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

[seahags]

Our TA spoke in person with the CEO of Uniworld on Tuesday so we do know that there are at least GOOD contingency plans in the event there is not enough rain for the Danube!  

[PaulS]

9 hours ago, Deval said:

 

We’re still starting in Budapest but being put up in hotel for 1 night.  Was originally Kempinski but now we’ll be in Sofitel.  We’ll still have illuminations cruise & city tour next morning, then 3 hr bus ride to board Lea in Vienna.  Cruise now ends in Vilshofen & Ama said they will transfer us to Nuremberg (2.5 hrs).  We booked our own flights, we’re flying to Zurich & staying in Lucerne for 2 nights before returning to FL.

Deval:

The Sofitel is in a better location than the Kempinski. It is right on the river with great views of the castle. We stayed in the Intercontinental, which is next to the Sofitel, while on an Avalon cruise several weeks ago. Too bad you will only have one night in Budapest. It is a great city. Hope your cruise goes well. 

[Trvlcrazy]

10 hours ago, Deval said:

 

We’re still starting in Budapest but being put up in hotel for 1 night.  Was originally Kempinski but now we’ll be in Sofitel.  We’ll still have illuminations cruise & city tour next morning, then 3 hr bus ride to board Lea in Vienna.  Cruise now ends in Vilshofen & Ama said they will transfer us to Nuremberg (2.5 hrs).  We booked our own flights, we’re flying to Zurich & staying in Lucerne for 2 nights before returning to FL.

 

This is reassuring for me.  By all that are using AMA, it looks like AMA is doing its best-est given the circumstances.  Thank you for taking the time to respond

[Trvlcrazy]

Woo hoo, Ama Viola is "underway using engine" as per cruise tracker.  Still hoping and praying for cruise movements

[madda]

On 11/28/2018 at 8:52 AM, pully8 said:

Yes would like to know how that cruise is going too. A brief search looks as if the AMAVenita left Rotterdam and is now in Amsterdam.

It would appear they started the land bit in Budapest on Saturday, perhaps 2 nights Budapest and 2 in Vienna then flight to Amsterdam?  

Hope you learn soon what they are offering for your cruise, ours is Budapest to Amsterdam I think after yours. 

I am on this cruise, we arrived in Rotterdam early this morning and will depart in the morning. We started in Budapest and caught the Majestic Imperator to Vienna which took about 4.5 hours, we were given food and drinks, we stayed in Vienna for two days. APT then chartered a private flight for us to get to Amsterdam, so far everything has been smooth sailing, although we probably won’t be going to Germany, APT have been excellent in re-organising our holiday. No bus travelling.

[Charlies Aunt]

17 hours ago, Lggva said:

Leaving for Europe tomorrow, still praying for rain we are supposed to be on the Viking Alta Nuremberg to Budapest Romantic Danube departing Dec. 2. Any updates appreciated. 

Hi Lggva

We too are due to join the Viking Atla in Nuremburg on 2 Dec and have been lurking on these boards for several days to see if there is any improvement.

We have now come to the conclusion that we are going to have a good time whatever the outcome and will make every effort to keep smiling and keep drinking Gluhwein….how bad can it be no work cooking answering phones or laundry for 7 days?

 

Safe journey and hope to see you on board

[Bgreco1]

Just spoke to Riviera and they are still not yet announcing any cancellation or changes for our Dec. 6th cruise which leave Budapest for Vienna and returns on the same section of the Danube. Everything I am seeing on here is that section of the Danube remains impassable. Has anyone heard or seen something different? 

[TimL]

1 hour ago, Charlies Aunt said:

Hi Lggva

We too are due to join the Viking Atla in Nuremburg on 2 Dec and have been lurking on these boards for several days to see if there is any improvement.

We have now come to the conclusion that we are going to have a good time whatever the outcome and will make every effort to keep smiling and keep drinking Gluhwein….how bad can it be no work cooking answering phones or laundry for 7 days?

 

Safe journey and hope to see you on board

That's a good attitude!  We were on Viking from Nuremburg to Budapest a couple of weeks ago.  Did we wish we could sail the whole route on the same ship with no bus trips?  Sure.  We did end up having two 3 hour bus rides instead of sailing.  Positives:

 

We got to do all but one of our excursions (a second excursion in Budapest was cancelled). All the excursions were excellent - we especially enjoyed the Munich and Salzburg excursions.  The Viking shore excursions were very well organized with good guides.

 

Viking handled the ship transfers smoothly.  When we arrived at a new ship (twice) our room was ready in the same location.  We did not detect any difference in the quality of the ships (all Viking long ships)

 

The dining was fine - just as if we were on the same ship all week.  We had also sailed on Viking earlier this year in Southern France and the food quality was similar to that cruise.

 

We did miss more sailing along the Wachau Valley (we arrived at this point in the river only a few minute before dusk).  Overall a good trip.

[Deval]

12 hours ago, PaulS said:

Deval:

The Sofitel is in a better location than the Kempinski. It is right on the river with great views of the castle. We stayed in the Intercontinental, which is next to the Sofitel, while on an Avalon cruise several weeks ago. Too bad you will only have one night in Budapest. It is a great city. Hope your cruise goes well. 

 

We actually have 2 nights, we arrive Saturday, staying the 1st night at Hilton.

[llund]

Gate 1 put us up at the Sofitel!   It was great and would stay there again if we ever stay in Budapest. Location was perfect. Beautiful city and wish we had more time there.  We were there 3 nights.  Because the river was low and we were not able to sail into the city, Gate 1 gave us a night river cruise.  It was a highlight of our trip.   Definitely would recommend doing this if you can’t sail in or out of the city.  

[pully8]

11 hours ago, madda said:

I am on this cruise, we arrived in Rotterdam early this morning and will depart in the morning. We started in Budapest and caught the Majestic Imperator to Vienna which took about 4.5 hours, we were given food and drinks, we stayed in Vienna for two days. APT then chartered a private flight for us to get to Amsterdam, so far everything has been smooth sailing, although we probably won’t be going to Germany, APT have been excellent in re-organising our holiday. No bus travelling.

Thanks for the update we appreciate the information. We liked the APT/AMA on board experience on our last river cruise with them.

Have noticed the position of AMAVenita on marine traffic looked to be docked in Rotterdam for sometime before moving to Amsterdam.

The train ride was 4.5 hours, could you move around the train? Have heard the scenery on that sector is unremarkable, lots of wind turbines, but sounds better than a bus ride.

Did you have 2 nights Budapest 2 nights Vienna with excursions? 

Now onboard for the rest of the trip Amsterdam to Amsterdam with excursions?

Good to hear APT are treating you well and enjoy your cruise.

 

 

 

 

[bubbulz]

We got to Budapest yesterday afternoon, and it is cloudy and cold (around freezing) and the Christmas markets are in full swing. We are all bundled up and ready to head out for a tour. We will meet the SS Maria Theresa on Sunday in Vienna for the start of our cruise. Last night we went to a wine pairing dinner at Taste Hungary’s Tasting Table and it was fantastic! Highly recommended!

Edited November 30, 2018 by bubbulz

[madda]

3 hours ago, pully8 said:

Thanks for the update we appreciate the information. We liked the APT/AMA on board experience on our last river cruise with them.

Have noticed the position of AMAVenita on marine traffic looked to be docked in Rotterdam for sometime before moving to Amsterdam.

The train ride was 4.5 hours, could you move around the train? Have heard the scenery on that sector is unremarkable, lots of wind turbines, but sounds better than a bus ride.

Did you have 2 nights Budapest 2 nights Vienna with excursions? 

Now onboard for the rest of the trip Amsterdam to Amsterdam with excursions?

Good to hear APT are treating you well and enjoy your cruise.

 

 

 

 

Two nights in Budapest and Vienna with excursions in both places, we were given money for lunch in Vienna otherwise everything provided. Didn’t see much of the countryside while on the train as it was dark by 4pm and we didn’t get off until about 6:45. You can move from carriage to carriage, there are three carriages, all decorated differently, entertainment is also provided. We are in The Netherlands today with two excursions, one in the morning and another after lunch, both about two hours. Tomorrow there are tours to either Ghent or Bruges, the day after will be either Cologne or Aachen. Just heard that after lunch today the chef has organised an ice cream party, sounds like fun.

[pully8]

madda Thanks for those details. Many on the ship? 

On our last APT/AMA we had 1 of the staff ring a bell @ lunch to announce ice cream was available, it was set up and served as you wanted it and delicious. We enjoyed all the food and the staff were very obliging and cheerful,  that was Budapest to Amsterdam so familiar with the offerings, albeit currently very different.

We did Netherlands and Belgium, we liked Ghent and Bruges.

daffodils and other spring flowers were out so gardens were very pretty.  

Yes I can imagine the short daylight hours may impact with sightseeing at this time of year. Shame they cannot get along the Danube main and parts of the Rhine, some lovely little towns to see and experience. 

At least you can be comfortable and well looked after on the ship now and relax if you want to. How was Prague?

 

[pfjths]

What I can't figure out relating to the water depth is that MarineTraffic (for those that don't use it the app logs ship movements in real time) shows some pretty large ships moving on the Danube between Vienna and Budapest. 

Some are longer and have more beam than the cruise boats. Most look like they will draw more water. The river guages show little water, but still they transit. 

So what is the real problem at the moment?  Is it availability of dock space and the ability to get into the banks rather than navigating the river? 

As an example this beastie is making 9.1kts downstream as I post. 

Any observations from those out there at the moment. 

[G.M.T.]

This is a container / ro-ro (roll on roll off) barge it has a large width and shallow draft. The large width allows the weight to be spread and so not so much draft.  Normal cargo ships, when fully loaded are like icebergs, mostly under water, currently they can only load athird of there nornal cargo that is why they sit so high out of the water.

[Jcat2010]

The Han only draws 1.6 m, some cruise ships draw 2 m.   The river is up a few cm in that area.   It is a game of cm.

 

 

 

[notamermaid]

It is difficult to compare barges to river cruise ships and as G.M.T. has already said they do sail with so much less load in low water. The larger barges reach their limits in very low water and that has happened to some on the Rhine, not that they cannot sail at all, but they cannot get into harbours or out of them or can only load so little that it makes no sense to run them. It actually causes more traffic on the rivers as more and smaller ships sail. As a gentleman in an interview I read a few weeks ago put it: "everything that can swim, is swimming right now".

 

Well, we all know by how bad the situation is, but does the world. The community has certainly helped in spreading the word. Cruisecritic is getting famous: https://www.independent.co.uk/travel/news-and-advice/christmas-river-cruise-danube-rhine-water-levels-low-markets-europe-ship-swaps-a8658826.html

 

It is not the only news article that cites the website: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/11/28/drought-leaves-european-river-cruise-ships-stranded-low-water/

 

notamermaid

 

 

[Bgreco1]

1 hour ago, notamermaid said:

It is difficult to compare barges to river cruise ships and as G.M.T. has already said they do sail with so much less load in low water. The larger barges reach their limits in very low water and that has happened to some on the Rhine, not that they cannot sail at all, but they cannot get into harbours or out of them or can only load so little that it makes no sense to run them. It actually causes more traffic on the rivers as more and smaller ships sail. As a gentleman in an interview I read a few weeks ago put it: "everything that can swim, is swimming right now".

 

Well, we all know by how bad the situation is, but does the world. The community has certainly helped in spreading the word. Cruisecritic is getting famous: https://www.independent.co.uk/travel/news-and-advice/christmas-river-cruise-danube-rhine-water-levels-low-markets-europe-ship-swaps-a8658826.html

 

It is not the only news article that cites the website: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/11/28/drought-leaves-european-river-cruise-ships-stranded-low-water/

 

notamermaid

 

 

As i'm following on Marinetraffic.com it is appearing there are a few passenger vessels including the Oscar Wilde and Amalea which are cruising between Bratislava heading towards Budapest. Has something possibly changed today with water levels in that area? Are they possibly sailing without passengers? I am scheduled to depart Budapest on Dec. 6th and still have yet to be told of a cancellation or itinerary change. If you or anyone have any thoughts or information, much appreciated. 

[G.M.T.]

18 minutes ago, Bgreco1 said:

As i'm following on Marinetraffic.com it is appearing there are a few passenger vessels including the Oscar Wilde and Amalea which are cruising between Bratislava heading towards Budapest. Has something possibly changed today with water levels in that area? Are they possibly sailing without passengers? I am scheduled to depart Budapest on Dec. 6th and still have yet to be told of a cancellation or itinerary change. If you or anyone have any thoughts or information, much appreciated. 

You will have to wait and see where the moor, more probably in Komarom or Esztergom.

[shwonline]

1 hour ago, G.M.T. said:

You will have to wait and see where the moor, more probably in Komarom or Esztergom.

Amalea has sailed past Esztergom. Amaviola is sailing the other direction from Budapest and is approaching Vac. Keep hope alive!

[pfjths]

10 hours ago, Jcat2010 said:

The Han only draws 1.6 m, some cruise ships draw 2 m.   The river is up a few cm in that area.   It is a game of cm.

 

 

 

We are travelling with Riviera Travel. Thomas Hardy draws 1.5m & Oscar Wilde draws 1.6m.  So there may be some hope as the freight vessels lead the way

Edited November 30, 2018 by pfjths

[Hibs4evr]

3 hours ago, G.M.T. said:

You will have to wait and see where the moor, more probably in Komarom or Esztergom.

Marine Traffic has her destination as Budapest

[G.M.T.]

3 minutes ago, Hibs4evr said:

Marine Traffic has her destination as Budapest

All though the summer and autumn the tracking sites have shown destinations Budapest or Nuremberg, but most have ended up in Vienna and Passau.

[camping mom]

On 11/28/2018 at 10:27 AM, FoxHallFamily said:

We are on the Ama Magical Christmas Markets cruise, originally departing Nuremberg on Dec. 1st.  Ama sent us a second revised itinerary yesterday, which we don't like as well as the first revised.  The first revision had us cruising to Esztergom and closer to Budapest, which we believe would have significantly reduced the bus travel time to Budapest.  Now we are in Vienna for multiple days, with we believe a 3-4 hour long (each way) proposed bus excursion to Budapest.  We are also assuming we will be stacked up with multiple boats in Vienna and potentially unable to look out our balcony.  There are a couple times on the itinerary that don't make sense, so we're hoping it might change again, and we have inquired with Ama.  We shall see . . . but we're feeling disappointed at the moment.

 

 

DAY #	PORT	ARRIVAL	DEPARTURE	ITINERARY
1	Passau			Embarkation
2	Passau	-	10:00pm	Morning excursion to Vilshofen for walking tour or Bike tour or Hiking excursion
3	Linz	5:30 am	12:00 am	Linz Walking Tour & Christmas Markets or Bike tour or Full Day Salzburg Afternoon visit to Cesky Krumlov
4	Melk	9:00 am	12:00 am	Morning excursion to the Melk Abbey or Melk Bike or Melk-Durnstein Bike
4	Durnstein	3:00 pm	2:00 am	Durnstein Walking Tour or Apricots & Sweets Tasting
5	Vienna	8:00 am	Overnight	Morning City Tour & Rathaus Christmas Markets Afternoon  Schonbrunn & Karlplatz markets or Bike tour
6	Vienna	-	12:00 am	Budapest Excursion & Vörösmarty Christmas Markets
7	Tulln	3:30 am	8:00 am	Morning cruise
7	Vienna	1:00 pm	Overnight	Afternoon Walking Tour or Hiking excursion or Tastes of Bratislava
8	Vienna	3:00		Disembarkation

I am sure you are enroute as I type this, but I wanted you to see these postings on another forum from a guest on the AMA Sonata- doing this itinerary right now but in reverse. I hope their info might be helpful and encouraging to you.  Go to Page 3 to find their 2 posts if not directed there...