Rhine water levels 2018 and similar topics

A non-water level question. We will be in Koblenz for only five hours (fingers crossed!). Viking offers a free three hour tour of Marksburg Castle. But I notice that the cable car to Festung Ehrenbreitstein is very near to where Viking (usually) docks. It doesn't appear that we can do both (Yes/no?). For anyone who has been to both, which do you recommend? I love history, but my SO enjoys views. Thank you in advance for your advice.

We were on Viking tialfi sept 22-29 ... We did the tour of castle and the cable car ... Cable car is right where Viking docks...5 min walk... 9 Euros for cable car only ... We did not go to fort but could have there was plenty of time.

Had a clear day so the view was great... We enjoyed the castle too, but it is a challenge for those with mobility issues.

Have a wonderful cruise ...

Greetings from Amsterdam. We see that the Viking Mani is here and awaiting us. Viking didn't respond to my email about where it was docked but guest services at our hotel were kind enough to tell us where it was. And when we returned to our room, we could see the logo of the ship between the buildings across the street so it's close enough to walk to from the Doubletree. There's 3 other ships docked in the same location. Hopefully we all can enjoy the cruises we signed up for! Will post when we find out about our transit through the gorge.

Good to hear from you azbirdmom. The morning mist in the valley has gone, it is now sunny and warm.

Today is a splendid day for the passage through the Rhine gorge and the levels have risen at Kaub and Koblenz. Maxau 371cm, Kaub 80cm, Koblenz 71cm.

I hope the levels stagnate - or rise - so that you can enjoy the castles watching from the sundeck of the Viking Mani.

I am off to work, a busy weekend for me.

Wishing you all safe travels and splendid days on the rivers.

notamermaid

Good to hear from you azbirdmom. The morning mist in the valley has gone, it is now sunny and warm.

 

 

Today is a splendid day for the passage through the Rhine gorge and the levels have risen at Kaub and Koblenz. Maxau 371cm, Kaub 80cm, Koblenz 71cm.

 

 

I hope the levels stagnate - or rise - so that you can enjoy the castles watching from the sundeck of the Viking Mani.

 

 

I am off to work, a busy weekend for me.

 

 

Wishing you all safe travels and splendid days on the rivers.

 

 

 

notamermaid

Thank you! We had a lovely morning at Kinderdijk followed by a visit to the wheelhouse this afternoon. I asked the Captain about the water levels in the gorge and he said we should be able to get through. The cruise before ours did not attempt it and they had to swap ships. He also said that the low water levels the last 3 months have been stressful and they are always hoping for rain. Hope to post on Monday that we are headed through the gorge!

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We have had a splendid day in the Middle Rhine valley with lots of sunshine. Tomorrow will see lower temperatures and more clouds.

Unfortunately, the river levels have reacted as forecast. After a stagnation they have slightly fallen. Tonight the figures are: Maxau 368cm, Kaub 69cm, Koblenz 68cm. They are forecast to fall further slightly.

Azbirdmom, I could hardly believe the captain's comment about the "stressful three months", but it is true! I recall looking at the levels mid-July and realising that they are getting low. It is an exceptionally long time this year. And I am afraid to say that it is unlikely to change significantly soon.

The 13th (!) update by the Federal Institute of Hydrology is not a reassuring read.

Enjoy Cologne.

notamermaid

Hello Fourmiler,

Notamermaid I too was so disappointed to hear that the steam engine had not been found. So much hope to be dashed so suddenly. What now?

The steam engine remains a hidden treasure and if it was not at all clear that it must be in the Rhine near the spot where the team had been looking for it, it would become the stuff of legends. But this was not just a vague idea of some enthusiasts. A professor of geophysics helped the team. Modern computer data and old as well as modern maps, with newspaper articles from the time, combined well to convince everyone that the steam engine must be under river groyne 527 at Rhine kilometre 386.7 just North of Germersheim. But the digging revealed nothing.

The professor of geophysics will try to work out together with impartial third parties where he might have gone wrong and the organizers need to work out further steps with the sponsors. The train museum at Darmstadt-Kranichstein has to bear quite a bill. No money came from official sources, all was collected privately and through crowd funding as well as from bigger sponsors. Financial restraints will be a problem in the future to start a new search and whether the enthusiasts will have the strength to continue - they are not young - is unclear. But nobody has given up officially...

What I found interesting is that at the time - in 1852 - outside help was called in from England. Two famous pioneers of diving could not help either as the river flowed too fast for them to work safely, though. A gentleman from a diving museum who was interviewed on television identified them as in all likelihood having been father and son Deane from Whitstable in Kent. I read up on this and I found two brothers Deane, one of whom invented the diving helmet.

This whole story has a bit of the fairy-tale Sleeping Beauty about it. The current knights are disappointed and weary, will young ones continue the quest?

Talking of quests and legends... An eight-year old girl in Sweden had a bit of an "Excalibur" experience (although I doubt she knows the story) . When swimming in a lake that had unusually low water levels she found something that looked like an oddly-formed stick or branch from a tree. It was more closely examined together with her father and she had actually found a sword! Archaeologists where called in and the sword is now the star treasure in the local museum as it is 1500 years old!

Who knows, one of these days someone might actually find the Rheingold...

The river is low a good time for hunting. ;)

notamermaid

We leave for Vikings, Cities of Lights, Prague to Paris on Tuesday, wondering what the river levels are currently on that itinerary. We received an email a few days ago concerning the possibility of a disruption in our cruise. Does anyone here have any current information?

This thread and the one for water levels on the Danube is full of current information, as recent as yesterday. Just read backwards. It's good news in that Viking has been doing better than others, bad news in that water levels are low. Have been for months.

travelgenie,

just to add to austinetc's post: just like all the river cruisers doing Amsterdam to Basel you will encounter the problems - if you do - in the Rhine gorge. The Moselle is fine. If you would like to read some general info on the Moselle, there is a general thread, probably on page two of this main river cruising board.

Enjoy your cruise.

The river levels tonight: Maxau 363cm, Kaub 69cm, Koblenz 66cm.

notamermaid

Notamermaid we are going from Basel to Amsterdam leaving on the 13 of October so from what I see might not be able to make it all way

Walsen,

I am afraid to say you could be right but 48 hours is a long time as regards water levels, so the 13th is still a long way away. However, to be brutally honest, yesterday's report by the regional television station SWR did not sound promising. After the recent rain the weather experts had been hopeful but are now predicting a "Goldener Oktober" with fantastic autumn colours, sunny and mild temperatures. This morning I am looking at a virtually cloudless radar photo of Germany and the temperatures in the Rhine valley could rise to 25 degrees tomorrow. We can have this in October but several days of such temperatures are more the exception than the rule. The rain forecast for the Vosges mountains and Switzerland either happened briefly during last night or did not materialize at all.

The river levels are on the way down accordingly, if only slowly (they usually fluctuate a little during the day): Maxau 355cm, Kaub 71cm, Koblenz 61cm.

According to the institute for the environment in Baden-Würrtemberg in Southwest Germany in the last six months the amount of rain fallen was only around 60% of what is the average rainfall in such a time period.

Experts are mentioning the record levels of 2003 again as a possible scenario for this October...

notamermaid

Hello all. We had a lovely visit to Marksburg Castle this morning and are starting through the gorge as I type this. So happy that we are going through on the Viking Mani with no ship swaps! Hope everyone else is as lucky.

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Hi Azbirdmom,

That is great that you are moving through the Rhine Gorge! Hopefully we will soon! We are on the Viking Skadi (was meant to be Viking Bragi) which left Amsterdam on Saturday 6th October heading for Budapest. I think we may be a day behind you on the Rhine. We are now in Cologne, heading to Koblenz tomorrow. We are expecting at least one ship change and hoping that ships are making it through to Budapest by the time we arrive. Nevertheless we are enjoying our trip and looking forward to the remainder with whatever the river levels bring!

Hi Notamermaid,

Thank you for your information and updates on this and other threads. I have been reading them for a while with great interest.

azbirdmom,

I hope you have arrived safely and full of castle impressions in Rüdesheim. It has been a lovely afternoon and it so much more enjoyable on your "own" ship rather sharing an excursion boat.

Brisbane travellers,

Thank you.:) Have a lovely time, especially tomorrow seeing the castles. Sailing into Budapest is just amazing. Would love to do it again.

notamermaid

Dear God, the days are hot, the nights are dry

The river levels make us cry.

The captain says that our hull may slide

Along the bottom, so we all stand by.

But buses are seen parked on the pier.

To repack or not is left unclear.

Our crew (which stays) have become very dear.

So land transport is viewed with fear.

Our wish may seem a bit insane,

When we’d normally seek no hurricane.

Our desire is a cruise to entertain.

So please, oh Lord, please let it Rain!

well done austintec! The River cruisers anthem sorted!

Incident in the Rhine gorge. A tanker has got stuck near the Lorelei rock. Shipping is halted in that river section. Closure is expected to last into the afternoon. Hope your cruises today will not be impacted too much by this. Could be a "traffic jam" resulting from this with so many barges sailing.

The river levels this morning: Maxau 357cm, Kaub 64cm, Koblenz 58cm.

notamermaid

It has been established that the accident was due to the low river levels, i.e. navigational error. The ship has not sustained major damage and has now already been towed free. Traffic has apparently resumed.

notamermaid

Hello everyone! I am glad I am back here on the separate board. Big celebration, hand the Champagne flutes round, etc.

Unfortunately, the situation on the Rhine has deteriorated over the last week.

Will be back with some detailed info and the water level figures latest tomorrow.

notamermaid

2 hours ago, notamermaid said:

Hello everyone! I am glad I am back here on the separate board. Big celebration, hand the Champagne flutes round, etc.

Unfortunately, the situation on the Rhine has deteriorated over the last week.

Will be back with some detailed info and the water level figures latest tomorrow.

notamermaid

 

Notamermaid, here is an interesting article:

https://www.spektrum.de/news/trockenheit-in-deutschland-will-nicht-weichen/1602790

7 minutes ago, G.M.T. said:

Notamermaid, here is an interesting article:

https://www.spektrum.de/news/trockenheit-in-deutschland-will-nicht-weichen/1602790

Thanks to the marvels of translation apps, I could read this.  Sort of wished I hadn't.  The soil is dry nearly 2 matters down?  That's very bad.  

We did a Rhine cruise on the Viking Hlin leaving Basel on 9/30 arriving in Amsterdam 10/7. We were able to cruise through the Rhine River Gorge on 10/3 (I think) without problems. However, for some reason a sister ship next to us the day before had to do a ship swap. Not sure why we were lucky & they were not but it worked!

49 minutes ago, austinetc said:

Thanks to the marvels of translation apps, I could read this.  Sort of wished I hadn't.  The soil is dry nearly 2 matters down?  That's very bad.  

Thank you, G.M.T. The article sums it up really.

Austinetc, you are right about it perhaps being better not to read the article. Sometimes ignorance is bliss. Severe drought with indeed the ground dried out nearly two metres deep.

I will not comment on what the two factions if weather experts think will happen in the next weeks. If anyone wants to know, get the brandy ready and start the translation programme.

Need to go, Snooker is on telly.

Till tomorrow.

notamermaid

39 minutes ago, Oldacura said:

We did a Rhine cruise on the Viking Hlin leaving Basel on 9/30 arriving in Amsterdam 10/7. We were able to cruise through the Rhine River Gorge on 10/3 (I think) without problems. However, for some reason a sister ship next to us the day before had to do a ship swap. Not sure why we were lucky & they were not but it worked!

Things have gotten worse since then, right now the cruise traffic is not making it through the gorge at all, so expect ship swaps if your cruise line has them available...

11 minutes ago, notamermaid said:

Need to go, Snooker is on telly.

 

 

One of my favorite river cruise pastimes. Watching snooker as we drift off to sleep!

Robin