Rhine water levels 2018 and similar topics

Djh1959: yes, I think you are on Rhine Highlights, a seven night cruise. We are on Romantic Rhine and Moselle which is two weeks. Our first cruise was Gems of the Danube. We took the one week cruise in case we didn’t like it. In the end we liked it very much but felt like it ended too early so we decided to go with the two week cruise on the Rhine. As long as there’s enough water in the river we expect to have a great time.

 

 

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Well hopefully we wish ours was longer too, because that means that it was as great as we are hoping!

Late this afternoon we were informed that for our Viking Rhine Getaway leaving Basel on 25 August, the originally scheduled vessel, the Viking Alruna, would be unable to make it to Basel -- the implication being because of low water levels -- and we would instead embark the same day on the Viking Tialfi. As far as I can tell from tracking sites, the Alruna is presently at Braubach, south of Koblenz but still north of the Rhine gorge. I haven't yet determined where the Tialfi might be or what itinerary it is sailing. So, the adventure begins. At least Viking is keeping its promise to supply us with information as our sailing time approaches. I live in hope that they will find a way to charter a smaller river craft to take us through the gorge, and my fantasy is they will charter the Goethe. But of course that is about as unrealistic a fantasy as one can imagine. Who knows -- perhaps this will all work out well in the end.

We also received a similar notice today from Viking. We depart Amsterdam on Sunday, Aug 26th. We were supposed to sail on Kara, but we were notified that Kara cannot reach Amsterdam, thus we will be on Hlin. This does not bode well for making the passage, but like you, jpintrepid, we can only hope it will work out in the end!

Safe travels.

We also received a similar notice today from Viking. We depart Amsterdam on Sunday, Aug 26th. We were supposed to sail on Kara, but we were notified that Kara cannot reach Amsterdam, thus we will be on Hlin. This does not bode well for making the passage, but like you, jpintrepid, we can only hope it will work out in the end!

 

Safe travels.

OH no... Did Viking offer any compensation or allow you to cancel? Any options ... We leave Basel to Amsterdam on sept 22 ... Only a few weeks...

jpintrepid: There is a thread regarding the Viking Grand European Tour Amsterdam to Budapest. On it is a series of very well written entries by Pepperwood about Viking's changed plans from Amsterdam to Mainz (on the Rhine). They indeed were given the option to go upriver through the Rhine gorge in a small boat. Overall, the impression I'm getting by reading this thread and several others is that Viking is doing all they can to make their tours worthwhile. It's vital to acknowledge that weather is unpredictable. Viking and every other cruise line is waiting until they are sure that changes must be made. In some cases, the ship's captain is left to make the final decision. Those who like fixed, absolute scheduling are obviously vexed. Those who can go with the flow (so to speak) are having an interesting time.

Those who can go with the flow (so to speak) are having an interesting time.

...or lack of it. [emoji6]

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We also received a similar notice today from Viking. We depart Amsterdam on Sunday, Aug 26th. We were supposed to sail on Kara, but we were notified that Kara cannot reach Amsterdam, thus we will be on Hlin. This does not bode well for making the passage, but like you, jpintrepid, we can only hope it will work out in the end!

 

Safe travels.

We are due to board the Hlin on Sunday August 26th but have received the message that we will be traveling on the Kara instead from Basel to AMS. Since I'm new to river cruising, does anyone know or guess if we'll be on the Kara for all or part of the journey?

I really hope we don't spend our "cruise" on a bus.

Thanks

We leave today, August 22, on Viking’s Idi from Amsterdam to Basel. Aside from the email everyone received last week about possible modifications, we haven’t received any more recent notice of definitive changes or ship swap. I’ll post more once we get to the boat today and along the way for those who are interested.

jpintrepid,

I am sorry to read about your itinerary changes. You are right about the chances of there being an excursion boat to take you through the gorge. There are I think five companies with boats, with each one having between two and about five available. However they have their schedules to follow, it still being high season. About the Goethe: she has the deepest draft of all the excursion boats so cannot sail the Rhine gorge now. Online, I spotted her docked in the harbour near Cologne. Sorry, I doubt she will be available.

As has been recommended by a previous poster do read the river cruising roll call, there is some information on the boat charter. Fingers crossed, Viking will manage it for your itinerary.

I hope you will have a great time.

notamermaid

OH no... Did Viking offer any compensation or allow you to cancel? Any options ... We leave Basel to Amsterdam on sept 22 ... Only a few weeks...

No, and I'm quite sure Viking is completely within their contractual rights to alter itineraries when necessary. We considered checking our travel insurance to see whether we could get out of this and reschedule, however we are traveling with 3 other people (two of whom have other impacted travel plans), and have the exciting Glacier Express + Zermatt + Geneva at the back end, so we have determined, like Austin*** that we will treat this as an adventure, trust that Viking is doing the best they can with conditions beyond their control, and "go with the flow"...

One of our travel partners may never go with us again, however! The last time we traveled together was in Aug 2016: a Mediterranean cruise shortly after the coup and other unrest in Turkey. Thus our Istanbul and Ephesus ports were replaced by a second visit to Kotor, Montenegro - a lovely little town, but not my choice for two visits!! Maybe our future cruise strategy (especially now that my husband is retired and I'm getting close to it) is to book last minute when possible, see if we can get deals, but decide against a trip if conditions are not favorable...

We boarded AmaStella on 8/20 in Basel. Cruising towards Amsterdam. Cruise director told us last night that we would be docking at Speyer instead of near Heidelberg tomorrow due to water levels. So far that is the only "deviation." Still scheduled to cruise through the Rhine Gorge on Friday afternoon.

notamermaid,

Well, the Goethe was a pipe dream -- we'd been on her several times in the past and just love being aboard (and watching the paddle wheel). I'm confident Viking will do their very best to make ours a good cruise.

jpintrepid

Would like to hear from anyone scheduled on Avalon Waterways Balkan Discovery - M/V Passion Departing Budapest on September 14th and arriving Bucharest/Oltenita September 20th.....so far water levels look OK!

Late this afternoon we were informed that for our Viking Rhine Getaway leaving Basel on 25 August, the originally scheduled vessel, the Viking Alruna, would be unable to make it to Basel -- the implication being because of low water levels -- and we would instead embark the same day on the Viking Tialfi. As far as I can tell from tracking sites, the Alruna is presently at Braubach, south of Koblenz but still north of the Rhine gorge. I haven't yet determined where the Tialfi might be or what itinerary it is sailing. So, the adventure begins. At least Viking is keeping its promise to supply us with information as our sailing time approaches. I live in hope that they will find a way to charter a smaller river craft to take us through the gorge, and my fantasy is they will charter the Goethe. But of course that is about as unrealistic a fantasy as one can imagine. Who knows -- perhaps this will all work out well in the end.

Viking did just that used, a small excursion vessel, for the Grand European Tour leaving Amsterdam last weekend. The Viking ship sailed to and docked in Mainz while everyone was on their Cologne excursion, bused folks back downriver the next morning, and they went upriver through the gorge on the excursion boat at least part ways to Mainz. There is a Budapest/Amsterdam 'roll call' post that has the details. (I was on the B->A trip that turned into that A->B trip).

We leave today, August 22, on Viking’s Idi from Amsterdam to Basel. Aside from the email everyone received last week about possible modifications, we haven’t received any more recent notice of definitive changes or ship swap. I’ll post more once we get to the boat today and along the way for those who are interested.

Our experience (B->A; got home last weekend) is that they are stingy with info, I suppose hoping for the best while planning for the worst. We're adults; we can deal with potential future adverse conditions, but I suppose they don't want to spring bad news on vacationers and get everyone upset or posing too many questions.

My best and earliest source for what might be coming next (I prefer more info to less) was the Cruise Critic boards and posts by others over my forward horizon.

OH no... Did Viking offer any compensation or allow you to cancel? Any options ... We leave Basel to Amsterdam on sept 22 ... Only a few weeks...

Things may change, but Viking has been offering a voucher for 25% of your current 'cruise fare' against a future cruise with them (valid for booking, not even traveling, withing a year) according to every poster on Cruise Critic who reported facing a serious disruption.

I can't speak to what they might do in the future or for less-serious disruptions, but we lost about three days on the rivers, had two pack-unpack disruptions, and spent a significant amount of additional time on buses. After we got home, Viking advised us we had a voucher -- which we are immediately applying to a Med cruise with them next Summer.

notamermaid,

 

Well, the Goethe was a pipe dream -- we'd been on her several times in the past and just love being aboard (and watching the paddle wheel). I'm confident Viking will do their very best to make ours a good cruise.

 

jpintrepid

You know her well then. :) Indeed a lovely nostalgic ship.

There has been more mention of getting excursion boats to "help out" in the Rhine gorge on another thread.

The river levels, I am sorry to say, do not look good: Maxau 351cm, Kaub 61cm, Koblenz 59cm.

notamermaid

Would like to hear from anyone scheduled on Avalon Waterways Balkan Discovery - M/V Passion Departing Budapest on September 14th and arriving Bucharest/Oltenita September 20th.....so far water levels look OK!

We are on Avalon's "Iconic Rivers of Europe" cruise on the Passion which is scheduled to depart Amsterdam on Aug 31 and end in Bucharest on Sept 23. So we will also be on the "Balkan Discovery" part of the cruise. I have been checking on Avalon's ship positions for the last couple of weeks and the Passion is currently on a section of the Danube where tracking signals are not received. The last tracking position for the Passion was South of Belgrade on Aug 14. Since Budapest is experiencing low water problems, people have reported that they are being bused between Budapest and ports North and South. The other portion of the Danube that is a problem is at Straubing which is between Passau and Regensburg. Since we are supposed to depart from Amsterdam, I'm assuming that if our cruise is not cancelled, we will be departing on another Avalon ship, and hopefully we can make it to Mainz where we pick up the Main River which doesn't seem to be having any problems. We are leaving for France on Aug 24, so if our cruise is cancelled after that date, we will be in Europe trying to figure things out. I hope that by the Sept 14, when you depart, the area will have had some rain and you can enjoy your cruise. on the Passion.

As a side note, Avalon has 6 of the Passion sized ships, 3 currently on the Danube South of Passau and 3 on the Danube North of Passau, so I'm assuming that they are doing ship swaps if possible.

Would like to hear from anyone scheduled on Avalon Waterways Balkan Discovery - M/V Passion Departing Budapest on September 14th and arriving Bucharest/Oltenita September 20th.....so far water levels look OK!

FYI, there is another thread for current water level problems on the Danube, where you can get additional information. Below is the link:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2600414&page=10

The gauging station at Maxau this morning fell to a new record low for this year of 347cm. The current levels are Maxau 348cm, Kaub 59cm, Koblenz 53cm. Temperatures are again forecast to reach 32 degrees in the Rhine valley but it is already raining in the Black Forest, around Stuttgart and a little further East. The river is forecast to react tomorrow with rising levels. Whether this has any positive effect that will last for more than 24 hours we will need to wait and see.

notamermaid

Sorry for the delayed follow-up as we spent a number of days in Switzerland following our cruise. We were able to complete our Viking Rhine Getaway cruise last Friday ending in Basel. Other than a few minor delays and shifts throughout the week our cruise was on track and completed all planned excursions and port stops. We feel very blessed and lucky that we did not encounter the significant changes that many others have had to endure. Throughout every little hurdle the Viking crew was absolutely amazing and deserves all the praise possible for their attitude and focus on the passengers and on providing a safe and enjoyable journey. We will definitely be cruising with Viking again. All our best to everyone and prayers for enough rain to soon resolve the water level issues.

Sailing Basel to Amsterdam on the Viking Tialfi 9/15-9/22. Doing a rain dance now but not too much rain! The posts are great and very informative. Good luck to all.

histiomom,

Thank you for getting back to us on CC with your report. So good to read you have been able to go to all the planned ports and first and foremost that you had a great time! I gather that you sailed through the Rhine gorge on your ship without having to do this on a small excursion boat. This week Viking and at least one other company have used local charters to get their passengers through that most scenic (in most people's opinion), and unfortunately lowest, of all the river's stretches.

Tomorrow will see the temperature drop considerably and rain will be with us, Saturday could also see showers in many parts of the valley. As it is supposed to be as low as 18 (!) degrees Celsius during the day, I will probably need socks ("socks, what are socks?") and a jacket ("where did I hang my Summer jacket?"). It has been a long hot Summer...

More importantly the river will react with a rise in water levels. Hopefully, 346cm (at lunch time today) will stay the record low for this year at Maxau. However, it is too early to shout hooray as the 8th update of the Federal Hydrological Institute (BAfG) confirmed today that the coming rain will not be substantial enough and they therefore believe that the situation - which had worsened since last week's report - will not improve significantly. In rough figures, at Maxau we had figures of around 370cm a week ago and if the predictions are right that is where we will be again just after the rain. This means there is no real improvement in sight this month. Till the rain reaches the lower Rhine valley - if it does - the river close to the border with the Netherlands will see a temporary worsening of the situation in the next few days.

notamermaid

A band of rain has swept over the Middle Rhine valley, it is overcast and markedly cooler. Further upstream where some rain came earlier Maxau gauging station has reacted with a nice rise. Koblenz fell to its lowest this year at 1:30am this morning, 50cm! In theory and pure figures that reduced the navigation channel there to a mere depth of 182cm - where there are no gravel deposits! Downstream from Andernach many levels are also lower than yesterday. Hopefully with enough rain falling today, we will see a rise there soon.

A post on the Elbe thread has reminded me of the hunger stones in the Rhine. Those stones mark years of drought, hence "hunger" for the people affected by bad harvests or in winter the Rhine freezing thereby cutting off a main transport route for coal and usually such a winter lacking food as well. At Rheindürkheim near Worms there is such a stone marked with several inscriptions. In 2003 another stone nearby was marked with "Anno 2003". The famous hungerstones (a rock formation rather than a single stone) near Oberwesel in the Rhine gorge are exposed again this year. You can see them from ships. They have inspired a legend called the "seven maidens of Oberwesel". https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Datei:Hungersteine.JPG

To more practical issues: it has been mentioned a few times that in the Rhine gorge if your ship cannot sail your company might hire an excursion boat. Those boats are operated by local companies for day trippers - or even just an hour's round-trip - mainly in the Rhine gorge but sometimes beyond to Bonn or Cologne, for example. The tourist information service in Koblenz has listed the main companies for the gorge on their website: https://www.koblenz-tourism.com/rhine/boat-tours.html

To show how fast forecasts and predictions on river levels can change, see above in my previous post that I wrote "... 370cm ... after the rain ...", the prediction has put the level up to around 390cm which would leave us with around 380cm after the rain. Sounds better, but it is just a prediction...

notamermaid

Hi there, reporting in again. We’re currently on Viking’s Idi on the Rhine headed from Amsterdam to Basel. We just received word that we’ve been given the green light to proceed all the way to Basel without any deviations or ship swap. So happy and wishing you future travelers get the same good news on your trips.

Excellent trip so far and I’m sure the remainder will continue to be more of the same.