Rhine water levels 2018 and similar topics

[Oldacura]

We're scheduled on Viking leaving Basel to Amsterdam on October 1st. Never done a river cruise before. I am very concerned about the water levels. I spoke with Viking and they said they won't know much of anything until right before we leave the US. They said that if they have to cancel, we will get a full refund (true?).

 

My first choice would be to experience the cruise as we imagined when we booked in February. My second choice would be to have them cancel before we leave. My last choice would be to embark on the cruise and wind up taking a bus through Germany.

 

Have any here experienced my last choice? How likely is this? Thanks

[notamermaid]

Oldacura,

 

 

river levels are very difficult to predict and currently the situation is uncertain for the next week as hardly any rain is forecast. Kaub river level is falling and Koblenz is now under its Glw mark again, that means the navigation channel does not have its guaranteed depth of 2.10m anymore. After next week noone knows anything really... Indeed, Viking IMO have given you the best answer they can at the moment. There has been mention of refunds, mainly concerning the Elbe river cruises. So far I have not read about real cancellations of the Basel - Amsterdam or vice versa route by Viking. Standard procedure is a ship swap with or without excursion boat use for the Rhine gorge. Other concerned cruisers have kindly provided info in this thread: https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2669343

 

 

You are very unlikely to be on a coach for very long on this route as the most difficult stretch to sail is around 60km long. This might be extended depending on how low the river level will be upstream from Rüdesheim. As I have mentioned above Viking has been very good at avoiding such a scenario with their plan B.

 

 

notamermaid

[Oldacura]

Thanks - I'll keep monitoring it. Thanks to the veteran cruisers for all the information.

[notamermaid]

Let us take a trip out of Cologne to the West to celebrate another UNESCO world heritage site, Aachen, also known as Aix-la-Chapelle. To be precise it is Aachen Cathedral and part of the old town centre that is the site, the first site to receive such a status in Germany, 40 years ago now: https://www.dw.com/en/aachen-cathedral-40-years-of-unesco-world-heritage/g-45384004

 

 

It is very different from Cologne cathedral and the city also has a very different feel to Cologne making it all the more interesting to visit - and compare the two.

 

 

How to get there: from Cologne it is a good hour's drive by car or a good 30 minutes' journey by fast train. If you take the train I recommend the Belgian Thalys, very comfortable!

 

 

notamermaid

[azbirdmom]

Glad I found this thread! We are scheduled to sail on the Viking Mani on October 5th from Amsterdam to Basel. Will be following the reports closely and will be praying for rain for the Rhine.

[AztecDuo]

In Cologne, we will take the Viking morning city tour then meet relatives we have never met! We will spend the rest of the day with them.

[SodusCruiser]

I wish we could send Europe some rain from the US. Our coast is getting beaten by Hurricane Florence....we expect many inches of rain & high winds...our cruise is due to leave from Amsterdam on September 29. I am so vested in Rhine River levels that I am now graphing each day after Notamermaid's updates.... [emoji3] we pray for rain for you!

 

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[sclewis1]

I wish we could send Europe some rain from the US. Our coast is getting beaten by Hurricane Florence....we expect many inches of rain & high winds...our cruise is due to leave from Amsterdam on September 29. I am so vested in Rhine River levels that I am now graphing each day after Notamermaid's updates.... [emoji3] we pray for rain for you!

 

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Leaving on Sep 20th AMS to BSL on Viking Vidar. Where are you finding info on current water level?

 

Seems I need to call Viking in few hours.

[jo-b]

Leaving on Sep 20th AMS to BSL on Viking Vidar. Where are you finding info on current water level?

 

Seems I need to call Viking in few hours.

 

This is a site notamermaid posted a few pages ago

https://www.bafg.de/EN/06_Info_Servi...vels_node.html

 

Good luck speaking to Viking most people have found the back office can tell them very little.

[notamermaid]

SodusCruiser,

 

 

oh dear, I imagine you sitting at your breakfast table with a coffee mug in one hand and the other nervously putting my comments on paper into a graph. I certainly do not want to ruin your breakfast, or lunch, or dinner...

 

 

I saw a short report earlier on hurricane Florence. Not good at all. That is much worse than our low river levels or hurricane Helene coming our way - that one is still very far in the distance and by the time it hits land mass, i.e. the British Isles, will be de-classified as a tropical storm. It will bring subtropical warm air to Europe and high temperatures with it, but if and how much rain will come down where, the weather experts are very uncertain about as of today.

 

 

I have got an acquaintance near Charlotte, I wonder how he is doing. I hope you are all safe over there.

 

 

Our valley is bathed in sunshine again this morning, a very clear sky over most of Germany, but Bavaria is getting some rain right now.

 

 

jo-b,

Thank you for linking to the map gain.

 

 

And here are the current figures: Maxau 388cm, Kaub 77cm, Koblenz 70cm. Maxau is reacting to rainfall which will tomorrow/Sunday result in a rise at Kaub and Koblenz but how much in centimetres it is not possible to say for certain. First, during today both Kaub and Koblenz will fall further. By the way, Kaub being at 77cm has fallen under its Glw mark of 78cm again, the term Glw describes that at 78cm river level the navigation channel at (and near) Kaub is 1.90m deep. When the level falls below that line the depth is not guaranteed.

 

 

For those interested in navigation details who have not followed this thread for long yet, I refer you to my posts #221 and #237.

 

 

notamermaid

[Marjan1]

We have just cruised through the Rhine Gorge from Rudesheim downstream. The captain told us the water level at Kaub (?) has fallen considersbly in the last three days. We made it through ok, but the sandbanks and exposed rocks were sobering.

Mostly barges and cargo in the gorge and a couple of smaller river cruisers going upstream.

[notamermaid]

Kaub it is indeed.

 

I hope you enjoyed the castles. Have a nice evening in Koblenz.

 

notamermaid

[hbr777]

Notamermaid,

 

Thank you for your updates. Is any rain forecast for the Rhine Gorge area?

[Norvig]

I was searching for the site that shows ship locations, specifically Viking Hild on the Rhine but I cannot find it. TIA.

[notamermaid]

hbr777,

 

 

not for the next two and a half days. The weather pattern could persist for another two days after that. Temperatures from Sunday till at least Tuesday will be unseasonably high.

 

 

Norvig,

 

 

one site is: https://www.marinetraffic.com/en/ais/home/centerx:7.6/centery:50.2/zoom:10

Coverage in the Rhine gorge is very poor.

 

 

notamermaid

[EllieBellieFloats]

Hello All -- I've been lurking here for several weeks learning invaluable information, especially from notamermaid. Thank you for taking the time to post, keeping everyone up to date. It has been a great help to this first time cruiser. I now have some (hopefully) useful information to add to the discussion.

 

We are scheduled to depart Basel on Sep 22 on the Viking Alruna, however, we just received an email from Viking stating the following:

"As this summer has been unusually dry, many European rivers have reached historically low levels. Due to recent rains, water levels have now stabilized; however, previous conditions required Viking Alruna to swap schedules with Viking Tialfi. As a result, you will instead embark identical sister ship Viking Tialfi in Basel on Day 1 of your cruise."

I was not completely surprised as AztecDuo had reported they were notified of a reassignment to our original ship Alruna to depart Basel on Sep 15. So I figured it would be in Amsterdam rather than Basel on Sep 22. Since notamermaid reported the Tialfi ran aground a few days back, I am assuming there was no lasting damage. This seems to indicate that if the water levels are not further disrupted, these two ships have switched places and all who were scheduled to be on them this fall will be sailing on the opposite ship from that originally assigned. Does this sound accruate?

Viking stated in their email that they did not anticipate any further changes to the itinerary and that our ship director would inform us during the cruise if additional changes needed to be made. I have no preference between either ship (unless the Tialifi has a proclivity for grounding-ha), but my fingers are crossed that water levels rise. From the sound of notamermaid's reports, we are not out of danger of ship swaps and bus touring yet.

We are also watching the effects of Hurricane Florence as we leave Tue, Sep 18 from the Midwest to connect to a Lufthansa flight through Dulles. We are hoping the storm picks up pace a little so it moves on through, but it doesn't look as if that will happen. Since there have been thousands of flights cancelled, there will be planes and crews out of place, meaning it could take days before all are on schedule again. The good news is we are scheduled to arrive several days prior to the cruise departure date, so we will make the cruise even if our flight departure is delayed, however we would miss some of the activities we planned for Basel and Lucerne. But that inconvenience is nothing compare to people enduring the monster storm. My heart goes out to all the cruisers who are in the storm path and have to make the difficult decision whether or not to go ahead and cruise or stay home and tend to their homes and families. Stay safe, everyone!

[SodusCruiser]

We appreciate your update EllieBellieFloats....we are scheduled on the Alruna on the 29th. We haven't received any correspondence from Viking yet, but it's early. Please keep us updated on your trip! Safe travels....

 

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[russandcheryl]

Hello All -- I've been lurking here for several weeks learning invaluable information, especially from notamermaid. Thank you for taking the time to post, keeping everyone up to date. It has been a great help to this first time cruiser. I now have some (hopefully) useful information to add to the discussion.

 

We are scheduled to depart Basel on Sep 22 on the Viking Alruna, however, we just received an email from Viking stating the following:

"As this summer has been unusually dry, many European rivers have reached historically low levels. Due to recent rains, water levels have now stabilized; however, previous conditions required Viking Alruna to swap schedules with Viking Tialfi. As a result, you will instead embark identical sister ship Viking Tialfi in Basel on Day 1 of your cruise."

 

I was not completely surprised as AztecDuo had reported they were notified of a reassignment to our original ship Alruna to depart Basel on Sep 15. So I figured it would be in Amsterdam rather than Basel on Sep 22. Since notamermaid reported the Tialfi ran aground a few days back, I am assuming there was no lasting damage. This seems to indicate that if the water levels are not further disrupted, these two ships have switched places and all who were scheduled to be on them this fall will be sailing on the opposite ship from that originally assigned. Does this sound accruate?

Viking stated in their email that they did not anticipate any further changes to the itinerary and that our ship director would inform us during the cruise if additional changes needed to be made. I have no preference between either ship (unless the Tialifi has a proclivity for grounding-ha), but my fingers are crossed that water levels rise. From the sound of notamermaid's reports, we are not out of danger of ship swaps and bus touring yet.

We are also watching the effects of Hurricane Florence as we leave Tue, Sep 18 from the Midwest to connect to a Lufthansa flight through Dulles. We are hoping the storm picks up pace a little so it moves on through, but it doesn't look as if that will happen. Since there have been thousands of flights cancelled, there will be planes and crews out of place, meaning it could take days before all are on schedule again. The good news is we are scheduled to arrive several days prior to the cruise departure date, so we will make the cruise even if our flight departure is delayed, however we would miss some of the activities we planned for Basel and Lucerne. But that inconvenience is nothing compare to people enduring the monster storm. My heart goes out to all the cruisers who are in the storm path and have to make the difficult decision whether or not to go ahead and cruise or stay home and tend to their homes and families. Stay safe, everyone!

 

Ellie's ... We are on the same ship as you.. Leaving Basel on sept 22 and received the email also. Our concern was if any damage to tialfi ... Hopefully not. We flew out last week before the storm and are spending 10 days in Italy. Arriving in Basel Thursday sept. 20 .... Been following news on the storm and it is awful. We are from Texas and were flooded last year during Harvey ....can relate 1st hand ... It's heartbreaking. Praying for the storm to end.

Travel safe and

Will see y'all on board next sat....

[DougK]

One more data point for people: I am on the Scenic Opal, and we just came through the Rhine gorge this morning. We passed several other cruise ships going the opposite direction, including a couple of Viking ships, so at least for now it appears that everybody is still getting through the gorge. Hope it continues!

[TheKingD]

Hello all. We are like EllieBellie and have been watching with interest the posts about the river levels. We have thoroughly enjoyed Notamermaid's posts, and we plan to follow all updates about the steam engine recovery mystery next month sometime.

 

We will be on Crystal Debussy in June 2019, but we have been interested in all the comments recently as cruise lines were scrambling to accommodate guests during the hot and dry months. Hopefully June will be OK for all involved.

 

We are in Charlotte and waiting for Hurricane Florence to come and go. So far, we have had lots of wind and some rain, but the worst is yet to come. There are plenty of large trees and branches of all sizes down in the city, and some power outages all around too. Since Notamermaid reported having a friend in the area, we hope all is well with the friend. We wish we could share our rain with the Rhine!

[gnome12]

Hello all. We are like EllieBellie and have been watching with interest the posts about the river levels. We have thoroughly enjoyed Notamermaid's posts, and we plan to follow all updates about the steam engine recovery mystery next month sometime.

 

 

 

We will be on Crystal Debussy in June 2019, but we have been interested in all the comments recently as cruise lines were scrambling to accommodate guests during the hot and dry months. Hopefully June will be OK for all involved.

 

 

 

We are in Charlotte and waiting for Hurricane Florence to come and go. So far, we have had lots of wind and some rain, but the worst is yet to come. There are plenty of large trees and branches of all sizes down in the city, and some power outages all around too. Since Notamermaid reported having a friend in the area, we hope all is well with the friend. We wish we could share our rain with the Rhine!

 

 

 

Wishing you all the best. Florence looks awful.

 

 

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[notamermaid]

A busy day at work has kept me from posting earlier. Here are the river levels: Maxau 384cm, Kaub 73cm, Koblenz 66cm.

 

Thanks everyone for contributing, especially those taking the time to report from their cruise. I shall be back tomorrow with a bit more time.

 

notamermaid

[EllieBellieFloats]

Ellie's ... We are on the same ship as you.. Leaving Basel on sept 22 and received the email also. Our concern was if any damage to tialfi ... Hopefully not. We flew out last week before the storm and are spending 10 days in Italy. Arriving in Basel Thursday sept. 20 .... Been following news on the storm and it is awful. We are from Texas and were flooded last year during Harvey ....can relate 1st hand ... It's heartbreaking. Praying for the storm to end.

Travel safe and

Will see y'all on board next sat....

 

RussandCheryl,

How wonderful that you're spending 10 days in Italy! Well deserved after enduring Harvey last year. So far no flight changes or cancellation notifications. We will see you on board soon. Stateroom #333.

[jo-b]

Notamermaid, your steam engine story even appeared in our papers in England!

 

 

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/lost-steam-engine-could-surface-after-160-years-c9zzpmv5f

[notamermaid]

Good afternoon from a Rhine valley bathed in sunshine (again). The sky is so bright with few clouds that a few areas of Rhineland-Palatinate are getting up to 12 hours of sunshine a day. Which is remarkable as we are close to Equinox and we can only get up to 12 hours and (about) 8 minutes of official daylight from sunrise to sunset anyway. It is very warm and the coming week will see temperature rise to 32 degrees in the warmest part of the valley. Now that is too much for mid-September...

 

 

jo-b, Thank your for posting the Times article. In the railways' country of origin and an island full of steam enthusiasts it is about time the story made it into the news. ;) The metal walls are in place in the river and soon diggers will take out the gravel and sand. At a later stage divers will carefully use special machinery to suck away sand deposits close to the (presumed) engine. There is still a slight chance that the object is not the engine but something of similar weight and dimensions...

 

What else has been happening? On Thursday a tanker got stuck for hours on the infamous gravel bank "Deutzer Platte" opposite Cologne's old town. Eventually it was freed and no further damage to ship or the river has been reported.

 

Yesterday was "Rhine clean-up day" and many volunteers helped to get rid of tons of waste along the river's banks. Near Mainz two grenades were found in the process and safely disposed of.

 

A curious problem has arisen with a ferry. The Plattlinger Zeitung on the Danube near Deggendorf (sort of North of Passau) reported a few days ago that the river will get a new ferry to operate in the area of Straubing. The ferry that was built on the Rhine at a shipyard in Oberwinter (South of Bonn) is ready to be launched but the low river level on the Rhine means it cannot safely get into the water. Now people on the Danube are waiting for their new ferry called "Posching"...

 

Which brings me to the river levels: Maxau 384cm, Kaub 82cm, Koblenz 73cm. Kaub is forecast to still rise a little but will probably fall again from Tuesday. Koblenz of course will follow suit in a similar pattern a few hours later.

 

 

notamermaid