notamermaid

Maxau gauge river level is going down, while further North the levels are rising a lot. No change to prospect of the river ban being lifted on Sunday, same time frame as yesterday. Unfortunately, the authorities are now putting a river traffic ban at Bingen in the high probability range. Which would put Rüdesheim out of an itinerary. notamermaid

A very dear lady has just returned from the Lorraine region of France. She visited the Metz Christmas markets and says they are great. Nice shops in town, too. Would love to see the Cathedral lit up in winter. Cities of light Paris to Prague itinerary? I think there should be at least the option of going to the Cathedral of Light in Metz (my words), its nickname is "The Good Lord's Lantern" and I can truly say that it is fascinating in daylight, having been inside. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metz_Cathedral notamermaid

Strasbourg - that is an interesting city as regards its topography and river cruising. Have you noticed? Brochures show you the lovely old buildings and the excursion boats and the river. But you do not see river cruise ships sailing or docking in Strasbourg. That is because Strasbourg city district is on the Rhine but historic Strasbourg, that tourists are mostly interested in, is not. Strasbourg is on the Ill (see here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ill_(France)). Strasbourg has grown towards the Rhine and the alterations to the river and landscape are enormous. See Strasbourg on an old map: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Straßburg#/media/Datei:Plan_Strasbourg_1720_(cropped).png The Ill river has even got a new mouth, the Rhine itself was given a new, that means permanent, single river bed and straightened in the 19th century. So, large ships as we know them have never anchored in Strasbourg old town and today there is a massive harbour area. Many ships even dock in Kehl, in Germany opposite Strasbourg. A photo: https://www.strasbourg.port.fr/groupe-pas/nos-missions/ River cruise docking is here: https://www.strasbourg.port.fr/river-tourism/croisieres-sur-le-rhin/?lang=en notamermaid

Update on Maxau gauge. It has indeed peaked, 841cm early afternoon it was, now it is slowly going down. Current level is 835cm. No chance for river traffic tomorrow and unlikely for Saturday but Sunday looks good. Mainz level should peak on Saturday, the others following in due course. All those gauges will show high levels but for now look to remain below the river traffic ban threshold. notamermaid

Mainz is a nice city I find. A visit to the Dom on the Day for you perhaps? Have a great time, I am sure Viking will have a splendid feast for you. The Christmas markets, well, they are known to mostly end before Christmas Eve. For details of ports that have a market or at least some special display of sorts, like an ice skating rink for example, after Christmas Eve one needs to check every port. Decisions of towns are not normally done at short notice so I am surprised about the change due to no Christmas markets. Have a great time. notamermaid

Oops, sorry my geography was wrong. What was I thinking?! You are going with the flow of course and things look good for that. Will you be in Strasbourg on Christmas Day? notamermaid

Yes, could work out. The wave is coming towards you, it is the 14th today, so will be in the Netherlands next week, around the 19th. By then being only a "small wave". By then things should be easier in the Upper Rhine valley. Fingers crossed. notamermaid

Oh that is great to read. Thank you for the info. It is a lovely area and I have been to Gengenbach, but just passing through in autumn mists to get to another valley. notamermaid

Forecast for the Lower Middle Rhine valley and the Lower Rhine is not bad, I have just read. Most of the rain has gone, it will be dryer and the Moselle is not giving the Rhine that much water. So no major problems out of the ordinary are expected past Koblenz. Cologne authorities are taking flood protection measures but this current flood is regarded as standard and should not lead to a river cruise ban: https://www1.wdr.de/nachrichten/hochwasser-dezember-nrw-100.html Remember: the river floods every year at least once, in a few years it is nothing to speak of, most years it is normal snow melt, in a few years it is more than we as locals are comfortable with. notamermaid

Passau gauge has just gone back to flood warning level 2. It is past the peak and falling slowly. Now at 769cm. The situation on the Danube now: notamermaid

Good question. I think the ships have been sailing in the winter months regularly, it is just that there are more of them - and they are bigger. I do believe though that the increase in February and March is not that brilliant of an idea, unless you cruise the canals that are not prone to flooding - which incidentally also do not "run dry" in summer/autumn. There are too many river cruise ships when things get out of hand, yes I am looking at one company in particular and mostly on the Rhine (Passau on the Danube being perhaps the second-worst spot). I just think they are victims of their own success now, by that I mean Viking is not capable any more it appears to put ships in the prime locations, see for example old posts about moving to Niehl winter harbour when there is low water and on the webcam you can see the constant rafting at Koblenz (and the shifting of a ship to Ehrenbreitstein which one cannot see on a webcam). Right now in the Rhine thread we see that Viking is struggling with spaces and uses Bingen for Rüdesheim and Strasbourg with several ships in car park style. Unfortunately, I have read no details of a similar river cruise ship from another company. Would be nice if someone reported about sailing up the Rhine on the same itinerary, i.e. the standard Amsterdam to Basel. When things go right it is all well thought through and works, when there is low or high water the - let us say - cracks appear. There are so many other rivers and canals to explore, I believe there is enough space on the waterways still, and changes can be made to adapt, it is just that you need to go smaller with a ship, a 135m vessel cannot be shifted around Europe like a smaller ship can. And when you adapt you need to do it properly of course... notamermaid

Interesting - sorry to read that. I remember @ural guy 's adventure from 2018. It was a bad year for cruising. This bussing to get you from port to port is a nice idea on the one hand to give you the experience you were looking for. But it also gives a company the chance to claim they took you to all the ports and reduce refunds and financial niceties. Let us say, that is what I have read from no other than "ze big boss" of Viking. But enough of that for now. I hope Strasbourg is utterly splendid and you can enjoy some countryside as well. Not sure that it helps you now but here is a town that from what I have been told by dear people is great and that I think Viking should offer a bus tour to: Gengenbach in Germany with its giant Advent Calendar. It is only 45 minutes from Strasbourg: https://www.stadt-gengenbach.de/kultur-tourismus/tourismus notamermaid

Oh noooo. I will personally take buckets of water out of the Rhine and dump them in ponds to make sure the river is low enough for you to sail, as this time round it is a bit, let us say, on the high side. To get some geography in: sailing is still possible for a long stretch of the river, from Amsterdam through the canal, up the Waal/Nederrijn/Rhine, into Germany, to Cologne, to Koblenz, to Mainz and further. At this point in time, river traffic around Speyer is suspended but Worms is still okay, although rising. HSW (here called SHWM II) level for the ban at Worms is a low probability. This means it is certainly possible but not likely to happen. Same goes for the gauges at Mainz, Kaub and Koblenz. An example to show the computer modelling, this is Mainz: notamermaid

Ah, a swap, meaning you will be sailing on the ship that is on the for you right side of the rivers and can pick you up in Amsterdam. Hopefully by then things will have improved on the Rhine and you have a smooth sailing through Europe. notamermaid

Maxau gauge is at 840cm and tentatively I would say it has reached the plateau. notamermaid

Tricky. The Scenic Opal is stuck in Passau so that will be tight for picking you up in Amsterdam. Would you like to reach out to Scenic about this now? notamermaid

That is Bingen. A good dock but not used often at all. Bingen is a decent place to spent a couple of hours in or be docked overnight. Sounds like the "Cologne Niehl of the South" (my words, Niehl is the winter harbour for Viking). Not fun and not scenic docking I reckon. Why on earth you cannot be in Rüdesheim I do not understand, did Viking give you time to hop over to Rüdesheim on the ferry? It is right there. I can understand that you do not want to be on another bus for that long to get to Speyer. Strasbourg is fabulous but it would be nice if Viking offered you something else today like - perhaps a one hour drive, or tips for a taxi to... where ever it is scenic in the area. notamermaid

I could not verify this. It sounds a bit odd and I must assume the newspaper report has got something wrong. Official date does not put Lake Constance at a record high. As of now, river levels will rise significantly in the Middle Rhine valley still, but the forecast looks favourable for Koblenz gauge not to reach 650cm, at which river traffic would be suspended there. notamermaid

It must be this itinerary: https://www.viva-*****/en/reise/weihnachten-elbe-moldau I am sure that is magical. The much smaller Swiss Ruby (the river cannot take the standard river cruise ships) is perhaps not for everyone but with Christmas decorations and the smaller number of passengers this is bound to be merry and cozy. notamermaid

I saw the bridges on the more recent list: https://www.viadonau.org/fileadmin/content/viadonau/05Wirtschaft/Dokumente/2023/20230921_Donaubrücken_int..pdf You can see that the clearance is related to the HSW, the highest level at which traffic is allowed. So depending on water level, one bridge may be trickier than the other or both are similar or are identical with their problems for traffic. I hope the list makes it clearer. The Inn at Passau carries less water than the Danube but when there is flooding the volume of the Inn is higher than that of the Danube which may lead to the condition of the Inn pushing up the Danube. notamermaid

A sudden thaw with rain means that also the Neckar is flooding. The river is long enough and the upper reaches are high enough to create a high volume of water that also significantly contributes to the river level of the Rhine. A section of the river around Heilbronn is currently closed to river traffic. Contrary to the Danube and the Rhine, the flooding is not high so the authorities expect to be able to lift the ban on Thursday. notamermaid

Speyer gauge has crossed the threshold of 730cm, that is flood mark II with river traffic ban. It is now at 740cm and still rising. notamermaid

Thanks, steamboats. To put it in colours: It will take a few days till all that water has passed through Passau. notamermaid

What?? That is astounding. Sorry to read that. notamermaid

It sounds as if you may be lucky here, the Main is not affected as much by the flooding. It is high though, so an obstacle may be the low bridges. Hope you enjoy the ports on the Main, they are delightful places of pleasant size (no huge capitals). notamermaid