AnhaltER1960

JohnKen, that's what we are planning on doing, a "reverse cruise" along the river. Have you done this? Interested in knowing if you see much.

 

As with a ship, the most spectacular part of the river is between Mainz/Bingen and Koblenz/Bonn. Just make sure that the train takes this route, as many of the fast ICE-trains take another route between Frankfurt and Cologne (which is fast, but not following the riverand indeed plenty of concrete walls or tunnels rather than scenery).

 

If you search for trains on the Deutsche Bahn website www.bahn.de you have to chose the extended search and the add Koblenz as an interim stop; this will give you the trains along the river in the very scenic Middle Rhine valley(when on the train, sit on the right). The other parts from Basel to Mainz and later Cologne to Amsterdam are not all too spectacular, plenty of Industry and flatlands.

Viking Astrild had left Wittenberg for her upstream sailing on Friday 21st of July with a small change of the itinerary. The ship moved in the morning from Wittenberg to Elster without the passengers, who in the meantime had their Wittenberg city tour. After the tour the passengers were bussed to Elster, a 30 min busride to join the ship there and start the actual cruising.

 

The standard itinerary is that the ship takes the passengers in Wittenberg after their city tour and starts sailing then. As a result, passengers are missing some 20 miles of cruising, but that is it. Reason behind it is, that the ship can maneuvre some shallow parts of the river between Wittenberg and Elster (but also upriver) a bit slower and thus also a bit more carefully.

 

With more rainfall in Saxony and Bohemia predicted (and actually pouring down) this weekend and river level low, but stable, I dare to say that things are looking good for the remaining sailings this month.

The Viking Astrild has just completed her sailing from Decin into Wittenberg scheduled 15th to 21st of July according to the timetable. With water levels of the Elbe low, but currently stable and some rainfall in Saxony and Bohemia predicted tomorrow and friday there is also some optimism allowed that she can complete the next cruise upriver starting on Friday, 21st in Wittenberg (overall tour starting today in Berlin).

Closest is Rostock Hbf. Take public transport or taxi to get there.

Havent checked the Beyla yet, but the usually have both ships moving, so the are in different locations, in case the are fixed by low water.

 

Buying three "y". Read they instead of the.

On tours, are there many readily available rest room facilities ?

Usually there are. Tours are planned in way, which allows for restroom breaks.

 

Do you need euros to access them ?

Be prepaired. Some are free (like in museums or sights you visit), others are not. Good advice by soxfan to keep 50 cent-coins for that matter.

 

How about restroom on tour bus ?

Depends on the bus. If there are, keep in mind you need to be a bit flexible to access them and not too big. Forget about the "room" in restrooms in buses

 

Has anyone done pre Cruise Lucerne extension?

Many did. Just browse the forum here.

 

Is there enough time at airport on arrival in Zurich to do currency exchange?

 

Banking system in Switzerland is highly efficient. So you find plenty of banks and ATM to get some francs. There should be an opportunity at the airport.

 

Are only CHF accepted in Lucerne ?

The swiss take everything as long as they convert it into Swiss Francs. Credit cards are no problem and they will also accept EUR and maybe even USD cash, at a lousy rate however.

 

My main concern is for tipping $$ .

Noone will refuse them. Bring plenty of small notes.

 

Should we bring adaptors and converters for Lucerne and Amsterdam hotels.?

Good idea (also on the ship), dependig on, which applicances you want to use. Keep in mind that some adaptors are fused and cannot be used with hairdryers or other equipment which draws many Amp. Also keep in mind, in Europe there is 220 V voltage, some pieces you have to convert from 110 V.

 

Also, for pre cruise Lucerne, what time do you depart hotel for Basel ? Thinking of am boat trip on the Lake.

I do not know, when the organised transport starts, but I am sure they will tell you. Allow 2 hrs for the driving.

Have you looked at a website like Marinetraffic to see if Viking ships are even moving on the Elbe?

 

They are. The Viking Astrild has been in Wittenberg on Sunday July 9th, completing her sailing downriver from Decin as scheduled. Right now she moves, as Marinetrafic shows, upriver somewhere between Torgau and Dresden, which should also be in line with the schedule. Havent checked the Beyla yet, but the usually have both ships moving, so the are in different locations, in case the are fixed by low water.

 

 

Rainfall in the last days (and there is more rainfall forecast) has lifted the water levels a bit. At least enough to allow sailing for the time being, but still hard to predict the weeks to come.

It might be of interest to have a look at the charts of the water levels of the Elbe shown http://www.dessauwetter.de/dw/de_pegel_2013 here. The graphs show the water level of the last 4 weeks at the stations

* Schöna (CZ-DE border)

* Dresden

* Riesa

* Torgau

* Elster, which all are relevant for Viking Elegant Elbe cruises, plus

 

* Dessau

* Barby

* Magdeburg, which are downstream of the Viking tours, but might be relevant for other cruises.

 

It is clearly to see that, after a long period of drought the rainfall on June 24th had lifted the water table at Schöna an Dresden by approx 12 inches. Then, despite there was further rainfall in the area, the water table dropped again continiously (looks to me the Czech shut their gates at the Usti reservoir in order to refill it). On June 29th massive rainfalls made the river rise by 5 feet within 24 hours at Schöna. The wave is moving downriver and has reached Elster at the time of writing (please note the charts are showing the last 4 weeks, not a fixed date. The described changes of the water level cannot be seen from End of July onwards).

 

This means the next cruises to come should be safe to get afloat. But it also shows how quickly the situation can change, even by several feet within hours in a situation, where inches can make the difference between sailing and no sailing. So, even end of July is not predictable yet, even though there is more rainfall forecast in the days to come.

 

It also depends very much, where exactly the rain comes down. While the Elbe drains most of the Bohemian Basin in the Czech Republic, she drains only a small corridor of some 20 miles in Southern Saxony. Rainfall to the west of that is drained by the Mulde river (which eventually discharges into the Elbe, but only at Dessau, downstream of the Viking cruises and therefore not relevant for them), rainfall to the east discharges into the Spree, reaching the Elbe even further downstream.