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Danube water levels 2018 and similar topics - plus tips and info


notamermaid
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We are on a Uniworld trip from Budapest to Passau leaving on 7/29. We have had no communication from Uniworld at all. Anyone on a Uniworld ship or get any news from them about the condition of the river?

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We are on a Uniworld trip from Budapest to Passau leaving on 7/29. We have had no communication from Uniworld at all. Anyone on a Uniworld ship or get any news from them about the condition of the river?

That departure is more than 2 weeks away. Anything could change before then. I wouldn't expect to hear this early.

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We fly out to Prague this morning for a Viking "Passage to Eastern Europe" cruise...3 nights in Prague, two nights in Budapest, then board the ship for 7 nights followed by one night in Bucharest...

Was supposed to be on Viking Aegir...

Just yesterday, we received an email from Viking (slightly edited to keep it short):

 

"Dear Viking Guest,

Thank you for choosing Viking for your upcoming European voyage. This message is to let you know that the Danube River is currently experiencing low water levels. As a consequence, your ship, Viking Aegir, is unable to reach Budapest for your departure.

As a consequence, you will not embark Viking Aegir ... You will instead be welcomed on board identical sister ship Viking Embla.

Please accept our apologies for this change so close to your departure, but rest assured it will not alter your cruise experience in any way. Like Viking Aegir, Viking Embla is a state-of-the-art Longship, featuring all the same comforts and style as the rest of the Viking Longship fleet...

We look forward to welcoming you on board and wish you a wonderful journey.

Sincerely,

Customer Relations--Viking"

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We just got off the Viking Var yesterday - Nuremberg to Budapest. They sent us a similar email day before departure indicating a change of ship may be likely during the cruise. However, our email was not as specific as yours. We ended up not having to change ships, sailed as normal.

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We fly out to Prague this morning for a Viking "Passage to Eastern Europe" cruise...3 nights in Prague, two nights in Budapest, then board the ship for 7 nights followed by one night in Bucharest...

 

Was supposed to be on Viking Aegir...

 

Just yesterday, we received an email from Viking (slightly edited to keep it short):

 

 

 

"Dear Viking Guest,

 

Thank you for choosing Viking for your upcoming European voyage. This message is to let you know that the Danube River is currently experiencing low water levels. As a consequence, your ship, Viking Aegir, is unable to reach Budapest for your departure.

 

As a consequence, you will not embark Viking Aegir ... You will instead be welcomed on board identical sister ship Viking Embla.

 

Please accept our apologies for this change so close to your departure, but rest assured it will not alter your cruise experience in any way. Like Viking Aegir, Viking Embla is a state-of-the-art Longship, featuring all the same comforts and style as the rest of the Viking Longship fleet...

 

We look forward to welcoming you on board and wish you a wonderful journey.

 

Sincerely,

 

Customer Relations--Viking"

 

 

 

That just sounds like each ship is on the wrong side of the low water, and that your ship swap will be for the whole trip. Much easier than packing up for a ship swap mid cruise.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

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Emerald Dawn passengers are busing from Nuremberg to Regensburg for their planned visit tomorrow, then switching to a different Emerald ship. Staff have worked hard to ensure that the disruption is as minimal as possible. The hardest thing for us passengers is leaving the staff who have treated us so well this past week. Our cruise director is coming with us tho, so we do have some continuity.

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  • 2 weeks later...

The river levels went up a little due to the rain over the weekend here in the South. But currently they are dropping again. Still in the "low" but as we do have a heatwave with record temps I expect them to drop to "very low" during the next days.

 

 

As for the rivers in Bavaria (Danube river from the Canal to Passau, Canal, Main river):

 

 

https://www.nid.bayern.de/

 

 

 

steamboats

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We've just been informed that we have to change ship half way through our APT cruise from Amsterdam to Budapest, due to low water. Commencing on the AmaVenita and finishing on the AmaReina. Our river cruise commences August 4.

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I've noticed there are very few threads for APT river cruises - I've been checking fairly often.

 

If we receive additional info, I'll post. We fly from Brisbane early Thursday morning, via a night in Dubai and a pre-night in Amsterdam - looking forward to it all!

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Thank you - in the current conditions I completely understand that there is no choice. The email stated that currently there is no change to itinerary - the changeover will happen while we are on excursion - we just return to a different ship! Same cabin number etc.

 

With luck the rivers will rise before your cruise commences! :D

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We just did the Viking Budapest to Amsterdam and had the low water level experience. Viking handled it perfectly. It was seamless and we boarded the Viking Lif on schedule without missing a thing. The board was virtually identical to the Viking Embla so we had the same cabin, Program Director and entertainment. We did have to train the different bar staff, but that was part of the fun. Since we use packing cubes, there was almost no packing and unpacking issues.

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We just did the Viking Budapest to Amsterdam and had the low water level experience. Viking handled it perfectly. It was seamless and we boarded the Viking Lif on schedule without missing a thing. The board was virtually identical to the Viking Embla so we had the same cabin, Program Director and entertainment. We did have to train the different bar staff, but that was part of the fun. Since we use packing cubes, there was almost no packing and unpacking issues.

 

We're doing Budapest to Nuremberg on Aug 15. Recently, the ship couldn't continue to Regensburg and Nuremberg and no switch of ships occurred.

Where along the river did the switch happen for you?

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We're doing Budapest to Nuremberg on Aug 15. Recently, the ship couldn't continue to Regensburg and Nuremberg and no switch of ships occurred.

Where along the river did the switch happen for you?

Either Nuremberg / Regensberg or Passau / Vilshofen, depending on which way you are travelling and also the cruise company.

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They do a ship swap when the cruise is continuing well past the low water area, i.e. continuing on to Amsterdam or Basel. If you are ending your cruise at a shallow area you won’t swap.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

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Either Nuremberg / Regensberg or Passau / Vilshofen, depending on which way you are travelling and also the cruise company.

 

We are on the Scenic Amber.

We begin in Budapest so it appears we may not get further than Passau/Vilshofen. It doesn’t look like the river would rise in the next 2-3 weeks.

Thanks for your reply.

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We were on the Amber last week and we switched after the excursion to Salzburg/Cesky Krumov and were bused to Stauling where we boarded the Jade. The transfer was very organized and good except that leading up to the transfer of ships we had the bus driver from Hell, he had real issues with his driving and then proceeded to get us lost. What should have been a 2.5- 3 hour bus trip took 4 lonnnnng hot hours. What would have been seamless was overshadowed by the anxiety created by the bus driver.

Our new ship was docked in the middle of nowhere..... since we were exhausted and just wanted to change for dinner we didn't care. What we discovered was that the Jade is not the Amber, even though they are sister ships the Jade is 2 years older and the rooms are missing some of the things we really liked about the Amber (adjustable beds, screened in patio, large TV, lots of storage, wonderful closets and bathroom) so it truly felt like a step down.

The things we did like about the Jade were that they had a better lounge performer than the Amber (who we really didn't enjoy) and we were able to keep our very organized and very calm cruise director.

Our first night on the Jade was our scheduled night at Portabello's. That meal and the service were by far the best meal/service we had on the cruise.....

That first night we cruised and ended up in Regensburg after the morning tour we were bused back to the ships new location. That afternoon we cruised to Nuremberg which was a nice afternoon except you couldn't go on top all afternoon due to low bridges and locks.

Overall we were able to see everything we had been promised. The switching was done very well and very organized. We did miss some of the crew on the Amber and we never really felt part of the Jade since we were only on it 2 nights. For what they were dealing with it was well done and much better than some of the nightmares I have heard of in the past. The one thing I did feel is that my cruise was the tale of 2 ships and it did feel cut up and disjointed which left us feeling a bit let down.

Hoping yours goes as well and you have great cruising

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We were on the Amber last week and we switched after the excursion to Salzburg/Cesky Krumov and were bused to Stauling where we boarded the Jade. The transfer was very organized and good except that leading up to the transfer of ships we had the bus driver from Hell, he had real issues with his driving and then proceeded to get us lost. What should have been a 2.5- 3 hour bus trip took 4 lonnnnng hot hours. What would have been seamless was overshadowed by the anxiety created by the bus driver.

Our new ship was docked in the middle of nowhere..... since we were exhausted and just wanted to change for dinner we didn't care. What we discovered was that the Jade is not the Amber, even though they are sister ships the Jade is 2 years older and the rooms are missing some of the things we really liked about the Amber (adjustable beds, screened in patio, large TV, lots of storage, wonderful closets and bathroom) so it truly felt like a step down.

The things we did like about the Jade were that they had a better lounge performer than the Amber (who we really didn't enjoy) and we were able to keep our very organized and very calm cruise director.

Our first night on the Jade was our scheduled night at Portabello's. That meal and the service were by far the best meal/service we had on the cruise.....

That first night we cruised and ended up in Regensburg after the morning tour we were bused back to the ships new location. That afternoon we cruised to Nuremberg which was a nice afternoon except you couldn't go on top all afternoon due to low bridges and locks.

Overall we were able to see everything we had been promised. The switching was done very well and very organized. We did miss some of the crew on the Amber and we never really felt part of the Jade since we were only on it 2 nights. For what they were dealing with it was well done and much better than some of the nightmares I have heard of in the past. The one thing I did feel is that my cruise was the tale of 2 ships and it did feel cut up and disjointed which left us feeling a bit let down.

Hoping yours goes as well and you have great cruising

 

Many thanks! Others have reported that there's no ship swap if not cruising further along the river than Regensburg/Nuremberg. Was Nuremberg the end of your cruise (Gems of the Danube)? If so, did you get to Nuremberg earlier than planned? We're doing the Prague extension and a Nuremberg tour is scheduled in the morning before bussing to Prague.

 

Although we understand that the river can change on short notice, it's great to hear this up-to-date information. Regardless of the inconvenience (some of which resulted in good way), I'd prefer the ship swap to missing planned ports!

Edited by Adventures ahead
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We also did Gems with the Prague extension. We did get to tour Nuremberg, We were bused there about 20 mins or so and then had a couple hours touring both on the bus and on foot with about an hour or so of free time. We headed for Prague early afternoon and got there about 5pm. Had a wonderful guide in Nuremberg as well as on the bus to Prague (Martin). Martin was the guide and liaison while we were in Prague.

We did the tour with Martin the first full day we were in Prague then scheduled a tour, through him, of Terrezin (about an hour + drive) and that was wonderful. Martin is so organized during the bus ride he gave us a program with all of our tours while in Prague it also included additional tour advice, restaurants to try and all sorts of info. He also gave us all a currency converter chart (way helpful). He is a wealth of information and very detailed. Places we tried while there:

La Republic for dinner-awesome the roast duck is so good but share it as it is SO MUCH food.

Last night we were a bit overloaded with sausage and heavy food so we tried an Asian Fusion right next door to the Marriott, it was outstanding and a referral from Martin. You will love Prague and your cruise.

 

Skip the winery tour, we have already toured Melk Abby on a previous cruise but wished we had done that instead of the winery. And the bike ride is so great, the Ebike makes it fun. But if it is a beautiful day and you haven't cruised the Wacou Valley you might want to do that.

 

In Budapest on the first night they will cruise up and down so you can see the city lit up, if you are not familiar with the building take your Tailor-made and listen along.

 

If you are able to order room service I highly suggest Breakfast on a day or two on your balcony and drinks one night before dinner.

 

If you are on the Amber and on the Diamond deck look on your bed there is remote as the beds are adjustable... didn't find that till night 2.

 

Enjoy!

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