notamermaid

That is a very good point. In the criticism surrounding the Lumagica lights trail people did not realize that the company uses LED lights which are far "better" than standard bulbs. Electricity used in other ways could present a bigger problem and expense during events in winter. The sun has come out of the mist and is heating up my flat again nicely. The warm days are giving me more energy personally and I am enjoying the autumn colours that are increasing by the day. Onto river levels. All good. Looking very pleasantly around the mean but now getting a bit lower in the absence of rain. No problem for river cruise ships. What were we worried that the river would struggle in September and October! Summary of September coming. notamermaid

To my delight I have read of a few more variations on river cruise itineraries and that includes ports on the Main. Mainly I see a rise in Frankfurt as an embarkation port, to me noticeably over the last three years. But a couple of smaller ports appear in descriptions of itineraries more as well. Now I have had a look at a 2023 itinerary of Avalon Waterways. I am not sure if it is completely new but it is not bookable for 2022. It is called German Grandeur and has as a typical extension Munich: https://www.avalonwaterways.com/river-cruise/german-grandeur-with-2-nights-in-munich-eastbound/WZNE/?season=2023 This is the route Basel to Nuremberg or vice versa. Upper Rhine, Main and Canal is not such a typical route but is offered by a couple of other companies as well. This itinerary sticks out a little as it does not directly go from Mainz to the Main but does a short trip further down the Rhine into the Rhine Gorge which means you can sail much of the castle stretch. Turnaround port is Boppard, a good choice if you do not want to sail all the way down to Koblenz in my opinion. One port struck me as I have not read it in an itinerary before at all - Seligenstadt. I did not even know of that town having a port so I checked. It appears to only have a marina and ferry; I did not read anything of a river cruise port. It turns out that Avalon Waterways only offers an excursion to Seligenstadt from Frankfurt, so no docking in the smaller town. I do not recall ever having been to Seligenstadt so cannot tell you anything about it from my own experience (I may have been there while visiting family nearby as a small child). The other ports are standard offers on the Main. I like the offer of Neuschwanstein Castle on the Munich day. Another North American river cruise company that sails this route is Amawaterways. Also from Basel to Nuremberg, it does not sail into the Rhine Gorge but also does the short "detour" from Mainz. Only it stops at Rüdesheim just before the castle stretch and then turns back. This itinerary called Medieval Treasures goes to two other unusual small ports, Kitzingen and Volkach (a bicycle tour): https://www.amawaterways.com/destination/europe-river-cruises/2023/medieval-treasures Here the extension is Prague. Both offer the excursion to Rothenburg ob der Tauber which is a must in my opinion if you can take coach rides and enjoy Medieval town walls. The two itineraries naturally have a different focus as is reflected in the titles they have been given and I can imagine you may have difficulty deciding between these two itineraries if you want to do this route. Having sailed with neither company I think I would go with the Avalon Waterways one for three reasons. 1. Boppard turn around port (bearing in my that Boppard is really nice but not spectacular - I like it) 2. I would like to see Seligenstadt where I would likely be among only a handful of river cruise tourists 3. Neuschwanstein extension, do not fancy going to Prague, would prefer Munich for return journey. Just my thoughts on these two. A third option is CroisiEurope. The French company sails from their base at Strasbourg all the way to Linz in Austria. You may find another company that takes you on this journey on the Rhine and Main onto the Main Danube Canal and possibly further. notamermaid

Sorry to disappoint you but those concerns exist here. So far I have heard of only one institution/volunteer group saying that light decorations will be reduced. It is early in autumn so I am hoping for the best. Will see how it goes. I cannot imagine major events being cancelled, but not much can surprise me these days. Smaller charity events with local volunteers may find things a struggle but I have not looked into it yet. So far I have not read about cancellations. I am still in autumn events mode so catching up with news and my mind is not in winter yet. If I read anything major I will post it. notamermaid

I am back on track, so hear is a bit of info. The river does what it always does, rise and fall, in the last week in a more or less uneventful way, i.e. no consequences for river cruising. There was a mild accident between a river cruise ship and a barge, but both ships sailed on after quick inspection by police. No names disclosed. People are celebrating harvest; we have had reunification day with celebrations and protests. The lights are still on, the prices are rising and into the happy nature of Rhinelanders is mixed a certain level of nervousness about winter and increased mask wearing. Of the latter I would say a rise from 1 percent to 5 percent. Not much but noticeable. Federweisser young wine is in the shops. Try with caution... The weather is foggy with sunny spells and dry. Further upstream exhibitions in a few museums have a focus on the Upper Rhine valley. Will look into that more. Another river cruise ship hull has made it from Serbia to the Netherlands, it is the "Rheingold". The people on Binnenschifferforum have already spotted the next river cruise ship hull transport on the Danube, it is called "Gentlemen". River level update to follow. notamermaid

A bit more background info: https://www.seatrade-cruise.com/ship-operations/german-start-riverside-luxury-cruises-revives-crystal-mozart notamermaid

Thanks to a friend who happened to have a screen in the cellar that he does not need anymore, I am ready to post again from my own computer. Well, not quite ready as I have to catch up on things and work. Got a nice marbled sky sunset tonight. Foggy mornings and sunny afternoons. Pleasant weather. notamermaid

Andernach - just a tip. I like macarons, the real French stuff. France is a bit far so luckily I have been able to find an alternative on a trip in the Northern part of my state. At the railway line, on the town side, is a café with shop: https://stephany-lifestyle-patisserie.business.site/ The macarons are very tasty, the petit four adorable and the accessories shop will keep the ladies busy for quite a few minutes. Two sisters run it, at least one of them is a Konditormeisterin, I think that is a master confectioner. Expertly hand-made sweet indulgence, they use Valrona chocolate they say. Should you happen to be in town. Of course you can find similar cafés in other touristy towns. I know I am repeating myself, but if you venture a bit further away from the Old Town check out Café Baumann in Koblenz on Löhrstrasse. If you have just come from Strasbourg in France you do not need all those recommendations of course. 🙂 notamermaid

It appears that due to the nature of the river between Vilshofen and Passau, together with the lock and dam, another significant rise at Passau did not happen. The level is now down to 506cm. Pfelling is at 412cm. That means in Germany and quite a few kilometres into Austria the river levels are great for sailing, neither too high nor too low and not in danger of reaching either status soon. Hopefully it is similar further downstream. In the Rhine valley it is sunny and bright with a little wind. I hope all cruisers on the Danube have the same fine weather right now. notamermaid

What lovely colours along the Canal! The acers in town(s) are now changing nicely to orange and reddish brown with green mixed in. Not as beautiful as your scenery in Canada but very pleasing. I enjoy it, also collecting some horse chestnuts from a park. I will use these for a display in my hallway. Have also put some leaves in my office. Lifts my mood at work (have got some problems with the personnel department). Things not looking too bright with me and my neigbourhood. Not wanting to add insult to injury, but on top of that my computer screen needs a spare part so getting this sorted will take at least till Monday. Smartphone also not working as it should. So I am still on "Could I briefly use your computer?" mode with a very obliging dear person. But time is limited and I need to get things done. Busy at work with autumn events. So I will see you when I see you. Enjoy the sunshine and colours wherever you are. notamermaid

According to the trusted folks on Binnenschifferforum this is the ex Prinses Juliana from 1976, a former Dutch river cruise ship. Renovated in 2017 and since then owned and operated as the Riverbär by the hotel owners there in town on the Moselle, she is a hotel, excursion boat and is very rarely used as a river cruise ship on the Rhine and Moselle (my knowledge from reading about the ship last year). Length 95m, width 11m. notamermaid

Yes, North Carolina did better than I had feared. Thanks for reporting. My friend has reported no damage and is fine. I have found a shop that may be able to fix my screen. Will hopefully find out this afternoon. notamermaid

Ocean cruisers coming to the rivers? I think we have seen and heard that in the last year more than before. Uniworld did a survey - okay, with a pinch of salt as always: https://travelweekly.co.uk/news/cruise/a-third-of-ocean-cruise-passengers-would-opt-for-river-sailing-uniworld-finds Great, but there is this slight unease about overcrowding coming with this trend. Not sure how busy the Nile is but on the Rhine, please, other ports! Explore beyond Rüdesheim and Cologne... Being nearly back to the tourism numbers that we saw in 2019, will 2023 be seeing the numbers top those in 2019? Well, first we need to end this year in peace and style. Who knows what will be. notamermaid

Thanks for following along. Still a good five more weeks to go. So much time in which anything can happen on the rivers. Well, as you have read, not so much on the Main. At the moment I would say anything goes, low water, high water. Or completely smooth and uneventful. I will not put my money on any scenario... So you may see Christmas markets in all the ports. Just a note on Sunday of the Dead: depending on where you are on that day, you may find the Christmas market in that town closed during the day. notamermaid

Not too sure about further East but around Passau I would say definitely cool nights with potentially the odd very warm afternoon depending on weather pattern close to the Alps. Mild night frost possible, for morning excursions you may want to have hat, scarf and gloves. Walking shoes for rain are essential. Snow possible in the high hills if winter is early. Much is possible at this time of year and I think it is best to look at a current weather report close to your sailing date. Like accuweather or similar. For the areas past Vienna - over to those with sailing experience in autumn. notamermaid

Thanks for reporting. Yes, that was a tight squeeze. The level rose fast. Sounds like it was a prudent idea to leave Passau behind. The level peaked at 657cm which is a problem zone for some river cruise ships, depending on superstructure of course. It is now down to 593cm but there is a wave coming, Pfelling has risen fast and is now at 534cm, with the high volume of water having reached Vilshofen. We will need to see how that affects Passau during this afternoon which to some extent depends on how much water is retained by the lock and dam at Kachlet. notamermaid

Great video of Loreley sailpast! And what would come along from the other direction - a Viking river cruise ship. Lovely to see photos of Koblenz, confirms that autumn colours are looking promising. Must walk around the gardens near Deutschherrenhaus, very nice. I hope I will have some time for that soon. notamermaid

That is lovely to read. Thank you for reporting. Pfelling gauge peaked on 30 September and has gone down again. At 395cm, things are looking good for this coming week for sailing. The weather is improving with little to no rain and higher temperatures. Could this be a "Golden October" week? Looks somewhat promising but autumn colours may be better next weekend and into next week, it is a little early still for yellow (golden) and orange. notamermaid

That is certainly quite pricey. A river cruise of the same length Passau return with a not-so-cheap German line is a third of the price. Okay, you need to add the travelling by train or plane to that. You can get a longer Danube cruise with Riviera Travel for 1,400 pounds including flights. Definitely Crystal 2.0 as regards prices. It appears they also want to recreate the whole Crystal river cruise experience. Great stuff and I think for the Mozart it could work if they get the marketing right. I doubt that Germans will flock to it though. Again, if they can address and gain interest within the higher end of the financial/social ladder it may work. notamermaid

Thank you for letting us take part in your adventure so much. Despite having been to Frankfurt quite a few times I have never been on an excursion boat around there or seen one sailing. I know of the Primus-Linie. Hmm, I should put that in the Main thread. So the Osthafen is as commercial as I expected. I guess the odds that a taxi driver has been to Osthafen for the river cruise ships is still limited in number. Should get better with more ships docking there. I see that there is a tram line serving the area. But with luggage I would take a taxi from the main station for convenience. Anyway, hope dinner is tasty and you have a good night's sleep. notamermaid

So you are actually administratively speaking not in Frankfurt. The hotel is just within the boundaries (red line) of Offenbach (hence the hotel name): I did not know that ships let passengers embark there in the harbour in the Ostend district. What kind of hotel is this?! I hope the cruise will make up for your adventures so far. I am tired from just reading about your trip 😄. Hope you have had a dry walk trough Frankfurt. notamermaid

News in brief due to limited time this weekend. Busy at work and computer problems. Through work I have been reading up on the insolvency at Engers Palace near Koblenz. It is now clear that the hotel and restaurant will close for good during this autumn and there is no takeover by another investor. Not sure what will happen to the other buildings (other than them closing) but the hotel rooms in the Palace itself will come under the management of the music school and academy. I think this means that there should be no change to how Avalonwaterways organizes their dockings at Engers as the concert hall and all other connected facilities will still operate. Please contact Avalonwaterways if you want to find out more. Kaub gauge: 241cm and rising. Peak of this current wave expected at Mainz during the night, so at Kaub during tomorrow. Maxau gauge falling again so no high water levels that could lead to flooding. Rainy weekend, temperatures due to rise to 20 Celsius in warm regions next week. notamermaid

Hope you are doing okay over there. Wondering how my friend in North Carolina is. Slightly unfortunately my computer screen has power outages on and off. I have tried to install an alternative screen in the system but it is not working. So I am using someone else's computer. If I do not post this weekend it means that I am working and could not get my screen repaired. Just in case someone is wondering. We have had a pleasant early autumn day with a nice sunset. So no weather problems and electricity and heating have not been turned off (yet). Call me pessimistic but not much would surprise me these days... Talking of electricity. I have read that the Eiffel Tower will not be displaying lights late in the evening? Wonder if that is correct. notamermaid

Good to read that everything has worked out so far and you got the train tickets okay. Hope you have a good evening in Cochem and you will find the ship to be welcoming and cosy. notamermaid

Yes, things looking much better on the river. By the way, for anyone contemplating this itinerary: 1. No shallows on the Main 2. Main controlled by locks, no low water, see above 3. Sundeck closed on the Main on many ships due to low bridges 4. Rhine shallows are a potential problem (Rhine Gorge) 5. Moselle no shallows (99 percent), locks control water levels all the way into France 6. High water can happen anywhere, river closure applies in flooding (individuals stretches as stipulated by the authorities) Autumn colours are starting. Have a great trip. notamermaid

I thought it was an easy question to answer, me having read these articles about the new land power connections everywhere on the Rhine and the locals happy about it. But right now I cannot find any articles that talk about the second or third ship being connected. Hmm... notamermaid