Rhine water levels 2018 and similar topics

[Philandher]

5 hours ago, Olivera said:

Hi

 

Has anyone had more specific update from Scenic regards the Rhine Christmas Cruise departing on the 12/12/2018.

 

Hi Olivera,

We had the generic email from Scenic over the weekend stating the itinerary may be amended due to low water levels...…..etc.

The Opal is currently on its way to Amsterdam for the 5th Dec sailing to Basel, so it will be interesting to see if it can navigate the gorge. Hopefully we should know tomorrow if our cruise will go-ahead without any amendments.

https://www.marinetraffic.com/en/ais/home/shipid:3415229/zoom:14

Philandher

[notamermaid]

2 hours ago, Magpie22 said:

Re Uniworld’s SS Antoinette, originally scheduled for embarkation on Dec 5 in Basel...

 

Sailing now deferred until Thursday 6 Dec with first night in a hotel in Freiburg with intention to embark sometime later on 6 Dec at an as yet unknown location.

 

While the radar for Mainz presents hope is it too little too late?  Marine Traffic still showing the SS Antoinette in dock in Cologne.  How long would it need to get to say Strasbourg?

 

Hope this is not a case of Uniworld breaking the bad news gradually?  Death by a thousand cuts?

Freiburg is just in the hills behind Breisach, a standard port on itineraries. Looking downstream next one would be Kehl for Strasbourg, after that Rastatt-Plittersdorf, which is a lesser-known one mostly used for getting to Baden-Baden. There could be one in between I do not know of. All depends on when the SS Antoinette sets off and where she gets to. Here is some help, you can calculate the time. I have taken the gauge locations as I do not know the harbour locations. Cologne to Kehl (for Strasbourg) is 395.75 Rhine kilometres. A ship does an average of 5.5 knots upstream. If the crew can arrange a nonstop trip the ship can cover the distance in 38.8 hours. Add to that getting out of Niehl harbour and some time waiting at locks, with slowed-down traffic thrown in. Which could bring the total up to, ehhh, not sure, 45 hours? If the SS Antoinette only goes as far as Plittersdorf she will not have to go through locks by the way. Much is still possible.

 

The level at Cologne is still low but has risen sharply already as a reaction to two days of rain. More will come that way, from the skies and through the river. A further good rise is forecast for Cologne, with the prediction showing very favourable levels right into 6 December.

 

More on that in a minute.

 

notamermaid

 

[pully8]

20 hours ago, ural guy said:

Looks like the Arnhem Open Air Museum has only the grounds open until 8 December as they are setting up for their winter program.  Too bad for the poster as it really is an interesting place.  It's so large they have a 1920's era tram that circles the place, complete with seven stops.  I enjoyed it so much that I brought my spouse along so she could see it as well.

 

 https://openluchtmuseum.nl/winter

 

Agree it is worth a visit we were there as part of a river cruise albeit in spring. 

[pully8]

On ‎12‎/‎2‎/‎2018 at 1:28 PM, Host Jazzbeau said:

The bus ride on the way would be in the light.  On the way home in the dark, it would provide a nice nap.  [Making lemonade here]

Understand your point, might be a glut of lemonade over there at present, perhaps they could tip the excess into the rivers and help the levels?

[notamermaid]

River levels. Now this is looking much better this morning. Finally we can actually look forward to some proper good sailings. Right now, the Rhine gorge is still a bit "dodgy" but really promising. First the figures: Maxau 369cm, Kaub 54cm, Koblenz 81cm. Even Emmerich has put the single digit times behind itself and has risen to 27cm.

 

With little time on my hands right now I am not able to track ships. But I know you are all anxiously watching every move of "your" ship so keep us posted if you see a promising move around Rüdesheim or Koblenz.

 

And I sincerely hope AmaWaterways reconsiders those upcoming coach trips through "die Pampa" as we say and use the river as much as they can. (You can tell I am still puzzled/annoyed by that coach transfer via Luxembourg, which technically is not in the middle of nowhere as the saying in German suggests, but it is far from the actual intended sailing area).

 

Anyway, back to the river levels. We can expect rising levels with the rain that is forecast for the next few days. At Kaub 62cm are forecast for tonight and 85cm for tomorrow evening, with a triple digit figure likely for 5 December. Which could see 135m ships already attempting the gorge before 6 December (Sankt Nikolaus), i.e. better than I had hoped yesterday.

 

What good news (at this point you would see me smile if this was real time video posting)!

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

7 minutes ago, pully8 said:

Understand your point, might be a glut of lemonade over there at present, perhaps they could tip the excess into the rivers and help the levels?

Any non-toxic liquid will do, preferably filling Lake Constance, please. Not too much (unprocessed) glühwein please, as it confuses the fish. Actually, when I think about it, too much glühwein is sort of toxic, isn't it?

 

During a "I am desperate for more water in my river" phase I thought we could perhaps collect the water before Rotterdam and return it by tank wagon train to Lake Constance. Would have been quite a few trains and probably logistical madness. Oh, well, it was an idea...

 

Thankfully the clouds are currently doing it for us humans.

 

notamermaid

 

[pully8]

On 1 of our wanders we travelled by train to lake Constance then on to the pretty town, Stein on Rhine, worth seeing, then back to Zurich stopped at Neuhausen and viewed the Rhine falls as we passed on the train. Enjoyed the trip, nice bakery at Constance.

[sachasmum]

Always late to the party 🤭. We are booked on MS Robert Burns from Cologne on 13th Dec. Hoping the levels rise soon as I guess here aren’t any alternative  river options for the journey to Koblenz!

[notamermaid]

Hello sachasmum,

You are right, with this five-day Cologne round-trip itinerary you have no real alternative and just need to wait and see what the ship can do. But with the levels rising I am confident the Robert Burns can stick to the original itinerary. One good thing about the relatively short distance the ship travels is that all the towns are doable by coach or train. Riviera Travel could organise an excursion boat perhaps to give you sailing through the Rhine gorge. With the figures of today she would at least get to Lahnstein at the beginning of the gorge, but probably even to Boppard which is an interesting small town in the gorge. Ships have done this and then returned to Koblenz. But for now the situation looks promising for sailing all the way.

 

notamermaid

 

[Magpie22]

Notamermaid,

 

Thanks so much for taking the time to share your knowledge.  I’m sure that I could speak for all of the novices on here that we appreciate your efforts.

 

cheers

Mark

[notamermaid]

42 minutes ago, Magpie22 said:

Notamermaid,

 

Thanks so much for taking the time to share your knowledge.  I’m sure that I could speak for all of the novices on here that we appreciate your efforts.

 

cheers

Mark

Thank you Mark.

 

And while I am here, I will squeeze in a short update in-between household jobs. Maxau has now got its guaranteed navigation channel depth of 210cm again. Several other gauging station indicate that the respective stretches of river have also gained quite a bit of depth. Kaub is well on the way to reaching its depth of 190cm, perhaps in the early hours of the morning, being currently at a depth of 180cm. The gauge is running ahead of its forecast currently showing a few centimetres more than was forecast for late afternoon.

 

Managed to have a quick look at Niehl harbour and did not see the SS Antoinette on marinetraffic. I tracked her then and found out that she has "sneaked out" while I haven't been watching and is already past Bonn, well on her way to reaching Koblenz during the night. Will she continue into the gorge or rest overnight in Koblenz? I am getting excited about this!

 

You lot on the other side of the big pond can follow her on her journey during the night. I shall rest and hope to read more good news over breakfast.

 

Byeee for now.

 

notamermaid

 

[orchidj5]

AMA removed the notice about the possibility of altered itineraries for low water from their website this morning. I will be interest to see what hbr777's experience is as she is embarking today . We are booked B to A embarking next Monday and had never received communication about the possibility of alterations, although it may have gone to my travel agent who has been out of the office since mid last week.  The long range weather forcasts for central Europe on my favorite forcast site ( www.wunderground.com ) have us adding rain slickers to our packing lists.  We are getting excited for whatever may be in store for us!

[bww00]

marine traffic has Viking Mani, Kara and Herja almost to Mannheim. destination Koln

[vivivi]

First post so hope it works!

Many thanks for this ever-so-informative thread. I have learnt so much. We are on Viking on the 14th December and I see, as posted by Bww00, that Viking is on the move with three of their longships following each other northwards towards the Rhine gorges. Watching with anticipation to see how far they get.

 

[Bentwaters]

Just received word less than an hour ago that the Viking Alruna is going all the way from Basel to Amsterdam.  We left Basel on Dec 1st.  It rained heavily while we were at Strasbourg.  Our cruise director called it a "Christmas miracle" and it does seem to be one.  The day before we left we were told there was an 80% chance we would change boats.  Now we can completely unpack our suitcases.

Doug

[vivivi]

2 minutes ago, Bentwaters said:

Just received word less than an hour ago that the Viking Alruna is going all the way from Basel to Amsterdam.  We left Basel on Dec 1st.  It rained heavily while we were at Strasbourg.  Our cruise director called it a "Christmas miracle" and it does seem to be one.  The day before we left we were told there was an 80% chance we would change boats.  Now we can completely unpack our suitcases.

Doug

Great news for you Bentwaters, you will all be singing tonight. It makes such a difference not to have to pack and unpack. Well done to your Captain and crew.

[peasmith]

52 minutes ago, vivivi said:

First post so hope it works!

Many thanks for this ever-so-informative thread. I have learnt so much. We are on Viking on the 14th December and I see, as posted by Bww00, that Viking is on the move with three of their longships following each other northwards towards the Rhine gorges. Watching with anticipation to see how far they get.

 

Vivivi

Are you on the Mani too on the 14th? We have been watching all the comments on here and must say that it's looking promising for a successful trip with more rain forecast over the next few days.  We have been on the Rhine and Danube many times during November and December including Xmas and have been so lucky with no ship swaps.

[peasmith]

39 minutes ago, Bentwaters said:

Just received word less than an hour ago that the Viking Alruna is going all the way from Basel to Amsterdam.  We left Basel on Dec 1st.  It rained heavily while we were at Strasbourg.  Our cruise director called it a "Christmas miracle" and it does seem to be one.  The day before we left we were told there was an 80% chance we would change boats.  Now we can completely unpack our suitcases.

Doug

Miracles do happen! A friend was in Strasbourg last week whilst visiting family in Mannheim and I asked her to do a rain dance whilst she was there and looks like it worked!

[Bentwaters]

21 minutes ago, peasmith said:

Miracles do happen! A friend was in Strasbourg last week whilst visiting family in Mannheim and I asked her to do a rain dance whilst she was there and looks like it worked!

Yes ... her rain dance worked.  We stayed on board the boat while other passengers went in to see the Christmas Market in Strasbourg  ... they came back drenched ... soaked to the skin.  But some good news and libations raised everyone's spirits.

Doug

[vivivi]

21 minutes ago, peasmith said:

Vivivi

Are you on the Mani too on the 14th? We have been watching all the comments on here and must say that it's looking promising for a successful trip with more rain forecast over the next few days.  We have been on the Rhine and Danube many times during November and December including Xmas and have been so lucky with no ship swaps.

Yes we are. We've never had a ship swap either, though we did forego a booked Elbe cruise because of water levels. Just hope that the levels stay high enough to see us through. 

[Crusin Kelly]

SUPER SUPER news... We are supposed to be on Mani on a B to E on the 7th... she is one of the northbound Viking ships...   We hope she makes it...   HOWEVER... if she does, she will be in Amsterdam instead of Basel on the 7th.... hmmm...  seems our ship swap will occur before our trip even starts... Hope there is a Viking longship in Basel on Friday....

 

 

[AUFan83]

2 hours ago, Bentwaters said:

Just received word less than an hour ago that the Viking Alruna is going all the way from Basel to Amsterdam.  We left Basel on Dec 1st.  It rained heavily while we were at Strasbourg.  Our cruise director called it a "Christmas miracle" and it does seem to be one.  The day before we left we were told there was an 80% chance we would change boats.  Now we can completely unpack our suitcases.

Doug

 

Thank you so much for the info! We board the Alruna in Amsterdam on Saturday-so excited!

[Valley Girl of VA]

 

I embark Saturday on AMAPrime B to A and have been told that most likely we will get our original itinerary back.  that is after I spent three days on the phone cancelling my nonrefundable hotel rooms for our extra days in Amsterdam since our altered itinerary already had us there 3-4 days.  Part of me is disappointed at the loss of a future free cruise and all the time I have spent researching our alternate itinerary cities.  Part of me is happy I get to go to those cities that were important for me to originally go to and yet I've now invested myself into the new itinerary and a future cruise, which I already picked out.  My brain is tired.

[peasmith]

34 minutes ago, Crusin Kelly said:

SUPER SUPER news... We are supposed to be on Mani on a B to E on the 7th... she is one of the northbound Viking ships...   We hope she makes it...   HOWEVER... if she does, she will be in Amsterdam instead of Basel on the 7th.... hmmm...  seems our ship swap will occur before our trip even starts... Hope there is a Viking longship in Basel on Friday....

 

 

Good luck! Hope she stays in Amsterdam for our 14th Dec departure!

[Prolly]

33 minutes ago, Crusin Kelly said:

SUPER SUPER news... We are supposed to be on Mani on a B to E on the 7th... she is one of the northbound Viking ships...   We hope she makes it...   HOWEVER... if she does, she will be in Amsterdam instead of Basel on the 7th.... hmmm...  seems our ship swap will occur before our trip even starts... Hope there is a Viking longship in Basel on Friday....

 

 

It will be the Idi. We just swopped to it today. Extra day in Strasbourg. Looks like we missed getting through the Gorge by a day. Still, the day boat was fine. We get to Basel on Friday.