notamermaid

To the river levels. I see in the forecast for the High Rhine and the Upper Rhine that a rise is expected. At Maxau we could see a relatively high level for May but no flooding on the 18th. This will have no strong effect further downstream although the levels in the Middle Rhine valley will of course rise in due course. The figures will be just above 300cm most likely at Kaub on 19/20 May. The current level is 232cm. notamermaid

The Moby Dick is an excursion boat of a Bonn company. The boat sails in the Bonn area but also upstream to Linz regularly with a few trips up to Koblenz. It was built in 1976 and named after the whale in the Rhine. Here is a short video of the boat sailing on the Rhine, with aerial footage: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QFHK0yncPb0 So why "Moby Dick"? In 1966, a beluga whale got lost and sailed up the Rhine. This is the story: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moby_Dick_(Rhine) notamermaid

I see they also have the Fleur in the portfolio. Have never heard of the Anna Antal, interesting one, not sure what is meant by "former shuttle barge". As for the two ships on the Seine that I have looked at, they are both sailing under Dutch flag, they are called the Fleur and the Zwaantje. Both also do trips in the Netherlands but come to the Seine for some time of the year. Hang on - sailing from the Netherlands to Paris?? Correct. Being the size they are they can do what large river cruise ships cannot do. A river cruise ship needs to sail from Amsterdam to the Rhine and then the Moselle to Luxembourg and then you take the coach to Paris. The small river cruise ships, i.e. barges, go the other way. We will explore that further, but first up is the route to Melun or even up to Sens on the Yonne. This is the waterway map: https://www.water-ways.net/de/laender/frankreich/riviere-seine-marcilly-paris.php notamermaid

Another lovely one! Thanks for the photo. It seem that the Colibri is err, let us say, two levels up from a bike and barge cruise, at least judging from these photos: https://www.bargecolibri.com/gallery.php notamermaid

The rivers and canals of France offer fantastic landscapes and you can crisscross the country on boats for years... The rivers - well there is the Seine of course which is so popular and large that we do not need to talk about it here. Or do we? And what about the Yonne, ever heard of that one? You will find out if you go to Paris and head in the "wrong" direction. It is perhaps not commonly known that ships of 110m and shorter are allowed to sail further than the Port de Grenelle. It must be an amazing sight sailing through Paris and out the other way (until you see the industrial area). But you never read of such itineraries in the standard brochures, not even in German or Dutch. Barges sail quite a way up the river beyond Paris to important ports for bulk, like grain for example. The challenge in Paris city centre are the bridges so restrictions apply and later on the narrowing locks eventually make the river impassable for large ships. So, do river cruise ships sail upstream from Paris? Yes and no. The trips I have found lately are all declared as bike and boat. That means the ships are small. Yet, they are river cruise ships in the broadest sense. One itinerary that I found gives the location for embarkation as Quai de Bercy. That is on the other side of Paris already, as compared to Quai de Grenelle: Another cruise ends "near Notre Dame" as they write it. Hmm, neither sail through Paris, meaning from around the Eiffel Tower upstream. A pity. I guess one could start in Honfleur and sail up the Seine to Paris, then change to an excursion boat, sail to the other side and board the next ship at Quai de Bercy to go to port x offered on the smaller ship. That would be the longest river journey on the Seine possible. Unless you then hop onto a self-drive motorboat. But let us ignore that last bit. Question is: would you want to leave your luxury river cruise ship and take the next journey in a far smaller cabin? We will have a look at the ships and the Yonne river in a next post. notamermaid

Of the popular rivers in Europe the Elbe is our "Sorgenkind" right now, the child we need to worry about. So let us have a look. Dresden gauge is down to 98cm and the next 48 hours do not indicate a noticeable improvement. notamermaid

I mentioned the shallow section from the Danube bend to Budapest. That is a slightly rough explanation as I do not know the exact kilometre from where the river may be regarded as too low typically. What we know is that the port that river cruise ships use as an alternative to Budapest and from where you will be taken by coach to the city is Komarom. Komarom is a town but also two towns in that it is divided by the Danube and in two countries with two different languages, hence the two versions of the name: Komárom and Komárno. Famous for the fortresses, the cooperation between Slovakia and Hungary has just seen the completion of another renovation project: https://hungarytoday.hu/fort-igmand-in-komarom-renovated-in-cooperation-with-slovakia/ Here is more information on one of the two: https://visitkomarno.eu/en/sightseeing/fort-igmand/ notamermaid

I thought I may put the high water and low water "trouble spots" into context of the European waterway that connects the North Sea and the Black Sea. For river cruising that is Amsterdam (for commercial traffic normally Rotterdam) to Tulcea or Constanca. I have taken the liberty of using an old map from Nicko Cruises for that. That was a 29 day itinerary that the company had offered. You can follow my explanation with this: From Amsterdam you go through the canal onto the Rhine. Between Koblenz and Rüdesheim is the Rhine Gorge and part of that section is the short stretch around Kaub that is the shallowest on the whole Rhine. When the river gets really low that whole section and further upstream up to Mainz gets too low for large river cruise ships. From just after Mainz you sail up the Main. There is no low water but the bridges are low which could stop your ship when the river is very high. But more likely the sun deck is closed on the Main due to the low bridges. It can happen all the way to Bamberg and will depend on the hull design of your ship and company (ship crew) policy. In the Main Danube Canal there are usually no issues but again there are a few low bridges. The next shallow section is between Straubing and Passau, but to be precise I need to say between just after Straubing and up to Vilshofen (not marked) before Passau. Right at Passau is the infamous low bridge, a problem in flooding. A shallow section that only becomes a problem after Pfelling already is, i.e. at an even lower river level, is from the "Donauknie" into Budapest. Sections of the Danube further downstream can become shallow where uncontrolled by dams and locks. But I cannot give details on those. Hope this is helpful. notamermaid

Oh dear, yes that was a bad month. Kaub gauge fell below 40cm which in effect means very few river cruise ships could sail. A rare occurrence. notamermaid

Exactly. The suspension bridge in Passau is this really annoying little bit that may be all that stands in one's way between having a perfect river cruise from Amsterdam to Budapest or an interrupted one. But all is good now and unless the Danube gets real downpours it will stay that way. notamermaid

The emphasis is on the almost. It is worth comparing the German lines to the international ones, for sure. Viva Cruises includes many alcoholic drinks but not excursions for example. The info is here: https://www.viva-*****/en/onboard-abc notamermaid

This is a high quality webcam, a snapshot, you can see the northern lights, high in the Alps: https://www.foto-webcam.eu/webcam/funtenseetauern/ This photo is from midnight. notamermaid

Oooh, yes, I count myself fortunate to be able to get to lovely places very fast. Actually, tonight we have had a lovely sunset that I have been able to enjoy. We are supposed to be even able to see Northern Lights due to the sun's strong activity but I did not get out in time to be able to direct my vision at North. I have been working today so have been a bit busy well into the evening. You say two to three hours, in that time I would be able to get to Luxembourg or France. It would be great to hear a different language again. Perhaps in a couple of weeks time. Getting to mountains within two to three hours or to the beaches is great. You can certainly call that getting away from everyday life. A lovely weekend trip... I think to the beaches is a bit further for me, close to four hours probably. Very manageable of course. I prefer the French Pas-de-Calais region, that is nearly five hours. Not many people want to go there but I enjoy it. notamermaid

You need to look at Passau Donau, for example here: https://www.hnd.bayern.de/pegel/meldestufen/donau_bis_passau zoom in and hover over the Passau area, the Danube gauge will then show up. The two relevant figures for river cruising are in here: At 630cm passage under the bridge can get tricky for some river cruise ships, it depends on the superstructure of the ship course. At 780cm river traffic is suspended in that section of the Danube. Welcome to Cruisecritic and have a great cruise. notamermaid

That is how recall it with the names, too. Two of the founders of Amawaterways are (were, if they are now US citizens) German. notamermaid

Hmm, I would say so very tentatively. It is just too far out to say it being only the 10th of May, but currently the weather is good yet not too hot and the river is "operating" in a good range. It is just giving me a good feeling. Your itinerary looks very good to not be impacted apart from the minor issue of docking before the low bridge at Passau. The problem on the German Danube is the limited operating range of Pfelling being too low and Passau being too high, the bridge that is. Long downpours can get the river up fast. On the other had, if the authorities decide to divert more water to the Main river system then the Danube will potentially suffer. This happens via the engineering on the Main Danube Canal. There is no long term forecast like we have on the Rhine so conditions will only become clear about three days out from embarkation day. But, all in all a Passau to Budapest (or vice versa) itinerary is a very safe bet. For those new to the topic: if your cruise (from Budapest sailing upstream) starts or ends in Vilshofen you will not be affected by mild low water conditions, but flooding applies to you. Your ship may not be able to pass under said bridge at Passau. notamermaid

It may not be an option for the OP's friend but Amadeus has some offers for solo cruisers: https://travelweekly.co.uk/news/tour-operators/amadeus-river-cruises-drops-solo-supplement-on-nine-summer-sailings notamermaid

Thank you for saying hello from your cruise. It is great in so many places, we are having splendid spring weather on the Rhine, too. For those keeping record: Dresden gauge is at 126cm. Have a splendid time in the East of my country. notamermaid

The recent rain has helped the rivers, not that it is much needed yet on the Rhine and Danube, but it is good to have some back-up now for June. Right now, the Elbe has benefitted the most. For Rhine and Danube it has made no real difference but it is good to see the figure at Pfelling gauge: 403cm. notamermaid

Good to hear from you again. That sounds exciting. An area of the world I will likely never see. I do not recall - did you choose a refund option, did that work out? I find that my mind is now just kind of moving on with daily life but a few things I vow not to forget and a few things still hurt from the past few years. While I am basically able to see the world physically, I mean health-wise, I somewhat have lost a bit of that feel for travelling. I still have not been outside of my country for more than a couple of days since 2019. Cannot pick up where I left off in December 2019. Still, I have fun with all the ships on the Rhine and people coming from far-flung places enjoying "my" river. And I have been to places in Germany that have been really interesting. notamermaid

Thank you for the tips. I was a bit surprised about that message I got. See it maximum once per year. In the end it worked nevertheless. I thought it may have something to do with licensing of public broadcasting but it seems not. notamermaid

Just a quick look at what the river is doing after that good amount of rain. Maxau gauge did a bit of a jump but as yet that has no consequence for sailing. Kaub gauge is rising to a level of most likely around 300cm, now at 273cm. That is all fine and a nice buffer for dry days. The stretch of Rhine known as the Rhine Gorge, that is the Upper Middle Rhine valley is considered the most scenic part of the river, but the Lower Middle Rhine valley has, as I have mentioned, also a fair bit of scenic hilly landscape and a few castles. One attraction directly on the river may pass you while sailing - this "whale": https://www.bonnschiff.de/en/unsere-flotte/moby-dick More on the excursion boat in another post. notamermaid

CroisiEurope have adapted their itineraries so that river cruises are not so reliant on the levels being good between Bad Schandau and Magdeburg. There do not seem to be any river cruises in that section in summer, at least not in the German catalogue. Which would be in line with what the crew have stated. The river has risen. Dresden gauge is now at 119cm. notamermaid

Good to read that you like it. And the link is now working - originally I had got a message that the embedding hadn't worked. I chuckled at the expression "gemogelte Jungfer", the Debussy had a maiden voyage as the Riverside Debussy which was a cheating one as her real maiden voyage was as the Crystal Debussy. But as Herr Schmidt says in the video with a smile "we are not looking too closely". When I first read the prices for river cruises on the Debussy and the other ships I nearly fell off my chair. They are so much higher than I expected and as the river cruise expert rightly says, it will be a challenge to establish the ships on the German market in this ultra luxury section of travel. "We" Germans are normally happy with less and are not that willing to depart with so much money when the same amount can get us to far distant lands as well. I see the future of the ships in bilingual trips with heavy marketing in North America. I am convinced some loyal Crystal cruisers will be back... notamermaid

This is an unusual report of two river cruise ships in a kind of comparison - and in German. One is the Riverside Debussy on her maiden voyage after the renaming and the other is the Junker Jörg, that is the ex-Theodor Fontane, sailing for a while as the Viking Fontane (never officially renamed as such), and then sold and given the current name. Some interesting details on the Riverside Debussy. She was built for nearly 50 million euros as opposed to the standard costs of 15 to 20 million euros for a typical river cruise ship. After the insolvency the new owner is Gregor Gerlach with his Riverside company (he owns hotels) and he says he got the ship "for a very good price". His second passion after being a hotel owner is boats. Here is the video, its theme is how different companies want to create interest in their river cruising product. The interior of the Debussy is, well, luxurious. That is certainly worth looking at should you not wish to watch a German language video. Unfortunately, the link is not allowed per youtube rules so please type the address manually if you are interested. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Ps9RKuN0BY The Junker Jörg has a very different "strategy". She is small-ish and has kind of said good-bye to the standard route that is now sailed by Viking and others. From the Elbe around Dresden the ship has transferred to the canals and rivers East and North and the northern Elbe river section. Oh, and she can sail on the Baltic Sea (close to the coasts). notamermaid