Viking Astrild River Cruise Cabin Noise on Elbe from Berlin to Prague

[Minniebelle]

Hi!  I have never been on a river cruise before,  but my husband and I have booked a Christmas cruise on the Viking Astrild with a travel agent for our 35th anniversary. I logged into my account on Viking and found I'm in cabin 236, the last cabin in the back of the boat on the french balcony level.  I'm guessing the engines are in the back of the boat.  My question is this - will it be noisy?  I don't mind sleeping with earplugs, but I don't want to have an unpleasant experience.  

Thank you for your help!

[Host Kat]

6 minutes ago, Minniebelle said:

Hi!  I have never been on a river cruise before,  but my husband and I have booked a Christmas cruise on the Viking Astrild with a travel agent for our 35th anniversary. I logged into my account on Viking and found I'm in cabin 236, the last cabin in the back of the boat on the french balcony level.  I'm guessing the engines are in the back of the boat.  My question is this - will it be noisy?  I don't mind sleeping with earplugs, but I don't want to have an unpleasant experience.  

Thank you for your help!

 

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[Shmoo here]

1 hour ago, Minniebelle said:

Hi!  I have never been on a river cruise before,  but my husband and I have booked a Christmas cruise on the Viking Astrild with a travel agent for our 35th anniversary. I logged into my account on Viking and found I'm in cabin 236, the last cabin in the back of the boat on the french balcony level.  I'm guessing the engines are in the back of the boat.  My question is this - will it be noisy?  I don't mind sleeping with earplugs, but I don't want to have an unpleasant experience.  

Thank you for your help!

While I can't speak to Viking ships (or the Astrild specifically), we've been near the rear of river cruise ships on a couple of cruises.  Yes, the engines are typically in the rear, but I don't really recall noise.  Maybe a bit more vibration than more forward, but not noise as such.

[Ka Honu]

Shouldn't be too much of a problem since river boats don't typically go anywhere at night. The bigger issue is being near the gangway which may be raised/lowered (noisily) one or more times per night to accommodate tides. Jus' sayin'...

[mom says]

Are tides really an issue on the Elbe?

[Shmoo here]

38 minutes ago, Ka Honu said:

Shouldn't be too much of a problem since river boats don't typically go anywhere at night. The bigger issue is being near the gangway which may be raised/lowered (noisily) one or more times per night to accommodate tides. Jus' sayin'...

Um.... not in my experience.  Typically, you must be onboard by dinnertime or just after and the ship travels at night so as to be in the next port by morning.

 

And I don't recall "tides" on a river cruise.  There are locks, on occasion, but they don't raise/lower the gangway for that.

[gnome12]

7 hours ago, Ka Honu said:

Shouldn't be too much of a problem since river boats don't typically go anywhere at night. The bigger issue is being near the gangway which may be raised/lowered (noisily) one or more times per night to accommodate tides. Jus' sayin'...

 

6 hours ago, Shmoo here said:

Um.... not in my experience.  Typically, you must be onboard by dinnertime or just after and the ship travels at night so as to be in the next port by morning.

 

And I don't recall "tides" on a river cruise.  There are locks, on occasion, but they don't raise/lower the gangway for that.

It sounds like Ka Honu has done Asian river cruises where they cruise only during the day and dock at night.

 

The OP is looking at a Christmas cruise, and these are generally on European rivers. As Shmoo Here said, they always sail at night, unless you have an overnight somewhere. The only daytime cruising that generally happens is for particularly scenic stretches of river, such as the Castles on the Rhine, or the Wachau Valley.

 

7 hours ago, mom says said:

Are tides really an issue on the Elbe?

The OP say nothing about sailing the Elbe, but tides aren't an issue on European rivers.

[Minniebelle]

We are sailing on the Elbe from Berlin and ending up in Prague.  Thank you for the information!

[notamermaid]

I think it became clear that the OP will be on the Elbe as the Viking Astrild was designed for that river and presumably they will be on that ship. Tides are indeed not an issue unless you are on an itinerary that sails into one of the estuaries - there are a few where this would have a certain impact. For the Elbe there may be issues with high water in winter. Many landing stages are on water, i.e. they swim so that they will rise and fall with the level. Almost no adjustments are needed. Other docking areas are not designed like that, so adjustments are necessary for the crew to do with the small bridges they use but only when the river level rises fast. I doubt the crew would adjust anything at night that does not need adjusting.

 

Engine noise, not sure. The Astrild is a very modern ship and will have been built to reduce noise. She also has a different propelling system, so she is not fully comparable to the longships. Perhaps a past Elbe river cruiser will read this and help out.

 

To the OP: it is possible to have the title changed to include words like Viking or Elbe if you wish to refine your question.

 

notamermaid

 

PS: this post failed to come through to the website earlier due to a technical problem on my side

Edited April 13, 2021 by notamermaid
P.S. added

[Host Kat]

7 hours ago, notamermaid said:

... possible to have the title changed to include words like Viking or Elbe...

 

Thread title has been changed.

[Ka Honu]

On 4/13/2021 at 12:33 AM, gnome12 said:

 

It sounds like Ka Honu has done Asian river cruises where they cruise only during the day and dock at night.

 

Sorry, I should have qualified the tide comment. We had that experience on the Douro (Portugal) and at least one other river cruise. It obviously made an impression.

 

As well as I remember we've always cruised rivers only during the day but I'm guessing different rivers/countries have different customs/rules.

Edited April 15, 2021 by Ka Honu

[steamboats]

50 minutes ago, Ka Honu said:

Sorry, I should have qualified the tide comment. We had that experience on the Douro (Portugal) and at least one other river cruise. It obviously made an impression.

 

As well as I remember we've always cruised rivers only during the day but I'm guessing different rivers/countries have different customs/rules.

 

On the Douro river the ships are not allowed to cruise at nighttime.

 

On the Elbe river they can cruise by nighttime too (as well as on the Rhine, Main, Moselle, Danube rivers).

 

steamboats

[AnhaltER1960]

I have never heard complaints of engine noise by Astrild clients, but complaints about scratching river bottom on on low water levels. But water levels are somewhat hard to predict.