notamermaid

A bit of other news from the valley. At Koblenz an unusual accident occurred. A work boat, one that is used at construction sites along the river, capsized. The crew were saved. And the smallest Viking ship has been busy again - I spotted her - sailing steel constructions along the river. It is the Viking Orvar, a tug boat that belongs to Viking. Staying in Koblenz, sad news is coming from the brewery. It is closing down tomorrow as no investment firm could be found to take the company over. If you happen to know Mr. Anhäuser or Mr. Bush, or otherwise a beer fan with lots of money to spare, hurry... Near Koblenz, farmers' protests continued with a meeting in Neuwied and a slow protest ride over the bridge there. It must have looked quite unusual from the barges and tankers passing under it. It looks as if the protests will continue so there is a chance (or risk, depending) that the few river cruise passengers will be affected in a minor way, like due to road blocks or demonstrations in towns. Especially as the French farmers have kind of joined in. Still, it looks well organized and not too chaotic. Even less impact we can expect from the river itself. The levels along the river are still going down, so from those base lines - partly around the long-term mean even - there is a lot of room for water. notamermaid

Thank you for saying hello. I myself am not familiar with that stretch of the river. It is different from Germany and Austria and weather patterns can be different, too. Of course, extensive flooding in the two countries will lead to at least some extend to flooding downstream, i.e. in Slovakia, Hungary and further. The graph in post #4 is taken from this website: https://www.hydroinfo.hu/en/hidinfo/hidinfo_graf_duna.html You can look at this and see how the situation progresses throughout the year. And during the coming months I am sure river cruisers will post some info from their cruises beyond Budapest. Not all river cruisers post on these pages, you will find some others in the roll calls. You could join your respective roll call or a combined roll call thread for the area and/or company. Have a great cruise. notamermaid

During the flooding, early in the month, a headline caught my eye. The high levels of the Danube were receding in Germany but the flooding was extensive still in Hungary and further downstream. In Serbia cattle had got stranded on an island in the river. A rescue operation had to be organized. These are two articles on it: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-67933641 https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/farmers-serbia-scramble-rescue-animals-river-island-2024-01-10/ notamermaid

It has been a busy weekend for me and while tourism is very off season, the travel shows are coming up and we have Carnival soon. That will be a busy and exciting - mad - time in the Rhineland. This coming weekend I hope to be at the tourism fair in Koblenz. I do not need to go as part of my job, I will be a private individual, but one can never quite get rid of the tourism employee mindset while walking around the stalls. The German agency of CroisiEurope will be there again and I expect to pick up a few brochures for the excursion boats along the Rhine. notamermaid

There has been high water on the German Danube but with so few ships sailing I have not reported on that. We will see it in the graph for January when we do a recap for the month. The weather is frosty, mostly during the night. It will gradually get warmer in Bavaria during the week. There will be little to no snowfall or rain. notamermaid

I find the article very informative and well written. One of the draws of cruising in winter really is the fact that you have some places "by yourself" with fewer tourists and hardly any to no river cruise tourists apart from your fellow travellers. I agree with the author there. Today the Viva One is in Linz, which is between Koblenz and Bonn. That is one of the few ships sailing and the itineraries vary so they are unlikely to be with you in port, i.e. German ships do go to additional ports that international cruise lines do not have as favourites. On a winter rive cruise you need to be prepared for the weather and flooding more than during other seasons. If one is fine with that it can be great. I am sure you will have a great time. A brief note on water levels. They are at a normal winter high but going down. It is not clear yet how February will progress but for the coming week we will have little precipitation and the levels will go down further. That will be a good baseline for when the levels do rise - inevitably - at some point in February or latest March. notamermaid

The mobility part is really good but I am impressed with the detailed info on the low bridges. That is even better than I know it from CroisiEurope. Some companies make this info easy to find others not so much... Well done, Riviera. The itinerary: I find it very appealing and I love the design of the "poet" ships by Scylla (sailing for Riviera Travel and others). All towns along the route are interesting and the Medieval theme really works there. I have seen them on land trips. Enjoy. notamermaid

So what is it like, river cruising in winter? Cruisecritic went on the early January cruise with Viking on the Rhine: https://www.cruisecritic.co.uk/articles/a-viking-rhine-river-cruise-in-winter?stay=1&posfrom=1 notamermaid

Update to part #14 Nierstein This is an unusual update and a topic I have not mentioned here before. Alternative ports due to rerouting itineraries or changing itineraries during low water or flooding. One such port that became temporarily more used due to the flooding at the end of 2023 is Nierstein. Advent 2023 along the rivers Rhine and Danube was marked by flooding, companies had to activate plans B and C to keep the itineraries running. With some landing stages partially submerged docks became inaccessible and minor ports gained attraction for logistical reasons. We have the mention of Nierstein here, post #105: https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2968897-christmas-markets-river-cruises-2023-infos-and-tips/page/5/#comments And on the same page, CC's own Adam Coulter experienced the alternative port of Andernach due to flooding. That one is part 8 of this series. As regards regular dockings, Nierstein is seeing almost the same itineraries as in past years. And Arosa is again coming just for one gourmet river cruise. notamermaid

The storms have passed, the river levels are okay in Germany so before I get to the dolphins (and the nerdy language stuff) here is a vlog in English by a guy who does both German and English youtube videos - really convenient. He travelled on the paddlewheeler Goethe through the Rhine Gorge. Nice to see some footage from inside the ship, too: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cvi--QMOENQ And he talks about the river cruise ships he saw along the way! notamermaid

Ah, right. Odd one. She signals as Riverside Mozart but is still listed as Crystal Mozart in the pop-up details: notamermaid

Here is the calendar - and some additional info - of which ships enter service when: https://travelweekly.co.uk/destinations/new-cruise-ships-2024 Some more info here: https://www.travelweekly.com/River-Cruising/Insights/New-river-cruises-ships-2024 The ship missing in the lists as it only sails for the German-speaking market is the MS Amina of Phoenix Reisen. notamermaid

We have had strong winds in the Rhine valley over night, part of the weather that is battling the British Isles and causing problems in the Netherlands. All in all, we are not affected by storms that much in the valley but we can get hurricane-force winds occasionally. For this afternoon and evening, storm warnings are now in place for much of Germany and most of Rhineland-Palatinate is on level 2 (of 4). Strongest storms will hit the Swabian Alps and parts of the Black Forest (level 3). Not a good day for an excursion into the forests. Level 4 is hardly reached, I think I only saw it once briefly last year (not in my area). This is the map I usually consult: https://www.dwd.de/EN/weather/warnings/warnings_node.html River cruise ships are designed to a safety standard that also includes enduring strong winds (I do not know details) and are normally fine. Problems can arise though and those mainly concern currents coupled with wind directions when going under bridges. A heavy storm with a sudden gust of wind hitting sideways can push a river cruise ship. Something we all know from steering a vehicle in a storm. notamermaid

We will see a couple more new ships on the Danube this year - it is a bit confusing as many ships of course sail both the Rhine and the Danube. So in addition to two more specific ships for the Danube a couple more names will likely appear over the course of the year coming over from the Rhine on an itinerary. Three re-namings I have noticed in articles. Which one are you referring to? notamermaid

The level of the Danube is slowly creeping up. But we should not see flooding. Bavaria has the grand divide of the watersheds so Northern parts of the state drain to the North(west), the Main carries the water to the Rhine. So right now we see more volume of water going in that direction rather than to the Danube basin. Passau gauge is at 516cm and unlikely to go over 600cm. Very few river cruise ships on the river of course. Which brings me to the question: where are the river cruise ships? In winter harbours and usually out of the current of the river. A portion of the fleet goes to harbours on the Rhine but the Danube has several docks where the ships stay over winter. If you are interested, do some ship spotting, look for the clusters of blue dots on the map, this is Linz: https://www.marinetraffic.com/en/ais/home/centerx:14.272/centery:48.334/zoom:12 notamermaid

The Katharina von Bora sails to the Oder and Stralsund and the reverse itinerary but not upstream on the Oder to Frankfurt or even further. Another German company does that. Plantours is opening its river cruising season with a sailing on the Oder right up to Wroclaw. The itinerary is only in German but you can see what is doable on a small ship, the MS Sanssouci: https://www.plantours-kreuzfahrten.de/reise/kulturschaetze-am-oderufer-san0124-san0224/ notamermaid

Just for comparison. You can get to Nuremberg from Regensburg by train for less that 30 euros per person, so return for two is less than 120 euros. A taxi one way from Regensburg to Nürnberg is about 240 euros. You can also book what is called a Großraumtaxi, meaning an eight-seater together with other people. Several options but I agree about not booking private guides in advance. Lunch is apparently included in your excursion but I still cannot see what justifies the 300 dollars when travelling in a large group. notamermaid

The rain and rising levels do not cause us much concern around here in Germany but the Netherlands are not as relaxed as we are. This article explains the situation, not dire, but not so pleasant: https://nltimes.nl/2024/01/16/another-high-water-wave-expected-major-dutch-rivers-later-month The Maas is part of the problem. Fortunately at least, the rivers joining the Rhine North of Cologne from the East have got rid most of their flooding, so the impact from them (and others entering the Netherlands further North beyond the Rhine) is reduced. It is early in the year but excitement is growing with me about the new ships - I see headlines and articles - coming to the Rhine and its tributaries this year. We will come back to that. We really need to talk about Carnival ("really? - yes!") 😁🥳🤡. But first we should have some fun with dolphins... notamermaid

Thank you for saying hello and good to read that you found last year's thread helpful. I hope your first river cruise is all you wish for and you have a great time. notamermaid

Hello again to you. Thank you for your wishes. Good to see you come to this thread but even better to read that you are coming back to the Danube. 🙂 Great that you enjoyed last year's travels so much and are returning. notamermaid

The snow is disappearing fast and the water levels are rising. So Maxau gauge will return to official flooding level but this is as of now not a big deal, just vigilance. Kaub gauge forecast has changed for the better and it now says that the Rhine Gorge may stay below navigational flood mark I. It is raining and it is one of those grey, boring days that just cannot lift your spirits. notamermaid

It is 2024 and time to have another look at the Oder. I see the itinerary of Noble Caledonia coming up again through the link posted above. It says both sailings are sold out! These are the sailings of the Katharina von Bora on the Nicko Cruises website: https://www.nicko-cruises.de/en/reise/osp-bor?journeyId=648add36d9ab746e720e8cf0&startDate=2024-09-14 https://www.nicko-cruises.de/en/reise/oss-bor?journeyId=648ad693981f4f52f200d69f&startDate=2024-09-07 notamermaid

We have seen a first small wave going through Trier that put the level briefly over 550cm. After this short drop over the weekend we will see the level rise again. This time it should stay below 550cm most likely. This level is high but not flooding. All good. I mentioned the Saar and beautiful Saarburg in my last post. Several companies go up the Saar - or down it. They are Plantours, CroisiEurope, Amadeus Flusskreuzfahrten, Phoenix Reisen, DCS and Viva Cruises. The last of these you can of course book internationally. This year the UK company SAGA is offering an unusual sailing - the Moselle without Koblenz or Cochem! This one focuses on the Moselle around Trier and the Saar river: https://travel.saga.co.uk/cruises/river/where-we-go/rhine-river-cruises/hidden-gems-of-the-saar.aspx?availability=2&boardbasis=AI Or you can choose a bike and boat tour on the MV Olympia. notamermaid

It sounds a lot of money and from what I have seen over the years Viking excursions tend to have high price that I am not sure that I could justify paying. Have never been on one but I could go a lot of places for 300 dollars with just four people sharing a car than being on a full coach... But if I had to choose I would go for Nuremberg. Having been to Munich I am not sure what you could see in "highlights of". Sounds like a drive-by or drive-through that is going to leave you hungry, so to speak. Munich needs more time. Have a great cruise. notamermaid

Linz is another large harbour on the Danube. I had expected to see a few ships on the Lower Main. But I can spot no large river cruise ships at Frankfurt Osthafen, Offenbach or Hanau. notamermaid