Jump to content

Danube water levels 2019 and similar topics - plus tips and info


notamermaid
 Share

Recommended Posts

45 minutes ago, KevinandSally said:

We have just swapped ships from Nuremberg to Passau because of low water around Pfelling.

 

This is the stretch of the Danube that has the most problems with low water.  Itineraries that start in Passau or Vilshofen are much safer.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

 

This is the stretch of the Danube that has the most problems with low water.  Itineraries that start in Passau or Vilshofen are much safer.

So long as going downstream. 🍻🥨🍻

Link to comment
Share on other sites

10 hours ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

Are there any river cruises that start in Passau or Vilshofen and sail West?  If so, I would avoid those even more!

There are. Riviera does a nice one. German lines also do this.

 

Pfelling gauge dropped a bit more than forecast. Currently at 259cm it will not change much for the better, most likely it will stay below 270cm in the next two days, so no real change before a potentially good reaction to the coming rain over the weekend.

 

notamermaid

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Pfelling looking no better, as expected. No idea about the reaction the rain will have. What is puzzling me is several reports in English news channels about a river cruise ship ban on the German Danube. The news item is part of the reports on the heatwave and seems to originate with dpa. I have not been able to confirm this on the official German websites and there are no such German news items that I could find. The only official statement I saw is that the authorities expect that from this weekend the river cruise ships will not be able to sail.

 

notamermaid

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

So, we fly over tomorrow (July 27) and I'm wondering how much the coming rains will help our cruise? I see thunderstorms all along the Danube area throughout the coming week starting Saturday. How quickly does this impact the river and could it possibly be enough to help us and reopen that stretch at Vilshofen (I read in a BNN article: Low water already crippling the Danube in Bavaria prompted river officials on Wednesday to bar hotel ships from using a 60-kilometer stretch upstream from Vilshofen. Tributary residents were banned from extracting water.) 

My question then is...Can the river recover quickly enough to actually impact our cruise this next week or does it take longer for an impact to be made and MUCH more rain than what is currently forcast? and can you even know? 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We also are flying over tomorrow to Amsterdam to board the Uniworld Duchess. I called Uniworld this morning and was assured that because of the size of our ship we would not have a problem. Now I wonder if maybe the main office has not gotten this newest information. I was told That Viking would be having the most problems with water levels because they set deeper in the water. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

In September of 2017 we were told as we boarded a Viking ship at Nuremberg for a Danube cruise to Budapest we were told that the river was too low and we might have to swap ships mid cruise.  Then it rained.  We did have to swap ships but it was because the river was too high.  

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

8 minutes ago, seawob said:

In September of 2017 we were told as we boarded a Viking ship at Nuremberg for a Danube cruise to Budapest we were told that the river was too low and we might have to swap ships mid cruise.  Then it rained.  We did have to swap ships but it was because the river was too high.  

Ok - I'm done worrying about all of this.

The weather is in God's hands and there's nothing I can do about it or the level of the river. My attitude is all I can control, so --- I'm going to have the BEST trip of my life with my wonderful husband, family and friends! Thanks everyone for your information.

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 minutes ago, hsack said:

Ok - I'm done worrying about all of this.

The weather is in God's hands and there's nothing I can do about it or the level of the river. My attitude is all I can control, so --- I'm going to have the BEST trip of my life with my wonderful husband, family and friends! Thanks everyone for your information.

 

 

That's the attitude to take.  We said we were going to have a great trip even if it killed us..it didn't and we did.  You can't control anything, so if you look at your cruise as an adventure, you won't be disappointed.  Enjoy, and I'd love to hear your views on how you enjoyed it.  Hope things run smoothly.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, hsack said:

So, we fly over tomorrow (July 27) and I'm wondering how much the coming rains will help our cruise? I see thunderstorms all along the Danube area throughout the coming week starting Saturday. How quickly does this impact the river and could it possibly be enough to help us and reopen that stretch at Vilshofen (I read in a BNN article: Low water already crippling the Danube in Bavaria prompted river officials on Wednesday to bar hotel ships from using a 60-kilometer stretch upstream from Vilshofen. Tributary residents were banned from extracting water.) 

My question then is...Can the river recover quickly enough to actually impact our cruise this next week or does it take longer for an impact to be made and MUCH more rain than what is currently forcast? and can you even know? 

The Danube downstream from Vilshofen (go to Passau, Linz, Vienna, Budapest) there are no problems at all.

 

Going upstream from Vilshofen to Regensburg is where the shallows are and cannot be navigated. What the rains will be is anyones guess.

 

Nuremberg to Vilshofen by bus is about 2 1/2 hours, if your boat gets to Regensburg the it is about 1 hour bus drive to Vilshofen.

Weather will b e a bit cooler, we had 36°C today (same as yesterday).

Have a great cruise.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

14 hours ago, hsack said:

Ok - I'm done worrying about all of this.

The weather is in God's hands and there's nothing I can do about it or the level of the river. My attitude is all I can control, so --- I'm going to have the BEST trip of my life with my wonderful husband, family and friends! Thanks everyone for your information.

Bravo.  My attitude exactly. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

16 hours ago, hsack said:

Ok - I'm done worrying about all of this.

The weather is in God's hands and there's nothing I can do about it or the level of the river. My attitude is all I can control, so --- I'm going to have the BEST trip of my life with my wonderful husband, family and friends! Thanks everyone for your information.

That is the best you can do. You are on holiday, with family and friends. Great! Everything else will fall into place.

 

Have a great cruise.

 

notamermaid

 

Just to add a couple of comments if one wants to know figures: Pfelling still falling, reacting to rain after that. A rise up to 270cm possible on Monday. After that no-one knows. 270cm means the navigation channel is 180cm deep.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We’re sailing August 4 on Grand Circle. We’ve just been told that we have a different ship because our original vessel is stuck upstream   I think. Maybe downstream. Anyway,I suspect we may have problems on this Budapest to Prague cruise 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

hsack:  While I admire your attitude there is no way I am willing to spend such a huge sum of money for a glorified bus trip.  We are on Scenic September 3rd and we made sure to book everything through them and take out the best insurance possible so that we can cancel if the canals are impacted.  This will be our first river cruise and, with all the worry ahead of time regarding water levels, it will probably be our last even if all goes well and we have a great trip.

  • Like 2
  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Agree this unreliability/uncertainty issue impacts on people paying in some cases large sums to do this form of cruising. More so if travelling long haul to get there.

The risks are known and it does influence our and others decisions when choosing a travel product.

We would not be prepared to pay top dollar now, but would be happy to take the risk if the deal was right.

The risks need to be factored into the pricing if providers cannot supply the product, for whatever reason, they are selling.

Fortunately there are many options.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

15 hours ago, Senga said:

hsack:  While I admire your attitude there is no way I am willing to spend such a huge sum of money for a glorified bus trip.  We are on Scenic September 3rd and we made sure to book everything through them and take out the best insurance possible so that we can cancel if the canals are impacted.  This will be our first river cruise and, with all the worry ahead of time regarding water levels, it will probably be our last even if all goes well and we have a great trip.

Senga, which Scenic cruise are you on?  I was just looking through my Scenic catalog and didn’t see a September 3 sailing. 

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

16 hours ago, Senga said:

hsack:  While I admire your attitude there is no way I am willing to spend such a huge sum of money for a glorified bus trip.  We are on Scenic September 3rd and we made sure to book everything through them and take out the best insurance possible so that we can cancel if the canals are impacted.  This will be our first river cruise and, with all the worry ahead of time regarding water levels, it will probably be our last even if all goes well and we have a great trip.

 

 Senga, Hsack will be starting their cruise today, not sure where or which one, but by the post below, you can see how quickly things change....from a possible ship swap to possible clear sailing. 

28 minutes ago, notamermaid said:

Pfelling is now at 271cm and rising. River level there is forecast to reach 308cm by tomorrow evening.

 

notamermaid

 

 

This is why the cruise lines don't really like to cancel the cruises unless tehy can be sure that the cruise wont' run...things can change so quickly.  I really hope things have changed for Hsack, and will continue to be favourable for your cruise.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, Daisi said:

 

 Senga, Hsack will be starting their cruise today, not sure where or which one, but by the post below, you can see how quickly things change....from a possible ship swap to possible clear sailing. 

 

This is why the cruise lines don't really like to cancel the cruises unless tehy can be sure that the cruise wont' run...things can change so quickly.  I really hope things have changed for Hsack, and will continue to be favourable for your cruise.  

Here we are on Viking Atla! We made it! Things are looking up! We were told we are definitely cruising out of Nuremburg tomorrow to Regensburg. Still waiting to see levels for later in the week (on Danube). Possible ship swap on Thursday, but also possibly staying on same ship. No bussing or swap for the next 4 days which Is good news so far for us! I’ll keep you informed. Touring Nuremburg tomorrow and enjoying the experience! Early to bed after a very long haul to get here—complete with an unexpected train ride from Munich when a computer glitch cancelled our connecting flight booking. All is good—we saw beautiful countryside from the train and had a wonderful dinner here on board Atla with friends and family.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Glad you made it are are ok so far.  Hope there is enough rain for your cruise, but not enough to make it miserable.  As you said, you were going to enjoy it whatever happened, and hopefully the glitch in your booking was all that will happen.

 

Have fun and looking forward to hearing how it goes.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 hours ago, jeb_bud said:

Senga, which Scenic cruise are you on?  I was just looking through my Scenic catalog and didn’t see a September 3 sailing. 

 

 

Sorry, cruise is September 4-18.  We leave home on the 3rd.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The Straubing to Vilshofen stretch is now filled with enough water and a bit more is coming... Really good.

 

Now we need to look downstream at Passau where we have a low bridge. The torrential rain is causing somewhat too fast a rise so there is a risk of the high ships - which means most of them these days - to not make it under. According to the forecast this could happen during this coming night.

 

notamermaid

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Please sign in to comment

You will be able to leave a comment after signing in



Sign In Now
 Share

  • Forum Jump
    • Categories
      • Welcome to Cruise Critic
      • New Cruisers
      • Cruise Lines “A – O”
      • Cruise Lines “P – Z”
      • River Cruising
      • ROLL CALLS
      • Digital Photography & Cruise Technology
      • Special Interest Cruising
      • Cruise Discussion Topics
      • UK Cruising
      • Australia & New Zealand Cruisers
      • Canadian Cruisers
      • North American Homeports
      • Ports of Call
      • Cruise Conversations
×
×
  • Create New...