Lock strikes announced in Germany

[ingo_e]

Does anyone know how long the bus ride is from Regensburg to Nuremberg? If they are still striking when we sail, I have a feeling our boat won't be able to make it past Regensburg.

 

About 1h on the motorway, maximum 1.5h from Regensburg dock to Nurembergs city center. Actually I would not be concerned about the last stretch, but about the rest of the Danube..

 

After week 1 most cruises now keep their ships away from the canal (if they do not have to go the whole stretch AMsterdam to Budapest) but try to go as far up as Bamberg or Regensburg and bus PAX. Seems to be safer than the risk of getting stuck on the canal..

 

In general ships are now so much delayed (or affected), that even cruises from Fri-Mon are not really taking place as they should. A lot of transfers involved. At this moment the locks are still operating, but I am going to set a lot of them back on "blocked" tomorrow..

[FinelyRetired]

Ingo:

 

So grateful for your updates. I have been using the link to your website which was posted (or maybe quoted) on Pg. 3 of this thread, post #59.

 

I'll check there tomorrow.

[cruzemaven]

About 1h on the motorway, maximum 1.5h from Regensburg dock to Nurembergs city center. Actually I would not be concerned about the last stretch, but about the rest of the Danube..

 

After week 1 most cruises now keep their ships away from the canal (if they do not have to go the whole stretch AMsterdam to Budapest) but try to go as far up as Bamberg or Regensburg and bus PAX. Seems to be safer than the risk of getting stuck on the canal..

 

In general ships are now so much delayed (or affected), that even cruises from Fri-Mon are not really taking place as they should. A lot of transfers involved. At this moment the locks are still operating, but I am going to set a lot of them back on "blocked" tomorrow..

 

We are sailing from Budapest to Nuremberg and are hoping that all is clear on the Danube until we get to Regensburg on a Monday. If the locks are closed on Tuesday to Thursday I guess Avalon will have to bus us to Nuremberg on that Tuesday. Maybe we'll be lucky and the strike will be over by the time we board.

[steamboats]

IG Rivercruise is "protesting" now. But I doubt they do have much influence in this specific case.

 

steamboats

[Cruzin Terri]

We are now in Schweinfurt. The Viking Aegir is docked alongside of us. We managed to get through two locks last night.

 

We will be bussed to Wurzburg for our tour today. No update until 2:00 pm.

We will either return to the ship here in Schweinfurt or wherever it has managed to sail.

 

Will post another update when possible.

Terri

[davidrw]

We are now in Schweinfurt. The Viking Aegir is docked alongside of us. We managed to get through two locks last night.

 

We will be bussed to Wurzburg for our tour today. No update until 2:00 pm.

We will either return to the ship here in Schweinfurt or wherever it has managed to sail.

 

Will post another update when possible.

Terri

 

Good Luck.

 

One of the interesting quotes from our Cruise Director when we were stuck in the first strike was "Remember that we are travellers and travellers need to be flexible "

[jon1211]

We're on the Viking Skadi from Budapest to Amsterdam. We've been stranded in the canal at Nuremburg since Sun. 7/21. It's now Wed. 7/24. The Viking crew has been really good, trying to make the best of it by arranging day excursions to Bamberg & Werzberg, but today's option was 90 min. each way by bus to a tiny town called Volkach. Many of us opted out and stayed on the ship. They're going to have to make some kind of decision soon if the locks don't re-open. Passengers are getting restless! :mad:

[burrma]

We're on the Viking Skadi from Budapest to Amsterdam. We've been stranded in the canal at Nuremburg since Sun. 7/21. It's now Wed. 7/24. The Viking crew has been really good, trying to make the best of it by arranging day excursions to Bamberg & Werzberg, but today's option was 90 min. each way by bus to a tiny town called Volkach. Many of us opted out and stayed on the ship. They're going to have to make some kind of decision soon if the locks don't re-open. Passengers are getting restless! :mad:

 

Sorry to hear this is affecting your river cruise; big time. Three days stranded in same place; how terrible if it's a 7 day cruise. Terrible if it's 14 days. Glad to hear Viking has been really good; any talk of reimbursement? Our friends were just on Avalon doing Nuremberg to Budapest and they were stuck one day; put up in 5 plus hotel; got complimentary tour to Salzburg which was fabulous and also got nice sum of money back. Hope Viking is treating their people the same. Certainly hope the strike is over soon.

[Cruzin Terri]

We have gotten as far as Himmelstadt. We were bussed to Rothenburg today from Schweinfurt. Then the ship was able to sail to Himmelstadt.we were bussed to there this afternoon. The ship has been here since 2:30 pm with the promise that we will sail at midnight. We will see.

Our next stop is Rudesheim. Will post tomorrow with an update.

Terri

[FinelyRetired]

We're on the Viking Skadi from Budapest to Amsterdam. We've been stranded in the canal at Nuremburg since Sun. 7/21. It's now Wed. 7/24. The Viking crew has been really good, trying to make the best of it by arranging day excursions to Bamberg & Werzberg, but today's option was 90 min. each way by bus to a tiny town called Volkach. Many of us opted out and stayed on the ship. They're going to have to make some kind of decision soon if the locks don't re-open. Passengers are getting restless! :mad:

 

So sorry to hear you are stuck at this point. I wish you well. Glad to hear you got to do Bamberg & Werzberg while in Nuremburg. Is the Werzberg you mention the same town as the Wurzburg on the itinerary or a different town? I ask because if it is, can I assume when you're unstuck you'll be sailing right on past Wurzburg to catch up and make Amsterdam on schedule?

 

I'm a little confused...... you have been stuck in Nuremberg since Sunday? It has been my understanding that these lock strikes have occurred in Tues-Thurs. time frame. I'm on the same itinerary in a few weeks(in reverse) & I show these 2 ports are 2 days in a row. Did you stay in Nuremberg Sunday because your ship could not make it to Bamberg by the scheduled Tues work stoppage? Or was it easier for them to operate bus tours out of Nuremberg, rather than the smaller Bamberg?

 

Are you going to switch ships at some point?

 

Thanks for sharing your updates with us. Glad to hear the Viking crew is treating you well. Sounds like everyone is making the best of it, but I've no doubt it's been frustrating for the passengers.

[steamboats]

We have gotten as far as Himmelstadt.

 

Terri,

 

You´ve got stuck in a very important little town :D:D... Himmelstadt (heaven´s city) is one of the postal addresses for the Holy Child and thousands of kids are writing each year sending the Holy Child their wishes for Christmas (we don´t address our wishes to Father Christmas but to the Holy Child).

 

But besides that.... there´s nothing worth mentioning about Himmelstadt.

 

steamboats

[Cruzin Terri]

We have bee sailing continuously since 10:00pm last night. Locks apparently are open.

We will be close to Rudesheim this afternoon for our tour and be just about back on schedule to reach Cologne tomorrow.

Terri

[ingo_e]

FinelyRetired: The Thues - Thurs frame changed. This week they started Monday afternoon. As written earlier: Some locks are operated by civil servants, others only by employees, some by both. So it depends on the shifts when a lock is blocked or not.

 

To everyone else: It would be great if you could maybe mention

- your ships name

- river

- Place where you should be

- and where you are stuck at this moment..

 

Would make it simpler to keep track for others, how much delay and so forth..

[davidrw]

We have bee sailing continuously since 10:00pm last night. Locks apparently are open.

We will be close to Rudesheim this afternoon for our tour and be just about back on schedule to reach Cologne tomorrow.

Terri

 

You must be sailing well now.

 

The Rudesheim museum of mechanical musical instruments is a rather magical place & is on most itenaries. Hopefully you will be back on your boat in time to see the Rhine Gorge in daylight - however I personally wouldn't bother too much about Lorelei rock !!

 

When I did this during the first strike, Avalon took us of the boat at Frankfurt to bus us to Rudesheim and we had a really nice lunch with entertainment, a liquer Coffee and a Snapps competition - that was definately one of the 'benefits' of the lock strike.

[PJames]

Just got back:

http://www.gummy-stuff.org/Danube-diary.htm

[ingo_e]

So it seems as if this strike week is over: Ships moving up the Danube again, on the RMD Canal. I keep the Main still on Code Red as there are no movements from Bamberg / at Aschaffenburg (hard to spot anything inbetween). From the fact that no cruisers from Amsterdam - Basel (or from the Moselle) write here, I assume these rivers (RHine, Moselle) are open?

 

Get the full update at: http://www.rivercruiseinfo.com/content/strike-germany-locks-are-blocked

[Arizonasunshine]

We are on Uniworld Budapest- Amsterdam August 2. Received an e-mail from Uniworld yesterday that our ship out of Budapest has been changed to the River Duchess for about 5 days. We will then be moved to the River Queen (our original ship) on August 7 in either Passau or Regensburg to complete the cruise. Not happy about changing ships but it is a heck of a lot better than a bus trip.

[davidrw]

So it seems as if this strike week is over: Ships moving up the Danube again, on the RMD Canal. I keep the Main still on Code Red as there are no movements from Bamberg / at Aschaffenburg (hard to spot anything inbetween). From the fact that no cruisers from Amsterdam - Basel (or from the Moselle) write here, I assume these rivers (RHine, Moselle) are open?

 

Get the full update at: http://www.rivercruiseinfo.com/content/strike-germany-locks-are-blocked

 

Is there any news in the German Papers about any compromise or will this just drag on for months ?

[Shebely]

After week 1 most cruises now keep their ships away from the canal (if they do not have to go the whole stretch AMsterdam to Budapest) but try to go as far up as Bamberg or Regensburg and bus PAX. Seems to be safer than the risk of getting stuck on the canal..

 

In general ships are now so much delayed (or affected), that even cruises from Fri-Mon are not really taking place as they should. A lot of transfers involved. At this moment the locks are still operating, but I am going to set a lot of them back on "blocked" tomorrow..

 

 

To everyone else: It would be great if you could maybe mention

 

- your ships name

- river

- Place where you should be

- and where you are stuck at this moment..

 

Would make it simpler to keep track for others, how much delay and so forth..

 

Avalon Tranquility - Budapest to Nuremberg

Danube

We are not stranded, but we have had schedule deviations.

 

We are docked in an industrial area in Straubing, Germany as of Thurs, July 25 at 5 pm. The normal schedule had us in Regensburg. We leave for Nuremberg tonight. Straubing is closer to Nuremberg than Regensberg.

Last night we were delayed leaving Passau and then they dropped anchor at 10 pm and waited to get thru lock and that did not happen until 5 am. Morning tours were cut and we were dropped off at Deggendorf for bus travel to Regensberg for afternoon tour.

[Cruzin Terri]

MS Treasures should have docked in Rudesheim this afternoon. Instead we departed the ship in Oberau and were bussed 1 1/2 hours to Rudesheim.

We returned to the ship by motor coach ( one hour ride) in Frankfurt, and that is where we are at present. We are expected to sail at 2:00 am.

Tomorrow instead of docking in Cologne, we will sail as far as Koblenz and be bussed 90 minutes to Cologne at 1:45 pm. Rejoin the ship at 6:40 pm in Cologne.

That's all I know right now.

Terri

[davidrw]

MS Treasures should have docked in Rudesheim this afternoon. Instead we departed the ship in Oberau and were bussed 1 1/2 hours to Rudesheim.

We returned to the ship by motor coach ( one hour ride) in Frankfurt, and that is where we are at present. We are expected to sail at 2:00 am.

Tomorrow instead of docking in Cologne, we will sail as far as Koblenz and be bussed 90 minutes to Cologne at 1:45 pm. Rejoin the ship at 6:40 pm in Cologne.

That's all I know right now.

Terri

 

Hopefully when you wake up you will be free of locks. I guess that the timings are to ensure that you do the Rhine Gorge in the daylight. I hope that the rest of your holiday is relaxing.

[steamboats]

Is there any news in the German Papers about any compromise or will this just drag on for months ?

 

Sorry, no news in the German papers. The CLIA (German subdivision) issued a press release yesterday but that´s it.

 

steamboats

[lindaann]

Friday July 26th

 

Ship Swap

 

We left the Scenic Jewel in Vienna this morning for our excursion in Melk and then to Durnstein to get to the Scenic Sapphire.

 

Generally a little confusing. Why the ship swap when we went from one place in Austria to another in Austria. We were told it was because of the lock strikes....but there are no strikes in Austria????? Only Scenic knows the true story.

 

We are on the Sapphire now waiting for our rooms to get ready.

 

Hopefully this will be the last ship swap. Only time will tell.

 

Linda

[ingo_e]

There are some news:

 

http://translate.google.com/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&js=n&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.derwesten.de%2Fstaedte%2Fduisburg%2Fschleusenpersonal-bleibt-streikbereit-aimp-id8237335.html&act=url

 

The next week seems to be strike free but Verdi and the Ministry of Transportations are starting talks again. However, the strike may be back on again in August if they fail.

[davidrw]

There are some news:

 

http://translate.google.com/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&js=n&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.derwesten.de%2Fstaedte%2Fduisburg%2Fschleusenpersonal-bleibt-streikbereit-aimp-id8237335.html&act=url

 

The next week seems to be strike free but Verdi and the Ministry of Transportations are starting talks again. However, the strike may be back on again in August if they fail.

 

Excellent news.

 

I just noticed something on the Union site dated the 23rd where they confirm a pause for a week (http://www.verdi.de/themen/nachrichten/++co++b5caaa88-f397-11e2-859a-5254008a33df)

 

The translation is:-

 

WSV: For now, the floodgates remain tight

23, July 2013 | On Monday, the locks are again on strike in Bavaria. From today, Tuesday, at the walkouts capture for three days North Rhine-Westphalia and Lower Saxony. In Berlin and Brandenburg, the locks will be on strike for three days from Thursday. Then, a week-long strike break is planned. With the interruption of the strike Verdi wants to give the federal government the opportunity to reconsider its position and to conclude a collective agreement, said ver.di board member Achim Meerkamp.

 

The employees of the Water and Shipping Administration and other institutions and authorities in the jurisdiction of Federal Transport Minister Peter Ramsauer, CSU, has been struggling for months to conclude a collective agreement which will protect them from the effects of the proposed redevelopment authorities. Since the beginning of July to work on the locks is to regionally for several days repeatedly resigned. From the Ministry, there is however so far only non-binding commitments.

 

A quarter of the approximately 12,000 jobs are threatened by degradation. But also for the overall economy, the consequences would be immense: "The federal government continues the functionality of the Waterways and Shipping Administration and related agencies and institutions as a service provider for the infrastructure at risk," said Achim Meerkamp. Thus came the jobs of many boatmen in danger. The recent strikes were affected by the temporary loss of business locks certainly not easy. However, if no collective agreement will now completed, the long-term consequences for the entire industry, the boatmen were still far more serious.