Is no new good news on Viking Elbe?

We leave in a week and received "final" documents from our TA today.

No mention in the email or on My Viking about any changes.

I'm hoping for the best regarding water level!

Not to rain on your parade, but no news is no news. Perhaps one of the German posters has more information.

I recall reports from a couple years ago that people didn't find out that "plan B" was implemented until they were in Europe. That was ayear or almost every line (and perhaps every line) was unable to move for an extended time.

Not to rain on your parade, but no news is no news. Perhaps one of the German posters has more information.

 

I recall reports from a couple years ago that people didn't find out that "plan B" was implemented until they were in Europe. That was ayear or almost every line (and perhaps every line) was unable to move for an extended time.

Not until they arrived? That's discouraging. It is what it is regarding water level but it would be good to know ahead of time. I imagine they really don't know until a very few days before sailing.

Don't forget to check here:

https://www.vikingrivercruises.com/my-trip/current-sailings/index.html

Jeff

Don't forget to check here:

https://www.vikingrivercruises.com/my-trip/current-sailings/index.html

 

Jeff

Thanks!

Well, it doesn't look good. The upcoming week's departure "may" be affected. It says customers will be contacted and also to look on My Viking Journey. Not sure when or if the June 2 people were contacted. If anyone on one of the two Viking Elbe cruises June 2 happens to read this, please let us know.

Don't lose hope. Last October, we were on the "may be affected" list and our trip went without any problems.

The Elbe has had low water for about three weeks with reduced traffic but some rain had resulted in slightly better levels of over 100cm at Dresden. The level has fallen again and is now currently at 86cm there. The river is not controlled by locks so much rain spread over several days in the Tczech Republic is needed to give a steady flow. Thunderstorms with rain around Dresden do not help that much.

AnhalterER1960 could tell you more, I am too far away.

Do remember that the decision to sail will always happen at short notice and that the captain of each individual ship decides on what is safe in low water, there is no official river traffic ban.

A week is a long time as regards weather and water levels especially. I have not seen the prediction for the level but if it stays at hot as it is the level will fall further. We have temperatures of over 30 degrees Celsius in parts. Too hot for May!

I hope everything goes well with your river cruise.

notamermaid

Hard to predict. April and much of May had been far too dry, bringing the water table down to a critical level. Heavy rainfalls in the Czech republic last weekend rose the water table by three feet (!) within hours. But that was not sustainable, with the water table coming back down after three days.

You can see this in the graphs http://www.dessauwetter.de/dw/de_pegel_2013 ,showing the water levels at several stations from Schöna on the German-Czech border downriver at Dresden, Riesa and so on until Magdeburg. There you see this peak making its way down. [Please note, the graphs in this link are updated permanently, so you can see the described situation only for the next weeks].

From what I can say, Viking ships had been cruising between Dresden and Wittenberg. However, sailing between Dresden and Decin was suspended on some cruises. The decision to sail beyond Dresden is usually postponed to the last minute; they might even not know how far they can sail upriver, when they leave Wittenberg. There had been more rainfalls in the region in the last two days and more in the forecast. But they come as thunderstorms, so very locally and it is not clear, how much they will affect the water table of the Elbe. With some chance, the water levels will at least not fall for the next one or two weeks, thus leaving the navigation situation unchanged.

Viking has two ships on the Elbe, Astrild and Beyla and they do move as described. CroisiEurope sail Elbe plus some canals, eg. to Berlin and they have difficulties to get into the Elbe near Magdeburg, must be some shallow bits there. The last sailing of the Elbe Princesse II from Prague turned into some bussing with the Elbe Princesse picking up the party at Wittenberg to allow at least some sailing towards Berlin.

Hard to predict. April and much of May had been far too dry, bringing the water table down to a critical level. Heavy rainfalls in the Czech republic last weekend rose the water table by three feet (!) within hours. But that was not sustainable, with the water table coming back down after three days.

 

You can see this in the graphs http://www.dessauwetter.de/dw/de_pegel_2013 ,showing the water levels at several stations from Schöna on the German-Czech border downriver at Dresden, Riesa and so on until Magdeburg. There you see this peak making its way down. [Please note, the graphs in this link are updated permanently, so you can see the described situation only for the next weeks].

 

From what I can say, Viking ships had been cruising between Dresden and Wittenberg. However, sailing between Dresden and Decin was suspended on some cruises. The decision to sail beyond Dresden is usually postponed to the last minute; they might even not know how far they can sail upriver, when they leave Wittenberg. There had been more rainfalls in the region in the last two days and more in the forecast. But they come as thunderstorms, so very locally and it is not clear, how much they will affect the water table of the Elbe. With some chance, the water levels will at least not fall for the next one or two weeks, thus leaving the navigation situation unchanged.

 

Viking has two ships on the Elbe, Astrild and Beyla and they do move as described. CroisiEurope sail Elbe plus some canals, eg. to Berlin and they have difficulties to get into the Elbe near Magdeburg, must be some shallow bits there. The last sailing of the Elbe Princesse II from Prague turned into some bussing with the Elbe Princesse picking up the party at Wittenberg to allow at least some sailing towards Berlin.

Thanks so much!

Just returned from our trip. We sailed from Wittenberg on May 15 to Decin, disembarking May 20, and made it all the way. We had received the email alert about a week before cruising. When we arrived in Berlin, they did not know what would be. Once we were on the ship, we were updated each night. As one of the posters noted it's a day to day decision. There were people who canceled our cruise and missed out. There is always a risk on the rivers of too high or too low (perhaps greater on the Elbe). We take the risk and hope for the best. Good luck and hope you can cruise!

Just returned from our trip. We sailed from Wittenberg on May 15 to Decin, disembarking May 20, and made it all the way. We had received the email alert about a week before cruising. When we arrived in Berlin, they did not know what would be. Once we were on the ship, we were updated each night. As one of the posters noted it's a day to day decision. There were people who canceled our cruise and missed out. There is always a risk on the rivers of too high or too low (perhaps greater on the Elbe). We take the risk and hope for the best. Good luck and hope you can cruise!

Thanks. I didn't know the May cruises had gotten the email as well. If it's day to day, do people unpack on the ship?

I knew of the risk sailing on the Elbe so wouldn't consider cancelling but hope we get to cruise as your sailing did.

Which direction are you going? To my knowledge, none had been cancelled before us, but the letters went out for at least 2 sailings before ours. When I say "day to day", that was in Berlin. Once we got on the cruise I think we knew we would reach day 3 of the sailing, then the last 2 were day to day. What we understood was, if the ship could not sail, we would spend 2 or three days docked in Wittenberg, and then swap ships and stay 2 or 3 days in Decin. We would be bused daily to the towns, and distances are not very far. Yes, we unpacked and becuse we were doing the extension in Poland, the whole trip was 4 city stays, so we were pretty much packed in the travel cubes and just placed in the closet in their containers. We could pack and unpack very quickly.

Which direction are you going? To my knowledge, none had been cancelled before us, but the letters went out for at least 2 sailings before ours. When I say "day to day", that was in Berlin. Once we got on the cruise I think we knew we would reach day 3 of the sailing, then the last 2 were day to day. What we understood was, if the ship could not sail, we would spend 2 or three days docked in Wittenberg, and then swap ships and stay 2 or 3 days in Decin. We would be bused daily to the towns, and distances are not very far. Yes, we unpacked and becuse we were doing the extension in Poland, the whole trip was 4 city stays, so we were pretty much packed in the travel cubes and just placed in the closet in their containers. We could pack and unpack very quickly.

We are Berlin to Prague. Great idea about the packing, thanks!

Hope the water level improves for all of you. Keep in mind, Viking built these 2 ships a few years back, and they are more able to take the shallow waters than the old ones. When our ship (Beyla) made it through a few weeks ago, the old ship, which belongs to another company now, was unable to navigate the shallow waters. I am guessing between the lighter ships and the shortened cruise (from 7 to 5 days) perhaps you will be ok. Keeping my fingers crossed for you all!

Good of you to point that out, carken47. The ships were the Clara Schumann and the Theodor Fontane. The sister ships are described on the internet (German website) as having a maximum draft of 1.27m. The Viking Beyla and the Viking Astrild are described as having a maximum draft of 1.15m. That is not a lot of difference but can of course prove crucial in low water situations like now.

The river level is slowly but steadily falling. See also: https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?p=56233114#post56233114

notamermaid

We leave in a week and received "final" documents from our TA today.

No mention in the email or on My Viking about any changes.

I'm hoping for the best regarding water level!

We were on the Idi on the Rhine from May 9-16 and did not encounter any water level issues. It was a wonderful trip. Enjoy!

We leave in a week and received "final" documents from our TA today.

No mention in the email or on My Viking about any changes.

I'm hoping for the best regarding water level!

@ HokiePoq, as your trip is (almost) over now, of course we are curious, how your cruise went on. I hope you could enjoy it.

We were on the Idi on the Rhine from May 9-16 and did not encounter any water level issues. It was a wonderful trip. Enjoy!