HDS

You will also be expected to tip local guides and bus drivers which means having a seemingly endless supply of local currency coins or small notes.

You can check water levels on all German rivers on this website recommended by Notamermaid. http://www.wetteronline.de/pegelstaende?gid=SAC

It’s in German but the graphics are good. The map gives you the deviation from the mean water level (Flusspegel or Pegel or Pegelstand in the German language). Hover your cursor above the green or red markers to find the names of cities and rivers.

The more green means the more below average, the more red means the more above average.

You can check water levels on all German rivers on this website recommended by Notamermaid. http://www.wetteronline.de/pegelstaende?gid=SAC

I hope I transcribed correctly.

It’s in German but the graphics are good. The map gives you the deviation from the mean water level (Flusspegel or Pegel or Pegelstand in the German language). Hover your cursor above the green or red markers to find the names of cities and rivers.

The more green means the more below average water levels, the more red means the more above average.

Our "cruise" was Prague to Berlin on the Elbe, one night in Prague and Berlin hotels included. We travelled independently in Czech Republic and Germany before and after. I have never considered a cruise company post- or pre-cruise.

The bus trip was awful for several reasons. It was twice as long as expected with one comfort stop at a service station with coin-operated toilets. Most passengers had no Czech currency let alone coins. Viking staff stayed outside chatting to bus drivers.

Passengers had just learnt, what I expected but hoped would not happen; Elbe levels were too low to cruise the most attractive portion of the river and we may not cruise at all. Passengers were disgruntled and Viking staff members were defensive.

Hence the long bus trip to Dresden where the boat was moored for the duration of our cruise. If one must be moored, Dresden is a fine mooring. After three nights were bussed to the other Viking boat in Wittenburg and eventually cruised one day to Magdeburg.

Prague is delightful and I hope you and your mother can enjoy it as much as we did. Have you considered the i-Amsterdam card for Amsterdam? We had a three-day card for our visit in 2008 and found it good value for museums, transport etc.

Before our Viking cruise we spent a week in a rental apartment in the Old Town exploring Prague independently. I second the recommendation above to research on Trip Advisor and other Prague tourist sites. You can view and download maps, including transport maps, and other excellent advice. One warning I recall was never hail a taxi in the street or at a rank, always phone the call centre so there is a record of your journey. Otherwise drivers take a very scenic route.

The Old Town is a cobble-stoned, flattish walking environment with subway stations, trams and buses around the outside. The castle is on top of a hill above the Lesser Town on the other side of the river. The 22 (I think) tram goes from the Old Town to the top of Castle hill a ten minute, cobble-stoned stroll from the castle entrance.

We used one of the "Prague" tourist cards for three days, can't recall which. It's web-site had a ready reckoner to calculate if it was good value.

You can buy a one-day transport only card (110kz) for unlimited transport on buses, trams, subway and funicular. We saw them on sale at the TIC next to "The Clock" in the Old Town square, at tabacs, and at vending machines in railway stations. The vending machines take only coins, no notes and instructions are in English. We found them as easy to use as those in New York and Washington DC.

Your hotel may also sell the cards. Our Viking Hotel (Hotel Corinthia) claimed to sell the cards but had run out before we arrived and did not restock.

Public transport was very efficient, often crowded but young and middle-aged people always offered their seats as soon as we older travellers entered a carriage.

You will be expected to tip local guides and bus drivers on shore excursions which means having and replenishing a supply of 1 and 2 euro coins or small notes.

You can check water levels on German rivers on this website recommended by Notamermaid. http://www.wetteronline.de/pegelstaende?gid=SAC

It’s in German but the graphics are good. The map gives you the deviation from the mean water level (Flusspegel or Pegel or Pegelstand in the German language). Green is below average, red above. The longer the green/red markers the lower/higher the river.

Hover your cursor above the green or red markers to find the names of cities and rivers.

CPT Trips, thank you for pointing out the typo. Of course I intended 100'F. not 100'C.

Sorry no-one who has cruised with GCT on the Elbe has responded and allayed your concerns about the beds.

I can't report on GCT's beds but can tell you a little about our Elbe "un-cruise", due to low water levels, with Viking in July 2014.

Water levels were so low even the shallow draught Elbe boats couldn’t sail. One Viking boat was moored in Dresden and the other in Wittenburg. We were accommodated on the boats and bussed in between.

There was sufficient water for us to cruise one day from Wittenburg to Magdeburg (the port for Berlin) along a rather dull stretch of river.

I doubt if either boat has moved very far since then as river levels have been below average all season.

You can check water levels on all German rivers on this website recommended by Notamermaid. http://www.wetteronline.de/pegelstaende?gid=SAC

It’s in German but the graphics are good. The map gives you the deviation from the mean water level (Flusspegel or Pegel or Pegelstand in the German language).

Hover your cursor above the green or red markers to find the names of cities and rivers; Elbe is second river from the top, right hand side. The more green means the more below average, the more red means the more above average.

We did not cruise through the stunningly beautiful stretch of river in “Saxon Switzerland” and missed several ports. Visiting other scheduled destinations involved long bus trips, short visits to the interesting places, long and tedious “comfort” and shopping stops and denied us the ambience of river cruising.

Our local guides were excellent and if one must be moored, the centre of Dresden was a five star place to moor.

Water levels are low because there was very little snow last winter followed by an early summer heat wave exceeding 100'C in June/July in Prague and Berlin. The Elbe has no locks in Germany to regulate the water flow. The lock on the Czech Republic border was closed to retain water in the Czech stretch of river. Immediately downstream the river bed was dry.

I don’t know how GCT handled the low water levels. We saw only one other river cruise boat, the Swiss Ruby, moored in Dresden with no passengers and a caretaker crew.

No-one can predict the river levels for next year. I hope it is better for you.

It's a very intertesting area to visit and we are very pleased we spent extra time pre and post cruise to see more of Prague and Berlin.

I hope your cruise is an exciting rewarding experience.

You might get some response if you post in the River Cruising section. There are often posts about Volga River cruises.

You could try the appropriate Roll Call board, but with only 150 passengers (approx) on river boats, it's unlikely that you will get many, or any responses from people cruising on the same date.

We did a similar cruise with another company six years ago. Russia is a magnificent destination and the river was fascinating.

Unfortunately the cruise boat excursions are in large groups and offer frustratingly brief glimpses of Moscow and St Petersburg. Best thing we did was to stay extra days in the centre of both cities to explore independently at our own pace.

Beware of pickpockets, they are excellent at what they do! Keep wallets etc. in inside, zippered pockets.

We wanted to see as much as possible of Myanmar, not Bangkok and not hordes of other tourists on the Yangon-Bagan-Mandalay strip.

We chose the Pandaw 14-day "600 miles and see all Burma", travelling late October when the monsoon was over, river levels were adequate and heat not intense. It was brilliant.

My detailed report is somewhere on this board.

We also travelled with local guides and on our own pre and post cruise in Yangon and Inle Lakes. Highly recommended.

TellUs at Viking,

I have emailed you directly, again. I hope you will acknowledge my email this time.

Bitterly disappointed that, because of low water, our 7 day cruise Prague to Berlin on the Elbe with Viking was a 6 day bus trip with one day’s cruising. The cruising, with 5cm of water to spare, showed the captain’s skill but was through the least spectacular part of the river. The low river caused by little snow in winter followed by an evaporative June heatwave, is beyond Viking’s control. It’s unlikely Elbe cruises will sail until there is a heavy dump of rain in the catchment in Germany and Czech Republic.

We were bussed from Prague to the Viking Fontane in Dresden with long bus trips from there to some of the intended ports. If one is stuck in a port, Dresden was a beautiful port to be stuck in. Part way through the “non-cruise” we were bussed to the sister ship, Viking Schumann at Wittenburg.

Viking crew were unfailingly upbeat, cheerful, courteous, charming and accepting of the extra work created by changing passengers part way through the “non-voyage”. The food was delicious and plentiful; included wines at meals were very acceptable and unstinted. Our local guides were somewhere between excellent and brilliant.

Viking’s handling of the situation to maximise our use of time in the towns where we were moored could have been better. We were moored in Dresden for two uneventful days before we were given information about the town’s attractions. By then it was too late to book into those that ran only by guided tour.

There were (shallow draft) tourist boats making day trips from Dresden. Possibly through a misunderstanding, Viking staff didn’t get us the information about these cruises that we had requested when we arrived in Dresden. By the time we fronted the booking office on our final day there, the daily cruise upstream through Saxon Switzerland (the most scenic part of the Elbe) had just departed. Making this option available to its passengers would have won Viking many friends. Facilitating it as a pay your own way option would have been good for us.

All passengers have been promised that Viking head office will contact them about compensation for the non-cruise. Nothing has come to our email and we do not return to our home till next month to read our snail mail.

A word of warning about cabins. We thought cabin 110 on Viking Fontane was a tad noisy when we walked in. When we went to bed a vibration in the walls transferred through the mattress and pillows to our ears, creating a shattering, deafening, nauseating noise that made sleep impossible. We were moved to 111 on the other side of the ship which had no vibrations. Other passengers complained of noise in cabins on both decks.

I will post full a review to the reviews section ASAP.

Los Pepes, I am posting from Viking Fontane, which is moored at Dresden and cannot move until the river level rises. at least 10cm. The sister ship is moored at Wittenburg. Viking are adhering to the excursion program as much as possible and like the passengers hoping for heavy rain. We are not seeing the river and enjoying the special ambience of river cruising. Very disappointing.

I will be posting a review after the cruise.

We are in Prague waiting to take bus to board Viking ship on the Elbe. Because of the low water we are bussing all the way to Dresden, at least 2 hours and will be accommodated on the ship, making day trips by bus for the first few days of the cruise at least.

We will not be cruising through Czech lands and Saxon Switzerland as we had expected. We will view the Czech lands from expressway, not the river and will not see the gorges. We are very disappointed.

Our cruise director has not told us what will happen after Dresden. His body language does not fill us with optimism. No doubt Viking is hoping, as we are, for rainfalls heavy enough to lift the river levels and float the boats.

Great advice, Arizona Sunshine. "Have a good look at the ships and their itineraries". Especially for details like a 3am wake-up to wait in an airport lounge for an early flight and long bus rides to join boats. (Unlike Arizona sunshine, I enjoyed the bus trip from Yangon to Pyay.) More importantly, does the itinerary include the places you want to see?

What's the best time of year to travel? We travelled late October/early November, after the wet season but before the really hot weather and really low river levels.

Do you want to spend time in Bangkok? It's been fermenting trouble for a few years and far from a peaceful tourist town right now. It is possibe to book cruises with Pandaw and Paukan/Ayravata, air to Myanmar, pre-cruise accommodation, transfers etc. either on-line or through a travel agent.

I have posted a report of our 14 day Pandaw cruise, Yangon (Pyay) - Katha - Mandalay, on this (River Cruising) board. There are several other posts about Irrawaddy cruises here. There's lots of information about travel in Myanmar on Trip Advisor website.

Dem920,

Check the Roll Calls All River Cruises board. There is a post there re the A Rosa Danube Delta cruise July 30 by Cindy.

We cruised with Viking in 2008. Best thing we did was stay three nights pre and post cruise in Moscow and St Petersburg and explore independently. With a good street map and enough knowledge of the Cyrillic alphabet to decipher place names and street signs it was easy to move around on foot and by metro. We saw much more than on the crowded Viking excursions which spent so much time getting 50 pax on and off buses, in and out of toilets and in souvenir shops.

Beware constantly of pickpockets in the cities, they are brilliant at their work, absolutely world class. Shipmates were targeted even on Viking excursions. Keep wallet, camera etc in inside zippered pockets and stay alert. We were targeted on a platform but my outside pockets held nothing but soggy tissues, festy with the ship's virus. No loss at all.

Have you tried the Trip Advisor website (http://www.tripadvisor.com) for information about your destination ports? On the menu bar the "Things to Do" heading provides a selection of local attractions and the "More" heading has a section "Travel Forum" which is similar to the Cruise Critic boards.

We are doing the cruise with Viking Prague to Berlin in June 2014. We will travel independently pre and post cruise in Czech Republic and Germany.

Notamermaid and Steamboats have reported little snow last winter so Elbe levels are low. I am prepared for, but hope we won't have, a floating hotel and bus trips to the "ports".

I'll report on my return.

Thank you both, Steamboats and Notamermaid, for your information. I'm well aware of the vagaries of meteorology and don't expect guarrantees of rainfall or water levels a month, or even a week, ahead.

However Australian mainstream media does not report details of weather in Europe unless it is catastrophic. Your report of a warm winter and little snow (unlike 2013) hence low water levels, is valuable and the website recommended by Notamermaid is self-explanatory. I will be able to follow the Elbe levels and steel myself to the worst case scenario of an immobile floating hotel and bus trips to our "ports". And hope for enough rain to float the boats but not so much that the farmers are distressed.

We have time post cruise in Germany to return to places we want to see again. All of the cruise is within a day's travel of Berlin.

Notamermaid, I appreciate your posts. Do you have any information you have about the Elbe water levels? We are booked to "cruise" from Prague to Berlin at the end of June and hope there has been sufficient rain in the headwaters to float the boats.

Arranging private tours in ports is not hard. The biggest concern, especially travelling out of town, is to be back on the ship before it sails. If your private tour is delayed for any reason the ship will NOT wait. It is your responsibility to get to the next port.

The next job is to find a private tour operator who understands your interest, has the contacts to make it work and is prepared to make the effort when there are hundreds of Infinity passengers wanting a drive around the city, the vineyards and a seafood lunch.

You can search the posts on this board for recommendations for tour operators in Valparaiso. Trip Advisor (http://www.tripadvisor.com) is another good source. Go to its Valparaiso travel forum. If you like the reports, make contact. Most operators don't expect to be paid till you start the tour.

I understand your request. My husband is a farmer, likes to talk farming so I look for tours that let him kick the dirt and chat to another farmer. It's not easy and more difficult where we don't speak the local language. No problem if you speak Spanish.

Can you make contact with Valparaiso beekeepers through international beekeeper organisations or affiliates of US groups? If you can present a tour operator with a list of places you want to visit it, might be easier.

Good luck, I hope you enjoy your trip.

Viking may be re-thinking its Dnipro (Dneiper) river cruises scheduled to resume in early May. These spend several days in each of the Crimea Black Sea ports of Odessa, Yalta and Sebastopol as well as visiting the Dnipro River ports of Kherson, Zaphoryze and Kiev.

It's two months away and the situation may be resolved by then.