notamermaid

Update for Pfelling gauge: 262cm. Mild rain along the Alps this morning, drizzle forecast for today and tomorrow. Substantial amounts of rain forecast for Bavaria for Thursday. Temperatures very warm again today, set to rise to 25 and 27 in towns, the Rhine and West of Germany are likely to be even a bit warmer than the Danube valley. notamermaid

On balance I would go with "aquarium class" although swans sounds more graceful. Sounds as if for many people seeing the full birds is not possible as the windows are too high. For a proper aquarium feel you would need to have larger windows of course but safety makes it impossible. Not sure that I would want to be able to see what goes on in the murky waters of the Rhine, I mean it is not the clean "Sea Life Centre" experience. Talking of seeing into the water, you can watch the migrating fish (when they come, not guaranteed) in the fish pass centre at Koblenz on the Moselle: https://www.mosellum.de/en/index.html I have never been but it looks to be interesting, at least for a different perspective of the river. Update on Kaub gauge: 75cm. As I expected, a bit better than the forecast had suggested for today. New forecast for today: stable, the tiny wave passing through, lower figures for tomorrow, probably 70cm and a little below that. As a reaction to the rain forecast for tomorrow, the probability chart puts the figures above 78cm as the most likely scenario for Sunday with the outlook for Monday and Tuesday certainly being promising for a further rise, 90cm is a real possibility. But first, we need to see if the rain does come down in the right places and take it from there. notamermaid

No I am afraid I do not. To be precise I need to say that the Main Danube Canal is officially up to just after Kelheim, not Regensburg. I have always assumed that the locks further downstream, i.e on the Danube up to and including Straubing would keep the level sufficiently high near and in Regensburg. The really shallow stretch is only considered to be between Straubing and Vilshofen where the Danube flows freely. I may be mistaken with the locks. Or Viking has logistical reasons for doing this, you may certainly be right there. notamermaid

Thanks for that info. I remember now reading this in the 2018 drought. As the two cities are quite close to each other generally speaking for itineraries this should not be too much of a problem, but logistics may be a bit awkward. Hope everything went smoothly for you. Kaub gauge update: 70cm. Forecast ignores the little wave at Maxau yesterday, put shows stable figures between 71cm and 68 cm. Sounds as if at least the level will not fall further. I am not fully convinced about that modelling today. We will need to see how it develops. And also: I have not looked at details but rain with thunderstorms are forecast for Wednesday in Germany. That could be isolated showers or a bit more widespread rain but it again sounds like a short affair. Swapping a ship in the rain is a weird thought, isn't it? But unfortunately, this can happen if the rain comes when the water is very low. It could of course mean the ships two days later do not need to swap anymore. Have a great cruise. notamermaid

Ah, yes. That is the town called Bogen and near it is the Pfelling gauge station (orange marker, as Pfelling is officially low). Thank you for the info and have a good transition to the Rolf. Update on Pfelling gauge: stable at the low level of 256cm. 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