notamermaid

I am a bit surprised, did not think it would be too low still. Hmm, if it is the standard mooring place, it does strike me as odd. Wonder if they have had unwanted gravel deposited there lately. I would have thought that can be monitored. Not sure if this will help you but I will post it anyway and perhaps it is of interest to others. Moorings on a map courtesy of nicko cruises, i.e. info for their passengers: https://www.nicko-cruises.de/en/moorings/cologne notamermaid

The MS Thomas Hardy is designed for 169 passengers, website says. Lots of space for you folks on the ship then. I can imagine it adds to a good feel on the ship and may also help staff that is not so experienced. At least that is how it felt to me when I sailed, I had a mix of old and new staff and we also had lots of space as the MS Belvedere was only a bit more than half full. Would love to be on a Riviera/Scylla ship, I think the cooperation works great as regards ship design. notamermaid

I have been to Brussels but not Antwerp. I have heard so far one comment personally that Antwerp is a somewhat more interesting and nicer place. I know for sure that the cities differ in their feel and architecture, Brussels is in the middle of the country, Antwerp is on the coast. Just one difference but a major one. I suppose it depends on what you want to see, is there something outstandingly attractive/of interest to you? Well, you have partly answered that already: Funny you should mention that, I have a brochure here at home which I looked at a couple of days prior to your post. Quite detailed info in there, I have learnt that there are several sights and all can be reached by public transport, train or bus. I would like to see the battlefield and the museums. There are also hotels nearby. http://www.waterloo-tourisme.com/de From Brussels I recommend the Thalys train to Amsterdam: https://www.thalys.com/be/en Antwerp is the city of diamond trade, that is a unique attraction. Here are some suggestions from the tourist board: https://www.visitflanders.com/en/stories/destinations/only-48-hours-in-antwerp-make-the-most-of-every-moment.jsp Brussels I like for its famous Art Nouveau architecture: https://www.visitflanders.com/en/stories/arts-and-heritage/brussels-cultural-crossroads.jsp?country=en_US Brussels is the city of comics and cartoons: https://www.visitflanders.com/en/themes/comics/index.jsp notamermaid

That is good to read. 53 passengers is almost an intimate party. As Budapest is better than it was two weeks ago and you embark in Vilshofen, yes, should be a complete river cruise with all the planned stops, I can understand your Tauck rep being confident. Sounds like a great cruise, enjoy your time on the Danube. Going to Melk Abbey? I love it. notamermaid

Oh I know it from the outside. At Florinsmarkt. Never been in I think. I have heard that it is very good. Glad to read you enjoyed it there. notamermaid

I do not want to get too much into the the details of the draught and what goes into the calculation etc. but it reminds me of an aspect of sailing/transporting the hull of the Alisa. Must remember to include a webcam shot, hope I can still get hold of it. notamermaid

Update: Kaub gauge at 103cm. Rain coming to the Upper Rhine valley tomorrow and probably finally some decent rain for the Meurthe and Moselle in France. More rain forecast for Wednesday, but shifting towards the Danube valley (again) so should mainly cover the High Rhine and Lake Constance while extending towards Basel and Freiburg may see a little bit of rain. Again no rain for the Middle Rhine valley. I did water the trees in the street yesterday. Leaves are turning brown prematurely around here to protect the tree from dying of thirst. Kaub gauge forecast: today stable, minimal rise likely tomorrow. Level probably falling below 100cm on Wednesday with the potential for dropping to 90cm going into Thursday. I have forgotten to mention that the hull transport of the Phoenix Alisa from Serbia to the Netherlands has been successfully completed. We talked about it briefly and I will get back to that story as courtesy of the ship spotters we now have many photos of her to look at. notamermaid

That should be doable and I would certainly make my comments directly on the ship in such a case as well as to the tour operator afterwards. Wine is very reasonable in Germany and you can get drinkable regional ones for as little as eight euros a bottle. With a bit of knowledge you can go to any large supermarket and select a decent collection of international wines with an average price of six euros per bottle. Even Aldi has wines that are reasonable in quality. One of my favourite wines ever a few years ago was a French red from a cheap supermarket for 2.99 euros a bottle. Changing the wine selection is easier than changing the chef... notamermaid

Pfelling update: 308cm. Stable. I cannot see rain on the radar this morning to back this up but one model says rain will come on Wednesday, again centered around Upper Austria, extending into Germany which should cover a wide area in the South from Ulm to Regensburg, i.e. much of the Danube basin there. notamermaid

Indeed. Apart from the basic calculation there are these other variables. One is hull design. Amawaterways claims to have a flatter bottom on their ship design than others. Actual captains and crew have commented online on the odd design of the Viking longships. All things I cannot comment on and which we will never be able to know in detail unless we actually sail a particular ship as a captain (or knowledgeable visitor in the wheelhouse). Certainly. The Gorge is a notorious stretch, if you have two ships going the opposite way you can get around the problem of a captain being not fully confident or playing it safe by not taking the ship through the shallows, but in the end every captain will be trained and needs to be trained to master all stretches in the best manner possible. There is always the possibility of booking a pilot to be on board but I do not know how that works at short notice. It can happen to any company and any captain. I would not want to refer to a specific company here. notamermaid

The calculation of the navigation channel depth. See for example post #723. Every gauge differs so that 100cm in one place may be okay, but not in another. The river depth is not the navigation channel depth and the gauge is placed at the river embankment. So they are three different figures. notamermaid

I posted about Trier as a day trip from Luxembourg, but where else could you go? Again, this is for the Luxembourg citizens, but if you arrive early, perhaps a day or two before your river cruise, either by train or plane to board your cruise at Remich or nearby, you may be able to get a few tips how to spend your time. Take the train to one or more of these places: https://www.luxtimes.lu/en/travel/day-trips-by-train-602d5fa0de135b923693dc79 notamermaid

Sorry to read about the food. Plenty of eateries in Koblenz Altstadt. Haven't been to a restaurant there for some time so cannot recommend anything. I wouldn't choose the beer garden at Deutsches Eck, though. Have heard that the beer is better than the food there. But who knows, it may be a good meal there tonight. I enjoy the Yugoslav restaurant "Dubrovnik" but that is not in the Altstadt, it is on Friedrich-Ebert-Ring. Not too far to walk though. Hmm, I think I should make the effort to go to Koblenz some time soon... Anyway, enjoy Koblenz. The sunset from Ehrenbreitstein is great, but it may be nice from the ship too. It works better on the Moselle with the open view at Balduin Bridge than on the Rhine where you have the buildings in the way. notamermaid

I am still waiting for it. It is cooler and more pleasant, great sunshine today. But again, while there is quite a bit of rain in the Danube basin, not much is happening in the Rhine valley and virtually no rain this morning for Rhineland-Palatinate. I am going to water the trees in the street nearby today, seriously. Not sure if I should more despair with the folks in some buildings in Berlin or with the lack of rain. Berlin is politics of course but we in the West are of let us say a different breed so having grown up in the "Bonn Republic" I am not a fan of that place in the East. I do not trust them not to make life more difficult for us (that is me) in the tourist industry again this autumn. Who knows what will trickle down to affect enjoyment of river cruises on the Rhine? Well back to the good news. Maxau gauge saw a pleasant rise during yesterday and overnight, has now peaked. Kaub gauge is also up, 98cm. Forecast suggests a rise that may bring the level up to 110cm. Which could mean that next week is sorted, i.e. pleasant sailing for all river cruise ships, or if I want to be slightly more pessimistic, pleasant sailing for almost all river cruise ships up to Friday. Long term outlook suggests we will not see figures under 60cm - which we had done earlier this month - for some time to come. Could September be better than we had feared? We will need to wait and see. As the "Niedrigwasserbericht" of 25 August says (in my free translation) "patient better - with the potential to get worse again". notamermaid

Update: Pfelling gauge at 298cm. It is raining in Bavaria, all good water for the Danube. Much again goes to the Isar (which is not helpful for Pfelling) and smaller brooks, but a substantial amount is coming down over the Lech river which drains into the Danube much further upstream so helps Pfelling and therefore ships sailing the low stretch between Straubing and Vilshofen. The area of rain extends into Austria, so rain in Salzburg and towards the Danube there is feeding the river already before any large volume has reached Austria from the Upper Danube. Good for sustaining levels rather than just a wave. Looks to me as if Slovakia and Hungary should get a nice additional amount of water. notamermaid

I seem to have missed this interesting theme cruise on the Amadeus Cara. A classical music cruise this autumn: https://www.seatrade-cruise.com/ports-destinations/amadeus-cara-sailing-classical-music-themed-itinerary From the Lüftner website: https://www.lueftner-*****/en/river-cruises/cruise/show/classical-music-on-the-rhine-2022.html Nice variations on the standard route Amsterdam - Basel: Utrecht/Ijsselmeer and Cochem. notamermaid

Great info - as always - from the CC folks. I would just like to add something to consider that directly concerns the itineraries on the Seine. They are usually Paris return. That is either central Paris or LePec Paris district to Caudebec-en-Caux and thereabouts then return to Paris, but a couple of cruise lines can go as far as Honfleur with their ships and return. Just a few itineraries are one way. And yes, I think you will enjoy a river cruise. With all that advice and reading the stickies I think you will be well informed of what cruising on a river is like. I get the feeling you may be happiest with a one way cruise and a couple of extra independent driving days that get you back to Paris. Have fun planning. notamermaid

Oh my goodness, what a vehicle. Great, you went! Happy to read that you enjoyed it so much. I saw the Buran many years ago when it was being transported on the Rhine to Speyer Museum. It was quite the spectacle. Many things are being transported up and down the Rhine, but that was something else. "Space shuttle spotted on Rhine" article with webcam photo at Koblenz: https://www.bafg.de/DE/07_Nachrichten/Archiv/2008/buran.html Old stones but also unusual stuff: I will get back to the upcoming special heritage day again probably, but here is the short info for your planning. If you happen to be in Germany on 10/11 September you can go and see listed buildings and structures, many of which are not open to the public at other times. It is "Tag des offenen Denkmals" (the Sunday) and is partner of the initiative "European Heritage Days": https://www.tag-des-offenen-denkmals.de/ notamermaid

Pfelling gauge has gone back up to 288cm. And it is raining a bit in the Upper Danube valley. notamermaid

Great. Good to know. Water levels are rising in the area according to the figure tables. Graph at Budapest shows the level to be falling again, the wave from Germany has mostly passed through Hungary now. But still looking much better than it had been earlier in the month: notamermaid

Pfelling gauge has dropped to 278cm. I imagine captains and crews in Vienna anxiously looking at the river level info and wondering if the rain will help to get their ships through the low stretch in a couple of days time. If the ship is to disembark passengers at Vilshofen anyway, it is no problem of course. It is raining in the Danube valley and along the Northern tributaries so that is good but will it be enough? The graph shows a slight upward trend for tomorrow. It is the 27 of August today which brings us close to September and my monthly report on the how the river has fared in the previous 30 days. I can already say now - no surprise if you are a regular reader of this thread - that August has been abysmal. But more on that in a few days time. notamermaid

Ahh, it is Scenic! I just could not remember with which company I had read about Hockenheim. Nürburgring from Koblenz is a bit of a distance but doable and I am sure enthusiasts would happily spend that time on the coach, especially if it is that sophisticated one in the photo above. From Andernach it is a little less time and the scenery is nicer. I must admit I am not into racing and find going round in a circle weird, I normally go from place a to place b with a purpose or do a slow round trip to enjoy the scenery. But standing on a podium or getting to go inside a place that is normally not open to the public is great. I would choose Hockenheim over Heidelberg. I find it nice to have guided tours and standard stuff, but the exceptional, unusual places, especially when they are away from the big cities make itineraries stand out. Scenic is very good at that along the Rhine I find. But Avalon also has a couple of unusual places in their portfolio that they offer passengers. Amawaterways also does one or two but the APT itinerary passengers on the Grand Tour get the better offers I find. Uniworld stops in Boppard in the Rhine Gorge so that is what makes them stick out positively. Not as spectacular as mechanical technical stuff, but for craftsmen the museum there on Thonet chairs is an attraction. Update on Kaub gauge: 94cm, forecast for relatively stable figures, 90cm tomorrow probable, no further drop indicated. Rhineland-Palatinate did not get enough rain overnight so the landscape is dry but rain further upstream is keeping the river at a level that is somewhat satisfactory for river cruise ships, albeit not good enough for commercial traffic, still half load and impeded logistics. If it does not rain it could of course go down fast and affect river cruising to a greater extent again. The somewhat lower temperatures are helpful in reducing the loss of water in the rivers and the soil but we do need more rain. notamermaid

Hmm, yes, Tauck sound confident about the Rhine. I can imagine they have looked at the weather forecast and the projected river level in the next 14 days at Kaub. It does indeed look good for the Rhine being just within the good levels to keep more or less all river cruise ships sailing. And with the experience and info from the captains on the ships they will have a pretty clear picture what will be possible for their ships in the first week of September. All that is needed is the rain that is forecast to actually fall. Rain has fallen around Lake Constance earlier tonight and has also reached more parts of the valleys but Rhineland-Palatinate still has not profitted enough. I hope we will see proper rain during tomorrow. notamermaid

Ah, yes a detour via the Hockenheimring for a few laps is a good idea. Come to think of it, the excursion choice should be Speyer Museum or Sinsheim Museum, i.e. both in my itinerary to choose from rather than either, i.e throw out Heidelberg. For the autosports and the motorcycle fans. Can you imagine the comparing conversations in the evening at the bar? I am still hoping a river cruise company will pick up my ideas for a trial run itinerary next year around Fathers' Day. 🍻 And I am entirely serious about this - okay the Hockenheim laps are a stretch, but I know there is a river cruise company out there that has offered a tour to the famous race track in a past year. notamermaid

On my river cruise on the Danube I was fortunate to have a captain that one afternoon officially let us visit him in the wheelhouse. It was fascinating. Tough choice. People love Heidelberg and I am not sure if Speyer Technical Museum is more enjoyable. Things that go "vroom" or "clonk", or old stones? Not sure what I would choose. In Koblenz there is the small but interesting railway museum, only open on Saturdays, special group openings by arrangement: https://dbmuseum.de/en/koblenz/information Koblenz also has a army collection with lots of "big things made of metal" that is open to the public. But you would need to inquire for more details. Or you could go to the fish pass info centre. Or the museum on Ehrenbreitstein Fortress where they keep the famous big cannon. Or further upstream, Mainz has got the Museum of Ancient Seafaring (currently closed due to renovation). There are lots of places beyond the standard generic interests but it takes a bit of effort (and sometimes language skills) to find them and enjoy them. That is where a knowledgeable CD is a real asset. The offers of excursions have become broader but there is still room for improvement I would say. notamermaid