Danube water levels 2024 and similar topics - plus tips and info

[HawaiiTraveler]

Aloha notamermaid,

 

Last year in October we were booked on a Viking River Cruises Grand European Tour that was supposed to start in Budapest and end in Amsterdam. However, I received an email from Viking the evening before we were scheduled to depart from Hawaii where we live for Budapest, advising that the Danube water level was too low for our ship to get through to Budapest and we would be picked up at the airport in Budapest and taken by bus to Komarom where we would board our ship, the Viking Skadi. It took us over 24 hours and five flights to get to Budapest and needless to say, after a 1-1/2 hour bus ride we were too exhausted and to ride the bus back into Budapest for sightseeing that evening. So, our cruise started in Komarom instead of Budapest, but it worked out great as Viking handled it very efficiently. I feel fortunate as we made it all the way through to Amsterdam without any further delays or having to be bussed from other ports due to low water levels in the rivers, as we ran into people who were traveling on other river cruise lines who were being bussed due to low water.

 

We are returning to Budapest in November to take another Viking Grand European Tour, but this time we are extending our cruise by three days before boarding our ship in Budapest and at by three days at the end of our cruise in Amsterdam. This gives us time to visit the sites that we missed last year, as well as visit the Kriskindlmarkt's in the various cities that our ship the Viking Bragi, stops at. God willing the water level will not be too low by November to board the ship in Budapest, nor too high to sail under the low bridge in Passau. Thank you again for the fine information and valuable insight on river conditions in Europe. It is much appreciated. 

 

Regards,

HawaiiTraveler

[posalttrav]

3 hours ago, notamermaid said:

The thunderstorms are indeed travelling East so warnings have been extended into Bavaria. A rise of the Danube in reaction to the rain is now indicated in the forecast for tomorrow (Upper Danube in Germany) and to some extent for Saturday (Lower Danube in Germany). We will see how this develops when the thunderstorms have passed during the night and tomorrow.

 

notamermaid

 

👎 Thanks for the update!

[notamermaid]

Situation on the Danube calmer than on the Rhine. Most of the rain is coming down over the Rhine catchment area although there is a wedge of a band of rain over the Danube towards Regensburg. The river will rise substantially but no flooding is indicated.

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

There is a severe weather warning for the area North of Munich and nearby areas of Bavaria are seeing thunderstorms. The Danube has risen but not as much as expected for today. It may rise further into tomorrow but as of now it looks all rather uneventful compared to the Rhine.

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

There has been a tragic accident on the Danube. A pleasure boat collided with a river cruise ship last night. It happened near Veröce at the Danube bend upstream from Budapest. Two are dead and five are missing. A river cruise ship allegedly involved has been stopped at Komarno. Please be aware that police may be in the area looking for survivors.

 

notamermaid

 

[Rebel54]

1 hour ago, notamermaid said:

There has been a tragic accident on the Danube. A pleasure boat collided with a river cruise ship last night. It happened near Veröce at the Danube bend upstream from Budapest. Two are dead and five are missing. A river cruise ship allegedly involved has been stopped at Komarno. Please be aware that police may be in the area looking for survivors.

 

notamermaid

 

Oh my .. Prayers for the families and first responders.

 

[notamermaid]

While it is a little unclear as to what happened exactly, the incident is treated as a crash between a 110m river cruise ship and the pleasure boat. The river cruise ship is sailing under Swiss flag, with damage to its hull and according to German newspapers via Hungarian publications is the MS Heidelberg, although the police report does not disclose the name. The MS Heidelberg has just left Komarom.

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

Everything I could possibly post tonight pales in the light of the tragic accident.

 

But I will just quickly say that the German Danube is indeed doing better than the Rhine and the river has only risen a little. The weather tomorrow should be nice and sunny but Tuesday is forecast to bring rain.

 

notamermaid

 

[HawaiiTraveler]

16 minutes ago, notamermaid said:

@HawaiiTraveler has some text gone missing from your post perhaps?

 

notamermaid

 

My apologies notamermaid. I accidentally hit the “Submit Reply” button as I tried to clear a pop up notification on my iPhone. When I tried to edit my reply it said that too much time had passed since my reply, and it would not allow me.

 

However, my reply was that we will offer prayers for those who were lost and prayers of comfort for their families and for all of those who were injured. I have been following your posts on this tragedy and also on Reuters and other major news services. It is truly heartbreaking. We were just at Komarom and sailed through the Danube bend last year in October and will be returning again in November of this year, and will remember those lost as we are near Veröce.

Edited May 19 by HawaiiTraveler

[notamermaid]

1 hour ago, HawaiiTraveler said:

My apologies notamermaid. I accidentally hit the “Submit Reply” button as I tried to clear a pop up notification on my iPhone. When I tried to edit my reply it said that too much time had passed since my reply, and it would not allow me.

No problem. It appears that our esteemed host has already been fiddling with the delete button.

 

notamermaid

 

[Host Jazzbeau]

12 minutes ago, notamermaid said:

No problem. It appears that our esteemed host has already been fiddling with the delete button.

 

notamermaid

I happen to be in your time zone at the moment (in Orvieto, Italy at the end of a lovely three-week land tour to the Italian Lakes, Tuscany and Umbria).

[notamermaid]

6 minutes ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

I happen to be in your time zone at the moment (in Orvieto, Italy at the end of a lovely three-week land tour to the Italian Lakes, Tuscany and Umbria).

Aahh! How lovely. I so much enjoyed my holiday there quite a few years ago. My favourite place is probably Siena.

 

notamermaid

 

[Canal archive]

Now absolutely green with envy Jazz beautiful part of Italy. I always want to take my paints and DH says they take up to much space and weight. It’s another special part of the world.

[HawaiiTraveler]

4 hours ago, notamermaid said:

No problem. It appears that our esteemed host has already been fiddling with the delete button.

 

notamermaid

 

Thanks for your understanding. 🙂

[steamboats]

In the meantime the captain of the MS Heidelberg has been put into custody by the Hungarian police. He´s accused for not helping and not even informing the crew that there has been an incident.

 

steamboats

[notamermaid]

4 hours ago, steamboats said:

In the meantime the captain of the MS Heidelberg has been put into custody by the Hungarian police. He´s accused for not helping and not even informing the crew that there has been an incident.

 

steamboats

Thank you for the info. That is quite the accusation. It brings back unhappy memories of the tragic incident in Budapest. That captain was tried and sentenced to five and a half years imprisonment. The five year anniversary of that fatal accident is coming up at the end of the month.

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

@steamboats It appears that Nicko Cruises is not running the MS Heidelberg this year. I guess it is a different, perhaps only part-season, charter by someone else. The company offering the MS Heidelberg for charter is this one: https://www.starlingfleet.com/en/our-fleet/

 

Had not looked into that provider before, not as many ships as Scylla but not a small fleet either. They also have "my" MS Belvedere, so it looks like they have taken over ships from Premicon.

 

notamermaid

 

 

[steamboats]

@notamermaid yes, the MS Heidelberg is not with nicko cruises anymore. I didn't try to research the current operator.

 

steamboats 

[notamermaid]

3 hours ago, steamboats said:

@notamermaid yes, the MS Heidelberg is not with nicko cruises anymore. I didn't try to research the current operator.

 

steamboats 

It is a weird one. According to the guys on Binnenschifferforum, the MS Heidelberg had already left the fleet of Nicko Cruises by 2023, meaning last year was already not sailing for the company but was used as a ship for asylum seekers, docked in Meppen in the Netherlands for almost a year. I saw an article that the owner wanted it back (for 2024 apparently) and so a different ship took over to become a ship for asylum seekers. After a short stop in the harbour in Köln-Niehl she sailed to the Danube in March of this year and was in Budapest with new livery in blue in April. No idea who the charterer is...

 

notamermaid

 

[steamboats]

@notamermaid I saw a current video on an Hungarian website showing the boat and I realized that the colors were not nico anymore. Also the name "nicko cruises" was missing next to the entrance door. I found older photos online under the nicko cruises brand.

 

steamboats

[notamermaid]

Yes, it appears the ship has completely gone from Nicko Cruises then. The company in the background, i.e. the owner, is anonymous as it says on their website. The branding with livery goes to someone else. Which of course makes me wonder: who is using the ship and why was it repainted in Budapest? Or was it in Serbia in the time frame that the ship spotters did not see the ship on the Danube, i.e. a few weeks this spring? Perhaps someone out there knows (apart from the insurance company).

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

The rain has drifted much into Bavaria so we will see a reaction of the rivers in due course. For now it appears that this will not be considerable. There should still be plenty of headroom under the bridge in Passau.

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

The Bavarian Forest has seen a lot of rain which will drain into the Danube via the Regen river to a large degree. That is the river that gives Regensburg its name. As of now, we are seeing a rise at Passau but staying under 600cm most likely in the next 24 hours. Now at 584cm.

 

notamermaid

 

[RDVIK2016]

12 hours ago, notamermaid said:

The Bavarian Forest has seen a lot of rain which will drain into the Danube via the Regen river to a large degree. That is the river that gives Regensburg its name. As of now, we are seeing a rise at Passau but staying under 600cm most likely in the next 24 hours. Now at 584cm.

 

notamermaid

 

Well, we were very lucky then with the weather in the Bayerwald.  As we spoke before there had been a late season snowstorm shortly before my visit there. There were still a few Schneeresten on "my" mountain, Hoher Bogen, but otherwise all was fine for a ride up the chairlift and climb up 263 steps to the observation platform on the former signals intelligence tower. All the rivers were full from snow melt, but no flooding. We took note of the condition of many rivers and took short cruises on two (in Berlin and Prague). Rivers I remember observing: Spree, Elbe, Vltava, Berounka, Regen, Donau, Isar, Ilm (Bavarian), Inn, and Salzach rivers. The last one had a really strong current at Salzburg. 

[notamermaid]

10 hours ago, RDVIK2016 said:

We took note of the condition of many rivers and took short cruises on two (in Berlin and Prague).

That is nice. Have been to Berlin and Prague but have not sailed on either the Spree or the Vltava on a boat. Incidentally, the Berounka appears to be high right now. The heavy rain came down over the forests but not the Vltava and Elbe so much. But as the Berounka drains into the Vltava the Elbe will see quite a bit of water coming from there. How that will play out in water levels we will have a look at in the other thread.

 

But back to the Danube. Regensburg is seeing the elevated levels of the Regen but not a big deal. Passau is already down again and stayed under 600cm as expected.

 

notamermaid