notamermaid

Zasavica with her hull cargo has just passed under Würzburg Alte Brücke: Time stamp is 21:13. The webcam picture is cropped, so the original time stamp is not visible. The Paula with her hull (if she is still pushing it) is between Wertheim and Miltenberg. I know that there are still river cruise ships in the order books of the two East European shipyards so we may see another hull coming up the Danube this year, it is only July after all. notamermaid

About the weather. In "the South" it tends to be colder, that is Switzerland on this itinerary. But all in all I agree with this: We can have let us say maximum 18 Celsius when it is a freak warm day. But I would say prepare for mild frost overnight and up to 10 Celsius in the afternoon. This means on a dry day the valley is pleasant, on a wet day depending on temperature you get a bit of snow or ice or rain. The further North you get on the itinerary the milder, warmer but potentially rainier (in the Netherlands) the weather will be. When it is 6 Celsius in the valley an excursion into the hills can get you to an area where it is almost Zero Celsius. Take good foot ware. notamermaid

At the moment it looks to be only the Seine Princesse (CroisiEurope). She is short, 110m. Remember that ships of only 125m are allowed to dock at Port de Grenelle. They do not go upstream, i.e. past the Eiffel Tower. I wonder if there are further restrictions in place today. notamermaid

Thank you. A pleasure to help. Here is a fun fact and something for a nerd or to show off, like "Did you know that...?" The Main Danube Canal actually runs through two more rivers, meaning you on that itinerary - if you choose it - will be on the Regnitz river for part of the way from Nuremberg to the Main river. Those that sail the whole Canal are also on the Altmühl river for some kilometres. The majority of the Canal is an artificial waterway. You can see it here where the lighter blue sections are the canalized rivers: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhine–Main–Danube_Canal#/media/File:Main-Donau-Kanal-Karte.jpg notamermaid

Just a brief note on water levels. The river is seeing ups and downs with rain and drier weather alternating. So Pfelling gauge is back over 400cm. 433cm is a good level from which to approach potentially dry days in August. notamermaid

Talking of the river cruise ship hulls. I have been looking on marinetraffic.com and I think both hulls are now in the Main Danube Canal or on the Main. Perhaps I happen to see one of them on a webcam in the next two days. Better than television these days. 😉 notamermaid

Thank you for all the kind comments in the last week, folks. 🙂 As you avoid the shallows (more or less) on this itinerary August is a good time to go. The Main is lock controlled in its entire waterway used by commercial river traffic which means that the authorities are also able to maintain a certain depth of the navigation channel. On the Main it is so much that I have never heard of any problems in low water, not for any river cruise ship that is and there is never a mention of the barges sailing at "half load". And high water in August is rare. That time tends to be better than early October. I am compiling a list of river levels in November (I had promised to do so a few weeks ago) which I hope will help to illustrate how much the river levels can vary. Should be ready to post in the next couple of days. notamermaid

So the Rhine Gorge is in, which makes this an attractive itinerary I find. Is it more picturesque than Amsterdam to Basel? Not sure, others have commented on the Lower Rhine being a bit boring (the landscape is flat past Duisburg and partly industrial from Bonn to Duisburg). Host Jazzbeau has made me think. If Amawaterways is cost prohibitive, could Avalon Waterways be a company for you try on the Moselle? Or perhaps a European company? notamermaid

To explain my info I would like to start with a map: It is interesting that the itinerary with Emerald is seven days, as much as the Scenic one. As you can see the first is much shorter than the latter in kilometres. So I am wondering what the stronger focus on the Upper Rhine valley will contain? May the itinerary nevertheless include a short trip into the Rhine Gorge? This would mean that Emerald starts in Frankfurt, turns North on the Rhine, goes as far as Koblenz, turns South and then sails towards Basel. I suggest looking at this closely as the Rhine Gorge on the map roughly between Mainz and Koblenz is considered to be the most scenic part of the Rhine. notamermaid

You put your question within the quote which means it does not display well - just a tiny technical tip from me. I have been able to quote it though. That is a very good question actually. This itinerary basically avoids the trouble spots so there is not specific problem either in high or low water. But the caveat is that the bridges on the Main river (as well as on the Canal) are low which is of course a concern in high water. It is a general problem and not as much a big deal as the two "troublesome bridges" on the Danube. The low water problem is much reduced as you turn South at Mainz. While the river can be low at Mainz, looking at it from the Main river confluence, the upstream direction on the Rhine is less affected than the downstream direction on the Rhine. The low bridges on the Main normally only lead to the sun deck being closed rather than it being a rapid concern when we have rainy days. Many river cruise ships have the sun deck closed for many hours or even days. That is up to the company and the crew to decide what is best and safest. Something you unfortunately have to content yourself with on the Main river. You can read about this here: https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2670259-the-river-main-infos-and-river-cruising-experiences/ notamermaid

The majority tend to be wasps. But, yes, be careful. Mosquitos tend not to be too nasty around here, but there sure are enough that make you feel not at ease. I use a cooling gel from pharmacies for my insect bites. Works well. My skin reacts strongly to the creatures. notamermaid

Lovely, all those photos of ships and water and attractive buildings, folks. Have not had time to go to the river much but I spotted one river cruise ship the other day while I was there. The madness of this world, not just politically, is made more bearable with thoughts of travel and photographs of calm waters. And in my case cats help a lot as well. 😊 After unhappy developments and my neighbour's tomcat in an animal home with dogs and cats and no chance of return, the lady had to make the decision to get a new cat. She was given one (for free) not long ago and that one came with a surprise. About four weeks ago we had a stray tom cat trying to get her attention. My neighbour then said that her cat would not be interested because she had just had a kitten! It was one week old at the time and was just opening its eyes. With her kitten getting weaned the cat is now out and about more and getting used to the neighbours including me. She is busy exploring... notamermaid

That ship in Regensburg from post #773. I may have found which one it is. If so, it is still "namenlos" but is supposed to be for Scylla and was built in Romania. Launched on 12 July, this short vessel was towed by a barge. I have cropped a photo for future reference: See the shipyard's website: https://www.snorsova.ro/portofoliu-imagini/ Again, the hint for where it was built came from Binnenschifferforum. notamermaid

No huge news - thankfully - in my part of the valley from what I have read. Water levels are good as you can tell from the fact that I posted last five days ago. Maxau gauge has managed to stay below flood mark I and Lake Constance has also lost a bit more water. It is an overcast, rainy day today which is nice after several days of heat. If things go as planned, i.e. the long-term predictions turn out to be right, Maxau gauge will fall below 600cm and get steadily closer to the mean. It is now at 607cm (there had been a tiny rise actually in the last two days). With water levels at the mean at Maxau, does that mean we can get low water at Kaub soon? No. Kaub gauge is at 272cm. Low water in July is now impossible. It is almost guaranteed not to happen before 6 August and unlikely to happen before 10 August. Nota Bene: official low water for commercial traffic as regards logistics is at 150cm, low water which I am referring to for our purposes here is not a set figure but a range below 100cm that makes sailing more difficult and above 77cm, the figure that is the marker for the navigation channel. Below that it has no guaranteed depth of 190cm. notamermaid

Little creatures on your building site? No need to get antsy, just move them! Okay, joking aside, this is really what happened at the proposed site for the new lock at Kriegenbrunn on the Main Danube Canal. During tree clearing, nine ant hills were found in 2022. These are of a protected species so nature protection demanded a careful house move literally for the ants. In 2023 an expert moved the insects and their hills to a designated new site as their home. It was the last hurdle to be cleared from an environmental point of view. Now the engineering has just started. The Federal hydrology administration is inviting citizens to celebrate so should you see some unusual activities when you are going through the lock this may be the reason why. Invitation for Friday, 26 July, 2pm to 6pm (in German): https://www.schleuse-kriegenbrunn.wsv.de/Webs/Projektseite/Schleuse-Kriegenbrunn/DE/05_Schleuse_erleben/01_Buergerfest/Buergerfest_text.html?nn=1725280 notamermaid

The river has lost some water in these dry conditions. Dresden gauge is now showing at 84cm and will likely stay below 100cm despite a small predicted rise. With the river being so low in summer as standard one may assume that no river cruise ships are sailing. There is one sailing the Elbe that I can see on the tracking website right now but the itinerary is a little different from the norm. The MS Florentina often sails for Thurgau Travel (a Swiss operator) but is right now on an itinerary as a bike and boat tour on the Vltava and the Elbe. Passengers will not actually get to see Germany as it is a round trip from Prague only as far as Strekov Castle: https://en.radreisen.at/czechia/bike-and-boat/elbe-vlatava-prague-bike-and-boat notamermaid

Well, what have I got the guys from Binnenschifferforum for? The push boat is indeed the Paula and the hull is "namenlos", so no name given (as yet). Here is the thread: https://www.binnenschifferforum.de/showthread.php?118676-FGKS-Kasko-namenlos&p=474678#post474678 Which means that there are two hulls at the same time making their way to the Rhine at the moment. notamermaid

Thank you for the photo. This is actually a different hull! And I am genuinely puzzled. There may be the push boat Paula tied to it, which is signalling indeed near Regensburg. The Argo with the Ostara is currently still in Austria. No time for further research at the moment. notamermaid

The Amazon river cruise ship for Abercrombie & Kent: https://travelweekly.co.uk/news/tourism/ak-reveals-details-of-first-latin-america-riverboat notamermaid

Not what I had planned - we will get to later - but let us do ship spotting at Vienna: Quite a few river cruise ships in Vienna tonight, but I would like to draw your attention to the dot named Argo instead. That is a push boat and it has as its cargo a river cruise ship hull. Yes, another one is on the way to the Netherlands. This one is BN664 and the given name will be Ostara, the new ship for APT. A gentleman on Binnenschifferforum spotted the two: https://www.binnenschifferforum.de/showthread.php?118669-FGKS-Kasko-APT-Ostara-BN664 Standard practice is to push the hull to Regensburg and then let another push boat or barge take over on the rest of the Danube through the Canal and on the Main. Perhaps another enthusiast on the forum will spot them there. Or you on the river sailing now may see the push boat and hull and drop us a line - or even post a photo. notamermaid

It is indeed getting hot again in Germany. The valley are heating up. I can imagine the Isar in Munich being an even more popular place now. Along the Rhine it is hot of course as well - no air conditioning at my place either. The river levels are looking good, although of course the river is loosing centimetres very fast in this heat. As I mentioned on Tuesday, a couple of showers and a thunderstorm (upstream from Straubing) after a couple of days of heat should keep the river doing well. Let us have a look at Vienna again in a next post, this time not food. notamermaid

For the first time in many weeks Maxau gauge has fallen below the navigational flood mark I, which is set at 620cm. It is now at 617cm and falling. Finally, things are looking like summer for the Upper Rhine valley on the river as well as on land. It is quite warm in the valley and it is perfect for sunset watching with a glass in hand on the sun deck: sunset tonight at Mainz is at 21:26 for example. We may get a higher level at Maxau again due to rain after thunderstorms, but the impact should not be great and be a short one. In other news: apparently, "negotiations" following the accident at Iffezheim lock last year have been sorted (in court). The barge had been grounded as an insurance and is now allowed to sail again after a court ruling. notamermaid

I just say it clearly. Yes with Viking in the US. It is not practice in Europe and I doubt that consumer rights would allow it. It is in my European eyes bad business ethics and I would never, ever sail with Viking for that reason alone. Again - unethical "baiting". Cancel and shop around if you are not willing to accept it. There are many other lines that offer Christmas markets cruises. notamermaid

My pleasure. Have a great cruise. notamermaid

So will the Paris Olympics boost river cruising? A different country, a different set-up (just one city as host) means - apart from the fact that it is modern-day Paris and I am unhappily biased for personal reasons - that I have my doubts. For reasons I cannot explain I am not drawn to the Seine as a whole but did enjoy my brief stay of 24 hours in Normandy. Honfleur is certainly a place I would go to. Personally I prefer the Picardie towards the coast and the Pas-de-Calais which have of course no really large river to sail on. The small ones and canals are sufficient though. And I must get to see the new canal project North of Compiègne. notamermaid