Dwg7127

Just disembarked the Emerald Dawn this morning in Amsterdam. Once we boarded last Saturday in Mannheim and with some north & south bus excursions we were essentially back on schedule. It was a difficult time for the cruise director to come up with alternate excursions but we were constantly informed of what the schedule was (not like pre-cruise when were ghosted). No rain until this morning. The boat appears to be fairly new and very quiet while cruising (big plus). I don’t know if the passengers boarding today will make it all the way to Basel but in any case they will be well taken care of. Thank you Notamermaid for all your information.

The Emerald cruise director has also said that excessive boat traffic through the southern Rhine locks and lack of docking are also the reason for boarding at Mannheim. Getting through the locks could take 20hrs.

Now I get it, the Emerald Dawn doesn’t want to get stuck at Maxau (either going upstream or downstream) so is docking at Mannheim and not Strasbourg or closer to Basel.

We have been told that the Emerald Dawn will dock at Mannheim, not Basel and we will bussed there from Lucerne to board. Our visit into Freiburg is cancelled and another tour will be made in the Mannheim area (wine tasting which is the same as was scheduled for Freiburg). The next day we visit Strasbourg, which puts us back on original planned schedule (but all while docked in Mannheim). So more bussing than we had hoped but we are making the best of it.

Notamermaid, thanks for the Emerald Dawn and river level updates. We are on our second day of land pre-cruise in Zurich and the weather has been beautiful. Hopefully the nice weather will help reduce the river levels. Emerald is still not advising us of any deviations from their planned sailing schedule (Basel to Amsterdam) of Saturday June 8th. We are keeping our fingers crossed that the ship makes it to Basel for the 8th otherwise I assume we will be bussed to the first port-of-call at Freiburg.

Thank you for your insight as to river/gorge possible conditions. We will be traveling to Europe tomorrow so not in contact for a bit but will post again when we have more news. Just an insight for other cruisers; when we cruised with AMA last year they were constantly updating us via email about our upcoming cruise and things to prepare or plan for. Emerald, not so much. Pre-trip communication is minimal which means you need to contact them if you want an update or have a question.

I spoke with Emerald this morning and they said “currently there is no interruption to our cruise”. Still 4.5 days until departure so things can change. I think the only concern is that the boat gets to Basel by Saturday.

The boat we are scheduled to board on the 8th (Emerald Dawn) in Basel is coming from Amsterdam and scheduled to arrive Koblenz tomorrow June 5th. Looks like it will be held up there. Any idea when the river traffic will be able to move again?

Wow! Just found this great topic thread. Lots of very good info about the terrible flooding along the Rhine and southern Germany. We are scheduled to board our river cruise on Saturday June 8th in Basel, cruising to Amsterdam. Based on what I’m reading about the high river level and barge traffic ban, I guess we may be doing more bussing than cruising. Any updating on the river level would be much appreciated. Thank you. Notamermaid (a late night for you. I am at 5:30pm and you are 7hrs ahead). Thank you very much for the info, much appreciated. I suspect our boat is cruising from Amsterdam to Basel, so running into the wave. If that delays them in a port on the way then they will have a contingency plan I guess. Either we board late in Basel or bus to wherever the boat gets to (or something in between). We will make the best of it. Unfortunately residents on the river will be have a very hard time of it.

Wow!. Just found this great topic thread. Lots of good info on the terrible flooding along the Rhine and in southern Germany. Hopefully the rain stops soon. We are scheduled to board our Rhine cruise on Saturday, June 8th in Basel, sailing to Amsterdam. Based on what I'm reading about the high-water levels on the Rhine and the ban on barge traffic that went into effect yesterday, it looks like we will be doing more bussing than cruising (assuming the roads are unaffected). Any further updates to the river levels and cruise traffic would be much appreciated. Thank you.