Rhine water levels 2018 and similar topics

[gadugger]

Finally made it to AmaPrima about an hour before it sailed to Utrecht.  NO sleep since Fri. Night.  Very pleased with service so far especially cruise manager. Took awhile to accept itinerary  change but alternative route looks good so far. Good dinner tonight. Met Coli and Mum. Off to Gouda tomorrow. Assurance provided that everyone will get to Basel as needed. 

[SF Walker]

18 minutes ago, notamermaid said:

I am sorry to read that. As of now, yes, the Amadeus Silver would not get back from where she is now to Koblenz on the Rhine. If you mean the Amadeus Silver ( there are also the ll and the lll), she is docked in Frankfurt according to marinetraffic.  She might or might not be on an itinerary but can still be ready for you waiting at Mainz for you for example. You have a few days to go. If you are worried about flights and itinerary changes I suggest you keep in touch with your tour operator in writing so you have a record of the communication.

 

I hope things work out for you and that you have a great cruise.

 

notamermaid

 

thank you, notameraid - we all hope it works out, too!

 

I have a question. I do see that the Amadeus Silver is in Frankfurt on marinetraffic, but as I noted above, it's much further east on cruisemapper, though it looks like it may be making its way to Frankfurt. Is marinetraffic the more up to date website? 

And, yes, we were told we're on the unnumbered Amadeus Silver, not the II or III. 

thanks again.

[Tfaith]

I have been following all of your posts for 3 weeks or so as we depart Basel to Cologne November 25 with Tauck for the Christmas Market Cruise on MS Inspire and we WILL be departing!  I must praise Tauck for their communication and all the efforts they are doing to make our changes as minimal as possible. I was called by a representative yesterday to advise that we would have a ship swap on day 4 to the MS Grace, their sister ship, same cabin as Inspire,  to continue our cruise on to Cologne, that there would be additional bussing of approximately 4 hours spread out throughout one day with stops along the route and they were working to provide alternative excursions for those not wanting to bus that would lessen that time. I know without doubt if I hadn’t had the benefit from those  have been so kind to post and share their experiences I would have been disappointed but instead we are thrilled at how fortunate we are. Things can certainly change in a week and more changes may be necessary but thanks to all posting we are prepared and can’t say enough good things about Tauck’s handling of the circumstances. Safe travels to all. 

[notamermaid]

18 minutes ago, SF Walker said:

thank you, notameraid - we all hope it works out, too!

 

I have a question. I do see that the Amadeus Silver is in Frankfurt on marinetraffic, but as I noted above, it's much further east on cruisemapper, though it looks like it may be making its way to Frankfurt. Is marinetraffic the more up to date website? 

And, yes, we were told we're on the unnumbered Amadeus Silver, not the II or III. 

thanks again.

I have found cruise mapper to give good details about ships and the display of map with its features is somewhat more pleasant visually but as regards up-to-date information about ship positions I have found marinetraffic to be better.

 

notamermaid

 

[SF Walker]

13 minutes ago, notamermaid said:

I have found cruise mapper to give good details about ships and the display of map with its features is somewhat more pleasant visually but as regards up-to-date information about ship positions I have found marinetraffic to be better.

 

notamermaid

 

thank you again, notameraid. That's really helpful. Cruisemapper has our boat west, not east, of Frankfurt, BTW. My typo. 

[Olivera]

On 10/28/2018 at 1:23 AM, Philandher said:

Do you depart from Zurich or Basel, if it's the Opal you are on, hopefully, we will be joining you.

Hi departing from Zurich. Have you had any update re cruise ?

[sjde]

I still don't have specifics on what is happening with our cruise early next week but we did receive clarification of their policy in an email sent to us-

 

"We do not give full or partial refunds for cancellations due to water-levels or other bad weather issues. Realize that there would be no river cruises in Europe if at every turn the cruise line gave a full refund if guests were not able to sail their purchased itinerary at the last minute or desired to cancel due to possible sailing or weather issues. 

 

As a company we have a fiscal responsibility to our employees and contractors that we cannot just send home or cancel a ship’s sailing at the last minute nor can we sustain a business model of handing out refunds for things out of our control. 

 

Again, this type of risk (6 - 10% chance) is not for everyone and if you would like to avoid the risk, we recommend guests purchasing “Cancel For Any Reason” insurance coverage (noting standard Travel Insurance does not cover low or high water-level issues). "

 

Well we did purchase trip insurance but not Cancel for any Reason!

[hbr777]

6 minutes ago, sjde said:

I still don't have specifics on what is happening with our cruise early next week but we did receive clarification of their policy in an email sent to us-

 

"We do not give full or partial refunds for cancellations due to water-levels or other bad weather issues. Realize that there would be no river cruises in Europe if at every turn the cruise line gave a full refund if guests were not able to sail their purchased itinerary at the last minute or desired to cancel due to possible sailing or weather issues. 

 

As a company we have a fiscal responsibility to our employees and contractors that we cannot just send home or cancel a ship’s sailing at the last minute nor can we sustain a business model of handing out refunds for things out of our control. 

 

Again, this type of risk (6 - 10% chance) is not for everyone and if you would like to avoid the risk, we recommend guests purchasing “Cancel For Any Reason” insurance coverage (noting standard Travel Insurance does not cover low or high water-level issues). "

 

Well we did purchase trip insurance but not Cancel for any Reason!

That is most obnoxious email a cruise company could send to a guest. What company is this?

Edited November 18, 2018 by hbr777

[sjde]

It sounds like we may get 30% off a future cruise. The company is 1 1/2? years old (Teeming) so doesn't have the deep pockets of some of the others. 

[G.M.T.]

Teeming in name,

but not in money.

[sjde]

Dbs944- How will you be out $2500? Airfare?

 

[Dbs944]

5 minutes ago, sjde said:

Dbs944- How will you be out $2500? Airfare?

 

Any reason pays 75%.

Approved reason pays 100%.

[Merc85]

1 hour ago, sjde said:

I still don't have specifics on what is happening with our cruise early next week but we did receive clarification of their policy in an email sent to us-

 

"We do not give full or partial refunds for cancellations due to water-levels or other bad weather issues. Realize that there would be no river cruises in Europe if at every turn the cruise line gave a full refund if guests were not able to sail their purchased itinerary at the last minute or desired to cancel due to possible sailing or weather issues. 

 

As a company we have a fiscal responsibility to our employees and contractors that we cannot just send home or cancel a ship’s sailing at the last minute nor can we sustain a business model of handing out refunds for things out of our control. 

 

Again, this type of risk (6 - 10% chance) is not for everyone and if you would like to avoid the risk, we recommend guests purchasing “Cancel For Any Reason” insurance coverage (noting standard Travel Insurance does not cover low or high water-level issues). "

 

Well we did purchase trip insurance but not Cancel for any Reason!

I found the paragraph below in the EU's legislation concerning travel.  I am no lawyer, but it seems like what is happening is a significant change and if so the EU law says the passenger can cancel the contract.

"

(33)

In certain cases organisers should be allowed to make unilateral changes to the package travel contract. However, travellers should have the right to terminate the package travel contract if the changes alter significantly any of the main characteristics of the travel services. This may for instance be the case if the quality or the value of the travel services diminishes."

Edited November 19, 2018 by Merc85
typo

[Host Jazzbeau]

1 minute ago, Merc85 said:

I found the paragraph below in the EU's legislation concerning travel.  I am no lawyer, but it seems like what is happening is a significant change and if so the EU law says the passenger can cancel the contract.

"

(33)

In certain cases organisers should be allowed to make unilateral changes to the package travel contract. However, travellers should have the right to terminate the package travel contract if the changes alter significantly any of the main characteristics of the travel services. This may for instance be the case if the quality or the value of the travel services diminishes."

 

Applies to EU citizens only.

[Host Jazzbeau]

The unprecedented low water and resulting cruise changes are bringing a lot of new posters to Cruise Critic, so apparently it needs repeating that you must follow all Cruise Critic guidelines – especially the one that prohibits mentioning Travel Agents by name.

[Merc85]

3 minutes ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

 

Applies to EU citizens only.

Good point!!

[pully8]

21 hours ago, peregrino said:

 

Same for us, pully8.  We are booked on AmaVenita for Dec 8, A to B.  We are very keen to know what APT say to you now.

 

Our two efforts to contact APT (about a week ago) only yielded replies of the general form "All ok, don't you worry about it..."

 

Admittedly, rainfall and river levels are not totally predictable.  However, the feedback from Mark_T and others, plus the location and daily movement of vessels on the CruiseMapper doesn't look like it's all ok on the A to B cruises:

 

https://www.cruisemapper.com/?mmsi=269057515

Email today via TA from APT. Working on November departures. No plans released for December. Will contact closer to the date of departure.

Agree given what we know, it is far from satisfactory to be notified at very short notice, but that is the reality apparently.

Please let us know your experience. At least we know AMAVenita is in Amsterdam and likely to be there for your departure, albeit itinerary not disclosed at this stage. 

[hbr777]

Letter from AmaWaterways about our 12/3 sailing Basel to Amsterdam. Option B is essentially a bus tour through the low countries. I'm hoping it doesn't come to that. From an email, Ama said some of that might be on a train.

 

Edited November 19, 2018 by hbr777

[katz]

Have you gotten your documents yet?  

[hbr777]

Yes. They are the excursions for the cruise as if there were no changes. I was a bit confused by that, but I realized that it makes sense. Ama most likely doesn't have a clue where we are going yet. It will all depend on the levels.

[katz]

When did you receive yours?  I see that you live in NC.  We are up the road in VA. I talked to AMA over two weeks ago.  The rep said the docs would be mailed at the end of that week.  I talked to another rep yesterday, she didn’t have a clue when we would get them.  She said they might come in an email. She said just show up and not to worry about it.  Gee, thanks for the advice!!

 

We leave next Monday for a few days in Frankfurt, then the precruise. I am getting nervous!!

 

I just checked the forecasts and there is some rain in the future.  Fingers crossed!!

[Intlxpatr]

6 hours ago, Tfaith said:

I have been following all of your posts for 3 weeks or so as we depart Basel to Cologne November 25 with Tauck for the Christmas Market Cruise on MS Inspire and we WILL be departing!  I must praise Tauck for their communication and all the efforts they are doing to make our changes as minimal as possible. I was called by a representative yesterday to advise that we would have a ship swap on day 4 to the MS Grace, their sister ship, same cabin as Inspire,  to continue our cruise on to Cologne, that there would be additional bussing of approximately 4 hours spread out throughout one day with stops along the route and they were working to provide alternative excursions for those not wanting to bus that would lessen that time. I know without doubt if I hadn’t had the benefit from those  have been so kind to post and share their experiences I would have been disappointed but instead we are thrilled at how fortunate we are. Things can certainly change in a week and more changes may be necessary but thanks to all posting we are prepared and can’t say enough good things about Tauck’s handling of the circumstances. Safe travels to all. 

We are on the Tauck MS Grace, the ship you will be swapping to. We haven't heard anything, so I am delighted to see your post. I had just said to my husband that "the best we can hope for is a ship swap and as much of the original itinerary as possible (we love Aachen, Heidelberg and Colmar)."  So you and I will be . . . . wait for it . . . . like two ships passing in the . . . . Sorry, could not resist. Anyway, thank you so much for posting, so we can be hopeful about the trip going southbound.

Edited November 19, 2018 by Intlxpatr
mistake

[Tfaith]

I was told there will be no changes to our original stops, just the method we get to them may require some extra bussing! I promise to leave our cabin in great shape for you!! 

[librarylady19]

Thanks so much to notamermaid and those posting information on the Rhine situation. I agree we should be mindful of the broader impact of drought and water levels on the rivers. 

‘We are booked in Viking Mani, Amsterdam to Basel departing 11/30, so have been following along with this thread. We received an email from Viking a few days ago alerting us to a likely ship swap. 

‘This will be our first river cruise and first time in Germany. While it is disappointing that things may not go exactly as planned, that is always a likelihood when traveling. We are looking forward to the onboard experience and especially visiting  the Christmas markets, both of which should not be adversely affected. 

 

Edited November 19, 2018 by librarylady19

[Marsarva]

I too have been following this thread with interest and appreciate the comments of all (and especially notamermaid!). Library lady19, we are doing the reverse of you - On Viking, leaving Nov 30, Basel to Amsterdam. We will no doubt ‘cross’ paths! We have received an email about a likely ship swap.

This is our second Viking River Cruise, first was Danube Christmas markets Dec 2016. No problems whatsoever and absolutely brilliant. 

Like you all, hoping now for some decent rainfall, not only for us, but for the region generally!