Scenic Low-Water-Level Schedule Changes/Cancellations

Tidalmist, We are currently aboard the Jewel on the Moselle River. Our first river cruise, and we are impressed. Many passengers onboard have cruised with Scenic 3-4 times previously, so I guess that is a testament to their experiences. Low water levels and bad weather have happened before, but cruisers woulnd't be returning if they had been mistreated.

I have been tracking the Amber and so far I can’t see that she has sailed past Passau. Maybe this week she will. I will continue to check daily and if you could post what happened when you arrive in Nuremberg, it would be great for people booked on the Gems of the Danube cruise.:)

Just got word from Scenic that we'll be boarding the Jasper in Nuremberg on the 20th. The adventure begins...

hernstro,

so you are on the Rhine/Moselle itinerary southbound Amsterdam to Zurich? It sounds like a great itinerary. Would love to know if you did the Xanten excursion.

Enjoy the Moselle - and the rest of your cruise of course.

notamermaid

Just got word from Scenic that we'll be boarding the Jasper in Nuremberg on the 20th. The adventure begins...

Did they say whether you would be on Jasper for all of your cruise or doing a ship swap part way?

Interested as we were due to join Jasper in Amsterdam on the 26th, so we know that is now even highlier (if there is such a word!) unlikely to happen and I can ask Scenic what IS likely.

Whatever do enjoy your cruise

Just got word from Scenic that we'll be boarding the Jasper in Nuremberg on the 20th. The adventure begins...

Thank so much for keeping us informed. This is great news for those of us hoping that there will be enough water for our upcoming cruises.

Please keep us up to date if time allows!

Tidalmist, We are currently aboard the Jewel on the Moselle River. Our first river cruise, and we are impressed. Many passengers onboard have cruised with Scenic 3-4 times previously, so I guess that is a testament to their experiences. Low water levels and bad weather have happened before, but cruisers woulnd't be returning if they had been mistreated.

:D

Pleased to hear that you are enjoying the Moselle and Scenic!

Natamermaid, Yes we did Xanten and enjoyed it. Today based on recommendation of CC members, took the excursion to Trier. Amazing! Lovely Moselle Valley! Jewel left Bernkastel 45 minutes early in hopes of a getting to Rhine asap due to the dropping levels. Keeping our fingers crossed, but won't know till morning if Jewel will be permitted to sail the gorge.

We boarded the Opal yesterday in Amsterdam, to start a Jewels of Europe cruise to Budapest. I talked to the cruise director last night about water levels, and was told that we didn't have anything to worry about for the first week (i.e., getting through the Rhine gorge). When I pressed her, however, she admitted that the second week could be a big problem--unless the weather forecast changes dramatically, we won't be able to get through from Regensburg to Passau. Even worse, when I asked her about a ship swap, she said that there probably wasn't going to be a ship available to swap to, so we might end up with bus/hotels in Vienna and Budapest. Obviously, I'm going to keep my fingers crossed for rain, and that ship logistics might turn out better than she suspected, but I fear we could be ending up with a trip that is similar to the disaster reported here for the Amber a month ago. Ugh!! :loudcry:

Here's a bit of an update. We're arriving in Regensburg today and, as expected, there was finally an official announcement last night that the Opal can't go any further than Regensburg with the current water level. Tomorrow, the planned excursion from Passau to Salzburg is going to instead leave from and return to Regensburg (adding roughly 1/2 hour of coach time both directions). But there's no official news about what happens Saturday and beyond. We're supposed to be in Melk/Durnstein on Saturday, but the Opal will still be in Regensburg. My best guess is that we will do a ship swap with the Amber, which I believe arrives in Melk/Durnstein tomorrow. If that's the case, it will involve a roughly 4 hour bus trip to get from Regensburg to Melk, and will undoubtedly necessitate changes or cancellations of the planned tours there. But then we would be more or less back on schedule for Vienna and Budapest. Far better than my original fears of a bus/hotel trip for the last part.

FWIW, if my guess is correct, the disruption to the Amber passengers will be much less, with their tour to Salzburg leaving from Melk and ending in Regensburg, adding just a little drive time, but leaving them on schedule for their itinerary.

I will post an update when we get official word about what is to happen.

Woke up this morning sailing wrong direction on the Rhine. We are downstream from Koblentz, instead of going through gorge toward Rudesheim. No formal announcement yet. Will keep you informed.

Now tying up to Scenic Ruby and I think we are in Andernach.

Now tying up to Scenic Ruby and I think we are in Andernach.

Marine traffic has you there with Basel as your destination

Jewel left Andernach as there is a small window of opportunity to get through the gorge later today. We are now approaching Koblentz.

Just boarded Jasper in Nuremberg. Met with Champagne and massages. So far so good!

Just boarded Jasper in Nuremberg. Met with Champagne and massages. So far so good!

Sounds divine!

Just boarded Jasper in Nuremberg. Met with Champagne and massages. So far so good!

Enjoy!!

Aboard Scenic Jewel. We made it through Rhine Gorge. Due to our delay caused by low water levels, our itinerary is 5 hours behind. Thus we did not stop in Rudesheim and no excursion to Mechanical Music museum, or cable car ride. Ship is moving upstream to Mannheim.

Sounds divine!

Likely ship swap from Regensburg to Linz.

Earlier this year on Jewel we made an overnight dash for it, us and two cargo barges, evidently according to the maritime crew at times there was a hairs bredeth under the keel (luckily the Scenic boats have a very low draught) we made it, what a captain. Nothing lost all well and as usual a fantastic cruise. CA

PS we passed several other companies vessels moored up, caught out by the water level change, including some evidently high end carriers, hey ho, go Scenic

I see that a thread was started for Crystal, so I thought I would start one for Scenic. I have found little information as to what Scenic is planning to do if the Rhine levels remains low. What I have found on other Cruise Critic threads regarding how the passengers have been rerouted/compensated has me somewhat concerned. Any other info would be greatly welcomed.

In the process of reading all the posts here but interested in river conditions mostly. And any information or location to go to for info on Uniworld ships especially Budapest to Amsterdam and the three rivers Danube, Main, and Rhine. Any current info will be appreciated. Sept-October 2018.

We're supposed to be in Melk/Durnstein on Saturday, but the Opal will still be in Regensburg. My best guess is that we will do a ship swap with the Amber, which I believe arrives in Melk/Durnstein tomorrow. If that's the case, it will involve a roughly 4 hour bus trip to get from Regensburg to Melk, and will undoubtedly necessitate changes or cancellations of the planned tours there. But then we would be more or less back on schedule for Vienna and Budapest. Far better than my original fears of a bus/hotel trip for the last part.

 

FWIW, if my guess is correct, the disruption to the Amber passengers will be much less, with their tour to Salzburg leaving from Melk and ending in Regensburg, adding just a little drive time, but leaving them on schedule for their itinerary.

A further update. It has now been officially announced that we are doing a ship swap with the Amber. Tomorrow (Saturday) we will leave the Opal around 11:30A, have a 4 hour bus ride to Melk, and meet the Amber there. We will not stop in Durnstein. Consequently, the bike tour from Melk to Durnstein has been cancelled, as has the winery tour in Melk. Instead, all passengers will get an abbreviated tour of the abbey ,after arriving in Melk, before going on to the Amber. Apparently Scenic has decided to minimize the disruption to the current Amber passengers by having the Amber continue on from Melk to Passau today/tonight, so the Amber passengers will depart as normal on the Salzburg tour, with the only difference that they will return instead to the Opal in Regensburg. After those passengers depart, the Amber will turn around and head back down the Danube to Melk to meet us arriving Opal passengers.

Overall, this seems to be the best arrangement possible, given the current impassability of the Danube from Regensburg to Passau. My only complaint is the minimal communication from Scenic (both before the cruise and onboard) about these deviations. The river condition and weather forecast has been apparent for days, and Scenic knew exactly what the itineraries of all their ships are--much better than me, making my guesses based on current ship locations each day. I find it hard to believe that I was able to anticipate the ship swap with the Amber before experienced Scenic staff could. Yet it was not until last night that they announced the ship swap with the Amber--even going so far the day before as to announce that they didn't know what would happen after spending a couple of days in Regensburg.

The communication from Scenic is my sole complaint about this trip. Everything else has been absolutely fabulous, and my wife and I are already starting to plan our next cruise on Scenic!

Thanks for posting Doug K I suppose to give Scenic some benefit of the doubt they may have been hoping there would be rain and they need not have done the ship swap so lets not worry people ahead of time.

However we have heard nothing from them about our cruise starting 26th on Jasper in Amsterdam, which is impossible as she is one of the ships trapped!

Good to hear that everything else is great though!

However we have heard nothing from them about our cruise starting 26th on Jasper in Amsterdam, which is impossible as she is one of the ships trapped!

Looking at current locations of ships, it seems like the most likely possibility for a ship being in Amsterdam on the 26th is the Ruby. Theoretically, Scenic should be contacting you, but I wouldn't hold my breath--they're not even listing your cruise as "possibly affected" as of now, even though it clearly is: https://www.scenicusa.com/current-sailings-conditions. If you want to bang your head against the wall, you could try calling Scenic, but I don't think we've had any reports of obtaining useful information that way, and several reports of getting either incorrect information, or no information at all.

I hope something works out for you!

Well to be fair to Scenic we did call their UK office (Manchester) and spoke to a girl who said it would probably be Ruby but things were changing day by day so we wouldn’t hear until 2/3 days before. Then just mow we’re received this from scenic which had we known nothing would have panicked us!

Thank you for making Scenic part of your upcoming travel plans.

Currently in Central Europe, the Rhine and Danube rivers have experienced localised instances of low water levels. Low water can give rise to navigational restrictions, which may force us to make adjustments to your itinerary at short notice.

As these restrictions occur, we respond to each event based on the situation at hand, always remaining focused on delivering your itinerary.

If we are required to make any adjustments we will communicate this to our guests as specific detailed information becomes available, both prior to, and during the cruise.

We look forward to welcoming guests to Europe.

Ruby seems to have been permanently in Andernach for the last couple of days which seems odd? Only thing now is to wait , and not pack just yet!

DougK, sorry to hear about the ship swap. The scenery between a Melk and Durnstein is pretty as seen from the ship.

If you have a chance I would be interested in reading about any differences between the Opal and Amber. They’re supposed to be identical but I’ve read some posts that indicate differences. For example when we were on the Opal in 2015 the balcony had a window that opened but no screen. Someone posted earlier that the Amber also has a screen. I’m curious what other differences there might be.

It’s raining in the upper Danube drainage according to the Weather Channel app. Probably a day or two late to help you unfortunately.

Sent from my iPad using Forums

jo-b, I'm glad to hear that you actually have had some communication from Scenic, even though it's pretty vague.

As for the Ruby staying in Andernach, I'm guessing they did a ship swap with the Jade, because the Jade is showing a very weird path--It came north downstream on the Rhine from Basel, but instead of continuing through the Rhine gorge, it headed east on the Main. That doesn't match any itinerary I know of, so my best guess is that Ruby and Jade passengers were less fortunate than those on the Jewel, and were not able to transit the gorge, and instead swapped ships. FWIW, I believe the Ruby, as an older ship, has a larger draft than Scenic's newer ships; I don't know about the Jade. As usual, this is just speculation, because Scenic doesn't announce anything like this, and I don't believe any current Ruby or Jade passengers have posted.