Danube water levels 2018 and similar topics - plus tips and info

[Mark_T]

12 minutes ago, claudiaYVR said:

Friends on Mozart right now. Today in Passau, scheduled to arrive in Budapest on the 7th. So far no indications of a change in the itinerary and BTW they are having a wonderful time.

 

Not likely to be any problems either on that route, they should be fine.

[rcaruso]

My friend is on the Viking Ve now in Passau. She said will ship swap to Viking Gefjon in Regensburg. They will be bussed from Passau to the new ship in Regensburg. She also mentioned that the Captain of the Ve said that the water is now to low to sail to Budapest too.

[Crowefamily4]

Hello All,

 

Does anyone have any information regarding long range forecast for this winter? We will be taking the Viking Romantic Danube (Budapest - Nuremberg ) this coming April, 2019.  Does it seem likely or not that the Danube river levels will be back to levels for uninterrupted sailing?  G.M.T., you seem to be plugged in to very good information.  Thanks to all....

[G.M.T.]

46 minutes ago, rcaruso said:

My friend is on the Viking Ve now in Passau. She said will ship swap to Viking Gefjon in Regensburg. They will be bussed from Passau to the new ship in Regensburg. She also mentioned that the Captain of the Ve said that the water is now to low to sail to Budapest too.

The Viking Ve is moored in Passau Winterharbour Racklau. This is an industrial harbour, there are plans to turn it into a cruise berthing area with 3 berths, if this happens it is planned to introduce a water taxi service to various pionts in and around Passau, including the Hacklberg Brewery Beer Garden (the brewery belongs to the Bishop of Passau)🍻.

 

 

[rcaruso]

Hi GMT,

 

Vielen Dank for the update on the VE. Doesn't look real atractive, but at least you can see the Dom! I figure she may not catch the Gefjon in Regensburg, maybe Nurnberg, time will tell, what a year you all have had.  Wish we could send some of our rain your way.

[G.M.T.]

1 hour ago, Crowefamily4 said:

Hello All,

 

Does anyone have any information regarding long range forecast for this winter? We will be taking the Viking Romantic Danube (Budapest - Nuremberg ) this coming April, 2019.  Does it seem likely or not that the Danube river levels will be back to levels for uninterrupted sailing?  G.M.T., you seem to be plugged in to very good information.  Thanks to all....

Long term weather forecasting is based mostly on historical data, this year you can throw these forecasts out as the weather patterns are totally out of sync and just gone crazy.

I personally think the current weather will continue into the New Year, i.e. low river levels, then two days of rain, then a few days window where the river is passable. Then two weeks where the river is to low to be navigable.

I only check weather predictions upto 6 days out.

I could be totally wrong with my ideas.

On your cruise, Vienna to Passau and Regensburg to Nuremberg will be cruiseable even with low river levels.

[Second seating]

On 11/3/2018 at 8:13 AM, bubbulz said:

Uniworld's SS Maria Theresa made it into Bratislava and now is in Budapest for the first time in ages. Hope this trend continues!

This is the ship I am planning on boarding Dec. 2nd in Budapest! I will hope for the best but I do have plan B all worked out.

 

Second seating

[Begete]

What is your plan B? 

 

We were here on the Maria Theresa last year. Lovely ship and wonderful crew.

 

We are supposed to board River Duchess Friday, but I am sick!

[bubbulz]

32 minutes ago, Second seating said:

This is the ship I am planning on boarding Dec. 2nd in Budapest! I will hope for the best but I do have plan B all worked out.

 

Second seating

See you on the boat! We have 4 days in Budapest prior and 5 days in Prague after the cruise. We had figured the worst case was some busing between Budapest and Vienna but it’s lookimg like we will be clear for cruising throughout our original itinerary (so far, anyway!)

[Second seating]

16 minutes ago, Begete said:

What is your plan B? 

 

We were here on the Maria Theresa last year. Lovely ship and wonderful crew.

 

We are supposed to board River Duchess Friday, but I am sick!

 

I have two days in Budapest prior to the cruise. If the cruise does not work out I have hotels reserved that I can cancel with no fee by Dec. 2nd in Vienna, Salzburg and Nuremberg. First class trains to get from one point to the next.  Finishing in Munich where our planes leave.

 

The River Duchess is a wonderful ship!

 

Second seating

 

[seaworthy98]

We are on the Crystal Mozart and just learned last night that we will NOT be cruising to Budapest. It will be busses and a hotel. No more information was given. The officers hurried from the room before passengers could ask questions.  More info is supposed to come today. We leave Passau at 1 pm today and cruise to either Bratislava or Vienna. Don't know which one.

[Mark_T]

24 minutes ago, seaworthy98 said:

We are on the Crystal Mozart and just learned last night that we will NOT be cruising to Budapest. It will be busses and a hotel. No more information was given.

 

That is frustrating, there were still ships sailing out of Budapest late last night and even now they are still moving as far as Komarom, but it does look as though the water has fallen too far again 😞

[Flamencacha]

3 minutes ago, seaworthy98 said:

We are on the Crystal Mozart and just learned last night that we will NOT be cruising to Budapest. It will be busses and a hotel. No more information was given. The officers hurried from the room before passengers could ask questions.  More info is supposed to come today. We leave Passau at 1 pm today and cruise to either Bratislava or Vienna. Don't know which one.

We are on the Avalon Panorama between Vienna and Budapest. We leave for Budapest Tonight  from Bratislava and all on cruise feel we are truly lucky and or blessed. 

 

Its a difference of a a few Days

[Mark_T]

25 minutes ago, Flamencacha said:

We are on the Avalon Panorama between Vienna and Budapest. We leave for Budapest Tonight  from Bratislava and all on cruise feel we are truly lucky and or blessed.

 

I hope you make it.

 

Looks like it is just your ship and a couple of Viking ships that are already closer to Budapest that are still showing they will head that way.

 

All the other large cruise ships have already left Budapest it seems.

 

Good luck, I hope you make it as planned.

[Flamencacha]

55 minutes ago, Mark_T said:

 

I hope you make it.

 

Looks like it is just your ship and a couple of Viking ships that are already closer to Budapest that are still showing they will head that way.

 

All the other large cruise ships have already left Budapest it seems.

 

Good luck, I hope you make it as planned.

Thank you, we arrive Bratislava in a couple hours.  No rumors yet that we won’t make it. 🤞🤞🤞🤞.  This the final cruise for the Panorama this season. 

 

 

[notamermaid]

Bratislava has a lovely renovated old town, I like the Opera House on the large square. And the view from the castle.

 

Enjoy.

 

notamermaid

 

[Mark_T]

3 hours ago, Flamencacha said:

Thank you, we arrive Bratislava in a couple hours.  No rumors yet that we won’t make it. 🤞🤞🤞🤞.  This the final cruise for the Panorama this season.

 

You have Viking Hermod trail-blazing ahead of you into Budapest, so it will be clear soon enough if all is OK.

[seaworthy98]

5 hours ago, Mark_T said:

 

That is frustrating, there were still ships sailing out of Budapest late last night and even now they are still moving as far as Komarom, but it does look as though the water has fallen too far again 😞

We will be bussing to Bratislava as well. Ship will stay in Vienna until the end of the cruise on Sat., 11/10.

[Mark_T]

5 minutes ago, seaworthy98 said:

We will be bussing to Bratislava as well. Ship will stay in Vienna until the end of the cruise on Sat., 11/10.

 

This is one of the occasions where the sheer size of the Mozart does give it a few more limitations.

 

Looks like some other ships are still OK for the moment but I suspect, not for long...

[notamermaid]

I was wondering what the draft of the Mozart might be and found two figures, 1.50m and 1.60m. Can a ship that is almost double-width have a draft lower than a ship of standard size? Viking and other 135m ships are given with widths of anything between 1.53 m and 1.90m.

 

Any (technical) thoughts?

 

notamermaid

 

 

 

[Flamencacha]

1 hour ago, Mark_T said:

 

This is one of the occasions where the sheer size of the Mozart does give it a few more limitations.

 

Looks like some other ships are still OK for the moment but I suspect, not for long...

Yes, sometimes bigger is not always better. 

[johncb7]

I think you will find that the Mozart has a beam of 11m and a water draft of 1.7m.

[Mark_T]

2 minutes ago, johncb7 said:

I think you will find that the Mozart has a beam of 11m and a water draft of 1.7m.

 

She is the larger one:

 

Length

395 ft. length (120.44 m)

Width

75 ft. width (22.85 m)

 

[notamermaid]

4 minutes ago, johncb7 said:

I think you will find that the Mozart has a beam of 11m and a water draft of 1.7m.

Thank you. But she is the large ship of double width. Still, she does not necessarily have to have much more than the standard width ships.

 

notamermaid

 

Edited November 5, 2018 by notamermaid

[Mark_T]

If the navigation channel is getting narrower though that extra width may be causing caution, and of course with so few ship Crystal really can't risk having one stuck in Budapest under any circumstances.