moonriver54

Can you please post a link to that thread? Thanks!

Thanks very much for posting these photos!! I'm really curious where some of the other river cruise ships "winter-over"...Avalon Waterways and Ama Waterways. That's a LOT of ships and would require quite a moorage...somewhere along the Rhine and/or Danube.

That's a great photo. With Viking river cruise ships packed in the moorage like sardines! Thank you!

Very interesting...thank you!

Looks like a very protected moorage! Do you know where Avalon Waterways berths its ships for the winter?

Wow! That's starting to sound like the Panama Canal!!

Look at the photo of Passau during the 2013 Danube flood. Wow. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2013_European_floods

Thank you very much. That's a much more frequent occurrence of exceeding 640cm than I would've expected. And during the summer no less...not winter...in 2013. Very interesting!

So shipping is shut down at Kaub in the Rhine Gorge at 640cm = 21'. That's a LOT of water. Can you give us any idea how often the Rhine at Kaub has reached 640cm? We did an Avalon Waterways Danube cruise last May when water levels were quite high given all the rain they'd had. We took the Passau, Germany guided city tour and were VERY impressed with the numerous hi-water flood level markings, by year, painted upon the many buildings we passed. I've attached a photo below.

Wow. So for those of us Yanks who operate on feet and inches...80cm at Kaub (a month ago) = 2.62'. The chart above shows 422cm at Kaub given the latest rainfall. 422cm = 13.85'. What level at Kaub would be considered flood stage? At what level is shipping stopped in the Rhine Gorge? Or is that decision left up to the vessel's Captain?

This has been quite fascinating. It's hard to believe that just one month ago we were all concerned about 80cm of LOW WATER at Kaub in the Rhine Gorge. Any idea what the current water level at Kaub is?

Ouch!!!

Thank you so much for your tenacious reporting on river water levels! You've helped many...including us. It's been greatly appreciated...and quite educational as well!

Good Morning, We're aboard the Avalon Vista and sailed north past Kaub in the Rhine Gorge yesterday afternoon with no issues whatsoever. We just docked in Cologne, Germany about an hour ago and will head further north towards Amsterdam later this afternoon. Avalon is on top of its game as always...just a wonderful river cruise line! I apologize...CruiseCritic inverts any photo I attempt to attach as you see below. You can open the two photos of Kaub I've attached in your photo app and rotate them 180 degrees to upright. Jim

@notamermaid Greetings! We had a wonder flight to Zurich and a beautiful train ride from Zurich to Basel. The SBB Mobile Swiss train app is SUPERB. We arrived at our hotel late this morning and our room wasn't quite ready so we took a nice walk up to the river. We were amazed at how clear the water was in the Rhine compared to the Danube last May. I'm guessing that was probably a result of all the rain we had during our week-long Danube cruise. In any event...it was a beautiful WARM day today here in Basel...with more warm days expected. I've attempted to attach a few standard JPEG photos of the Rhine however, CruiseCritic inverts each photo. Maybe somebody knows how to stop that???

Thank you SO much again. You're very kind! We will report on our adventure!

Wow...thank you SO much for your very thorough responses above. We truly appreciate your help! We had no ideas the water levels varied so widely. All very fascinating for us! We noticed the Danube had Km markers placed along the river's shoreline between Vilshofen and Budapest. Does the Rhine have similar Km markers? Can you recommend a link where the various locks are discussed on the Rhine between Basel and Amsterdam? Many thanks again! Jim

@notamermaid We love reading your posts! It's been quite educational...like having a local representative present to respond to questions. Greatly appreciated! My wife and I are leaving for Zurich tomorrow and will take the train to Basel upon arrival Thursday morning. We're boarding the Avalon Vista on Saturday, 30 September for a week-long river cruise north to Amsterdam, arriving there on 07 October. The weather is looking very nice from what we can tell. Given your Rhine water-level expertise, do you foresee any water level issues between Basel and Amsterdam? Thank You, Jim

Yes...correct. The Duracell CR-2032 batteries we've bought at Costco will NOT work with the Apple AirTags. However, every other brand I've bought on Amazon works great.

We have numerous Apple AirTags on a wide variety of items...key fobs, etc., and find them invaluable. My experience is the CR-2032 "button batteries" in the AirTags last a little over a year. While the Apple "Find My" app will NOT allow you to check the CURRENT battery level, and will only send a warning once the battery level is LOW...for our luggage Apple AirTags I just replace them well in advance of travel so I know they'll be good for the duration of our trip. The cost of the replacement batteries is minimal. Replacement CR-2032 batteries readily available on Amazon. Please be advised...per Apple's warning, the "Child Safe" CR2032 batteries will not work in AirTags...so purchase replacement batteries accordingly.

I've heard *SO* many positive outcomes from those using Apple AirTags on their checked baggage and other valuables that I thought it might be beneficial to re-post this excellent CruiseCritic piece on these ingenious devices. We buy them in the 4-Packs. Cheap insurance!! https://www.cruisecritic.com/articles/why-ill-never-cruise-without-apple-airtags-again

Thanks very much for asking about your cruise. We're seriously considering the same or a similar lower Danube cruise with some long-time friends aboard Avalon in 2024. Sounds very fascinating!

Can you please provide a link to any of those threads?

Looks like Nuremberg, Germany. The Avalon Illumination is the replacement vessel...issued for the 03 SEP "The Legendary Danube" departure.

We're departing on our Avalon Rhine river cruise from Basel to Amsterdam in about a month. We received our updated travel packet from Avalon...like clockwork...yesterday. Simply out of curiosity I looked at some of the upcoming departure "Docking Locations" on MyAvalon. Looks like there are some HIGH-WATER issues on the Danube...and a few changed ship and changed departure locations because of it???