notamermaid

Just managed to sneak behind a couple of tracking/pay walls. It is the MS Annika of Phoenix Reisen. She tried to sail under the bridge. The crew must have though that the ship fits under at this spot although the river is high. Apparently there was just a bit too little headroom and bits from the superstructure landed in the river. This is all I can find out. The many bridges on the Main and Main Danube Canal always pose a hazard and - just to mention it for those who are new to this thread - make many river cruise ships with high superstructures keep the sundeck or part of it closed for (almost) the entire river journey. A few more details on this topic are on page 1 of this thread. notamermaid

The river cruising season on the Main at Frankfurt is not off to a good start. At least for one river cruise ship. According to German news reports, the (name undisclosed) vessel has hit the "Eiserner Steg" bridge and while the iron construction appears to be fine, the ship has sustained damage. While try and find out a bit more about it. notamermaid

That is a great mix of companies and styles. I am sure @Coral and others would be eager to know if you get that "exclusive luxury vibe" from Riverside that Crystal had. I wonder if the atmosphere and food will stick out from the other lines. Personally I would like to know how Amadeus handles the cruises and excursions. All bi-lingual? Dedicated itineraries? Is there a minimum number of passengers needed to have an English tour offered? Does the food seem more continental-European compared to the American lines? Hope your work schedule is as much fun as it can possibly be. I know you will be exhausted from all the impressions. 🙂 Any short reply after the busy days very much appreciated. notamermaid

Sometimes when it rains, it pours. Now happening on the upper Danube and the Canal. Neither rain, snow, frost nor flooding are the problem, but now added to the accident in the lock there is a warning strike for the personnel involved in the maintenance. Over this weekend the union has called for strike action, just when the scheduled work was supposed to begin. Scheduled maintenance means that all traffic lights at the locks are on red, no ships are allowed to use them, the chambers will be run dry and a few gates will be replaced as well. This is planned to end on 31 March. Needless to say there is now a slight worry that work may not be completed in time. This is the German press release: https://www.wsa-donau-mdk.wsv.de/Webs/WSA/Donau-MDK/DE/SharedDocs/Pressemitteilungen/SSP_2023.html notamermaid

Unfortunately Viking does not publish these times, that is standard with them and many other lines. German lines tend to be more forthcoming with publishing. As regards "lit up": check the times of sunset. If you are sailing later in December you will find that it is dark enough some time between 5pm and 6pm for the lights to come on. River cruising is so different from ocean cruising we always say, so I also recommend reading the threads that Canal archive is referring to. The Viking dailies are a great source of information, hopefully someone will be happy to post one for you. You could also go to the roll call of last year for that particular cruise to see if the info is in there. If this itinerary runs over Christmas you need to know that 24th, 25th and 26th December are very festive days in Germany and reserved for the family and worshipping, so shops are closed from midday 24th and most Christmas markets are either closed for the season or only partially open. You would need to check each individual port. Closures may differ in France and the Netherlands. notamermaid

I have been to Lahneck Castle on a day trip and is a short walk. It is also an incline, but really managable. If the coach takes you to the car park where I parked then that is not too bad. There are two access paths to the castle, one straight up the hill and one from the plateau behind it. The castle itself is accessible with just a few steps into the building but I have not been inside. This is a really old castle in typical Medieval style. There is no car park at the castle itself although there is a service vehicle area, so question would be if Amawaterways has a means of getting you close or if you have to walk from the visitors car park. Hopefully someone will reply soon with the logistics for the excursion. If not, I can try and remember who went there - we had a conversation in the Rhine thread - to give them a call here on CC. This map shows the way I walked, see the car park from which the steep incline leads to the castle at the top of the map, that would take longer and must be steeper: If one can manage the incline but not the steps then the restaurant at the castle is great for just sitting and admiring the view. This is my trip report from Lahneck Castle, spread out into three parts: https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2771435-rhine-water-levels-2021-and-similar-topics/page/9/ notamermaid

A somewhat unusual and "curious" accident is in the headlines in Germany. A ship sank yesterday in the lock "Geising", that is in the district of Regensburg. The barge "Achim" loaded with iron ore sank and it was first not clear what had happened. It is assumed that it broke in two. The captain and another crew member still on the ship were able to save themselves but sustained injuries. They were both taken to hospital. Does not look too bad though. Diesel is in the lock and the water was tested. No harm to the environment so far outside of the lock, it seems. Needless to say the lock is not usuable and both ship and heavy load will be a bit of a task to lift. Any possible damage to the lock will have to be assessed as well. It will cause some disruption to traffic, but the locks on the Canal are due for maintenance soon anyway. Scheduling for the maintenance may be affected. Here is a report: https://www.br.de/nachrichten/bayern/gueterschiff-an-schleuse-in-der-oberpfalz-untergegangen,TY6okAs notamermaid

The level at Pfelling has peaked and is now at 443cm. Passau was still rising earlier this morning but the graph indicates it may be levelling off. 481cm now, that is somewhat lower than I had expected it would be today. No problem getting through under the bridges. notamermaid

Well, it did get better but late afternoon, early evening the storm gathered strength again. Most of Rhineland-Palatinate went to level 2 (Basel back on 3) and there was a warning for snow storms in the high hills of North Rhine-Westphalia. Too late in the night for me to check if it happened, but forecast suggested during the night even the low hills were going to get snow. This morning it has brightened up, the sun has come out in the Middle Rhine valley. notamermaid

So both ships are now in position. Ready to sail! Hope it will be a good season. And the Sans Souci? She has a few more "days off". Her season starts with the first sailing on 17 March, which will take her not onto the Elbe but East to the Oder and upstream as far as Breslau. I still think it is a pity that Plantours has no bi-lingual itineraries. That is the company the Sans Souci sails for. But it may be possible to do something like that outside of the charter agreement with Plantours. I will get to that another time. notamermaid

Storm warning for the Southwest of Germany This included Basel, Kehl for Strasbourg, and Breisach earlier but is easing. The Black Forest on storm warning level 3 is not a recommended place for walks. Other areas are on levels 1 and 2. The highest level we can have is 4. You can look this up here: https://www.dwd.de/DE/wetter/warnungen_landkreise/warnWetter_node.html It looks as if this is getting better as the morning progresses. notamermaid

The Wilhelm Tell has got a problem, she cannot return home. This beautiful old vessel, a steam ship, has been decommissioned, if that is the word, and is no longer allowed to sail under its own steam, i.e. engine. It has been a restaurant ship on the Vierwaldstättersee - Lake Lucerne - for decades but went into a shipyard for overhaul. As the ship can no longer sail another boat needs to push it across the lake. A storm warning prevented the procedure yesterday and this morning after initial preparations they stopped with it. Here is the MS Wilhelm Tell ready to leave, but now she has to stay in the shipyard till tomorrow: https://www.luzernerzeitung.ch/zentralschweiz/stadt-region-luzern/vierwaldstaettersee-raddampfer-wilhelm-tell-rueckfahrt-musste-abgebrochen-werden-ld.2427486 It is quite windy down there in the South of Germany and in Switzerland. Lake Constance by the way is so big that it has its own storm warning "gauge" as it reacts much more than the Rhine itself. I love those steamships in Switzerland and on Lake Constance. Sadly we have no real steamers left on the Rhine. The "MS Goethe" is a paddle wheeler without steam. notamermaid

I suggested going from Basel on the Rhine to the young Danube. You may think this is a bit of an unusual suggestion - it is - seeing that the Danube is quite a distance from the Rhine - it is not. I have marked it on the map, the town I chose is Donaueschingen, the name says it, is already the Danube: Konstanz with Lake Constance - highly recommended - is to the right of the photo, I have cut off nearly half of it. From Stuttgart on the Neckar you get there even faster as a motorway is conveniently close by. notamermaid

The level at Pfelling did indeed stay stable overnight, The rise started a bit earlier than forecast. It is now at 340cm and anticipated to rise to 400cm and above during tomorrow. notamermaid

Danube water level graphs are now showing the rises in the forecast. Tomorrow afternoon we will see a significant jump in figures, not just along the upper reaches but also at Kelheim, Regensburg and Straubing. Pfelling is getting a little low, now at 312cm and likely to remain stable for the next few hours, meaning not a significant further decline. Rise to follow in due course after Regensburg and Straubing so probably tomorrow evening. notamermaid

The forecast was almost spot on, very good computer modelling. Monday gave the lowest figure at Kaub as 92cm, the actual level dipped very briefly to 91cm (two 15-minute readings were 90cm, basically negligible) and is now around 100cm. Next few days will see that fast rise I mentioned but it looks as if it will not be as high as had been suggested on Monday. Maxau may well stay under 520cm, Kaub may well stay under 300cm. So no flooding. Right, back to Nickenich. notamermaid

The Riverside Mozart is ready to sail! Binnenschifferforum ship spotter reports that the name is now on the hull, both painted on and screwed on: https://www.binnenschifferforum.de/showthread.php?112293-Riverside-Mozart-KFGS-04805980&p=454721#post454721 notamermaid

Yes, it was too dry here as well. All change. The puddles are massive today. I saw footage of Alnwick Castle in snow. Lovely. When I was Nickenich it was a warm spell and I actually saw a butterfly (photo coming up in the Rhine thread). Nothing flying today, not even the magpies, but I did hear birds, the ones that do not leave us in winter. While the temperatures are set to rise, it may only be an interlude. Spring not yet in the vicinity. During the afternoon I happened to spot the Excellence Coral in the Koblenz webcam. She sails for a Swiss company. Ships are definitely out and about now, one after the other leaving Cologne Niehl harbour sailing to their embarkation ports. notamermaid

Schnee!! 😊 The afternoon rain turned into snow during the night, I saw a tiny glimpse of it. Enough to make me happy even it is all gone already. A couple of river cruise ships that are sailing to their embarkation ports now may have even had some flakes dropping onto the sun deck during the night. Above 300m it is still cold today so the snow may be staying there for a bit. Overall the ground is too warm in the valleys in the west of Germany though. My tourism board for Rhineland-Palatinate is busy at the ITB in Berlin. Saw the footage on telly. Nice stalls. Yes, we want more tourists to come! Who wouldn't? 😉 They bring money. But for me it is also time to speak some more English again, I am a bit starved of interesting conversations in person. My last British tourist that I met in a business capacity was from Scotland, some time in November I think. Talking of tourists: I was a bit surprised to hear Dutch quite a bit in Cochem on the Moselle. Even in the winter on grey days they come to the Moselle apparently. I can understand it, for me the river always has appeal. Not necessarily Cochem but in general certainly. Oh, and Piesport was the focus of the report from the ITB. That is a wine village close to Traben-Trarbach. Must have a look at that place on a nice sunny day this year. notamermaid

Would love to see that, especially the castle there, love it. I fell in love with the green pastures and sheep of the lowlands when I was ten through photos in a school project, went to England for the first time in my teens but only managed to get to Scotland for the first time in my thirties. notamermaid

I mentioned Ingolstadt in my last post. This town, administratively classified as a city, is in Bavaria, the region is Oberbayern. Before the Danube becomes an international waterway it has already run through Germany for 500km. Ingolstadt is one of several towns along that stretch. It is somewhat a pity that river cruisers hardly ever get to see anything of the "young" Danube. Would people be interested in exploring the region I wonder? You could actually fly into Basel or Stuttgart and take a coach to the Danube. However, all exploration would have to be on land as there is no boat with an engine allowed on the Danube up to Kelheim. With a tiny exception. But that is for another time. This is Ingolstadt as described in an English brochure: https://newcityplatform.de/wp-content/uploads/ingolstadt-tourismus-historic-city-tour-online.pdf Quite a bit to see. Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, ring a bell? Yes, the doctor studied in Ingolstadt in her novel. This is the place, now the German Museum of Medical History: https://www.dmm-ingolstadt.de/ One could offer a pre-cruise to Ulm, Ingolstadt and Kelheim and then board a river cruise ship in Regensburg. notamermaid

Well, we did have Moby Dick on holiday in 1966. And, yes, the ones reporting the sighting to the police had to take a blood alcohol test: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moby_Dick_(Rhine) Some original footage: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JFBGhB-APMs I reckon there will be quite a bit of playing the film music to "Das Boot" during the television coverage of this transport. notamermaid

Save the date! Actually, I do not know the exact date yet, but have just seen the announcement that a U-Boot, a genuine submarine, is coming up the Rhine. It will be in April and I will try and find out more details that are hopefully not full of cookies or behind a paywall, to post in the Rhine thread. The submarine is going to the Technik Museum in Speyer. So this is a pre-warning, if you are on your river cruise ship and see a submarine, it is not the result of any drinks you may have had. 😁 notamermaid

Both Viking Astrild and Viking Beyla have left the Tangermünde winter harbour and have sailed today along the Elbe. So I guess they will soon be in position to receive the first passengers of the season. Well, the guests arriving on Wednesday in Berlin may encounter snow! Whereas other regions of Germany will see the temperatures rise after a short cold spell with snow, the weather will persist longer in the East and the roads may stay white for more than a few hours. Wrap up warm and have your cameras ready! By the way, the smaller German vessel Sans Souci, which can dock in Berlin, is here, if you happen to get to Spandau you may spot her: notamermaid

As promised here is my little report on a trip to the Eifel region in Rhineland-Palatinate with a surprising find - Roman antiquities "in the middle of nowhere". A trip to Nickenich village in the volcanic Eifel part 1 On Monday before Carnival I went to the area for a specific purpose but left myself enough time for a leisurely stroll to see a place I had not been to for many years. It turned out not to be the best day of the week for this but I will explain that later in my report. I went to the area not so long ago, but Nickenich has been only a vague memory from teenage years. This is deep German geography so I will give you an idea of what to expect. If you live in the forests of Canada with the next building five miles away you will find this place relatively populous, if you are visiting from Cologne this is countryside. On the map this is a 12 minute drive to west from Andernach and a 20 minute drive from Koblenz to the Northwest, right next to the "eye" - Laach lake. The volcanic lakes are nicknamed the "Eyes of the Eifel" and there are quite a few of them. We parked the car at the town hall and looked for a big town map display. Could not find one but found the plaque describing the impressive town hall building in German, English and French (!). A first surprise in such a small place. Either they get many tourists or they have a bit of money to just do it anyway... The town hall which turned out to have been built by Koblenz architect Johann Claudius von Lassaulx: The plaque: Turns out Nickenich has quite a few plaques and the next one is just a few metres up the road at the even more impressive Catholic Church Sankt Arnulf, which as you can read is another work of Lassaulx: As the plaque says, the church tower is Romanesque, very old and the main church is from the 19th century. For a place that only had just over a thousand inhabitants when the church was built, this struck me as an expensive undertaking and a famous architect on top of that. And then the possible explanation came to me: the stone! This area is full of building material that can be quarried and you can tell that many houses, the town hall and the church are made of relatively local material or even the Eifel volcanic rocks. Quarries "just down the road"? Perfect! This is not a poor agricultural village. And it turns out a place inhabited for quite a bit more than the 950 years the town website says the village has celebrated to be in existence. To be continued... notamermaid