notamermaid

True, true, you never know what Autumn will bring. Bickering divorcés . Still, as regards covid panic/madness/case counting I fear more for my country than for yours. Like one stallholder near me said the other day when I talked to him about tourism and events: "... and in autumn they will close all the events down again, I reckon". Most reasonable people are done with covid restrictions but fear the government could reintroduce them on a whim. It would be so bad for day trippers and of course also for those that want to come on a care-free holiday. As regards lack of funds in villages: money that has sustained businesses in the last 26 months here no longer flows I believe and those that struggle to pay back or return to full turnover may loose that struggle. I reckon that happened (although I am not sure) to a shop I used to go to and a restaurant where I used to eat a nice salad and schnitzel. The restaurant closed and for weeks the answering machine said they would reopen on such and such a day. They did not and closed down for good. Strong tourism can work wonders to get money back into a local economy. For some places, though, that is not enough. They have a different mix of clientele. People round where I live never see tourism crowds like at Koblenz. I see at work myself that more Germans do not leave their country to go on holiday and explore just other regions, like friends going to the North Sea Coast or a couple I met at work travelling by train along the Rhine for a week. Many people have always stayed in the country but more folks still choose to do so this year although much of the world is again open to them. Canal archive, hope your trip to Scotland is everything you want it to be. notamermaid

Apart from the zoo at my living room windows (last night it looked as if two bees were trying to establish a base camp or something next to the spiders) I have another thing that is keeping my brain busy: holiday in England or not? UK government tells me this: "The coming weeks are likely to see an increase in traffic between the UK and France on trains, planes, ferries and the Channel Tunnel, which could lead to delays at certain times. Industrial action in France and resource constraints of travel operators could also cause further disruption. Before travelling, you should check for the latest information with your travel operator or airline, including their advice on how early you should arrive at the terminal or airport to check in." Thank you helpful government for telling me I could be joining the queue at Dover if I go. I am not travelling alone so feel responsible for the enjoyment of us all. It looks as if one person will drop out: "I am not willing to follow the French rules" is a valid reason certainly and we others are not too happy potentially having to take an expensive test as the French are not willing to accept the great NHS. "Pi**ing off the unvaccinated" is one thing, declaring you unvaccinated after nine months and one day another... Will all this work and if we are delayed at Dover by six hours or 20 hours on the Eurotunnel will we miss the boat literally and figuratively because the Dover customs officer says: "No, youre teste iz no longger valide."? Such are my woes. Financially this would be a big trip for us all and spending 100 to 200 pounds extra per person would not be fun. Should I just "pi** off the French" and not visit zeir grate country? It would take the money away from the lovely restaurant we often frequent in the Calais area and nobody in snooty Paris would notice. Oh well, I will turn to Idstein and my day trip and seriously consider exploring Germany. So many places I have never been to in my fabulous country. Hope all your travel plans go ahead and have a good week. notamermaid

I am obviously not in the region but have just come across an alert from the British government. They have a link to the French regional authorities. Looks bad in the Gironde region. Two villages were blocked off or at least access was restricted and there is a red alert. I think they do not want you to go into forests: https://www.gironde.gouv.fr/ Some images: https://www.lemonde.fr/en/les-decodeurs/article/2022/07/22/before-and-after-satellite-images-of-the-massive-fires-in-gironde-france_5991052_8.html One does wonder what the impact on river cruising may be. Hopefully a cruiser can supply some up-to-date info. notamermaid

Not sure why the article calls it a rumour that the Crystal Mozart has been sold. Several weeks ago we established here on CC with the help of spotting several articles (also in German language) that the Crystal Mozart is now the Mozart and is "owned" by a Hamburg company. Whether that means it actually has the ship in its possession or it kind of will operate it and the real owner in the background is a bank I do not know. But it is clear that there is someone looking after ship. Does the article mean a "proper" company that will operate the Mozart as an addition to its river cruise fleet? If so, I have not heard anything new. Neither have I read anything about the other river cruise ships. If people want to have an eye on the Mozart, perhaps the ship spotters will find out more in due course: https://www.binnenschifferforum.de/showthread.php?110800-Mozart-KFGS-04805980&p=439899#post439899 But I would guess that media attention is as much (or as little) internationally as it is in Germany. notamermaid

Sounds a good way of running a cruise. I believe Tauck has something similar? Well, the river decided otherwise. The level has dropped to 72cm. That throws out the forecast for today and I will not say what they predict for tomorrow. Long range we can say that the river will stay low and the situation continue to be problematic as around this range of figures we can neither say that ships are likely to sail or unlikely to sail. We have seen that even Viking captains are making decisions to sail through the Rhine Gorge while others do not do the passage. Weather: hot today, the Rhine valley in parts again over 30 Celsius. Rain in Switzerland tomorrow, not substantial.. Tuesday rain that should feed the High Rhine and Lake Constance. Good for sustaining a higher river level rather than one coming from a run-off wave from heavy rain along two tributaries for example. If it will have any impact, though, remains to be seen. Long range forecast at Maxau gauge suggests only an insignificant one. On a more positive note: we still see no indication of a further drop that would get the river to a situation (by the 4th of August that is) that is similar to the autumn of 2018. It will still see a lot of river cruise ships making it through the Rhine Gorge. And (this is personal) there is no horror/panic scenario of the river drying up or being impossible to sail. I do not like those headlines in newspapers and online click bait stories! Excursion boats are sailing and they will continue to do so (depending on size) and there are barges that are small and shallow constantly transporting goods. If they continue to write such stuff I will personally put on my wellies and take a video of the water. Hah, you will see how deep the river still is!! notamermaid

Pfelling gauge at 241cm. Forecast suggests a slight rise but not over 250cm. For those only just joining - it is so long ago now that the river was at a good level - we desperately need 280cm. Better would be 290cm. Large river cruise ships have problems with the passage from 290cm and lower, always depending on individual draft. Weather: rain coming in from the Alps tomorrow, not a lot. Tuesday could see substantial rain over West and Northwest Austria with some coming into Germany East of Lake Constance and also via the Lech river supplying water to the Danube. Little rain along the young Danube (West of Ulm). Substantial rain that may go into the Isar but, as mentioned before, only adds water to the Danube past Deggendorf. We have no long range hydrology forecast for the area. To me the outlook past Tuesday is unclear. Could the rain cause a rise at Pfelling that gets the level over 260cm? Will we see another drop before it happens, i.e. making it more unlikely? And what will August bring? The Lech river is important as it is the third longest tributary of the Danube in Germany, the two bigger ones being the Inn and the Isar, both of which have their mouth much further downstream. The Isar, as I said, near Deggendorf, the Inn you will know if you have been to Passau as it forms the amazing sight of the three rivers joining at the town, the others there being the Ilz and the Danube of course. https://tourism.passau.de/discover-passau/sights/dreifluesseeck-where-three-rivers-meet/ Passau has a nice webcam: https://www.feratel.com/webcams/deutschland/passau.html notamermaid

Yes, they have nice articles. I occasionally read this, informative stuff from the industry, but I mainly read the cruise articles and check the job offers. A pity I cannot read the article that features Phoenix. The magazine is not relevant enough for my line of work so we have no subscription at the office. I will ask the boss if there is money in the kitty... FVW is a German tourism magazine designed for those within the industry (and interested other parties): https://www.fvw.de/ They do have an international section, see top right of the page. notamermaid

Another ship! The Emerald Luna has been christened: https://travelweekly.co.uk/news/travel-agents/emerald-cruises-christens-ninth-river-ship Safe travels to her always. notamermaid

Exactly a scenario that could apply to the River Harmony or any other ship of that size or larger. Thank you for pointing this out. There are logistics to consider beyond the low water as it presents itself today and captain and cruise director (and additional personnel in administration) I am sure will be well aware of the long range forecast for the rive levels that I have mentioned and partly quoted from a couple of times. notamermaid

You may be on the Viking Egdir German registration which is locked in 2021 as the ship was handed over and re-flagged Swiss. She can be found with a CH registration and as that is signalling. Her status as per ship page: From the page: https://www.marinetraffic.com/en/ais/details/ships/shipid:6599609/mmsi:269057766/imo:0/vessel:VIKING_EGDIR For some unknown reason she is not registered on marinetraffic as a passenger vessel. So it appears you are right, they both went in their respective directions as planned and then double-backed. Yeaahh, sorry. I need to get some English graphics. As regards Pegel, that is the gauge that measures the river depth and as that is at the side of the river on a wall it is not the depth of the navigation channel and needs to be translated to be usable for navigation. So a Pegelstation with its gauge, which is much like ruler i.e. a visible thing on the wall, is a station and a Pegelhaus is a house or rather a building of sorts that these days normally contains an electronic measuring device in addition to the "ruler", if the standard ruler is in it. At Kaub the gauge with building looks like this: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pegel_Kaub notamermaid

That is a real pity and I am surprised that they are doing this as the River Harmony is a 110m ship. But of course a captain and company can make that decision even on a smaller ship that for us would seem fine to sail. I see that the River Harmony was in Bernkastel-Kues on the Moselle today. I guess that means they end the cruise at Koblenz? I wonder if those switching a ship or ending the cruise get to see the Rhine Gorge on an excursion boat. It has been done in the past and is a fun experience but you do not have the luxury of your own ship of course. Thanks for the info and I hope your friends can enjoy the places they will visit after the long coach ride. notamermaid

Kaub gauge relatively stable, now at 77cm. No real change forecast for tomorrow, Monday may see a slight drop. Thankfully, outlook into next week shows no major change for the worse. For now, avoiding scenes of 2018? I am hopeful. notamermaid

Pfelling gauge at 240cm, a slight rise since last night but nothing to write home about. There is one German online magazine that I quite like for the info on cruise travel. Not too expensive, I am considering subscribing. But generally, unfortunately, they are far above my budget. I can imagine Phoenix needing to re-route, for people's info: they only offer German language itineraries and have a mixed fleet of 135m and smaller ships. notamermaid

Data! Data! Data! she cried impatiently... ...and forgot to put the dishwasher on. Oops. I will be at work tomorrow so not sure when I can have a look at the water levels. Have a good evening. notamermaid

So I have tried and succeeded to track a ship. A bit complicated but it worked out. One could of course just what till the ship turns up again on the radar, I tried a different way to find it faster. Here is the start (vesselfinder), the Viking Hermod at Leutesdorf, signal lost 18 hours ago: The Viking Hermod shows up on the Koblenz port signalling list early this morning on marinetraffic. Now she is at Rüdesheim, where she only signals via satellite on marinetraffic, but she appears as docked in the Rüdesheim vessel list: Her data file page says right now: "Where is this vessel going to? The vessel is currently at port RUDESHEIM, DE after a voyage of 5 hours, 43 minutes originating from port BRAUBACH, DE." So she sailed at a reasonable speed in reasonable time through the Rhine Gorge and should appear with a terrestrial signal again close to Mainz. notamermaid

A bit of news from TUI. The 2023 winter itineraries: https://travelweekly.co.uk/news/travel-agents/tui-river-cruises-unveils-packages-for-2023 notamermaid

I have been talking quite a bit about the depth of the navigation channel but this year have not posted this in context yet, i.e. a graph or a table, I have cut out a section of the graphics, here it is: Down at the bottom, the thick black line shows you the kilometres of the Rhine as you sail downstream, together with important towns that mark the sections. From Iffezheim the river is free flowing (freier Abfluss). The blue shade shows you the depth of the navigation channel, not the river. See on the left that there is much more blue where the river is under influence of the lock. Then the depth reduces to 2.10m than to 1.90m from kilometre 508 to kilometre 557. Kaub lies in that section at kilometre 546.2. From 592 (figure not visible here), that is Koblenz, the depth is 2.50m. I will leave out the downstream sections. Now, important to note is that the reference point is the GlW (gleichwertiger Wasserstand). Now the problem in the Rhine Gorge becomes clearer: the GlW line at Kaub is 78cm. What have we at Kaub today? As I write, now at 17:30 hours, 78cm! Depth of navigation channel now? 1.90m! Very tight when you consider the draft of the ship and the clearance you need under the hull, etc. Too tight perhaps for one, close for another, fine for another. That's it from me with the basics, the more complicated stuff and mathematics is for the captains. The website with link to the full image: https://www.wsa-rhein.wsv.de/Webs/WSA/Rhein/DE/Wasserstrassen/Fahrrinne/Fahrrinne_node.html notamermaid

I hope the itinerary goes as planned from here, on the swapped ship, and you can enjoy a beautiful evening in Koblenz. notamermaid

No need to apologize. We obviously had the same thought. I mean, what is that incline?! Looks steeper than the road up to Marksburg castle . I hope we will hear from more river cruisers on the rivers now, would be good to know if the company can do justice to the original itinerary on the Rhine. The Rhine Gorge is not to be missed! notamermaid

Regensburg gauge has seen a nice rise but appears to have peaked now. Pfelling gauge has risen to 228cm and we will see the peak probably late in the evening. What that will be we cannot know but the authorities' website suggests 233cm. By tomorrow all the levels of the navigable Bavarian Danube will be on a downward trend again and I am afraid the forecast suggests 220cm at Pfelling. Which could be the new recorded lowest. But I have a suspicion that it may not stop there. notamermaid

Update: the level at Maxau peaked during the night, the peak is just going past Kaub which is at 81cm. During the afternoon we can expect the peak to have gone through Koblenz and the wave from the Moselle will go through its confluence to reach the Rhine soon. If it does not rain we will see levels going down a bit again probably, with only the Lower Rhine profiting from this wave still. We need more rain around Lake Constance, in the East of the Vosges mountains and in the Black Forest for the Rhine to sustain a level that is high enough for large river cruise ships. Prediction suggests 74cm on Monday morning. notamermaid

I just say one thing: "Alter!" A modern German expression of astonishment. The first photo for me is "yes, that is very low, hardly ever see this close up" but the second is just so amazingly unusual. It should be in all brochures and on websites to explain what low water is about (the first one works too for that). And - do no get me wrong - is the perfect eye-opener for those who think they can get onto a river cruise ship in a wheelchair and not be a burden for the crew. notamermaid

True. 225cm was the update to the day before when it was even lower. I wonder what they will log in as the new low at the end of the year. Could be 223, 224, 225 or 226. Still cannot believe the Elbe is doing much better this Summer in comparison, quite unusual. notamermaid

lore23 has posted in the Rhine thread about their upcoming ship swap on the Rhine. My goodness. I hope you are employing sarcasm. But seriously, I have heard of major problems, suitcases appear to be arriving all over the place or not at all. Had a friend over from US last week and their suitcase did not arrive at Düsseldorf where it was supposed to. Hope your holiday is as best as it possibly can be under the current circumstances. notamermaid

Now that you say it... I had not noticed before but it is also the Hild that sails the Basel to Trier itinerary, the Hlin is given as only deployed on the Rhine Getaway. I am a little confused. @loge23, sorry to read that. I hope they take you to Koblenz via the Rhine Gorge. I am a bit surprised about this long stretch Speyer to Koblenz. I would have thought they go to Mainz but I suppose playing it safe and having a boat ready at Koblenz is the way to go. If you have a spare minute please tell us what happens at Koblenz. It would be nice to know if an excursion boat takes you to see castles in the Rhine Gorge. Have a great time nevertheless. That looks better. Kaub has risen to 78cm. A further rise at Maxau may translate into a few extra centimetres at Kaub during the evening. Fingers crossed. notamermaid