notamermaid

Speaking of the Gersemi. Apparently she had an emergency stop at Braubach this morning. There was a technical fault in an electrical system in the engine room it seems which caused the fire detection system to alarm the crew. The ship had just left Braubach and managed to stop and dock there again. Everyone was evacuated and is unhurt. There was no open fire. The German news article made it sound as if the Gersemi was soon on her way again but I cannot verify this. Back to your question. Hopefully someone will answer soon, but some people are happier to only post in the roll calls so you may want to have a look there. notamermaid

See post #951. No rain of note today. Update some time tomorrow, latest Tuesday. notamermaid

With the air refreshed from yesterday's rain and very warm but not hot temperatures it has been a very pleasant day in the Rhine valley (at least in my region) crowned by a glorious sunset. What a sight this must have been live on top Ehrenbreitstein Fortress, the webcam was great to watch already, a snapshot time stamp 7:56pm: But as promised I will have a look back at a difficult month on the river. The levels at Kaub gauge in August: The Danube at Pfelling was already at a critical low for river cruise ships by the end of July and a few days later the Rhine at Kaub followed but at the beginning of the month the impact was not as severe as on the Danube. By the second week of August the problems had increased and one by one the large river cruise ships stopped sailing in the Rhine Gorge. The third week then saw the disruption of itineraries for some smaller vessels as well. Always remembering that length does not equal draught nor equal not sailing but as a general idea it works to distinguish between 110m and 135m ships. And the second week saw altered itineraries not just because passage of the Rhine Gorge became increasingly too dangerous but also because landing stage and ports further away could not reached or not in decent time due to slow sailing. These are general comments and may not apply to your particular cruise on a specific day. The heavy rain sweeping over mostly the Southern half Germany gave the Danube a high wave of water and we see the corresponding (in time line) wave at Kaub. However, the volume of water actually reaching the Rhine basin was not as high as in the Danube basin. On the other hand, the distribution of rain, especially over the natural reservoir that is Lake Constance, meant that the Rhine Gorge and within it Kaub could profit a little longer and more sustained from the rain than the Danube in Germany. The level is back to an unpleasantly low level for large river cruise ships and we need rain to back up what is left over from the rain and keep the level at this height. Could the rain yesterday help? As I said in my previous post, the computer does not think so. Let us have another quick look tomorrow. Have a good week. notamermaid

Brief update on river levels. Maxau in reaction to the rain showed a nice rise of 15cm but peaked at lunchtime already. Means a small wave is coming towards the Rhine Gorge but not before tomorrow, not clear how many centimetres that will give at Kaub - if any. Kaub gauge dropped to 70cm this afternoon but is now back at 72cm. Forecast does not put this little wave into the modelling, suggests 66cm tomorrow afternoon and falling further. Seriously puts the term "ship swap" back on the table for some. notamermaid

Pfelling gauge update: 256cm. Little change from yesterday so keeping stable for the time being. Isolated patches of rain in the Danube basin this afternoon. notamermaid

So this is your pre cruise time. Enjoy Munich and have a great cruise on the Danube. notamermaid

It has rained with us as well, finally properly! I mean, it does rain and we get regular thunderstorms but the few excuses for thunderstorm with rain in August I missed, mainly because I was asleep. They were nothing to speak off. I have seriously seen proper rain for the first time since a downpour on the Main river at the end of July! Over one month ago. I watched the sky turn grey and weirdly blue like it does before it rains, it was almost a novelty. When it started raining I was so chuffed about it I nearly ran down the stairs just to stand in the rain and get really wet. I looked out the window and thought "look there is a puddle in the yard". Bonkers. But dinner cooking coming up I decided not to stand in the rain. It will be interesting to see what happens to the river levels after this. August was so bad. I will revisit the past month with a summary in another post. notamermaid

It is September and time to look back at August river levels at Pfelling gauge. Basically very bad for 18 consecutive days and as such also too early in the year. 36 hours of more or less heavy rain quite likely saved the month from being completely free of 135m river cruise ships (and some of those of shorter length) in the shallow stretch in Bavaria. Here is the graph: The RNW line (290cm) and above is where we want Pfelling to be. While many ships can sail below that every centimetre less makes it harder and the levels of 250cm and below are just abysmal and I know that they have stopped more than two 110m ships. Length does not equal draught equal not sailing but it generally speaking helps to have the shorter ship. Other factors play into this. But that is not all, August I mean. The graph starts on 1 August on my copy/screenshot but you can see that the blue comes into the month at a very low figure already. This is one I copied earlier: I have not saved earlier graphs when the level was higher, but we can safely say that from 29 July until 18 August the river at Pfelling was impassable for a large chunk of the modern river cruising fleet. That is 21 days in a row. A record? I would say at this time of year yes, in 2018 in autumn, that is September/October, it may have been for longer. If you want to be brutal to yourself, go back to that thread and check what I posted at the time. Warning: not fun reading! notamermaid

Update: Pfelling gauge has dropped to 265cm. LIttle rain over the area so far, but rain is coming from France and has just reached the Upper Danube basin in Baden-Württemberg. notamermaid

Uniworld: https://www.travelandleisure.com/uniworld-river-cruise-drop-vaccine-requirements-6503097 notamermaid

I gather that means the ship swaps made the two ships end up in the opposite ports to where they were scheduled. Changes could mean a ship swap or changing a docking location (like in Cologne) or slower sailing with excursions affected. Of course, Viking cannot know yet, but it is good of them I find to send general info about it. Nobody knows and I reckon all those on the river wonder how low it will get this autumn. As a local I am obviously also a bit anxious about supply chain issues that can happen with the strains on commercial river traffic. For now, just a brief look at Kaub: 83cm, forecast on target, i.e. reliable in the figures, giving 80cm for tonight and suggesting 70cm for tomorrow evening. The scattered rain is not enough to keep the level up. Let us hope the river favourably beats the computer modelling. notamermaid

Guten Morgen to you. Well done to your captain. Docking can be so tricky and while the shallows at Rüdesheim are currently not visible on the webcam I know they are there not far below the current level of the water. Good to read about the rain, so the weather forecast was right. Scattered and a very much interrupted band of clouds with rain but at least it is there in the Upper and Middle Rhine valleys. notamermaid

Yes, Pfelling is in Bavaria, Germany and on the navigable (for big ships) Danube between Kelheim and Budapest considered to be the shallowest point. Generally speaking, in autumn when it does not rain in Germany it has a considerable effect downstream all the way into Austria and beyond in that the level gets low everywhere. But of course there are many tributaries between Kelheim and Budapest that play a role so if the weather pattern is unfortunate we also see little rain along those smaller rivers. If the weather pattern is favourable, i.e. it rains in Austria and beyond it is good for the Danube and does not help Pfelling in Germany. There is a drought in much of Europe and too little water in the river basins in other places too. It all plays a part. Austria has several locks and Vienna is not considered a problem area. Budapest and the outskirts upstream can get low and not suitable for river cruise ships with a deep draught. Vilshofen is before Pfelling for you so you will not get to the shallow stretch in Germany on your itinerary. If the level drops low in Budapest a likely scenario is that you will board your ship in Komarno and be picked up by your river cruise line in Budapest by coach to transfer you to the ship. In short, Budapest to Vilshofen is a pleasant and very much sailable itinerary, possibly necessitating not too long a coach ride. Much better than Budapest to Regensburg or Nuremberg. Have a look at the recent roll call for your itinerary (or a similar stretch) to get an idea of what people think of the coach ride. I myself do not see it as a problem. notamermaid

@RiverCruiser36 and @judythg welcome to CC. I stumbled a bit with two people on "1 post" count right after another. Thought the software was having a problem, but I guess we really have two new people. The more the better. To all three of you the tip to join the roll calls, great place for all those tiny little questions, also to past and current cruisers that may not post on this river cruising board. notamermaid

Always good to hear from people on the ground. Budapest to Passau is certainly the more "fortunate" itinerary in this low water. With just a bit of rain in Austria things should be good, I agree. Have a great time, even more so after that really long wait. notamermaid

Lovely. Google tells me Eschelbrun does not exist, could that be Eschelbronn, near Heidelberg? It is a typical region of early emigration to North America. notamermaid

It is September, time to have a look at the Elbe gauge at Dresden for August. In a nutshell: erratic and unusual: While the low trend, the peak due to rain and the otherwise consistently low levels on the Rhine and Danube are clearly visible and can easily be explained, the pattern at Dresden is a weird one and as suggested by the "Niedrigwasserbericht" this was due to the work going on in the Czech Republic and would continue for more weeks. I would say that this is what the first half of August is showing us. It is interesting to note just how much a river can be controlled with large scale alteration like several locks and an adjacent reservoir that diverts some of the flow and retains water. However, the weather pattern changed and rain was able to raise the levels of both the Elbe and the Oder in a more sustained way. The new Niedrigwasserbericht does not mention the works on the reservoirs so the Elbe should react more naturally and the report suggests the latest weather forecast points to the Elbe dropping to lower levels again. notamermaid

My pleasure. Welcome to CruiseCritic. A few more weeks to go till your adventure but as we all know it will be here before you know it. So much planning to do - for most people- when staying away from home for so many days. If you would like to plan more and read about river cruises before you go I recommend the stickies (pinned threads) at the top of this board. You could also join a roll call: https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/851-viking-river-roll-calls/ Brief update on Pfelling gauge before I give the monthly summary: better. A small but important little hump in the graph, now at 285cm. Still tight for ships with the deepest draught. Hope you are all getting through. Not easy on the nerves... notamermaid

For those who have not seen it yet, here is the tower (the gauge) at Kaub: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pegel_Kaub#/media/Datei:PegelKaubRhein.JPG The castle on the island is Pfalzgrafenstein: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pfalzgrafenstein_Castle It is one of the many unusual places open to the public on 11 September as part of the "Tag des offenen Denkmals". These are all places that are listed and protected for their importance to heritage. It can be almost anything, from a castle to a mine to a private house to a ditch in the forest. A guided tour in German is planned: https://programm.tag-des-offenen-denkmals.de/denkmal/kaub-burg-pfalzgrafenstein Just one of the many objects that would interest me; the water tower in Lahnstein: https://programm.tag-des-offenen-denkmals.de/denkmal/82b62b9b-c696-11ea-ab68-960000611c47 You can roam around the website, there is a useful map, who knows, there might be something open exactly where you will be on that day - if you happen to be on a river cruise on that day or, more practical, on a land trip. notamermaid

Kaub gauge is doing better than the forecast suggested, now at 87cm. Question is: just a higher peak or staying on the higher level for longer? Anyway, going okay for the time being and Saturday looks to be pleasant sailing still but Sunday has the downward trend that, according to the forecast, could see the level dropping below 70cm in the evening. Currently, any rain that could have a major effect is only forecast for later next week, Thursday into Friday. If that will work we will need to wait and see. On the probability modelling, 62cm comes into view for Tuesday/Wednesday but not as a strong likelihood yet. It should be clearer by Sunday what the week will bring. notamermaid

Sometimes it is better not to know I think... Must remember that about the pilot. I have only read about it three times so far. On my river cruise on the Danube I actually asked about the sound that was near the door in our cabin. It sounded like a shower running for hours. She assured me it was not some technical fault in the bathroom next door or so, just the sound travelling up from under the ship. It varies depending on depth and nature of the river bed. Not having been on a ship overnight before I just did not know. notamermaid

The extraordinary grand European journey of the MS Alisa hull part 3 While the news of the blockage occupied the local headlines and even made it into international news (the Rhine as a major transport artery being in focus already due to the low water) the MS Alisa was waiting in Bingen. By early evening the barge had passed and the river around Rüdesheim filled with ships. The backlog was mostly cleared within a few fours hours and just before 19.50 the Johanna with hull attached sailed away in the light of the evening sun, downstream into the Rhine Gore. This is her just before she left: So would she actually sail all the way, or stop at a nearby dock? I could not be sure so waited to see where she may pop up again with a terrestrial signal. The following morning I had backtracked the signal but could not be sure the Johanna still had the MS Alisa attached. Again, ship spotters came to the rescue. They informed the community on the Danube transport from where I was able to follow her path. This time it was downstream from Cologne that the info came from. Yes, the MS Alisa was still there. On the Lower Rhine it must have been a relatively fast run to the Netherlands as she is reported to have arrived at Gendt on 19 August. Much of the info I have given here comes from the „Binnenschifferforum“ where they track hulls, Kaskotransport is the word. This is the page of the MS Alisa: https://www.binnenschifferforum.de/showthread.php?111874-Alisa-–-FGKS-Kasko When the hull has been turned into a fully functioning ship she will be given a naming ceremony and deployed on the Rhine and Moselle. But who knows, she may return to Serbia for a brief visit on an itinerary some time. If you are interested, you can look up her sailing dates for next year already: https://www.phoenixreisen.com/?pm=uebersicht&source=widget&searchShipIds=1000252 When she is an official river cruise ship she will be given her own page within the section of passenger ships under A, the link to the full list: https://www.binnenschifferforum.de/forumdisplay.php?1059-Passagierschiffe-Fahrgastschiffe So to conclude: a river cruise ship of 135m length made it through two shallows in extremely low water, one on the Danube and one on the Rhine, despite the size, when other ships needed to wait for the rivers to rise. She was sailed with much reduced draught, i.e .less than we know from other river cruise ships as she is only a hull at this time. The logistics are standard for this kind of transport but in a weird twist in this low water the hull stayed the same but the ship swap happened with the helper ships twice while you as a passenger needed to swap your „real“ ship twice on the Grand European. What she has not got compared to a fully functioning river cruise ship made the MS Alisa able to sail and have her extraordinary grand European journey. notamermaid

I tend not to look at weather forecasts further than four days out, they become tentative. But there are several weather sites that give relatively good info, like accuweather. I use German ones. I do not see much rain forecast for next week for the areas that matter. From Wednesday onwards it looks like drizzle to me. If we got widespread rain for two days all over the High Rhine, Lake Constance, Basel, the Upper Rhine and the Middle Rhine, as well as the Neckar and the Main rivers, that would be very useful. The main thing that needs to happen is moderate amounts over a long time, i.e. not a downpour of two hours. Downpours fill the rivers, widespread rain feeds the ground and raises the water table. We need moisture. That is the problem in autumn and this year it is extreme due to lack of rainfall in Spring. There does not seem to be much hope built into the computer modelling at Maxau gauge for rain raising the level substantially going into the weekend and next week: Computer modelling at Kaub shows a similar picture, so neither Neckar nor Main have much additional water to give the Rhine. Both rivers join between Maxau and Kaub from the East, i.e. are right tributaries. The only good news is that 60cm and lower at Kaub (which we had in August) is still highly unlikely. While the Danube at Pfelling is a nerve-wrecking scenario, the Rhine is for the time being a little more stable, albeit on a slightly worrying low level. I think we need to see if the weather forecast changes by Sunday and then basically wait how much rain actually comes down next week. River level modelling on Monday should give us better ideas what to expect but it still needs to be read with caution. Note that the river level forecast is updated every morning. Maxau that is, Kaub is done time stamp midnight, but I read it the next morning. notamermaid

A-Rosa Sena gets certification that awards ships for "looking after the environment": https://travelweekly.co.uk/news/cruise/latest-a-rosa-ship-receives-top-green-certification notamermaid

I will throw in a brief update at this point and get back to the MS Alisa later. Kaub gauge, stable, now at 83cm. Forecast suggests minimal change for the worse and then a slight rise for tomorrow, afternoon on Friday reaching 84cm. Saturday minimal change with Sunday potentially falling below 80cm again. Weather forecast: rain coming from France tomorrow, reaching the Upper Rhine valley on Saturday. notamermaid