Rhine water levels 2018 and similar topics

[dogs4fun]

Just wanted to give a shout out to notamermaid & GMT for keeping us up to date on water levels on the rivers. Because of your posts, I daily checked the Danube water levels online & had a back up plan to my back up plan. Although we were not able to embark where we were initially scheduled, we took the train to our new port & everything worked out very well for us. 😊

Many thanks!

[G.M.T.]

11 minutes ago, dogs4fun said:

Just wanted to give a shout out to notamermaid & GMT for keeping us up to date on water levels on the rivers. Because of your posts, I daily checked the Danube water levels online & had a back up plan to my back up plan. Although we were not able to embark where we were initially scheduled, we took the train to our new port & everything worked out very well for us. 😊

Many thanks!

You are most welcome.

[Intlxpatr]

Update on Tauck Christmas tours; we are aboard the MS Grace in Cologne and have been told that our itinerary will go as planned with a ship swap on Wednesday with our twin ship the MS Inspire. The MS Grace will actually set sail to Andernach on Monday night, busing us into Rudisheim and back on Tuesday, then to Heidelberg and on to some port in France where we will board the MS Inspire and have our same exact cabin. 

 

Tauck has handled a terrible situation with grace. We will have the exact itinerary, even the coaches will go along the scenic route to Heidelberg so cruisers can see the castles on the Rhine. They are doing everything they can to give us a great experience. The cruise director, Yenner, told us tonight that when given the options, only six people cancelled on this tour, everyone else held firm and we have almost a full ship. 

 

We had elected to go a day early to Cologne, and loved the Hotel Ernst Excelsior where they put us up. We saw the cathedral from our room windows, and when we awoke Sunday morning at 6:30, we easily made it to the 7:00 a.m. mass, a very special experience, having that grand cathedral all to ourselves and a few committed worshipers. The Christmas markets are just opening, the smell of roasting chestnuts and gluhwein are in the air, and there is an air of merriment. If you are traveling on one of the Tauck Christmas Tours, you are in good hands. They have a plan, and it includes every night being in a Tauck ship on the Rhine.

 

So far, so good :-)

[sailor1201]

reading avidly and thankful for the guidance posted here..... Any guesses as to what MAY happen with a 12/22 Basel to Amsterdam cruise on the AMAPrima?   I understand from the info that's been posted here that the Prima is currently on the Amsterdam side and doesn't seem to have a ship to swap with.   Flying from Boston into Basel and out of Amsterdam,  trying to figure out options.   Thanks,   and yes,  like everyone else,  we're all hoping for rain,  not just for ourselves,  but for the health of the regional economy.  

 

Edited November 25, 2018 by sailor1201
hit send too soon.

[notamermaid]

15 hours ago, peregrino said:

 

Hi pully8,

No, we don't have any further info other than a promise of some information on-or-after 30 November.

 

Here's that "bit of rain" projection:  https://www.wetteronline.de/regen-karte?fcdatstr=20181105

 

Here is the state of the river projection for the pinch-point at Kaub:

https://www.elwis.de/DE/dynamisch/gewaesserkunde/wasserstaende/wasserstaendeUebersichtGrafik.html.php?pegelId=1d26e504-7f9e-480a-b52c-5932be6549ab

 

Not too promising, by my understanding.

 

Notamermaid could probably tell us more clearly how this translates into cruising options.

 

The situation today remains more or less unchanged to yesterday. What has got better is the prospect of rain. The weather forecast has changed into a map that is showing that more rain is coming than we had thought yesterday. Nice, but not enough. Not enough for what? Plain sailing for the 135m ships. wetteronline shows us a nice bit of rain on several days for the Rhine valley. As it is not very cold most of it will be rain rather than snow. The amount is promising for raising the river levels by a few centimetres but details we cannot say. elwis website shows the forecast at Kaub and the prediction for the days after. That is not looking far into the future. The two following days show a rise at Maxau (a different website) but how much that will be in centimetres at Kaub we cannot tell. I do not think the situation will ease enough to make us - you - not worry about the large ships getting through. I anticipate more ship swaps and changed itineraries. Next week will definitely not get us anywhere near normal cruising. After that, I am hopeful but sceptical. For 110m ships I can see a chance. They have been through the gorge at near these low levels and the ships of under 100m are still managing it.

 

The river levels this evening: Maxau 314cm, Kaub 29cm, Koblenz 29cm. The forecast for Kaub is 31cm on Tuesday. The rain that shows in the graph at Maxau will not reach Kaub before Thursday. We will need to see if it enters the prediction for Kaub tomorrow. I doubt it will be much in the figures.

 

By the way, after the river cruise ships start sailing again on normal itineraries, the barges will still struggle to meet the demands. 1m at Kaub would be far better for them.

 

Oh, and ferries that had started operating again after the October low have stopped. For the second time. Incredible.

 

Here is hoping for a better forecast for the river tomorrow. And a bit if snow (not just rain) in the valley as well. Would love to see some.

 

notamermaid

 

 

 

Edited November 25, 2018 by notamermaid
grammar

[notamermaid]

1 hour ago, dogs4fun said:

Just wanted to give a shout out to notamermaid & GMT for keeping us up to date on water levels on the rivers. Because of your posts, I daily checked the Danube water levels online & had a back up plan to my back up plan. Although we were not able to embark where we were initially scheduled, we took the train to our new port & everything worked out very well for us. 😊

Many thanks!

You are welcome.

Happy to help.

 

notamermaid

 

[Valley Girl of VA]

49 minutes ago, sailor1201 said:

reading avidly and thankful for the guidance posted here..... Any guesses as to what MAY happen with a 12/22 Basel to Amsterdam cruise on the AMAPrima?   I understand from the info that's been posted here that the Prima is currently on the Amsterdam side and doesn't seem to have a ship to swap with.   Flying from Boston into Basel and out of Amsterdam,  trying to figure out options.   Thanks,   and yes,  like everyone else,  we're all hoping for rain,  not just for ourselves,  but for the health of the regional economy.  

 

I'm two weeks before you on the Prima as well.  I wouldn't panic just yet as that is a month away and yo may find it has rained enough.  I will report as much as I can in real time what is happening on my cruise.  Our itinerary will be different than AMAStella and AMAKristina since they can ship swap.

 

[Tedescokid1]

Wondering the same thing about the AmaCruise from Basel to Amsterdam on 12/22 - we have stuff booked in Zurich before hand and Brugge afterwards. Traveling with a teen that are not as go with the flow about uncertainty  as others can be. One reason I booked a cruise - hoped it would allow some level of certainty. Now I 'll just hope for the best. 

[sailor1201]

thank you,  fingers crossed for all of us. 

 

[Tfaith]

1 hour ago, Intlxpatr said:

Update on Tauck Christmas tours; we are aboard the MS Grace in Cologne and have been told that our itinerary will go as planned with a ship swap on Wednesday with our twin ship the MS Inspire. The MS Grace will actually set sail to Andernach on Monday night, busing us into Rudisheim and back on Tuesday, then to Heidelberg and on to some port in France where we will board the MS Inspire and have our same exact cabin. 

 

Tauck has handled a terrible situation with grace. We will have the exact itinerary, even the coaches will go along the scenic route to Heidelberg so cruisers can see the castles on the Rhine. They are doing everything they can to give us a great experience. The cruise director, Yenner, told us tonight that when given the options, only six people cancelled on this tour, everyone else held firm and we have almost a full ship. 

 

We had elected to go a day early to Cologne, and loved the Hotel Ernst Excelsior where they put us up. We saw the cathedral from our room windows, and when we awoke Sunday morning at 6:30, we easily made it to the 7:00 a.m. mass, a very special experience, having that grand cathedral all to ourselves and a few committed worshipers. The Christmas markets are just opening, the smell of roasting chestnuts and gluhwein are in the air, and there is an air of merriment. If you are traveling on one of the Tauck Christmas Tours, you are in good hands. They have a plan, and it includes every night being in a Tauck ship on the Rhine.

 

So far, so good 🙂

We boarded the Tauck MS Inspire today in Basel and are headed your way! I agree with your comments about how this has been handled with honestly and timeliness. That our destinations remain the same as originally booked with only the way we get there modified is a blessing considering the dire conditions of the river and impact it has on those who call this area home. Safe travels and I hope you enjoy the Inspire as much as we are!! 

[pully8]

Wonderful to read good reports from passengers impacted by this ongoing event.

Impressed by the Tauck account and how they are treating people, their valued customers.

Demonstrating a respectful attitude and corporate culture.

Most would value ethical conduct, we certainly would. 

[Lee24]

Just as all the others posting in this thread, we have a Christmas Markets cruise on Uniworld's River Queen Dec. 1st to Dec. 8th Frankfurt to Nuremburg.  We had read on another website that the water levels were OK, which left us blissfully unaware of the problem until I happened to read a notice yesterday on Uniworld's site.  We had not been contacted by them directly.  I am in a bit of a panic as our flight out of Seattle is Tuesday AM, the 27th.  Uniworld's call center was of no help over the weekend and no reply back yet from my email to them.

 

I did send emails to all the cities and tourist bureaus along the route, asking about the water levels and if the boats were getting through.  I don't expect to hear back before tomorrow (Monday) at the earliest.  I have to start cancelling reservations related to our trip by tomorrow (Monday) at 0920 am to avoid penalties........so frustrating!  

 

Anyone with additional information for this route?  What draft does the River Queen have vs. the current water levels in that area?

 

Thanks for any help / info. you can provide.

[nickbevoz]

For what it is worth, attached is a collage of the predicted rain over the next 8 days from the German web site.  It is Monday to Thursday on the top row and Friday to Monday below.

 

obviously only a prediction and they do change...

 

what the effect will be I leave to others but it does look better than recent weeks.

Edited November 26, 2018 by nstarrenburg

[notamermaid]

18 hours ago, G.M.T. said:

18 hours ago, mrs bb said:

We will be on Uniworld's River Queen Dec 8 to 15 from Nuremberg to Frankfurt, but I am seeing threads only on Rhine and Danube water level, and none on Main, is that stretch of river having any problem? Can anyone shed some light? Thanks.

You will be on the Rhein, Main, Donau canal and on the River Main, both are controlled by locks that regulate the water levels. You will not have any problems.

 

You can track the River Queen on one of the tracking sites, she is currently on the River Main heading upstream towards Frankfurt, with destination of Offenbach.

 

2 hours ago, Lee24 said:

Just as all the others posting in this thread, we have a Christmas Markets cruise on Uniworld's River Queen Dec. 1st to Dec. 8th Frankfurt to Nuremburg.  We had read on another website that the water levels were OK, which left us blissfully unaware of the problem until I happened to read a notice yesterday on Uniworld's site.  We had not been contacted by them directly.  I am in a bit of a panic as our flight out of Seattle is Tuesday AM, the 27th.  Uniworld's call center was of no help over the weekend and no reply back yet from my email to them.

 

I did send emails to all the cities and tourist bureaus along the route, asking about the water levels and if the boats were getting through.  I don't expect to hear back before tomorrow (Monday) at the earliest.  I have to start cancelling reservations related to our trip by tomorrow (Monday) at 0920 am to avoid penalties........so frustrating!  

 

Anyone with additional information for this route?  What draft does the River Queen have vs. the current water levels in that area?

 

Thanks for any help / info. you can provide.

 

Lee24, the answer to your query is in the quoted conversation above. For your additional information, the Main is between 2.50m and 2.90m deep. Unless some entrerprising beavers have their own ideas and arrangements about this - do not laugh, they did so in Berlin a few weeks ago - you should be fine.

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

nstarrenburg,

Thank you for your efforts posting this. Great to look at and assess! So here is my assessment. It looks better indeed. What is good is that there is precipitation every day. While the grey and light blue are negligible in quantity, there is also some darker blue and Friday, Sunday and next Monday more or less covers the whole area. Which for the Rhine is the bottom left of the map when you cut it into four squares. As I said yesterday it will surely give us a few centimetres. But for more details we need to wait a couple of days. The forecast/prediction for Kaub has changed little since yesterday.

 

The current levels: Maxau 311cm, Kaub 30cm, Koblenz 33cm. Emmerich at the Dutch border has fallen again close to the record low it had in October. It was 4cm in October one day. On 24th November it briefly fell to 7cm and is currently at 10cm. That translates into a navigation channel depth of 206cm.

 

This week still looks bleak, for next week we can at least hope.

 

I have posted photos before and I do not want to rub it in, but perhaps some new here might like to have a look at some photos of the drought. Only available in German I think, but some photos are self-explanatory without understanding the captions: https://www.dw.com/de/trockenheit-deutschland-läuft-auf-grund/g-46344777

the title translates as: drought - Germany runs aground

 

Now I am off to do some shopping and will be busy today with starting the Christmas decorations.

 

notamermaid

 

[Sarakmom]

I’m on Grand Circle’s Melody (B to A) and we just had a deviation briefing - still subject to change but here’s what it looks like for us at the moment - we are very pleased with how they are making the best of a difficult situation 

[Hoyas96]

4 hours ago, Sarakmom said:

I’m on Grand Circle’s Melody (B to A) and we just had a deviation briefing - still subject to change but here’s what it looks like for us at the moment - we are very pleased with how they are making the best of a difficult situation 

 

Well, that looks much better than my situation. Just boarded the AmaKristina in Amsterdam. Our revised itinerary is the unfortunate plan B:

Day 1: Amsterdam

2: Amsterdam/Utrecht

3: Rotterdam/Kinderdijk windmills

4: Antwerp

5: Transfer from Antwerp to Strasbourg by motor coach via the Christmas market in Luxembourg 

6: Strasbourg

7: Breisach (tour Riquewihr or Freiburg)

8: Basel 

No Cologne, Heidelberg, or Rüdesheim. So glad I’m doing the post cruise tour in Lucerne and Zürich so I can see a few more Christmas markets — the entire point of the trip. 

 

[Lee24]

8 hours ago, Lee24 said:

Just as all the others posting in this thread, we have a Christmas Markets cruise on Uniworld's River Queen Dec. 1st to Dec. 8th Frankfurt to Nuremburg.  We had read on another website that the water levels were OK, which left us blissfully unaware of the problem until I happened to read a notice yesterday on Uniworld's site.  We had not been contacted by them directly.  I am in a bit of a panic as our flight out of Seattle is Tuesday AM, the 27th.  Uniworld's call center was of no help over the weekend and no reply back yet from my email to them.

 

I did send emails to all the cities and tourist bureaus along the route, asking about the water levels and if the boats were getting through.  I don't expect to hear back before tomorrow (Monday) at the earliest.  I have to start cancelling reservations related to our trip by tomorrow (Monday) at 0920 am to avoid penalties........so frustrating!  

 

Anyone with additional information for this route?  What draft does the River Queen have vs. the current water levels in that area?

 

Thanks for any help / info. you can provide.

I have heard back via email from 2 of the city officials I contacted regarding water levels in their area.  Here are their replies:

 

From Wurzberg:  

"I have contacted this mornig the habour company of Wuerzburg. According to them our port is fine, the water levels on the river Main are ok, ships have no problems .  That means between Frankfurt and Bamberg ships are operating.  From Bamberg the ships are taking the Rhein-Main-Donau Channel and than the Donau to Nuerberg. About these portions we have dont have informations  The level problems are mainly on the river Rhein.  Kindly understand that we dont have any information whether your ship is operating or not. Unfortunately the carriers are not informing us about the situation

 

From Nuremberg:  

"A boat trip from Frankfurt to Nuremberg is possible without restrictions. Restrictions are only on the Rhine River. 
Normal water levels prevail on the Main and the Main-Danube Canal."

 

Thank you to those who have replied to my post and hope this additional information will assist others in the same situation on the Main portion of the river.

 

[notamermaid]

Lee24,

good to hear confirmation from two of the parties you send emails to. I am pleased to see that they replied so promptly. Good service. Enjoy your trip.

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

1 hour ago, Hoyas96 said:

 

Well, that looks much better than my situation. Just boarded the AmaKristina in Amsterdam. Our revised itinerary is the unfortunate plan B:

Day 1: Amsterdam

2: Amsterdam/Utrecht

3: Rotterdam/Kinderdijk windmills

4: Antwerp

5: Transfer from Antwerp to Strasbourg by motor coach via the Christmas market in Luxembourg 

6: Strasbourg

7: Breisach (tour Riquewihr or Freiburg)

8: Basel 

No Cologne, Heidelberg, or Rüdesheim. So glad I’m doing the post cruise tour in Lucerne and Zürich so I can see a few more Christmas markets — the entire point of the trip. 

 

Hoyas96,

I must admit, Grand Circle have thrown together a nice alternative itinerary. I believe the Melody is a 110m ship which makes sailing easier but the larger ones do enter Germany, too. I am still puzzled why Ama does not get closer to Strasbourg by docking on the German lower Rhine.

 

I hope you have a good time in all your ports.

 

notamermaid

 

 

[disnefile]

The Ama schedule is the worst of all the cruises. The best markets are Cologne and Rudescheim. Not even a possibly of see the Rhine Gorge. We are leaving Tomorrow. The worst part is that the entire trip will rain almost every day. I will never again take a river cruise. This is screwed up. Too late to cancel and there is no way to look at this other than a disaster.

[hbr777]

2 hours ago, disnefile said:

The Ama schedule is the worst of all the cruises. The best markets are Cologne and Rudescheim. Not even a possibly of see the Rhine Gorge. We are leaving Tomorrow. The worst part is that the entire trip will rain almost every day. I will never again take a river cruise. This is screwed up. Too late to cancel and there is no way to look at this other than a disaster.

I agree that this is a total mess as an alternative itinerary. Who the heck wants to go to Kinderdijk? Leaving out Heidelberg and Cologne is like leaving out the heart of the entire cruise.

 

That being said, if this is my itinerary which I suspect it will be (AMA, Basel to Amsterdam leaving 12/3), I'm skipping Kinderdijk and maybe some other stops. I hope AMA knows what a stupid itinerary this is for a Christmas market cruise/bus tour of the center of the low countries.

[Jimmy_Buffett]

 

Hi there,

We are on the Viking Tialfi,doing a ship swap tomorrow..

Here is the itinerary, looks like Viking is doing a great job of dealing with Global warming.

Edited November 26, 2018 by Jimmy_Buffett
Wrong post

[notamermaid]

26 minutes ago, Jimmy_Buffett said:

 

Hi there,

We are on the Viking Tialfi,doing a ship swap tomorrow..

Here is the itinerary, looks like Viking is doing a great job of dealing with Global warming.

Lunch on the excursion boat. That is a nice idea to bridge that gap of river and time. I doubt it will be sumptuous, probably more typical German fare. Enjoyable nevertheless with all the castles adorning the landscape outside your window.

 

Have a great day and a smooth swap.

 

notamermaid

 

[skybluewaters]

4 hours ago, disnefile said:

The Ama schedule is the worst of all the cruises. The best markets are Cologne and Rudescheim. Not even a possibly of see the Rhine Gorge. We are leaving Tomorrow. The worst part is that the entire trip will rain almost every day. I will never again take a river cruise. This is screwed up. Too late to cancel and there is no way to look at this other than a disaster.

 

I'm not certain which itinerary you are talking about, but if it is the same as Hoyas96's itinerary mentioned at the bottom of post #1592 above, from Amsterdam to Basel aboard the AmaKristina, you shouldn't be so discouraged.  Antwerp is an excellent city to visit, and it also is within ~ 1 hour 15 minutes of Bruges by bus, which would be a highlight of most cruises.  Also, Rotterdam is surprisingly interesting and definitely worth visiting.  Plus, Strasbourg is outstanding.  True, you will miss Heidelberg, which is a loss, but not going to Cologne is not that big of a deal in my opinion (other that the cathedral).  You also are going to really enjoy Lucerne, so looking at the big picture, you have reason to have a positive attitude.  The biggest issue will be the 5 hour bus ride from Antwerp to Strasbourg, and the loss of the christmas markets....but then again, I just don't get why the markets are such a big deal (but that's another topic altogether). 

So smile and look forward to a wonderful cruise!