Jump to content

Any River Cruises cancelled due to low water?


Morgans
 Share

Recommended Posts

Has anyone had their river cruise completely cancelled and if so how much notice was given?

I completely understand that some companies 'tweak' the itineraries with different tours/buses/hotels etc etc but we are wondering if it ever gets to a point when the itinerary is so vastly different that you are going on a completely different holiday to the one that was originally booked. We are due to travel very soon and have had no word from APT regarding changes (reading the boards we can't fail to appreciate that there will be changes ahead) but were just wondering if it ever gets to the point where there are just too many changes overall and an offer of a refund would be preferable.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

APT partners with AMA, which is one of the best river lines for low water (their ships have shallow draft and their captains are courageous). There was a post yesterday that said "AMA ships made it to Budapest but many others didn't, so had to bus there."

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showpost.php?p=56760957&postcount=20

 

AMA also does the ship swap tango:

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showpost.php?p=56741965&postcount=116

 

So my guess is that you don't have to worry about your cruise being cancelled (or turned into a bus trip).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I am currently sailing an APT river cruise that left Amsterdam Aug 4 and due in Budapest Aug 18..

Our ship wasn't able to get through/to Regensburg so we swapped from AmaVenita to AmaReina while touring Nuremberg.

This caused very minimal disruption.

Today we were in Salzburg and this evening met our ship at Linz.

Everything seems to be on track.

Having a fabulous holiday!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

What does "ship swap" mean? How does that work?

In a ship swap the passengers from one ship pack up there belongings and are transferred to a second ship beyond the point where the river is not navigable. The passengers from the second ship do the same thing and switch to the first ship. Think of points ABCD on a line. Your cruise is planned from A to D but there is low water between B and C. You start at A and cruise on your first ship to B, then you are bussed to C to continue on a second ship to your final destination D. The people who began parallel to you at D are in the opposite part of the swap. This plays out on rivers because ships go up and down river on a continuous basis.

For DW and I it happened 2 years ago at a classic location on the Amsterdam to Budapest trip. The river/canal was low near Regensburg so we swapped between Nuremberg and Passau. It involved one long bus ride for the swap and another for those who elected to go back to Regensburg to tour. Since Viking designed all the longships to be identical we went into the exact same room on the new ship.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

What does "ship swap" mean? How does that work?

 

 

 

You pack up all your belongings on one ship leave it outside your cabin and head off on an excursion. While you are away your belongings are transferred to a (usually identical) other ship on the other side of the blockage. Your cruise director generally moves with you but crew stays with the ship.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Does anyone know if uniworld’s Antoinette has been able to navigate the Rhine ?

Sadly, we were to be on that cruise and it was cancelled. Sailing Sunday and were notified Monday late afternoon. It affected many other plans as we had pre and post cruise reservations.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Sadly, we were to be on that cruise and it was cancelled. Sailing Sunday and were notified Monday late afternoon. It affected many other plans as we had pre and post cruise reservations.

 

I’m so sorry , after all the anticipation for it to be canceled. Did you get help with your air or other bookings ?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We were booked on Uniworld Bucharest to Budapest 27 August to 5 September.

Yesterday we were advised that it has been cancelled. We are in the process of reorganising flights and accommodation to do something else.

Have just been advised that they are thinking about reinstating it, but won't decide until Tuesday. Apparently there is rain expected over the weekend.

We are sticking with our reorganised plans. If we reinstate plan A they could still decide in a few days time to re cancel if the expected rain does not arrive!!

We are in New Zealand and due to leave for Europe this Sunday.

I realise water levels are beyond their control, but this inability to decide whether they are operating or not is no good for the travellers!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I agree that the weather is not in anyone’s control, but it sure is hard trying to plan for alternate travel. I was checking out cruise tracker and it shows the Antoinette docked in Antwerp !!! That isn’t even on the Rhine. maybe uniworld is placing ships at other destinations. Hopefully someone will have more info. i plan on calling uniworld tomorrow to see if they have changed itineraries.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We were due to be sailing with Emerald this Sunday, Amsterdam to Frankfurt but it was cancelled on Wednesday. We had received notification last Saturday that water levels were low and that they had swapped boats and that they would give us a further update on Wednesday, which they did. Although very disappointing as it was to be our first river cruise, it has not caused us any problems as we did not have any pre or post things booked. We were able to cancel our hotel at Heathrow for Saturday at no cost to us.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I just got off. The phone with uniworld about my Sept. 9th cruise on the Rhine. I was told that no cruise that was just on the Rhine has been cancelled. Yes, the water is low and the ship may have to dock a little away from the norm, but no long bus transfers. Keeping my fingers crossed for rain.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I just got off. The phone with uniworld about my Sept. 9th cruise on the Rhine. I was told that no cruise that was just on the Rhine has been cancelled. Yes, the water is low and the ship may have to dock a little away from the norm, but no long bus transfers. Keeping my fingers crossed for rain.

 

You may want to check out their Instagram page. As of 3 days ago, the Antoinette wasn't sailing (seen in a reply, from Uniworld)

 

Robin

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Does anyone know if uniworld’s Antoinette has been able to navigate the Rhine ?

 

 

We were supposed to be currently cruising on the S.S. Antoinette, departing aug 12. We received an email aug 6 cancelling the cruise. Unfortunately we had pre and post cruise plans we are still trying to get reimbursed!! No help at all from Uniworld!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We are booked on the AmaViola on Sept 7th from Budapest to Vilshofen. Cautiously optimistic that we will be minimally impacted based on what i’ve read in this thread.

We are in Berlin, Prague and Budspest for a week pre-cruise. If plans change with Ama we will have to turn it into an all land vacation as we spend 3 nights in Iceland post cruise.

Thoughts with everyone that is having their vacations impacted.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We are booked on the AmaViola on Sept 7th from Budapest to Vilshofen. Cautiously optimistic that we will be minimally impacted based on what i’ve read in this thread.

We are in Berlin, Prague and Budspest for a week pre-cruise. If plans change with Ama we will have to turn it into an all land vacation as we spend 3 nights in Iceland post cruise.

Thoughts with everyone that is having their vacations impacted.

Drove along the Danube this morning, from Passau to Vilshofen, it's looking good. Didn't see one shingle bank, as one see further up stream.

 

Even if things remain as there are, there may be shallow water around Budapest, bu it should be plain sailing from Vienna to Vilshofen.

 

Have a good trip.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Please sign in to comment

You will be able to leave a comment after signing in



Sign In Now
 Share

  • Forum Jump
    • Categories
      • Welcome to Cruise Critic
      • New Cruisers
      • Cruise Lines “A – O”
      • Cruise Lines “P – Z”
      • River Cruising
      • ROLL CALLS
      • Digital Photography & Cruise Technology
      • Special Interest Cruising
      • Cruise Discussion Topics
      • UK Cruising
      • Australia & New Zealand Cruisers
      • Canadian Cruisers
      • North American Homeports
      • Ports of Call
      • Cruise Conversations
×
×
  • Create New...