax about when they did hear about possible changes to their specific sailing and when they heard about specific changes. I understand this will vary from day to day and port to port, just looking to hear from others about their experience.

At the moment the Danube is open between Budapest and Passau. We are not on Viking, but left Budapest yesterday, presently in Vienna. Lots of river ships on the move.

Thanks for letting us know its passable between Budapest and Passau. Do you know if its passable beyond Passua? Our cruise will be going from Budapest all the way to Amsterdam and leaves on 9/14.

Thanks for letting us know its passable between Budapest and Passau. Do you know if its passable beyond Passua? Our cruise will be going from Budapest all the way to Amsterdam and leaves on 9/14.

Simply too early to say.

We don’t know if our ship will get through yet. We will only find out in about 3 days time as river levels fluctuate day by day, sometimes hour by hour.

We leave Vienna tonight for Dürnstein and Melk tomorrow.

I’m taking the same Budapest to Passau trip on the Prestige on 9/9. I only heard that it was improving from my travel agent. You can see ship’s actual location using ship cruise ship tracker. Just google it. Today the boat is in Vienna and is scheduled for Bratislava tomorrow followed by Budapest. At least you can get an idea. We decided finally to just enjoy whatever happens. See you on the ship.:)