How often is the water level high or low?

[MarkBearSF]

It seems that many, if not most, trip reports contain a comment that for part of the cruise the water level was too high or two low and the passengers were offloaded to busses to the next stop. As a matter of fact a friend of a friend is currently on a GCT cruise on the Elbe (I think) and they had to offboard a couple of days ago.

 

How often does this happen?

Which rivers are most sensitive to water level problems?

Are some seasons worse than others? (We'll be doing a Rhine cruise in April, so I'd think that high water would be more likely than later in the Summer?)

[beverlyjack]

We have done 5 cruises, all with GCT, the Nile, the Yangtze, the Svir and Volga, the Rhine, and a combination of the Rhine and Danube. The only time our trip as affected was on the Yangtze, where we were bussed about an hour downriver to board the ship, due to low water. This was when they were still filling the three gorges dam. This may no longer be a problem. The only other time we had a potential problem was on a Rhine/Danube cruise, where there was concern that the water was marginally low, but we had no problem. A Viking ship leaving Amsterdam shortly after us could not make it to its first stop.

 

Of the rivers we have cruised, the Danube, Rhine and Yangtze seem to be the most prone to low water problems and the Danube and the Seine to high water, due to old quaint bridges. For low water, there is a difference, however minor, in how much water a given ship draws, so one ship may make it, and another one not make it. For high water, there is a much bigger difference, as individual ships can have a bigger difference in height above water line.

 

High water tends to be a problem in the Spring and low water in the late Summer and Fall, but either can occur at any time due to climate changes. These waterwayss are major commercial highways for the neighboring countries, so the authorities that manage them work to keep them navigable by dredging, flood control, bridge modification, etc., but they don't always succede

 

There are web sites that document river levels, but they are very technical and it is difficult to determine if it is going to impact a given cruise or not. The best source is anecdotal, reports on specific cruises on specific rivers. There is no central collection point for these reports, and the cruise lines don't really want to tell you, as it could cost them business.

 

I have been tempted to start a blog tracking reports from whatever forums I could find, probably using CC as the primary source. What exact form it could take and how accurate the information would be have to be addressed. If I hear a given cruise had a problem, and I hear nothing else, does that mean the the problem is resolved or not, so it would depend on people documenting problems and the absence of a previously documented problem.

 

I would love to hear thoughts on doing this, and even more to hear if someone already has such a site or wants to build one.

[Carhut]

I've read where there is high water or low water and people had to be bussed. I've done 7 river cruises in Europe and this has never happened to me. One cruise down the Danube to the Black Sea the water was very high due to lot's of rain further up. In fact we heard that the Rhine was too high for boats in places, but the Danube didn't have any low bridges where we were going. This was in August.

I just read the other day that the Elbe river doesn't have any locks so they can't control the river and it is a shallow river to start with. I'd like to take that cruise but don't know if I want to chance it. I'd be bummed if I had to go by bus for any lenght of time as does happen sometimes.

[GiannaD]

I've read where there is high water or low water and people had to be bussed. I've done 7 river cruises in Europe and this has never happened to me. One cruise down the Danube to the Black Sea the water was very high due to lot's of rain further up. In fact we heard that the Rhine was too high for boats in places, but the Danube didn't have any low bridges where we were going. This was in August.

I just read the other day that the Elbe river doesn't have any locks so they can't control the river and it is a shallow river to start with. I'd like to take that cruise but don't know if I want to chance it. I'd be bummed if I had to go by bus for any lenght of time as does happen sometimes.

 

Water levels can be a problem anytime but I certainly wouldn't give up the opportunity to take a river cruise because of something that might happen.

 

The more important thing to consider is how a given cruise operator deals with water levels. We have been on three European river cruises with Vantage. The first two had no water level problems. Our Black Sea to Vienna, Austria cruise in October 2011 experienced historically low water levels on the Danube. We stayed two extra nights in a wonderful hotel in Bucharest and were bussed to our destinations. Vantage included several wonderful lunches with wine and entertainment at our destinations. We missed one stop but were given the opportunity to tour Sofia, Bulgaria which was marvelous and not on the original itinerary. We joined the ship upriver and the rest of the cruise went as scheduled.

 

The important point is that Vantage handled the situation very well and made the best of an unfortunate act of nature. They called us before departure so we could anticipate the extra time in the hotel. If you read these boards you will note that some companies handled the situation very well while others didn't seem to have a clear plan B.

 

Enjoy your next cruise!

[at_nyc]

How often does this happen?

A lot more often than you like to know.

 

As you can see from other responses, cruise enough number of times, you'll eventually hit it. A lot higher hit rate than the lottery! ;)

 

We've been unlucky. Our first one turn out to be our last.

 

Due to how severely the itenary was negatively affected (only 2 out of 6 days went as scheduled), it left such a bad memory in our mind my partner would ever do a river cruise again!

 

Yes, different cruise lines handle it differently. Ours handle it in such a way it contributed partly to our decision to never cruise on river boats again.

[MURPHY27]

Latest I heard is that the water table does not compare with the high levels this time last year as it was a milder winter. I then suppose we will have to see how the summer works out with rainfall and drought.

[steamboats]

Mark,

 

Unfortunately there is no definite answer to your question!

 

I´ve experienced high and low water on European rivers, I´ve experienced high water on the Mississippi river and its tributaries.

 

Both is depending on the weather and we had severe floodings here in Germany in August which should be a dry and low water month - generally -. We had draughts in April which should be the month of the spring flood.

 

It´s all part of river cruising!!

 

steamboats

[Gail & Marty sailing away]

It happens very often ..