Rhine water levels 2018 and similar topics

[jpintrepid]

nota mermaid: Thanks for your information and updates! We leave for Basel this afternoon. At the moment I'm worried less about water levels and more about airplanes departing and arriving on time -- both of which are out of my hands!

[magbol99]

Started cruise on Avalon Affinity on 8/19 Basel to Amsterdam. On wed morning had to remAin in Strasbourg and bus to Heidelberg for short visit. Skipped Mainz. Return to ship in Strasbourg for night. Left Thurs morning via bus to Rudesheim and had tour, nice group lunch at a hotel and then free time. Took local excursion boat through part of Rhine Gorge. From there bused to our new ship - Felicity Docked in Koblenz and boarded about 7 pm. Long day. Back on track now after visit to Cologne and sailing presently to Amsterdam. :eek:

[Dance momma]

Hi there, reporting in again. We’re currently on Viking’s Idi on the Rhine headed from Amsterdam to Basel. We just received word that we’ve been given the green light to proceed all the way to Basel without any deviations or ship swap. So happy and wishing you future travelers get the same good news on your trips.

 

Excellent trip so far and I’m sure the remainder will continue to be more of the same.

 

 

 

That’s great news! Enjoy your trip! Sooo looking forward to ours in November!

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

[notamermaid]

Just a quick note. Yes, it did rain yesterday. It was not much in many parts of the valley. Today we have seen more showers but again not everywhere in the valley. Overall the impact to the river levels has not been that great. Maxau reacted with a good rise, but has fallen again to 374cm. That is still above the crucial Glw (navigation channel depth indicator) figure of 369cm but could well fall under it. Kaub is currently at 60cm. Koblenz actually dropped to 49cm and is now on 55cm. Levels downstream from Koblenz are still low as well.

 

 

It is cool but temperatures will rise again tomorrow, with little rain coming. The week will be mixed with temperatures cool to Summery and a bit of rain on two days or more.

 

 

notamermaid

[jo-b]

Thanks nota mermaid for your invaluable input to these boards, it must take all your spare time! We have a month to go so are trying to be optimistic, these boards help so much in planning for contingencies as well as normal pre cruise planning.

[Notallatsea]

I am looking forward to joining Viking Kvasir for the Rhine cruise next week and finding the info regarding conditions very useful.

[Warden123]

Traveling on Viking Vidar which left Amsterdam on Thursday. Today we traveled to Cologne and the ship arrived an hour late to dock because they needed to go more slowly, but so far we haven’t noticed any changes other than they gave 25euros to those who were not going to be able to return to the ship for lunch before added excursions. We were informed today that we would not have to swap ships as there is just enough water to get us though. Hopefully nothing changes, great trip so far.

[skybluewaters]

I've been following the weather for various cities along the Rhine and the Danube, hoping for rain.

How much does rain right at the river contribute to a rise in the water level compared to rain in the mountains from which the rivers originate?

[Kittykat52]

Kittykat52 here. We returned this past Monday from our Crystal Debussy cruise. Originally we were booked to sail from Basel to Amsterdam but the river levels drastically changed our itinerary. First, let me say that Crystal did a wonderful job, with a few glitches, in handling our transportation from Basel, our original destination, to Koblenz. Since we were already booked to fly into Basel, our air could not be changed. However, Crystal paid to fly us from Basel to Frankfurt, Germany. When we arrived we were transported to a Motorcoach where we met about 4 other couples who had been sitting in the bus for an hour waiting for everyone to arrive who were going on the cruise. When we boarded the Motorcoach along with 2 other couples, we were told it would not be long and we would be on our way. About an hour later, all of the cruises had been collected from Frankfurt airport and we were on our way- a two hour bus ride to the boat. From door to door we were traveling about 16 hours with a 6 hour time change. That was the nightmare part. After being shown to our suite and quickly checked in, we finally were able to settle in, enjoy a very good dinner, and relax.

 

Our itinerary, while changed drastically, was okay. We spent the first two days in Koblenz followed by a day in Cochem on the Mossel River, which we enjoyed. Back on the Rhine, we sailed to Cologne and visited the cathedral there. Crystal added Nijmegen and Rotterdam to our itinerary before our final day, in Amsterdam. Nijmegen was very pretty and we visited a winery there. We stayed on the boat in Rotterdam.

 

To make up for our revised itinerary, Crystal offered everyone $800 toward a future cruise. At first, I was totally against taking another cruise, but when we were informed that we could apply this credit to any Crystal cruise, we booked a Serenity Meditterean cruise for next year.

 

We were impressed with the ship, the service, the food, and the ambience of our Crystal cruise. Although we missed most of what we wanted to see, including the Rhine Gorge, we understand the conditions on the river were certainly not Crystal's fault, and I think the staff went out of their way to make up for the conditions. I will not do another river cruise, but I am looking forward to sailing the Mediterranean on the Serenity next year.

 

I know there were other River ships that were able to sail from Basel to Amsterdam, but I just saw that Crystal is advertising a new itinerary from Koblenz to Amsterdam.

[skybluewaters]

"...but I just saw that Crystal is advertising a new itinerary from Koblenz to Amsterdam."

 

Kittykat52: Is the cruise going from Koblenz to Amsterdam a temporary change to a pre-existing cruise that had to be amended due to the current water levels? If so, do you know which Crystal ship this is? Or is this new itinerary a regular one that Crystal plans to utilize on an on-going basis?

 

And thank you very much for the useful information you provided regarding your experience.

[Kittykat52]

Not sure if this is a permanent itinerary change or just a result of the water levels. I think it was for the Bach. I would be interested to know if the Debussy has reinstated its original Basel/Amsterdam itinerary this week or if she is still sailing the modified itinerary.

[notamermaid]

Good morning. As I am a bit busy with work here is just some quick info. A second "wave" brought the level up to 390cm at Maxau. Kaub is at 69cm. Koblenz is still low at 58cm. Downstream from Andernach the levels are still low with Emmerich at the border at 31cm! That is close to the all-time low of 2003. As the navigation channel is deep there on the lower Rhine it just slows down river cruise ships a bit.

 

Off to work. Byee for now☺️.

 

notamermaid

[Rebecca J]

Thanks Notamermaid, please continue the posts. Appreciate them so much, as I am sure many travelers do.

[bigrhode]

Not sure if this is a permanent itinerary change or just a result of the water levels. I think it was for the Bach. I would be interested to know if the Debussy has reinstated its original Basel/Amsterdam itinerary this week or if she is still sailing the modified itinerary.

We are still on our revised itinerary leaving from Lahnstein Germany to Amsterdam. Crystal is flying us from Zurich or Basel to Frankfurt where we will be bussed to the cruise ship.

[DannyN]

Notamermaid

 

 

i appreciate your post so much. i check your post EVERYDAY.!!!!!!!!!

thank you so much!!!!

 

 

Cheers

Cheri

[notamermaid]

River levels this lunchtime: Maxau 377cm, Kaub 74cm, Koblenz 65cm.

 

 

bigrhode,

Frankfurt to Lahnstein is not too bad a distance. I hope they take you along the scenic route. Lahnstein is a relatively new river cruise port and near Koblenz, of the big companies used by AmaWaterways. A small but pleasantly old place (see part 6): https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2608575

 

 

notamermaid

[Jupiter14]

We are currently on the Avalon Visionary from Amsterdam en route to Cologne. Although the water levels are low we are doing just fine and were told the first 8 days (day 3 now) would be no issue. We’ll have to wait and see how Breisach is. But so far it has been nothing but spectacular’to all the people who are watching and reading. Don’t worry too much!!!!!

[vino100]

We are currently on the Avalon Visionary from Amsterdam en route to Cologne. Although the water levels are low we are doing just fine and were told the first 8 days (day 3 now) would be no issue. We’ll have to wait and see how Breisach is. But so far it has been nothing but spectacular’to all the people who are watching and reading. Don’t worry too much!!!!!

 

Thank you so much for the encouraging words. I leave in 10 days and can’t wait. Best wishes for more spectacular cruising.

[cruising denise]

To all of you whose trips are approaching: We are currently on the Viking Hlin. Left Amsterdam yesterday, Aug 26, en route to Basel. It is absolutely beautiful. The crew was very forthcoming yesterday in that we may still have to "ship swap" on Wednesday, after our arrival in Koblenz. If so, Hlin will pick up Kara's passengers who will then go on to Amsterdam (they started in Basel), and we will board the Kara to go on to Basel. Although a nuisance to repack and unpack again, it sounds as if they are handling it as well as possible. They have told us if this happens, they have arranged for small boats to take us through the Rhine Gorge, so we will get to see this beautiful stretch. They have also told us that there is a conference call tomorrow morning (Tues AM, Aug 28) when the final decision regarding our ability to navigate through will be determined. They have not completely ruled out that we may still be able to go through, but we can only wait and see. Stay tuned! We have a full day in Cologne tomorrow so probably no post from me then, but by late Wed or sometime on Thurs, I will let you all know what happened! No matter what, this trip has been great so far and none of our group of five regrets coming.

[notamermaid]

Thank you for sharing the news with us. It is very interesting to read the details about Viking's arrangement. It does look close either way, as regards the figures. I hope it works out well. If you need to swap could you please post us the name of the excursion boat? I'm just curious which Viking is able to charter. By the way, from a previous cruiser's post it sounds as if you might not have the boat exclusively. It could be a "join the local tourists" experience.

 

Enjoy Cologne, it is a fabulous city.

 

notamermaid

[CHTarheel]

We are scheduled to do the Rhine and Moselle Splendors Cruise on the AmaDante departing from Luxembourg on September 6. We cruise down to Basel. Any word on what interruptions AmaWaterways has experienced on the Rhine and how they have handled it?

 

I am starting to get nervous because we will be in Belgium for a week before the cruise.

[candf]

Thank you Jupiter14 and cruising denise for your encouraging updates. Enjoy your cruises.

 

Notamermaid, as always your posts are most helpful. Thanks.

[Norvig]

A big thanks to Notamermaid for keeping us updated. I see the water level did go up at Koblenz but will keep hoping for rain.

[WST]

:DThanks so much for your posts notamermaid i look for them daily and you have been so helpful

Chewing my nails nervously as we board the Viking Lofn in 2 days to sail (hopefully)from Amsterdam to Basel.

This has been a bucket list trip we have saved so hard for and my heart sank after receiving an email from Viking to say Rhine wayer levels are liw and there may be changes etc so praying for rain and hoping that all will go smoothly Hope that all of you sailing in the next few days and weeks will have a great time!

[WST]

Thanks to cruising denise and Jupiter 2 and all those sharing your cruise experiences and for your updates . Any news about similar cruises are much appreciated