notamermaid

Good question. I have no direct answer but the Tagus is apparently not an easy river to make navigable. At least not in Spain. Geography. Historically and logistically speaking, river cruising follows commercial shipping, i.e. only a river that has been used and made relatively safe and efficiently to use by transport is then used for transport of humans and then used for transport of humans for leisure. If the Spanish did not consider it commercially viable or necessary for transport they just did not do it. In Portugal it is a little different and there appear to be short leisure boat trips in the Lisbon area. Again, leisure follows commercial transport. I am not convinced that in Portugal it would make sense to introduce river cruising now but perhaps a company is still looking into it. Unless the authorities categorically prohibit large ships anyway. On the Danube beyond Kelheim for example you can use motorboats, the river is navigable for some length and suitable for that, but the authorities do not allow it. In Portugal by the way the river only has a length of 145km. CroisiEurope for example introduced river cruising to the Loire, a notoriously shallow river not suitable for large transport that had never seen a river cruise ship ever before the Loire Princess was put on the water in 2015. Some rivers just do not work and that particular river cruise ship was specifically built for that river, it looks different from any other ship. Canal archive mentions dams, so those, if not built with a lock, block a river for traffic of course. I suspect there may be something with the authorities as the river is not registered officially as a waterway. Here is a page where you can download maps. You can see that the Tagus is not marked: https://unece.org/where-navigate-network-inland-waterways-europe-and-its-parameters notamermaid

A look at marinetraffic.com reveals river cruise ships sailing the Meuse. At midnight local time 11 April these are the Avalon Tranquility II coming back from Namur, the Viking Kvasir sailing towards Maastricht and the SE Manon on the return leg to Düsseldorf. This Dutch flag ship sails for SE Tours, a German company. And there is the Switzerland docked in Mook. The German "Reise Riese Prestige" is currently in the Maas-Waal Canal headed for Maastricht. So there is more than the occasional bit of river cruise traffic on the Meuse. Very few ships go as far upstream as Namur though. Itineraries often also do not stay on the Meuse for long if the next port is Antwerp. Then river cruise ships go through the Albert Canal from Liége. Another ship will also be on the Meuse in summer. Saga returns to the river to see the highly popular concerts of André Rieu in Maastricht. The ship leased by the company from Lüftner Cruises, the Amadeus Elegant, will take passengers along the Meuse to and from the concerts on three dates. This is the long Dutch and Belgian waterways itinerary: https://travel.saga.co.uk/cruises/river/where-we-go/dutch-and-belgian-river-cruises/the-andre-rieu-hometown-experience.aspx?availability=2&boardbasis=AI notamermaid

Forecast for river levels still looks good for at least a week so let us have a look at a ship. We talked about the ship more than a year ago when the proud company announced it and now it is ready to sail. The big difference with the MS Gentleman is that she has not been built by the Vahali shipyards and she does not belong to a "normal" river cruise company or fit into an existing fleet of an owner or lease company like Scylla in Switzerland. The company is actually an operator of commercial transport ships. This is their first venture into river cruising (setting up a separate company for that). In spring and summer the MS Gentleman will sail for 1A Vista Reisen. It appears from the website of that river cruise operator that she will sail after the christening which will be in May. It is not clear when exactly and where it will take place. Heusden on the Meuse is the home of Teamco shipyards that last year built a river cruise ship for Amadeus Flusskreuzfahrten, the Riva. The company delivers about one river cruise ship per year, but appears to have been busier with river cruise ships in the past. Another charter this summer is done by Thurgau Travel in Switzerland. That river cruise operator offers the "Southern runs", i.e. starting and/or ending in Basel. I am looking forward to seeing this ship on "my" river. I kind of think it does look a bit "male" in the interior design. Will be doing even more ship spotting to try and see this brain child of Arjan Van Loon and his children in May/June. notamermaid

Yup, I have no clue why they did this. Which reminds me, fun fact for those travelling on the long journey on the Danube, Canal, Main and Rhine. The Danube is now 134km shorter than in the 19th century (man-made alterations) and the Rhine has a miscalculated short kilometre: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Datei:Kurzer_Kilometer.jpg The plus sign before the number 530 denotes the 500m mark. notamermaid

The past week was the high time for the pink cherry blossoms in Bonn (and elsewhere). Saturday was a beautiful day and apparently Bonn Altstadt was packed. There was a flea market and everyone wanted to see the blossoms. You can see the flowers in other parks and streets along the Rhine of course as well, just a few more days. The proper white cherry blossoms of the fruit trees also look pretty. Now it is the apple orchards that follow with their bloom. Koblenz will have a spring market weekend from 12 to 14 April. There are many other small festivals in the Rhine towns and villages. Perhaps you will stumble upon one when on your river cruise. Filsen in the Rhine Gorge is known for its cherry orchards and has a cherry tree trail but the village is not a stop for river cruise ships. It can be reached from Boppard by ferry. notamermaid

You spotted my mistake. Oops. Of course, my sentence should read: ...marked from the mouth upstream... Sorry. notamermaid

The Danube length is calculated and marked from the source upstream, so Kelheim in Germany is at kilometre 2414. That is the point where the river becomes navigable for large ships. In Kelheim ships turn into the Main Danube Canal. Upstream from the town only a few excursion boats are permitted to sail and not for many kilometres. The Danube has already flowed through Germany for almost 500 kilometres before it reaches Kelheim. Naturally, several historic towns line the river that river cruisers will never see - unless they opt for a land trip before embarking. But that is a topic for another post. I mention this because one such place bears in its name the old German word for river island "Werth" or "Werd". That is Donauwörth. Yes I know, it is spelled differently, which is typical for the South of Germany and Austria. Peculiar about Donauwörth is the fact that the Free Imperial City was called Schwäbischwerth in the Middle Ages. The Danube has many islands as you may expect but in Germany they are not as plentiful as on the Rhine in comparison. But Regensburg administrative district can claim four islands to be in its territory. They are Mariaorter Wörhd, Oberer Wöhrd and Unterer Wöhrd. While the first one is uninhabited, the two latter ones are home to quite a few people. And there is the fourth one, Stadtamhof, which is part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site. I must say the park on Oberer Wöhrd looks really attractive on photos. notamermaid

Same time posting. 😊 You are right of course. A higher level of crowded along the Rhine I would say, definitely in Rüdesheim. Enjoy Luxembourg, I like the relatively quiet river there and the city (the capital) itself is in a dramatic landscape setting at the Pétrusse and Alzette rivers. I guess you will dock in Remich or Grevenmacher, or is Luxembourg an excursion from Trier? notamermaid

Had not thought to post this before, perhaps this is a helpful for those bicycle excursions. There is a signed cycle route along the Moselle: https://en.visitmosel.de/cycling/mosel-cycle-path notamermaid

The sun is shining brightly on the river cruise ships today, a slightly cloudy, lovely day for sailing and a bit better weather for the passengers of the MS Amina on her first proper river cruise itinerary. The inaugural cruise with her christening was only three days and partly a rainy experience. Still, a fun time was surely had by the dignitaries and industry guests (and some folk the likes of you and me). Matthias Morr, a youtube travel blogger, covered the christening in a live stream and also took his followers along on a walk through Koblenz. Kind of weird to see my "shopping turf" from that perspective. Another river cruise ship is ready to be photographed in spring sunlight, the MS Gentleman. She is now signalling in Heusden in the Netherlands. She is a Dutch ship. More on that in another post. notamermaid PS: River water levels all good.

To the present day. We have mentioned lock maintenance on the Danube but at the same time the Main river locks are being seen to as well. Work starts on 10 April. notamermaid

Indeed. As we have noted earlier in the year, this includes some Danube locks in Germany as well. Maintenance there starts on 10 April. Some of the locks in Austria are being maintained this winter and spring but at all locks one chamber is always open. notamermaid

A good question. It would be interesting to hear about this from someone who has been on the Rhine and Moselle on the same cruise. I do not go to the Moselle that often but must say that I did find Bernkastel-Kues busy in August. Cochem I know will get busy in the summer, it is loved by the Dutch. What I can say is that the Moselle river is not as busy as the Rhine river. There are fewer river cruise ships as well. Expect crowds in Trier all the time but I would says it is not Cologne or Strasbourg... notamermaid

I used to buy and drink lower alcohol wines. In the last ten years I have seen more and more of the 14% reds around here. Why do they make them that strong? Yorkshire puddings, yes, work well. I know it should be beef but I really like them with lamb. No mint sauce for me, I pour the gravy over the puds. notamermaid

I went from Heathrow to central London before the shuttle train existed. What a journey. To get from home to my river cruise in Passau I could have travelled to Cologne and flown to Munich from there. Or Frankfurt to Munich. I did not see the point, train ride was convenient. Not without fretting about not getting the connecting train but still fine. I like that Riviera Travel offers river cruises from Cologne. One can fly into Düsseldorf or Cologne airport but I think Düsseldorf has the better international connections. Frankfurt airport is on the Main river but the connections to the Rhine area are so frequent that I would always consider this as an alternative airport to get to many parts of the Rhineland. notamermaid

The last few comments about water levels have made me a tiny bit worried so I have had a look at the weather. It is raining in Saxony, as forecast, but it looks dryer in the Czech Republic. Saxony weather: https://www.dwd.de/EN/weather/weather_climate_local/saxony/sac_node.html The levels look stable according to the forecast but overall the tendency to decrease is indicated by the Czech authorities. For now it does not look like much will happen in the next three days that could be a worry. Current level at Dresden is 135cm. So still good. notamermaid

I am sure you know tons of weather report sites and this one is for Germany only, but I like the design. Easy to figure out where Brussels is - basically just off the map to the West of Cologne. We get our weather from the West normally so what is in the Netherlands is at the Rhine twelve hours later. Basic rule. https://www.dwd.de/EN/weather/weather_climate_local/_node.html notamermaid

My goodness, that is quite a bit of snow. No way we will get this is in April still. We have had snow in April in the past but it is highly unusual. By the time you are in Europe there will be only a minute chance of that happening. Pack for wind, damp, rainy days, early morning chill on excursions if you feel the cold easily. Temperatures are in the double digits during the day and at the weekend Germany and Belgium will have a warm spell. This means sunny days of up to 20 Celsius and potentially above. No winter down jacket or snow boots needed! notamermaid

Did I say it is being quiet on the Rhine? In Cologne it was a busy day yesterday. While dredging the Rhine at Deutz (maintenance work to the navigation channel) a bomb was found. WWII legacy again. At Deutz embankment are many offices including the RTL television channel building, which had to evacuated. This disrupted the broadcasting yesterday. The bomb was put on to a pontoon and defused. All clear. Spot the river cruise company logo... https://www1.wdr.de/nachrichten/rheinland/bombe-fund-rhein-koeln-deutz-100.html The evacuation also explains why I saw a river cruise ship docked much further out on the right bank on marinetraffic.com yesterday. Further upstream there was unhappy excitement in Wiesbaden as well. In the city near the Rhine a bomb was defused yesterday, also. In other news - odd coincidence - the gentleman that saved Cardiff town hall in Wales from a bomb fire has turned 100 and his heroic deed was therefore in the news again. Unexploded ordinance is a legacy in Germany that will never leave us. notamermaid

So the Amina has been christened and is now on her maiden voyage sailing just behind her sister ship the Alisa past the Koblenz embankment. Amina will be in Rüdesheim tomorrow. notamermaid

That is quite a long journey to get to Cologne, but one I would love to do. Will you be travelling direct from Waverley to King's Cross? I love the sight of the Grand Central but I believe that does not have a direct connection, you need to change in Sunderland or thereabouts. Perhaps one day I will manage the Caledonian Sleeper. I once inquired with Riviera if they could calculate me a price for a non-fly, non-train river cruise as I would have joined in Cologne coming from within Germany. They were very accommodating but the plan then fell through. So they will pick you up at King's Cross to transfer you to St. Pancras? I would not want to carry luggage through London via the Underground or bus. Okay, could take a cab... I went from Ebbsfleet to Cologne some years ago and it was a great experience, made better by the fact that from Brussels to Cologne we took the Thalys rather than a German train. Train travel in Europe is so good and convenient, it is certainly an alternative to flying, especially distances under five hours, i.e. what a fast train can cover in five hours. You will not see this coming from Brussels, but the Hohernzollern Bridge crossing is amazing, I love it. That happens when you come into Cologne Main Station from Deutz. Fun fact: Cologne railway station was partly modelled on St. Pancras. notamermaid

Difficult one. Looking for the perfect time... Hmm, it is a long journey through Europe. But there is no great difference of the areas along the way, I mean you do not need to think of the Netherlands differently from Hungary (apart from specific feast days). Two bottlenecks need considering: 1. Kaub on the Rhine for low water. 2. Pfelling on the Danube for low water and Passau on the Danube for high water. Avoiding both high and low and crowds narrows it down a lot. Europe is always a busy place, apart from January and February to early March really. November before the Christmas markets start is a relative low. For water levels: Mid-May to end of June and November to early December. But as others have mentioned, you can be unlucky and hit a year with a more unusual level pattern, like last year in November for example. notamermaid

Let us stay with Rüdesheim and the webcam on the opposite bank at Bingen. We can use it to have a look at the bridge from Rüdesheim to Bingen-Kempten. Here it is - was: I have chosen this frame as the light is good for bringing out the stumps of the bridge. The two odd looking dots in the river are two of the pillars of the once mighty railway bridge. You could also cross it on foot. It was destroyed in 1945 and never rebuilt. The sister bridge at Urmitz was rebuilt in a different design and the more famous Remagen bridge was not. From the air it looks like this: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hindenburgbrücke#/media/Datei:Rhein_Hindenburgbrücke_Pfeiler_Rüdesheimer_Aue.jpg Destruction (effort) was in the end by the hands of German soldiers. Call it what you will, I call it madness, in any case it was a more or less futile effort to hold back the advancing American troops. I have mentioned before that engineers used the islands in the river often to put a bridge pillar on. This is a photo that shows the construction - a sad state: https://www.bingen.de/kultur/stadtarchiv/virtuelles-binger-archiv/archivdingstag/die-hindenburgbruecke-wurde-nur-30-jahre-alt The island is called the Rüdesheimer Aue. What is unusual is the word Aue in this case. But that is for another post when we talk about river islands. notamermaid

Let us have a look at Easter traditions on the Moselle, specifically Luxembourg. Many are the same or similar to Germany but a few are unique. Just to remind people: the country of Luxembourg straddles the Moselle, meaning the river is the border for some distance. 36km of the river are part of a condominium, meaning the two countries administer the Moselle together but other river borders are part of this arrangement, too. Luxembourg has its own language but is part of the dialect group Moselle Franconian. So we are close in that. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luxembourgish In English it is the Easter Bunny, in High German it is the Osterhase and in Luxembourgish the Ouschterhues: https://luxembourg.public.lu/en/society-and-culture/festivals-and-traditions/easter.html notamermaid

It is April and time to have a look at what the river did in March. Maxau gauge: The level went up briefly over the line for M_I which means that extra vigilance is necessary while sailing and with adjusted speed. Since then we have had too little rain to have an impact on the level and the graph has gone steadily down. This is putting Maxau nicely into the mean figures range. Kaub gauge: Likewise we saw the short rise but no crossing the M_I line. Kaub is now above the mean but not by much. We will most likely continue to see fairly steady levels with Kaub staying in the ideal range between 200cm and 300cm till 8 April and probably beyond. notamermaid