Where do the river cruise ships winter?

I've often wondered where the river cruise ships winter since January to March they are inactive. This morning I did a rough search on Vessel Finder for 110m+ ships. The majority are not at passenger docks.This is where I've found them:

8 in Boven-Hardinxveld, NL

2 in Rotterdam, NL

6 in Coenhaven, Amsterdam, NL (very passenger unfriendly dock :mad: - I know now is out of season)

7 in Dordrecth, NL

9 north of Cologne, DE

5 in Dusseldorf, DE

10 in Duisburg, DE - wow!

15 (all Viking) south of Vienna, AU

3 in Lyon, FR

65 in total

This list is hardly exhaustive since I don't know all the ships and some may not have their location signals functioning. Some of the above may be in transit. Some locations do not provide signals. Some known ships are not showing up on the site. Certainly the numbers should be considered fluid.

On the Rhine, they seem to flock North for the winter. On the Danube they congregate in Vienna?

Any other places they winter? What do they do with them in the winter harbors? Maybe here we can hear about any attractive changes on the ships.

I think this is a legit thread here since it is about where the European river ships go. At the very least interesting. :)

If you go to the Crystal website and click on this link http://www.crystalcruises.com/river/river-guidebook/our-ships/crystal-mozart/crystal-mozart-live-views, you'll see the Crystal river boats tied up along the rivers with numerous other river boats from other lines. It's fun to keep checking as you can see when it snows and when the snow melts.

IIRC a number of boats go to Am Winterhaven in Linz, Austria. You might check there.

The Crystal link is kool. I assume it is the Am Winterhaven in Linz.

xmaser,

Thank you for the work you have put into this. Cologne North is a standard harbour for river cruise ships, I saw many blue markings (the colour for passenger vessels) on marinetraffic.com there last winter. I am bit surprised about some now being in Duisburg. It is the largest inland harbour on the Rhine, so it makes sense, but the harbour is a huge terminal for cargo which does make it an unusual place for river cruise ships. Yet, with so many new ships needing "long-term parking facilities" in winter I could imagine Cologne reaching full capacity for example hence some now using Duisburg. Or, on another note, might Duisburg be cheaper? Or are the facilities better for maintance and refurbishing?

On the subject of repairs or refurbishments: Dordrecht is such a place where this can be undertaken. I do not know of any shipyards on the Rhine in Germany still building ships, but the Netherlands still built ships, Dordrecht certainly still has the repair facilities if not building ships.

notamermaid

Duisburg has 7 Vikings and 3 A Rosa ships. Might this be linked to future passenger dockings there?

The fact that some ships rest in Duisburg over the winter doesn't have to have anything to do with that being a future destination for passengers. What probably matters is the deal the ship owner gets for the cost of mooring, the maintenance work that has to be done and the shipyard capacity, and the availability of labour.

Anyway, the MS Demyan Bedny and MS Mikhail Svetlov spend the winter in the Yakutsk river port. On the river Lena in Yakutia, Siberia, the coldest region on earth. The other day it was -56C/-69F...

Pictures were taken some two weeks ago.

Duisburg has 7 Vikings and 3 A Rosa ships. Might this be linked to future passenger dockings there?

I also do not see a direct connection with future dockings. However, Arosa has used Duisburg as a stop before and Viking did as well - for this year a search on the Viking website revealed no hits for the Duisburg port. I wonder if they ended the trial period? It would be odd as Duisburg has had a new landing stage since 2016. Wich actually gives it more capacity also for mooring in winter.

Duisburg is trying to establish itself as a stop on river cruise itineraries mostly for the area's industrial heritage. Scenic started dockings there in 2015 on an itinerary.

Caucasus and Mercury,

Thank you for the great photos of "hibernating" river cruise ships. And I will not complain that it is -10 degrees here. :D

notamermaid