River Boat Cruising Question About water levels

Can someone please answer a question for me. I have been reading reviews about river boats not being able to navigate the waters so the different river cruise companies put passengers on a bus and bus them to the next port. How often does this happen and is it just certain Companies that do this or all have to at some point due to water levels? I think I would be very upset if after spending $$ on a slow river boat cruise from port to port ends up being a bus tour. I cant seem to get a straight answer from travel companies.

If you look at the River Cruising forum there are numerous threads about water levels and what the different companies are doing.

Basically there can be flooding or low water levels and a difference in levels of a few centimetres can mean ships have difficulty navigating the shallower parts of the rivers. Also the levels can change quickly so decisions have to be made day by day. All the companies cope as well as they can by ship swapping for example where there is a bottleneck that is impassible, or where a ship is trapped and can’t make it back to the part of the river system it is suppose dto be on.

All of the companies have caveats on booking forms about their changing itinerary or ship due to unforeseen circumstances. There is also the problem that communication is problematic, it is obviously difficult for them in that situations are changing daily, ships in the wrong place, buses and tours needing to be arranged or rearranged at short notice. But the other side of this is that it makes keeping the client in the loop in a timely manner difficult.

If you search for posts made by notamermaid she is a fantastic store of information.

There are threads about delays and cancellations for most of the larger companies which will give you some idea of how the different companies deal with the situations.

Does anyone know anything about the drought in central Europe currently. Are the rivers too low for boat traffic? It would be a shame to go on a river cruise and spend most of the time in a hotel and tour bus. Ugh!

Does anyone know anything about the drought in central Europe currently. Are the rivers too low for boat traffic? It would be a shame to go on a river cruise and spend most of the time in a hotel and tour bus. Ugh!

Sorry, there are no threads on the topic of water levels.

Perhaps you should start a new one. [emoji15]

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Here is the Danube thread about water levels you can go to for information-

Danube water levels 2018 and similar topics - plus tips and info

Does anyone know anything about the drought in central Europe currently. Are the rivers too low for boat traffic? It would be a shame to go on a river cruise and spend most of the time in a hotel and tour bus. Ugh!

Water levels are always a hot topic in this forum. There are numerous threads on this topic.

Roz

I think I would be very upset if after spending $$ on a slow river boat cruise from port to port ends up being a bus tour. I cant seem to get a straight answer from travel companies.

Hi neighbor. River cruises are anything but slow. I've found them to be very fast paced. No travel company can give you an answer because they can't know in advance what the weather and water levels will be. You just have to accept this going in and roll with the punches.

Roz

The thread was moved here from roll call forum. Lots of info here on the different rivers.

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To the OP

On most European river cruises (with the exception of the Douro) there is very little daytime cruising with the exception of a few particularly scenic areas like the Rhine Gorge or the Wachau Valley. Most other cruising is done at night. If you are expecting to watch the scenery go by during the day, it doesn’t happen much.

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Does anyone know anything about the drought in central Europe currently. Are the rivers too low for boat traffic? It would be a shame to go on a river cruise and spend most of the time in a hotel and tour bus. Ugh!

Hi, We did a river cruise with Uniworld from Bucharest to Budapest in August. The Danube was at low level but we made it to Budapest. One day the captain extended the shore excursions to a whole day, from around 9:00 am to close to 6:30 pm, to get a lot of folks off the ship so to lighten the load. It worked! When we were in Croatia, there were two different ships from other lines who were stuck there and the passengers had been bused to the next port). We were lucky and had no problems, thanks to the great navigating of the captain and his crew! In fact, towards the end of the cruise near Budapest, Uniworld had sent an empty ship from Budapest to Bucharest (other cruise I guess cancelled because of troubles), and our ship stopped and the two ships exchanged assistant captains, since both knew the river in the directions they had come from so could help with what was ahead of them. Early one morning, in fact, some folks heard a scrapping sound--the captain explained to us that the ship had picked up some sand in the filters due to the low water levels, but all was fine. The captain and his crew were very visible throughout the cruise, answering all questions, and our cruise director kept up updated to calm our nerves! Enjoy!