Crystal cruise itinerary amended due to Rhine water levels

My Crystal cruise on the Debussy was scheduled to depart from Basel on Wednesday, Oct 3. Now Crystal has changed the departure location to Lahnstein ( a little south of Koblenz). From Koblenz, the ship will head north on the Rhine. Seems like we'll be missing out on the best part of the Rhine!

Curious to know if other cruise lines have been unable to leave from Basel or get to Basel? Is it just Crystal who is have difficulties?

Welcome to cruise critic! While waiting for specific responses to your concerns, have you looked at these two recent threads? It has been a difficult summer for river cruising due to extreme drought and very low water levels.

• https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2667303: Crystal Low-Water-Level Schedule Changes/Cancellations
  

• https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2593050: Rhine water levels 2018 and similar topics
  
  

Capriccio-

Thank you -

I did look at those-- but was seeking more recent information about cruise cancellations. I received an email from Crystal yesterday with my amended itinerary.

I hope someone with experience traveling this week responds to you! More, importantly I hope you have a wonderful cruise with or without an amended itinerary. Make sure to take a look at the Rhine thread everyday. Lots of current cruisers on all lines are posting and notamermaid is doing her usual fantastic job of keeping us up to date on river conditions.

Capriccio-

Thank you for your kind wishes!

I did look at Notamermaid's last post - within which she wrote:

" Crystal is - it seems deliberately - the odd one out with pro-actively changing the cruise from Basel to Amsterdam into Koblenz - Amsterdam or even Amsterdam round trip."

I am getting very concerned and almost feeling that I booked on the wrong cruise line!!

Hopefully, I will hear from more.

femme de mer,

Oh dear. I did not mean to upset or to imply anything negative with this. Sorry to make you nervous. Crystal might be making this move in order not to risk anything, i.e. they do not have a ship to swap with and rather than give passengers a part coach tour or cancel the cruise they give the option of sailing on an amended cruise. If you look back at my posts on the Rhine thread I did mention to a prospective cruiser in August that I found this to be quite a clever move by Crystal actually. Lahnstein and trip along Moselle then downstream to Amsterdam is nice. The drawback is that you do not get to see the Rhine gorge on a ship (Lahnstein is right at the end of it if you are coming from Frankfurt), unless Crystal charters an excursion boat. I have not read that they did on earlier changed itineraries. From Lahnstein it could be done like this : take a coach upstream for around 40 km then take excursion boat downstream to see the castles to arrive back in Lahnstein a few hours later. One could even do it by train, that is what many local tourists do: train then transfer to boat or vice versa.

If Crystal does not do this I would like to know why not. The excursion boats are not luxurious but have sundecks, indoor seating on standard benches or restaurant chairs, food, drink and toilets. All the essentials you need.

Hope all goes well and that you will be happy with what the cruise line offers you. The Moselle really is a delight and beats some (not all) of the scenery on the Rhine.

notamermaid

Notamermaid-

Thank you for your reassurances.

You have a strong point on Crystal providing an excursion to see the Rhine Gorge. I hope Crystal is able to be responsive and sensitive to the needs of their clients- given that we are missing out on a highlight of the trip.

BTW--I hope Crystal is monitoring related posts on Cruise Critic.

femme de mer,

I forgot to mention that the larger excursion boats also have recorded commentary on the castles in English. Very convenient. A few years ago I was on such a large excursion boat (they have seating for 300plus passengers) and listened to the German commentary. When the English commentary on the Lorelei rock started all the Japanese tourists rushed to the side of the ship to take photos which made me worry a bit about the ship possibly heeling to one side. But it was fine.

Such a boat would not be chartered exclusively by Crystal, unless they strike lucky, as there are not enough boats for that often, it is still high season, but coming to the end of it.

notamermaid

notamermaid-

good suggestion- and thank you.

Given -- the lead time- Crystal would hopefully be able to come up with a satisfactory solution by providing a cruising excursion on the Rhine Gorge.

if Crystal's ear is not "listening"to this thread-- I am wondering what would be the most effective channel...

notamermaid-

 

good suggestion- and thank you.

 

Given -- the lead time- Crystal would hopefully be able to come up with a satisfactory solution by providing a cruising excursion on the Rhine Gorge.

 

if Crystal's ear is not "listening"to this thread-- I am wondering what would be the most effective channel...

You might try contacting them directly.

I hope someone with experience traveling this week responds to you! More, importantly I hope you have a wonderful cruise with or without an amended itinerary. Make sure to take a look at the Rhine thread everyday. Lots of current cruisers on all lines are posting and notamermaid is doing her usual fantastic job of keeping us up to date on river conditions.

We were on the August 30 Crystal cruise that also left from Lahnstein instead of Basel. We had a great time on the amended itinerary, but we did not get to cruise south of Lahnstein . We did cruise on the Moselle River and enjoyed Cochem and Koblenz. It is disappointing not to cruise the original itinerary, but try to have a positive attitude. We really enjoyed going to the Hague and Cologne. Both those tours were complementary on the revised trip.

Bigrhode-

Thank you for sharing your experience.

Was Rotterdam a port in your amended itinerary?

We completed our cruise on the Debussy and let me say that you are in great hands with Crystal. They want you to enjoy their exemplary service, and have a river cruise experience. We found their staff, Captain included, to move mountains to make all possible work for you. We appreciated staying on the ship and being spoiled by staff, and food. Our excursions were uniquely worked out to maximize our experience of the area. Trust me, this company and staff are working around the clock to give you a Crystal experience, and once you are on board you will be grateful with your choice. We certainly were!

Happy2trvl-

Good to hear that you had a positive experience on your cruise.

Was your itinerary on the Rhine amended?

Our trip was extensively changed to the point that as it stands now-- I would not have chosen this trip!

I’m on the Debussy now doing the alternate itinerary. The ship is wonderful, the food is great and the staff is doing the best they can. However, the excursions on the new part of the itinerary are not the greatest.

If your main focus is the cruise experience, you will have a great time. If you’re focused on the excursions, you may be a bit disappointed. They did not offer a Rhine gorge excursion.

If you’re curious about the Debussy and the ports, you can look at my Facebook page where I have been posting the the past week. Just google “Facebook Tom Giusto ABC News” and it should come up. It’s a public page.

Enjoy your upcoming cruise.

Tom.

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We are on the Bach....October 14th from Frankfurt. Anyone else with us????

Thank you Tom for your response - as well as directing me to your Facebook page.

Equally important for me are the ports/excursions and the cruising experience . So we’ll see- who knows imaybe Crystal will amend excursions if they have been disappointing. If possible - maybe a Rhine gorge excursion will be provided.

We are being optimistic as there is nothing we can do at this point.

I have great respect for Crystal as an ocean cruise line, so I am hoping that this year's problems are just the bad timing of unprecedented low water problems at a very early stage of Crystal River's learning curve.

Since they have four identical ships sailing the Rhine and Danube, if I were running their planning group I would redo next year's itineraries so there is a pair of ships doing the Danube and another pair doing the Rhine with dates set up to allow ship swaps at the known choke points. Those cruise lines that were positioned that way this year seem to have done best at keeping their customers happy, next to those few cruise lines whose ships are designed such that they were able to keep sailing longer. It's too late to redesign Crystal's ships, so the best they can do is reconfigure their itineraries.

We were on the Mahler amended itinerary sailing September 1-17. We were originally scheduled Amsterdam to Budapest. The amended itinerary was round-trip Amsterdam. Like almost everyone else, we selected this itinerary specifically for Vienna and Budapest. About 60 passengers decided to travel on the amended itinerary.

What I learned on board is how many moving pieces there are to totally reroute a ship, especially when so many others are rerouting at the same time. There are limits to how many can dock in any one place, in addition to the availability of tour guides and venues to visit. The competition for resources is great. In addition, Crystal offers a Michelin dinner option and a Signature event that cannot be held everywhere. It is like doing a 5,000 piece jigsaw puzzle. It involves corporate headquarters, booking agencies and onboard staff scheduling the buses and handling the anxious passengers. I am amazed at the trip Crystal provided (and I’m a pretty tough customer).

When we boarded, we were given excursion choices for the first three days only. The other days were still being finalized. Luckily, Crystal was able to arrange a charter boat that sailed down the middle Rhine for a couple of hours so we could see the castles. This was part of a full day tour to Rudesheim, leaving on buses from Koblenz. In addition to the boat ride, we had a wonderful lunch in Rudesheim, visited the Mechanical Instrument Museum and rode a cable car over the vineyards with a beautiful view of the Rhine. It was a lovely day.

We were scheduled for three nights in Bernkastel, Germany. If I hadn’t read Sarasota Scott’s cruisecritic posts (he was on the amended cruise before us), I would have wondered what we were going to do in this sleepy little town for two days. The excursions included a Bernkastel walking tour with wine tasting, Landshut Castle hike, and full day trips to Luxemburg and Trier. The full day trips were great and we were never in a bus for more than 60 to 75 minutes.

Cochem and Koblenz (Germany) offered tours of castles and a fortress, city walks and eBike adventures. All worthwhile.

There were four tours in Dusseldorf, Germany. I enjoyed the walking tour with tastings. We ate from a produce stand, had candy and hot chocolate,and ended with a feast of meats, cheeses and beer fit for Henry VIII. I enjoyed Dusseldorf so much that I hope to return.

There were four tours in Arnhem, The Netherlands. A castle (more like a palace), the amazing Airborne Museum, an eBike tour and a museum tour.

Rotterdam, The Netherlands offered four tours including The Hague,the Delft’s Blue factory and Kinderdijk & Dutch windmills.

In Ghent, Belgium, you could take tours in town or an all day tour to Bruges. In Antwerp, Belgium, you could likewise stay in town or take an all day tour to Brussels. The Crystal Signature Event in Antwerp was magical.

There was no hint that this itinerary was not planned months in advance. The excursions were professional and meaningful. The buses were never crowded with passengers. (On more than one occasion, the group could have fit into one bus, but we were split between two buses for comfort.) I never saw more than 17 passengers per guide. One time the group was split 7 and 10 between two guides. There was always at least one Crystal representative with each group to handle any issues that might arise. In many ports, the tours were spaced so that you could take one in the morning and one in the afternoon.

The service was impeccable. The food was excellent.

I hope this helps explain my perception of why the amended itineraries don’t all visit the same ports or offer the same excursion choices.In my opinion, Crystal is doing an amazing job trying to bring guests a superior experience.

Am I still disappointed that I missed Vienna and Budapest? Yes. Am I the least bit disappointed that I sailed on the amended itinerary? Not at all.

I leave the US tomorrow. Hopefully, I will return not being disappointed with the amended itinerary-

Looking forward to providing a trip report filled with positive experiences.

Have a great trip! One of our favorite trips ever was when our river cruise was canceled and we went to Europe anyway for two weeks. We made things up on the fly and had a wonderful time. Sometimes Plan B can be more fun; hope it's great for you!

Thank you , JP & Chris- for your encouraging thoughts!!!

Just announced on the Debussy, the cruise will end in Andernach instead of Lahnstein due to low water levels. The two cities are only about 25 miles from each other.

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Thank you Tom for the heads up!

Susanannie: thanks so much for your detailed report!

We're flying out in a few hours to Amsterdam, where our Mahler cruise begins the day after tomorrow. It also has an amended roundtrip-Amsterdam itinerary, which is only slightly different than yours was.

Exactly one year ago today we were on the inaugural Mahler cruise, which also had an amended itinerary and it was a superb experience in every way. You're correrct, you couldn't tell that it was anything other than a well-planned journey, with no expenses spared.

Can't wait to do it again!