notamermaid

Certainly getting better, as the volume of water due to rain in Germany is now beyond Budapest, i.e. has reached the lower Danube. I have no details of course. But judging from the improvement at Budapest over the last three days the situation should at least ease between Budapest and Bucharest. Not a big rise since Sunday, but it is there: Would be nice to hear from a cruiser that is currently in the area of course. notamermaid

Now that you know what the negatives may be, you are well prepared. Joining a roll call will further help and add fun before your cruise. As regards the history - you are in for a treat, a 16 day long treat. Have a great time traversing the European continent. notamermaid

I think it is an important point. If the OP is very happy with the ocean cruise experience of Viking one can assume that they will also enjoy the river cruise experience with Viking. But it is not a given. Personally, I do not agree with the payment policy of Viking for river cruises and would not book with them. I also have my doubts about the Grand European itinerary, mainly due to the frequent disruptions by low and high water - depending on the season. Edit: I see the OP have booked. notamermaid

Several river cruise lines, mostly German, do post the times online. But they are always never fully fixed, i.e. I mean this is the plan but it can change at the last minute. And the river cruise lines state this as well. In agreement with what the previous posters have said, I also think that booking your own excursions is not necessary if you are new to the ports. They are great introductions and some are fantastic and in depth for experiencing the culture. If you want to see something specific or meet a person locally, you can get an idea when the brochure says "morning", "afternoon", etc. Plan loosely and confirm on board with the cruise director. But again, it is possible that you think you need to be back on board at 6pm and you find out on that morning that the ship needs to leave at 5pm. If you venture out on your own for several hours always make sure you can communicate with the ship by phone. notamermaid

Not sure who has gobbled up all the water or turned the tap off, but the forecast turns out to be wrong. Kaub peaked at 141cm yesterday and is now at 138cm. It has been a miserable, wet and windy weekend so we are unlikely to see Kaub falling further. Long term forecast puts figures of lower than 100cm in the highly unlikely bracket. A good sign. Relax - and get the warmer jackets out, I think Summer is sort of over. After all my moaning about heat, I am bit embarrassed to say that I now want it five degrees warmer. Okay, where was I. Ah, stones and beer in the Eifel near Andernach. And the new volcano mapping of the area. Post coming soon. I leave you with the info of the splendid excursion of APT when they dock in Andernach - Namedy castle. APT: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dggkzWwm244 and by the castle owners themselves: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i56GiwZ2lxs The inside of Namedy castle really does look as inviting as this, have seen it myself. The world's highest cold water geyser is "down the road" on the peninsula. notamermaid

That is a pity. I think you will just miss the rise in water levels which is due to reach the lower Danube in the next few days. See post above. Giurgiu: Have a great cruise. notamermaid

Germany is now certainly ending tons of water down the Danube. It is a miserable weekend with lots of rain and really cool temperatures, paired with gusts of wind. Currently strongest in precipitation in the hills Northeast of Cologne. But the band of rain is extending over a huge area that includes most of Bavaria. It may only be drizzle in parts but I do not think Pfelling gauge is getting much of a chance of dropping again. We will see how the week progresses. For now, the figure: 376cm. Getting better downstream as well. Budapest: Higher volume of water reaching all of Hungary and now also beyond. Mohacs: notamermaid

The Normans, those people that were Vikings (Scandinavians) that had gone to France, eventually decided to cross the English channel but not only did that. They went on plundering trips to the Moselle and the Rhine and settled in other parts of Europe as well. An exhibition in Mannheim now wants to tell the story of the "Northmen": https://www.rem-mannheim.de/en/exhibitions/special-exhibitions/the-normans/ notamermaid

This vintner has some e-postcards that look nice: https://www.arnswein.de/2020/11/04/postkartenbilder-im-november/ I enjoyed the November yellow against the dark barren rock. I seems that the vines stay in colour longer than many trees. Tree colours tend to be best second half of October. We have no blood red maples around here normally, our acers tend to be a bit lighter. The range is more yellow to dark orange with the occasional red. Deciduous trees are beech, birch, oak and others. It is quite mixed. End of September the question always is "Will we get a golden October?". I think this video gives a good impression of what to expect around now till the end of September: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iGEsvH-51qY notamermaid

The Orsova shipyard in Romania has put their latest river cruise ship baby onto the water and sent her on the way to Den Breejen in the Netherlands to be completed. The hull is the (Project) Rheingold. What is special is the fact that this is a so-called on spec build. So, question is: which company will own/operate the ship? Here is the info on this unusual project: https://www.cruiseandferry.net/articles/den-breejen-shipyard-begins-building-an-on-spec-river-cruise-ship-1 The ship spotters on Binnenschifferforum have found her in Orsova and then with the trusted "Argo" pushing her in Austria. notamermaid

I have actually not been on a TGV before, I have crossed into France and been through France on ICE's and regional trains - as well as the Thalys. Would love to compare a TGV to that. 10 days. Hmm, I think that is too early for autumn colours. Thankfully nature is recovering a bit, but whether the trees will do "the proper job" of turning from green into all sorts of shades this year I am not sure. Emergency brown before golden yellow? We will have to wait and see. While I would normally regard this one as a not so interesting webcam from a school in Trier, it is actually good for checking the weather and the trees, click on the second link: https://www.trier.de/leben-in-trier/trier-auf-einen-blick/webcams/ notamermaid

We have talked previously about the fact that Moselle-only river cruises are few and far between. This early autumn though, on 20 September precisely, Viva Cruises will launch their Koblenz return short trip. Many dates are available but unfortunately this itinerary is only marketed on the German website. Granted, from North America such a short stay is not worthwhile but from the UK and other European countries, a quick hop over the channel to see the beautiful Moselle in autumn colours or go to the wine festivals is a nice idea. Oh well. You can sail with Viva Cruises on a Moselle intensive itinerary, i.e. not sailing vast distances on the Rhine, this autumn. This is the one: https://www.viva-*****/en/cruisedetail?id=322&adults=2 Combining the Moselle with the Saar is possible on a few cruises with European companies. But there are also the bike and barge cruises. One of them is Cochem to Merzig. @gnome12 how are your plans progressing, have you been able to get a train ticket? notamermaid

Completely forgot to mention the forecast. Kaub should reach 150cm tomorrow with 160cm probable. Sunday even higher! As is the nature in the Middle Rhine valley, this will give the river plenty of water and time before it can fall to levels that could impede sailing, i.e. it will definitely not fall to that within four days, even if it does not rain and the sun shines brightly. If the river peaks on Monday that should keep the level up for the rest of next week comfortably and probably for a few additional days. Looking very good indeed. notamermaid

That was a really successful rainy day yesterday (and the day before). Pfelling gauge at 348cm now. With so much water coming from Germany I expect things will be looking better downstream from Austria very soon - the situation is already better than it was in August of course. Time for me to relax with you and unless Pfelling causes us to worry again, I will be away from the thread for a couple of days. notamermaid

River levels update: all looking promising, good levels now up to the border with the Netherlands. Good for river cruise ships, barges better, not getting back to full capacity yet. Kaub at 139cm. Levelling off. notamermaid

Sorry to read that. Best wishes for your health. About face masks. I have noticed in the last few days that more people are wearing them again where I live. Not many, but there is a noticeable difference to August. notamermaid

Long, longer, longest - river cruise German Phoenix Reisen is marking its 50th anniversary in 2023. The brochure is out and features the standard river and ocean cruises and the return to Asia. The new ship on Europe's rivers, the Alisa, will enter service in 2023. I have written about her elesewhere. An anniversary needs a special offer though so, yes, you may have guessed it, a 50 day river. The ship chosen for this adventure is the MS Alena. https://www.cruiseindustrynews.com/cruise-news/28182-new-phoenix-brochure-river-and-coasts-2023.html 50 days is 49 nights, isn't it, so we cannot really say that the Phoenix offer is longer than the Amawaterways offer. The North American company has chosen the AmaMora for this journey in 2024 that as a special has new ports that the ship will visit along the lower Danube: https://www.cruiseindustrynews.com/cruise-news/28250-amawaterways-launches-longest-river-sailing-onboard-the-amamora.html notamermaid

Pfelling gauge went down overnight again, as is actually quite normal, but stopped short of reaching 290cm. The rise during this morning is promising, the figure now is 305cm. A huge band of rain clouds coming from the West is sweeping over Germany, almost in a straight line just below the Main river and North of Munich. This pattern gives more rain to the Rhine basin than the Danube basin but the morning has not ended and I see the clouds in the radar moving over Nürnberg and Regensburg. Not pleasant for sightseeing but good for the level at Pfelling this evening and tomorrow. notamermaid

A late autumn trip to Andernach Last week I read an interesting article on Andernach, surprisingly on the Deutsche Welle website. This reminded me of my short shopping trip to Andernach last November. In preparation for Christmas 2021 the intention was to do some general shopping, wander around and go to a specialist shop for sweets and other food indulgences. To my disappointment, the shop had closed down. It was also too early in November for the town to have Christmas decorations and stalls so I was left to just wander around and do general shopping. But it turned out to be more interesting than it sounds. And perhaps if you have been to Andernach before this may be new to you. Knowing of a small supermarket with good parking, that is where I headed. REWE franchise supermarkets are everywhere and stock the usual stuff but like some other supermarkets these days have regional products that in REWE they do actually display on separate shelves sometimes. If you get the chance and food and drink interest you, have a look at these places. This is the REWE in Andernach just behind the railway line, about a twenty minute leisurely walk from the dock: The hill behind REWE is the "Krahnenberg", one half of the rock formation "Andernach Gate". Walking from REWE towards the station and town, at the roundabout is the „Sparkasse“, a savings bank. Outside they have a Bank, a bench, a play on words meaning the bank that stays, both the bank and the bench remain where they are. Notice the Andernach coat of arms on the wall: Cars use the modern underpass to get into town and with it came a problem, something that needed to go and should stay. It is a small monument, a tiny piece of local history but showing a much bigger picture and story captured in stone, which you find out about if you stop to read. The American Allied Forces inscribed the stones in the old pillar (or is it a buttress?) under the railway line with a figure marking the way and distances to Ohio and Los Angeles: The information panel explains that when the new underpass was built they put those old stones in again, so they are almost at their original spot: Walking through town also gave me the opportunity to have a look at some small shops. A local butchers always needs trying out, so I got (we are not surprised, are we? ) raw sausages for frying: They were really tasty, it was a nice fast dinner, sausage with small salad and baguette bread. Last stop – I could not resist – was the HIT large supermarket out of town. I like it for its big shelves of organic products and the wide wine selection. And I mean from all over the world. Look what I found, Californian wines, several of this label, whites, reds. Just the whites in my photo with their price: That was it, time to get home. Although the sweets shop had gone I was able to get what I wanted to a large extent as both HIT and another small shop had enough of the goodies that I had intended to buy and similar ones. And the article? Yes that is a nice read as it describes the „edible town“, free plants for harvesting, no shop needed for those. Stroll along the gardens and the moat at the old castle and you are in for a surprise: https://www.dw.com/en/germanys-pioneer-edible-city-on-the-rhine/a-61928579 I will stay in the area, the hills right behind Andernach in one of my next posts when we will look at stones – and beer! notamermaid

I have just read that Avalonwaterways from 1 March 2023 will no longer require passengers to be fully vaccinated: https://www.avalonwaterways.com/avalon-assurance/ notamermaid

Getting to your river cruise by train is something offered by river cruise lines sometimes but how about making the train journey a proper part of the experience, a rail and sail itinerary. This is Uniworld's Venice and the Swiss Alps as described by travel weekly: https://www.travelweekly.com/River-Cruising/Uniworld-river-cruise-and-rail-tours-in-Europe?ct=river notamermaid

The level at Pfelling may be just about okay but for one ship it did not go as planned. Getting too much left or right of the main navigation channel gets you stuck easily. Regional news says that a Viking river cruise ship got stuck near Deggendorf (that is within the shallow section) early on Tuesday (i.e. yesterday). It was passing a barge. No harm to passengers or damage to ship. Just getting stuck in gravel it seems. The plan was to free it during yesterday, I presume they were waiting for a tug or barge to be available and able to pull. https://www.pnp.de/lokales/landkreis-deggendorf/osterhofen/Auf-Sandbank-gekommen-Passagierschiff-steckt-in-der-Donau-bei-Osterhofen-fest-4427493.html It is actually the third incident on the Danube in or near Germany involving a river cruise ship in ten days. Thankfully no injuries. notamermaid

Rafting is very common in some ports. Usually two ships together. In Vienna we had three together at one point. Not to be too negative about it but here is the situation with Viking. There is the notion that Viking has the prime spots along the rivers Rhine and Danube. That is actually a fact and based on the history of how Viking Flussreisen and then Viking River Cruises came into being. However, these days Viking has so many ships that they raft with each other and sometimes due to lack of space for themselves move out to not so favourable locations. Granted, the rivers are getting busier with other companies and their ships too. As I said this is not a direct criticism but an inherent fact that may get overlooked in advertising. Viking has the great docking locations but you will often not be alone and there is likely to be another ship next to you or nearby, more often than not a Viking ship. The ports on the Seine are somewhat different and I am not familiar with them. The main difference between itineraries as regards docking locations is what has been mentioned already: where do ships dock in Paris and do they go as far as Honfleur or not. On the Seine Viking originally started with 135m ships that cannot go to Honfleur and due to the authorities not granting permission (safety reasons) did not dock in Paris proper but at LePecq. That caused a major logistics/customer satisfaction problem. Uniworld saw the problem and went on to build a 125m ship, the SS Joie de Vivre. Then Viking decided to build four (!) 125m ships for the Seine. The 125m ships dock in Paris proper and CroisiEurope have always docked in Paris proper as they only deploy 110m ships. notamermaid

So you know all about it... sorry that this is putting you in the same position as four years ago. But I am not too pessimistic. We will just need to wait and see. For now, September is better than expected, the problem is just that as I indicated above, we rely so much on rain in autumn, more this year than in the years 2019 to 2021. Normally late November is better than October or early November but 2018 shocked us all. I am happy to report that Kaub is at 97cm, right where the forecast puts it, a drop for sure, but for tomorrow the forecast puts the figures back to 110cm, with 120cm a possibility and the tentative figures go up to 130cm and more for the weekend. If that happens, in consequence, we will have more than just a couple of days of peace of mind. The weather is pleasant but cooler and rainier so the sun is not beating down on us and drying out the land as much as it did in August. Oh, and I think I can put my elaborate cooler fan back in the utility room for this year. My flat has become a pleasant place to be in again. notamermaid

Pfelling gauge at 308cm. A drop and rise overnight that can be seen as daily fluctuation. A band of rain clouds sweeping over the middle of Germany - small amounts of rain for the northern tributaries of the Danube. Scattered showers to the South. Forecast sees a fall in the level for today but staying just above 290cm today and tomorrow. notamermaid