notamermaid

The Destiny is currently on the Main river I see online. More ships will likely not be in the right place yet. Glad it is working out for you. Have a great cruise. notamermaid

That as I have indicated above also depends on your specific ship. The easier measure in flooding is what the authorities determine to be too high for sailing for safety reasons. That includes avoiding damage to the embankments from the wash of the waves, i.e, the movement of river traffic causing this. This applies to all ships but is specific to a certain gauge and its section of river. This is a figure called HSW (höchster Schifffahrtswasserstand) for Germany and Austria, for example for Pfelling this is 620cm. This is its respective webpage: https://www.hnd.bayern.de/pegel/donau_bis_passau/pfelling-10078000/marken? The level now is 450cm. However, this is what the paper says, the authorities can in certain situations deviate from that. Skippers on the river are informed through notifications and radio. With the two bridges in flooding it is not possible to say if a figure is okay. Figures can indicate it but I can never know. The indicator for Passau gauge is 630cm, but it appears to be a "careful" figure. From what we have learnt over the years and recently is that most ships can go under the bridge at 640cm and some above. Your captain will know perfectly what is possible. Low water is again not easy to assess. There is no river traffic ban in Germany in low water. The most reliable marker is 290cm at Pfelling gauge. The authorities have given that as the figure that causes potentially problems for the river cruise ships with the deepest draft. Again this will depend then on your ship, its net weight, its weight when full and what "room to wiggle" your captain has with reducing the load (yes, this could mean having all the passengers off board, but mostly partly emptying water tanks). Also upstream and downstream directions have a small good or bad effect. So much for now. notamermaid

Thank you for saying hello and your kind words. I think you may be right there. 😊 It is fun to inform and advise and learn myself at the same time. But I also enjoy my real job. Have a great cruise traversing Europe. notamermaid

Monday I was asked about conditions on the river, as regards sailing on 1st July. With being two days closer to the date, let us have a look. The hot weather is already causing thunderstorms in the Vosges mountains and the Black Forest. With rain falling also East of Lake Constance, that is staying above 500cm. With no rain having fallen in the Upper Rhine valley, Maxau gauge is having a real dip, down to 660cm. It will not leave flood vigilance and is likely to go up again during the evening. The modelling for the next three days puts the Upper Rhine valley on high but manageable levels, with the thunderstorms having an impact that will be considerable but not substantial enough to cause problems. Note that the river is officially high on the High Rhine so there may be minor adjustments in the Basel area that I cannot know about. notamermaid

We have not talked about beer in a while. Not too much has happened but sadly one brewery has gone. We discussed Koblenz. The Königsbacher/Koblenzer brewery went bankrupt and has closed down. notamermaid

We should have a look at the French river and the Grand Canal d'Alsace. This is what the flood vigilance is showing tonight: The green line furthest to the right is the Rhine river. See that one section is on yellow still. A couple of days ago the whole green Rhine was on yellow, too. So that is better now. Running North almost parallel to the Rhine is the river Ill (capital I, two small ll). At the top in the screenshot it reaches Strasbourg before joining the Rhine a little bit downstream. The city is actually not on the modern-day Rhine, that is, the old town is not and no river cruise ships dock in town. Both rivers have been heavily engineered so both the Ill after it has left the picturesque old town and the Rhine with its harbour at Kehl on the German side, where a lot of river cruise ships dock. Strasbourg administration has of course harbours out of town and river cruise ships can dock in these (industrial/commercial) places. You can see it here on marinetraffic.com: The blue dots are either river cruise ships or excursion boats. The Ill is only navigable in a very small section for motorized vessels (excursion boats and those using the canals coming off the Rhine). Otherwise it can only be used by canoes, etc. notamermaid

Welcome to Cruisecritic. I will start with this question: Not too bad. The bad flooding has basically gone, i.e. it is close to the Black Sea or has drained into it already. For now, not too much water is coming from Germany. The river has still been a bit high but from what I have gathered is now closer to the long term mean. All in all looking pleasant, with a nice buffer for dry, hot days in July. There are several charts. Each country issues its own charts but for navigation also lists other countries' charts. It can get a lot to look at and a bit confusing, but I will happily provide them tomorrow. There is one website that lists them all. You do not say which direction you are going in, but no problem. Listing in a downstream direction from Kelheim (beginning of the navigable Danube) you have a few problem spots: near Straubing - low bridge in high water (depends on superstructure of your ship) at Pfelling - shallow in low water (depends on draft of your ship) at Passau - low bridge (depends on superstructure of your ship) at Danube bend just before Budapest - shallow (depends on draft of your ship) downstream from Budapest at a few stretches of the free-flowing river - shallows in low water that I have no details of (depends on draft of your ship) As we go along during the year I will more or less regularly keep posting levels. As I have done so in the past it may be helpful (or confusing) to go back in the thread a little. Apart from what the authorities stipulate as being too high for sailing (we are not close to these levels at all now) it is not easy to determine at times what is good for your ship or not. For some more info and to perhaps find people on your itinerary (same date or not), you could join a roll call or create one. Access via this link: https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/546-all-other-river-cruise-roll-calls/ Have a great cruise. notamermaid

Good luck with the tickets. Have a great cruise. notamermaid

Thank you. I just do not want anyone to just wonder "who is that woman spending hours posting weird figures and graphs?" So, I am glad you asked. Happy to give some background to my posts. I never knew how my river or any other waterway "worked" before I went on my river cruise, did not give it much thought. As some others do on their first river cruise, I got hooked as well and cannot get the topic out of my head. To the river. Things are looking up on the German Danube. There are a few weather warnings in the Alps but overall the levels are down even further and Passau gauge has fallen to 610cm. notamermaid

Better than what it looked to be yesterday! The computer modelling has improved. The Middle Rhine valley has been fine for some time now and will continue to be so. My guess for the rest of your route is that things will be generally good. You are avoiding any difficult areas on the Danube by leaving from Nuremberg. The bigger problem on your route would be the low bridges, but I do not think the Main is high enough for any worry. The only area of concern on the Rhine is really upstream from Maxau. The conditions appear to have improved on the French section already so that is good for the next stretch across the border in Germany. notamermaid

She was certainly an amazing woman. When one digs a bit deeper into Medieval history one finds a - perhaps surprising - number of very influential women. But even among those she sticks out I find with her wide interest in so many areas of life. Here is a quick tip for travellers. If you have been to Rüdesheim before or even if you do not want to try out the wine-happy-old-world Germany in the streets of the small town on your first cruise, take the ferry and cross over to Bingen. You can take a photo of your ship if it is docked conveniently against the "skyline" (usually not Viking). And check out the museum there. notamermaid

We passed a sign to the village while in the area. I think it was on the way to the Flodden battlefield site which we enjoyed learning about. Thank you very much for your praise. You are making me blush. In that case it is good that you asked, I do not want to give the impression I am something that I am not. Forgot to say this yesterday, sorry: Have a great cruise. 🙂 notamermaid

You have beaten me to it [no pun intended]! I was next going to explain who Hildegard von Bingen was. For those with a bit of spare time in Rüdesheim: in the hills not far from the town is the modern convent of Eibingen Abbey in the tradition of Hildegard of Bingen. Her name by the way refers to Bingen on the other side of the Rhine from Rüdesheim: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eibingen_Abbey notamermaid

Parts of Switzerland were really hit hard by the downpours on Friday. For river cruise passengers with an extension in the country it may be of interest that the A13 motorway has sustained considerable damage and is closed to traffic in one section. Maxau gauge is confirmed on the down trend but the forecast still stands that it will not leave flood vigilance level any time soon. The figures will most likely be between 655cm and 705cm till the 30th of June (now at 706cm). Not unrelated, but a slightly different topic. The fast current and the recent flooding has caused or moved shallows in the navigation channel again. I am sure some work will need to be done this year in the Upper Rhine valley. Today a boat is showing this track on marinetraffic.com: This is not some weird party boat or a training exercise. The Hildegard von Bingen is a sonar boat checking the depth of the river in the navigation channel. She has been rather busy in the Lower Middle Rhine valley today. I reckon the authorities expect there has been movement of sand and gravel recently and sent the boat to check. It may be related to the harbour entrance there. Sections were ships regularly turn like Cologne Deutz harbour are prone to additional movement of material due to the action of the ship propellers on top of natural variations in currents. marinetraffic.com has some good photos of the boat. notamermaid

Checked - Lanercost Priory is still in Cumbria. I stayed in the countryside of Northumberland in 2019 and had an amazing trip to Bamburgh Castle, which is among my favourite castles (and I have seen a few ). A bit about me. I live on the river Rhine, not far from its shores. My part-time job is in the tourism sector but has nothing to do with river cruising. I have travelled around Europe all my life but not so much in the last ten years. I had been interested in river cruising for some time but it was only in 2013 that I had the opportunity to try it out. See my signature for water related travels. Sometime in autumn of that year I found Cruisecritic more or less by chance and that is how it started. After some posts the topic came to weather and water levels and then I think people started asking me questions and I added some extra info on that in other posts, too. That turned into a thread for the Rhine in 2015 I think and then in later years for the Danube and Elbe. I am a complete laywoman and not a tech person but the internet is so full of great knowledge that I have been able to learn tons along the way in both German and English. That’s it really. I am a researcher at heart and together with the amazing feedback (and people happily prompting me to find out more with their questions) that passengers have provided coupled with some great advice from those with more technical knowledge, including an acquainted hydrologist, that has encouraged me to keep doing this here on Cruisecritic. notamermaid

Well a big HELLO to Northumberland! 😊 Love the countryside - Hadrian's Wall and all that. Big cathedrals all over Europe and Carlisle Cathedral I have visited but Lanercost Priory is one of my favourite not-so-big churches. Or is that one just across the boundary in Cumbria? Forgotten. Not nosey - will give a few details later. A bit busy today with work and household. Straubing at 397cm, so going down. notamermaid

Just that little bit too early to say what the conditions on the river will be like on 1st July. What we can see so far is that Lake Constance is at 505cm and does not look to be rising any more, if it does it will be little. This means that hardly any higher volume of water is indicated to reach the Rhine than is getting there now from the Lake and Switzerland. This is reflected in the graph at Maxau gauge showing a downward trend. It is at 712cm and looks to have peaked. So we will see the river at a continued high level during this week and as of now it looks as if Maxau gauge will not leave flood vigilance level. We will have a clearer picture of the coming weekend by Wednesday. The Moselle river is fine. notamermaid

Straubing gauge is at 410cm. Passau gauge is back down to 618cm. notamermaid

It is doing already but the volume of water needs a day or two to get to the Rhine and then a bit more time to get where river cruise ships sail. I am not sure about the time frame in detail. So after that rain which has come through the Canal already (the section of navigable river that is in France) and is causing this peak at Maxau gauge (near Karlsruhe in Germany) we will see how this current volume of water in the High Rhine between Konstanz and Basel changes the level in Germany over the next three days. The French authorities have put "their" river on flood warning yellow (that is mild). It does have a small impact on navigation but such details only those directly sailing on the river can tell you. Basel is on navigational flood mark I. For Maxau I can tell you that it is on navigational flood mark I so extra vigilance for sailing is warranted. While there is much water coming from Switzerland, overall on the map this does not look too dramatic: We will see how it goes during the week. As not much volume of water is coming from the right tributaries of the Rhine in Germany, I see no problems at all for the river downstream of Worms (and little risk at Worms at that). notamermaid

The Danube is rising quite a bit in its upper section where no river cruise ships can sail. That is not a major problem but it is noteworthy as that water may still have a small impact past Kelheim. The river still being relatively high it may be the difference between sailing under a bridge or not. So, to Straubing gauge: 371cm. Passau gauge is at 642cm. Thankfully it has not got higher than yesterday after that dip. notamermaid

With the level of Lake Constance having crossed the mark of 500cm again, the closure of the passage under the bridge at Konstanz is back. The weather is warm to hot and calmer now so a respite from the rain is here. In reaction to the hot temperatures we will see thunderstorms during next week. How that will make the river look we will need to wait and see. There is too much uncertainty in the quantity and locations of the rain that I would want to take the graphs too seriously at the moment. For now, let us have a look at Maxau gauge tonight. The reading is 705cm. It will further rise and we should see the peak early tomorrow at around 720cm. The level will fall but stay high overall - the Lake and Switzerland are supplying a high volume of water - and then we need to see what the clouds will do. notamermaid

I have been able to verify that this photo was fed into the the wrong report, the photo refers to an accident in a previous year. So to the accident at Bad Abbach. This was a major deal and while it does thankfully not involve a river cruise ship with passengers on board it has hit a river cruise ship. Remember the photo in this article: https://www.cruisecritic.co.uk/news/rhine-and-danube-river-cruises-impacted-high-water-levels?stay=1&posfrom=1 It is the MS Insomnia with NB 212. After the delay due to the flooding the hull was moved to Schwabelweis (Regensburg) on 14 June. Well... yesterday the journey of the river-cruise-ship-to-be continued. It was pushed by the "Otto" with destination Hardinxveld in the Netherlands and left the lock at Bad Abbach when disaster struck. Here is the Otto: Apparently the technical fault caused a major problem with navigation and the captain just managed to manoeuvre the transport so that it came to a halt at the soft bank in order not to cause further damage or danger. There was smoke in the engine room but no open fire. The local fire brigade has uploaded photos from the rescue operation and written a detailed report (in German): https://www.feuerwehr-bad-abbach.de/index.php/einsaetze/einsaetze-2024/einsatzbericht/2918 Anyone else think this ship is jinxed? notamermaid

Going to get hot here as well, high temperatures over much of Europe it seems. But basically just proper summer with us - 28 to 32 Celsius. A weird June on the rivers with odd ship accidents, kind of jinxed it feels, lock problems, new shallows, more WWII bombs. Still too much water in the Rhine and Danube basins. notamermaid

The recent rain has put the Inn river back on high levels with four gauges now showing flooding level I. This not good for Passau where three rivers merge. It is raining along the Southern tributaries tonight and the Danube itself is rising already. I am not sure how the following reading at the gauge relates to passage under the railway bridge at Bogen, but I will give you the figure and if you happen to be sailing there tonight you will know you which level has worked for you, so here is Straubing: 349cm at 22.15 local time. It will further rise tomorrow, 390cm are possible. Passau gauge has risen to 653cm. This is potentially a bit problematic at the bridge for some ships. After a dip tomorrow, the level will likely go up again and could get a bit higher than it is now. notamermaid

After heavy rainfall mountain regions of Switzerland have experienced landslides. The popular tourist village of Zermatt has been cut off. Parts of the country are on high alert. https://www.euronews.com/2024/06/22/switzerland-hit-by-floods-as-residents-and-tourists-on-high-alert This water will drain via the Aare river into the Rhine in the next 72 hours. Lake Constance is now on 500cm. Maxau gauge has now reached 670cm and is forecast to reach 700cm by tomorrow afternoon. 720cm are likely. It is raining in the whole Lower Alpine regions of Germany tonight, so there being the European watershed some of that water will go East rather than feed the Rhine and not only reach the Danube via the more direct Southern tributaries of the young Danube but also further in Germany via the Inn river directly at Passau. The Inn with it source is not far from the Alpine Rhine. notamermaid