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Rhine water levels 2018 and similar topics


notamermaid
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14 minutes ago, femme de mer said:

I want to echo skybluewaters! 

 

I was on Crystal's Debussy from October 1 -10. Our original itineray Basel- Amsterdam was amended to start from Andernach- with ports being: Koblenz, Cochem, Cologne, Arnhem Rotterdam, Amsterdam.

 

Given the water level situation at that time, Crystal was able to arrange for a boat excursion through the Rhine Gorge-  It was splendid and was greatly appreciated as this was removed from the original itinerary. 

Thank you, notamermaid, for that suggestion. Prior to my trip, I was communicating via both email and phone with guest relations and had made that request.

Femme de Mer,

do you mean I suggested that Crystal could offer a trip on an excursion boat as they could not sail the Rhine gorge with the cruise ship, you communicated with them and they hired one, quickly reacting to customer suggestions - in this case of a not so tiny logistically and money wise nature? If this is the case, then: heyyyeah!!  (Represents an outburst of happiness:classic_smile:).

 

notamermaid

 

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Last night we received the options from Crystal (via ourTA) for our long-booked Mahler res. for the Amsterdam to Budapest cruise ... 16 days embarking on Nov. 4. As some earlier posts have noted, Crystal has tried very hard to keep a cruise that is all on the boat (no hotels, etc). However the itinerary has changed radically (e.g. a total of 7 days in Amsterdam and a significant number  Holland /Netherland stops.) If you stay reserved on the cruise, they offer a  25% discount on a future Crystal product plus some fair compensation for necessary changes in air reservations and a coach flight to Budapest on disembark day to meet your original flight home.

 

Alternative choice: 100% refund for the Crystal cruise charges, and no other incentives ... e.g. we will need to pay all of our airline change fees, deal with hotel cancelations and travel insurance cancelation.

 

 With very much disappointment to miss this great original river trip, we have accepted the full Crystal refund. The new itinerary overlaps too much with other visits we have made to these places.  Overall, Crystal has measured up to its reputation as a top customer friendly company.

 

Back to the ocean cruise (Crystal) in January. Best luck to all of you with your river cruise plans!!

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28 minutes ago, Rusty3 said:

Alternative choice: 100% refund for the Crystal cruise charges, and no other incentives ... e.g. we will need to pay all of our airline change fees, deal with hotel cancelations and travel insurance cancelation.

 

 With very much disappointment to miss this great original river trip, we have accepted the full Crystal refund. The new itinerary overlaps too much with other visits we have made to these places.  Overall, Crystal has measured up to its reputation as a top customer friendly company.

 

Sorry you have had to cancel your anticipated cruise but at least Crystal gave you options.  Other companies aren't as gracious.  Hope that your insurance company and / or credit card trip insurance covers any of the other losses that you incurred.

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Thank you to all who are posting information here.  I am booked on Uniworld's River Queen AMS-BSL, departing AMS November 2nd.  

 

If anyone has any information on that particular cruise, I would love to hear it. (I have been getting a bit of information on MarineTraffic.com, but am still trying to figure out how to navigate the site.)

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20 hours ago, DonnaMW said:

 

Please Vantage, just give us options!  Understand if you cancel. Had a great time in 2016!, still love ya!  Thanks.

Ural Guy,   well neighbor called today to Vantage and Insurance throught them.   answer was we will definitely let you know

by Wednesday.  Well Thanks  24 hours before we are to leave.  And yes you can cancel and say goodbye to the monies.   My neighbor is concerned with busing and I see her point.  They did a bus tour with Vantage out west and the getting on and off the buses was a problem for her.  So that is why she chose a river cruise.  If she doesn't get off for a tour no big deal to them.  She went 2 weeks in Caribbean and never got off. 

So pack and wait is the game now

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23 hours ago, OldCrustyGuy said:

Anyone booked on an upcoming Grand Circle Rhine/Mosel cruise?  Two weeks from today we depart for our air gateway city and fly on November 7.  Were told we would hear something two weeks out - that obviously isn't happening.  Would like to hear from any other Grand Circle cruisers whether you recently completed the cruise or are pending departure.  Goes without saying, have found notamermaid's postings quite enlightening.

Reply to OldCrusty - we returned last week from Grand Circle Vienna to Amsterdam.  5 nights in hotels & 2 nights using ship as hotel with several long bus trips.   They did provide extra excursions (bus to Munich for Octoberfest which was an amazing experience). It certainly wasn’t perfect but they did a pretty good job of handling a difficult situation.  

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It has been raining in my part of the valley on and off - mainly just as drizzle - since this morning. From what I have seen on the weather map it has been at least similar further South and it is currently raining around Freiburg (which is near Breisach).

 

But the river levels have not risen yet as it was too little rain. Hopefully the rain forecast for the weekend will do a little more for river cruisers. Yet, do not expect vast quantities, that is not going to happen. Neither is a return to adequate water levels in the Rhine gorge by Monday according to the authorities.

 

The figures tonight: Maxau 313cm, Kaub 28cm, Koblenz 20cm.

 

notamermaid

 

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1 hour ago, beckmars said:

Thank you to all who are posting information here.  I am booked on Uniworld's River Queen AMS-BSL, departing AMS November 2nd.  

 

If anyone has any information on that particular cruise, I would love to hear it. (I have been getting a bit of information on MarineTraffic.com, but am still trying to figure out how to navigate the site.)

We are also booked on this cruise and at this point we do not know if we are a foot or a float...no pun intended!  Please If there are any Uniworld cruisers who have done the Rhine and Moselle recently, share your experience.

 

Thanks, too, to all who are posting on this thread.  It is the first thing we check in the morning and the last at night.

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On the Viking Mani November 9, B>A.

Here’s an ironic thought - if people cancel because of anxiety over itinerary uncertainty or bussing ( and the cruise does go), then the ship is lighter and may travel better through the low spots.

Yes, I DO have a strange perspective on things...

Just sayin’.

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14 minutes ago, CILCIANRQTS said:

On the Viking Mani November 9, B>A.

Here’s an ironic thought - if people cancel because of anxiety over itinerary uncertainty or bussing ( and the cruise does go), then the ship is lighter and may travel better through the low spots.

Yes, I DO have a strange perspective on things...

Just sayin’.

Good point.  I'm just going to roll with it, and get what I get :)  It will be an adventure for sure.

 

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Hi

Just wanted to check whether there's anyone going on the Scenic- Zurich to Amsterdam Christmas Markets Tour departing Zurich on 12/12/18 and whether anyone has any update regards the tour? Just checked the Scenic website and it says river levels are still low.

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11 hours ago, Olivera said:

Hi

Just wanted to check whether there's anyone going on the Scenic- Zurich to Amsterdam Christmas Markets Tour departing Zurich on 12/12/18 and whether anyone has any update regards the tour? Just checked the Scenic website and it says river levels are still low.

Hello Olivera,

 

welcome to CruiseCritic. As it has become customary, regardless of the current river situation, may I recommend the stickies by our host jazzbeau at the top of the page about river cruising to you? They are a great source of information. If you have been on a river cruise before you will probably know a lot of stuff already but it is fun to read in anticipation of your cruise. For the river levels and updates on your cruise - as Mark_T has pointed out already - you are too early. If Scenic has got any problems with ships logistically (wrong ship in the wrong place) do not expect to hear from them before 24 November, but probably quite a few days after that. They can still manoeuvre ships a lot between now and your cruise date. If there are nautical problems do not expect to hear from them until possibly a few days before your cruise. Nobody knows what will happen with river levels in December at this point.

 

notatmermaid

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On 10/24/2018 at 10:16 AM, djh1959 said:

notamermaid, I am in Melbourne, Australia, and they were talking about it on the radio the other day.  Someone called in saying that their friend's cruise had been cancelled.  Everyone seemed very shocked and had no idea why, but then people started ringing in explaining.  So the news is certainly filtering out.

Hello djh1959,

that is interesting and with the news spreading hopefully means that nobody will be suddenly hit any more by the company's announcement e-mail 24 hours or such before they board a plane. Even after having read the small print one does not necessarily assume you will be the one that could be affected.

 

And a major news website in Australia has picked up on the situation very much helping to spread the news across the continent: https://www.news.com.au/world/europe/the-once-mighty-rhine-river-is-at-a-record-low-bringing-businesses-and-boats-to-a-standstill/news-story/3de93856f9200dc854d1ff16363ddefb

 

Another website in Australia dedicated to river cruising is also reporting: https://rivercruisepassenger.com.au/lines-cancel-cruises-as-europes-rivers-run-dry/

 

It is currently raining in Karlsruhe but overall it is drier today in the valley and tomorrow will see hardly any rain. That will return more on Saturday and Sunday. The forecast for Maxau gauging station is looking more promising for the weekend. This will not show at Kaub and Koblenz before Monday and a prediction for those areas is not available that far out.

 

Overall, it is a logistical nightmare for everyone who relies on the river "functioning" properly, a great loss for business including river cruise companies - according to IG River Cruise, the cooperation dealing with the industry's interests - and a great worry for the locals. It is official - it has never been this bad since anybody started recording things about the Rhine river in earnest in the 19th century.

 

Worms a few days ago got itself a new water level record of 1cm! As we know, the navigation channel is much deeper. Still, it is a worry as there is less and less room in there as well. Worms is currently at 6cm which means the navigation channel is (on paper) 144cm. Not a lot...

 

The other stations: Maxau 311cm, Kaub 32cm, Koblenz 25cm.

 

notamermaid

 

 

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Looking at marinetraffic.com it looks like AMAPrima has changed her 10 day Rhine/Moselle to Rotterdam/Amsterdam. Her track also shows previous voyage was Amsterdam/Rotterdam.  At least passengers get to stay onboard for voyage. I’ve been following this thread as we’re scheduled to be on Prima for her November 17 Wine Rhine voyage. Do know things can change and I’m great at adapting. Very much appreciate everyone’s input on this thread.

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18 hours ago, CILCIANRQTS said:

On the Viking Mani November 9, B>A.

Here’s an ironic thought - if people cancel because of anxiety over itinerary uncertainty or bussing ( and the cruise does go), then the ship is lighter and may travel better through the low spots.

Yes, I DO have a strange perspective on things...

Just sayin’.

It's a nice thought. It won't make much difference. I did a quick calculation for a Viking longship, and 190 people weighing 100 kg (220 lbs) each amount to about half a percent of the weight of the water displaced, so the draft of the ship might be reduced by about 10 cm if there are no passengers aboard.  Us nerds like to do the math. 😅

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51 minutes ago, FuelScience said:

It's a nice thought. It won't make much difference. I did a quick calculation for a Viking longship, and 190 people weighing 100 kg (220 lbs) each amount to about half a percent of the weight of the water displaced, so the draft of the ship might be reduced by about 10 cm if there are no passengers aboard.  Us nerds like to do the math. 😅

I too am a math nerd. You forgot that each of the people have luggage which increases the weight. It still won't make much difference.

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So here is one for the maths and nautical nerds. The gross tonnage for the Viking longships is given as 5000 GT: https://www.cruisemapper.com/wiki/753-cruise-ship-sizes-comparison-dimensions-length-weight-draft How much percentage then is 190 passengers at 100kg each (let us just stick with the simple figure seeing that some people weigh less anyway making up for some of the luggage) of that? Is it so easy to get to extra or fewer centimetres in draft or does not need to calculate this via the displacement tonnage?

 

notamermaid

 

Edited by notamermaid
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1 hour ago, notamermaid said:

So here is one for the maths and nautical nerds. The gross tonnage for the Viking longships is given as 5000 GT: https://www.cruisemapper.com/wiki/753-cruise-ship-sizes-comparison-dimensions-length-weight-draft How much percentage then is 190 passengers at 100kg each (let us just stick with the simple figure seeing that some people weigh less anyway making up for some of the luggage) of that? Is it so easy to get to extra or fewer centimetres in draft or does not need to calculate this via the displacement tonnage?

 

notamermaid

 

First, my original calculation was wrong. Here’s how I did it, but this time I hope that I used the correct numbers.

 

I didn’t think to look up the tonnage, I went at it another way. I figured that the ship's footprint was equivalent to a 135x29m rectangle, and that it had a 2 m draft. That would give a water displacement of about 7,800  cubic meters (135x29x2). That would be about 7.8 million kg (more than the 5 million from the reference). So the passengers’ weight would be about 38,000 kg or 0.5% of the total weight. reducing the 2 meter displacement by 0.5%% would result in a decrease of about 1 cm.

 

This overestimates the boats mass since the hull below the water line isn't a rectangle, but it's tapered. Using the 5 T from the table you mentioned  for the vessel mass, the passenger weight goes up to about 0.76% of the vessel mass, so the 2 meter displacement would be lessened by 0.0076 times 200 cm or 1.5 cm.

 

So the 10 cm number in my original post was way too large. Offloading all the passengers would make a difference in displacement of only 1-2 cm.

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On 10/24/2018 at 3:04 PM, beckmars said:

Thank you to all who are posting information here.  I am booked on Uniworld's River Queen AMS-BSL, departing AMS November 2nd.  

 

If anyone has any information on that particular cruise, I would love to hear it. (I have been getting a bit of information on MarineTraffic.com, but am still trying to figure out how to navigate the site.)

We are also on the River Queen on Nov. 2.  Would love to hear from Passengers on the ship this week. Have not heard a thing from Uniworld if the itinerary will be modified.

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