Rhine water levels 2022 and similar topics

[worldtraveller99]

Was everything back to normal Jjg34219? Did you have to have any COVID tests and/or wear masks? We are on a similar cruise (the other way) in the autumn.

[Jjg34219]

30 minutes ago, worldtraveller99 said:

Was everything back to normal Jjg34219? Did you have to have any COVID tests and/or wear masks? We are on a similar cruise (the other way) in the autumn.

Tested first 3 days

Masks were required onboard as you moved thru the boat, and on tour buses

Viking reinstated masks 2 weeks before our cruise as I think there had been some high positivity on a couple cruises

[worldtraveller99]

Thank you very much. Let's hope as we approach autumn cases go down / people stop caring so much! In the UK we are all very sanguine! No-one wears masks, no tests at all, and yes we all get it but no-one gets really sick or dies any more. Touch wood!

[Canal archive]

worldtraveler99 out in the sticks we still do for example shopping 🛒 and Doctors 🥼 that kind of thing. Inside Chanel tunnel I.e. duty free. Although basically your correct we as a nation are pushing ‘herd immunity’ to the nth degree. Also recently this is with my synics hat on, catching covid has helped with some potentially sticky situations.

[worldtraveller99]

I hope Canal archive that the party situation will still come to the fore! I read that last year everyone (including us) went to Cornwall, and this year that is right down and people are travelling again. So let's hope things can only get better, and fun on the Rhine!x

[Canal archive]

worldtraveler99 seems all roads lead to Cornwall we went as well and will do again this year plus up to Scotland. I’ve just got to twist a certain persons arm to book our next river cruise which will hopefully be on the Seine.

[LWFM]

20 hours ago, notamermaid said:

My pleasure. And always great to see posts from familiar names and new "faces" joining in. First of all, we have not had a single problematic day on the Rhine this year yet. It came close, though. By that I mean only as regards docking at a certain landing stage or being a bit slow negotiating the shallows. It needs to be way lower for a river cruise ship not to be able to sail.

 

Leaving 13 June - that is actually the day up to which we have a probability forecast for Kaub. 10 days brings us from 4 June 00.00 hours to 14 June 00.00 hours. As it is probability, there is no figure but a figure range. That most likely figure range is above 150cm. So, fine for sailing. It also means that the least likely figure is still above 100cm. Even if the probability is off and adjusted accordingly, we will still see no official low water. Overall, the level was low for May and is low for June now, which gives me just this slight feeling of unease about July, but I could be wrong if the overall weather pattern over the British Isles and beyond them to the West changes.

 

But for now, let me just give you the current figure: 132cm and

 

wish you a great river cruise.

 

notamermaid

 

Thank you so much. We are on the AMAMoro although we have cruised the Seine this is our first Rhine River cruise and first time on AMA. Based on the weather forecast we plan on bringing our rain gear with our fingers crossed for some sunshine along the way. So glad to get back to Europe.

[notamermaid]

It is raining in the Rhine valley. Will see tomorrow how the river reacts to it. It is calmer than predicted, but there are thunderstorms forecast for the region South of Mainz bordering onto the west bank of the Rhine. Main thunderstorms will hit Bavaria during today.

 

14 hours ago, worldtraveller99 said:

Let's hope as we approach autumn cases go down / people stop caring so much! In the UK we are all very sanguine!

As time progresses, it appears that more and more people are done with caring about the situation, i.e. whoever wants to wear a mask does. I see many people at bus stops still wearing masks, so I think there the regulation still applies (have not checked). For autumn, the "doom and gloom" people in Berlin tell us that measures could be reinstated. By that I mean, if the situation gets worse when we go back indoors after the Summer warmth, they contemplate debating about whether measures should come back. "Leave your options open"-like.

 

People on the ground think it all bit much it seems, want to go about their daily lives and prefer to think about the summer holidays - Germans, world champions of travel .

 

I myself did wear a mask in a meeting on Monday, but other than that I do not anymore. Shops ask me kindly to with a sign, but I do not bother.

 

Remember that the health care sector still has regulations.

 

It feels really good to be able to plan activities spontaneously. I have an invitation to a lecture and can actually presume that event will take place!

 

And on 25/26 June the railway museum in Koblenz has its Summer festival again. What fun!

https://dbmuseum.de/en/koblenz

 

I have a tentative invitation to Marburg and plan a boat trip on the Rhine. And I am sure I have few engagements compared to other people!

 

Naturally, river cruise ship spotting with this river maiden is in full swing again.

 

notamermaid

 

 

[worldtraveller99]

Glad you are able to have fun notamermaid, and I hope Canal archive you get to go on the Seine next year. We saw in the Viking brochure they are doing a Christmas Market week on the Seine (I think in 2023) and at some stage we would be interested in that - we love Christmas market cruises.

 

I hope you are wrong notamermaid re this autumn all the tests and masks coming back, some time they need to stop?

[notamermaid]

22 minutes ago, worldtraveller99 said:

I hope you are wrong notamermaid re this autumn all the tests and masks coming back, some time they need to stop?

I hope I am. Psychologically bad for your health to be kept in a constant state of nervousness about it all....

 

Always thought that putting masks on statues is, errrmm, "bonkers". They have been taken down where I have been lately, hope the one in Idstein is gone as well...

 

Better to have fun and enjoy Whitsuntide. And whatever else you may worship and what makes you and your soul healthy. Like travelling and river cruising.

 

notamermaid

 

 

[rccladventurer]

Halo! We are on the Viking Kara, June 5-12 Basel to Amsterdam. Thank you notamermaid for your regular updates here about local conditions.

This is not exactly a Water Level discussion (or is it). We were supposed to go through the locks at 10:40pm on Sunday. However, it appears there has been a problem with the Rhine locks in the vicinity of Basel. We were surprised to see we were still docked at Klybeckquai when we opened the curtains this morning. I assume a partial land-based cruise is being evaluated.

[Jjg34219]

We just finished the Basel to Amsterdam Thursday. Our first 2 days we arrived to our destinations for the day 2-3 hours late due to issues with the locks. We were led to believe it was more an issue with labor authorities? 

[notamermaid]

6 hours ago, rccladventurer said:

However, it appears there has been a problem with the Rhine locks in the vicinity of Basel.

Thank you for posting from your river cruise. Had not heard or read about that issue. Basel is very far away from me, so although I read much about the Rhine in the news, this is something I can miss.

 

2 hours ago, Jjg34219 said:

We were led to believe it was more an issue with labor authorities? 

Thanks for the info. Hmm, a kind of strike? I have read about such an event in a previous year. Heavy traffic? There is sometimes maintenance on the locks but they are never really closed, there are two chambers. When only one chamber is available a backlog can happen.

 

I'll see what I can find out.

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

Right, no mention of strike. Although it is a public holiday weekend, locks should be in operation basically 24/7 according to the authorities' website "elwis".

 

Several locks have only one chamber available due to maintenance work right now. There are 10 locks in the Upper Rhine valley. Name and location at the river, kilometres are counted from the town of Konstanz:

 

Kembs at 179.10

Ottmarsheim at 193.64

Fessenheim at 210.51

Vogelgrun at 224.54

Marckolsheim at 239.88

Rhinau at 256.15

Gerstheim at 272.33

Strasbourg at 287.36

Gambsheim at 308.83

Iffezheim at 334.00

 

8 hours ago, rccladventurer said:

I assume a partial land-based cruise is being evaluated.

If the problem is not resolved and will slow you down at lot in the itinerary, Viking I am sure will try to get you to your next port on a coach to make up for lost time. You may then rejoin the ship at a port somewhere along the way or at Breisach. The Basel quay is at 169 and Breisach is at 226/227, so not a big distance on the river and not a long coach ride, about one hour. You can also see that this distance has only four locks on the river, so not a big deal. Normally...

 

As it is seven hours since you posted, I am sure you will know more now or are already in Breisach. Please send us a brief update and

 

have a great cruise.

 

notamermaid

 

 

notamermaid

 

 

[Guest ldtr]

On 6/4/2022 at 2:13 PM, worldtraveller99 said:

Thank you very much. Let's hope as we approach autumn cases go down / people stop caring so much! In the UK we are all very sanguine! No-one wears masks, no tests at all, and yes we all get it but no-one gets really sick or dies any more. Touch wood!

Only about 33 per day at current rates

[Canal archive]

Not in the U.K. 

[rccladventurer]

6 hours ago, notamermaid said:

Right, no mention of strike. Although it is a public holiday weekend, locks should be in operation basically 24/7 according to the authorities' website "elwis".

 

Several locks have only one chamber available due to maintenance work right now. There are 10 locks in the Upper Rhine valley. Name and location at the river, kilometres are counted from the town of Konstanz:

 

Kembs at 179.10

Ottmarsheim at 193.64

Fessenheim at 210.51

Vogelgrun at 224.54

Marckolsheim at 239.88

Rhinau at 256.15

Gerstheim at 272.33

Strasbourg at 287.36

Gambsheim at 308.83

Iffezheim at 334.00

 

If the problem is not resolved and will slow you down at lot in the itinerary, Viking I am sure will try to get you to your next port on a coach to make up for lost time. You may then rejoin the ship at a port somewhere along the way or at Breisach. The Basel quay is at 169 and Breisach is at 226/227, so not a big distance on the river and not a long coach ride, about one hour. You can also see that this distance has only four locks on the river, so not a big deal. Normally...

 

As it is seven hours since you posted, I am sure you will know more now or are already in Breisach. Please send us a brief update and

 

have a great cruise.

 

notamermaid

 

 

notamermaid

 

 

Thank you. I don’t know why my reply keeps on failing to post by the forum software.

 

All good, we made it to Breisach around 6pm. The situation was minimal compared to those you described. Our cruise director said that the lock situation was not resolved or fixed until 6:15AM Monday. Viking improvised and asked their bus drivers to come down to Basel to take us on the included Black Forest tour. The weather at Black Forest was excellent. The optional excursions were all cancelled, including the Colmar WW2 visit so close to D-Day.

 

The Viking Kara sailed to Kembs where we met it after the Black Forest and embarked for a lunch around 1pm. The Viking Egdir was also there. The Egdir disembarked at Kembs yesterday instead of Amsterdam because of the lock situation. 150 passengers with departure flights must have made the air transfer logistics more complicated. I believe the next cruise on the Egdir also embarked at Kembs.

[notamermaid]

56 minutes ago, rccladventurer said:

Our cruise director said that the lock situation was not resolved or fixed until 6:15AM Monday.

This ties in with what I read on the French authorities' website dealing with the waterways in France (here: Alsace). A short notification for shipping stated that an issue at Kembs lock ended this morning. From the wording it was not clear what the original problem had been so I had not mentioned it earlier. Trusted flexibility here from Viking, I was confident they would find a way . Just a big pity you could not go to Colmar.

 

Thank you for getting back to us and I hope your river cruise will run smoothly from here and you have great food and splendid weather.

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

We have had a decent amount of rain so the river levels are up nicely:

Maxau 504cm

Kaub 160cm

Koblenz 157cm

 

Time to relax and look at - ferries! Or perhaps a new means of transport at Basel? Yes, Basel is thinking of introducing water taxis. At the moment it just sounds like a vague idea that has gone into some council meeting discussion, but who knows... It is supposed to be similar to something called Vaporetti in Venice. From this German article: https://telebasel.ch/2022/06/01/fahren-bald-vaporetti-auf-dem-rhein/?channel=105100

 

Not sure that it would add much to Basel infrastructure, never been in the city. Would there be more potential in built-up areas further downstream, like at Mannheim, Ludwigshafen, Koblenz (full to the rim with commuter traffic) and Cologne (again, full of cars, in spite of extensive public transport infrastructure)? Lo and behold, Cologne is contemplating water taxis as well.

 

But this is all at some point in the future, just like the additional cable car crossing the river at Cologne. So we are back to present-day ferries.

 

And from the large modern car ferries at Lake Constance let us go downstream to the small old passenger ferry at Koblenz. It is called Schängel (like the fountain that depicts a "Schängel") and was built in 1953. The ferry crosses from the Old Town to Ehrenbreitstein:

https://www.gilles-personenschifffahrt.de/faehre-koblenz-ehrenbreitstein-gilles/

 

But that is not the only ferry at Koblenz. There is an even smaller one, the "Liesel". She sails the Moselle from the caravan park at Koblenz Neuendorf to Deutsches Eck embankment. She only carries 25 passengers and sails "nach Bedarf", meaning she has no fixed timetable. Just come along and say you want to cross the river! https://www.romantischer-rhein.de/en/a-faehre-liesel-deutsches-eck-campingplatz-neuendorf

 

There is another ferry in the Middle Rhine valley and it is a bit special. Why, I will explain in another post.

 

notamermaid

 

 

 

[momofthre3]

I plan to follow.  We are going on the UniWorld S.S. Antionette, Castles on the Rhine -August 21, 2022.

Neither of us have been on a river cruise, so I am anxious to hear about it.  Going from Amsterdam to Basel.

 

Any info you can share I would appreciate.

 

 

[notamermaid]

14 hours ago, momofthre3 said:

We are going on the UniWorld S.S. Antionette, Castles on the Rhine -August 21, 2022.

Hello to you and welcome to the wonderful world of river cruising. Have you had a look at the stickies threads at the top of the title page yet? Our host has put together some great info and links to CC editor articles. You could join or start a roll call for this itinerary.

 

I really like this itinerary by Uniworld as they are one of the few companies that break the Basel - Amsterdam route with a port stop at Boppard in the Rhine Gorge. While as regards design I prefer the River Queen in the Uniworld portfolio, I find the S.S. Antoinette a classy ship (got close up one year in Koblenz, love the chandelier!). If you have any specific questions as regards life on the ship, you may prefer to post those in a separate thread.

 

Why do I like the stop in Boppard? I find it gives you more time in the Rhine Gorge with that dramatic and Romantic feel to it, but Boppard is also a typical Rhine town - a bit touristy but still pleasant (I much prefer it to Rüdesheim) to wander around in. The outstanding thing about it is the Vierseenblick on top of the hill, you can stand at that viewpoint and the Rhine appears to be four lakes.

 

Have a great cruise.

 

notamermaid

 

[loge23]

Lucky you, momofthre3! 

Boppard is indeed one of the most beautiful stops along the Rhine.

It's at a point called the Boppard Loop, where the Rhine takes a oxbow. As our local friend and guide notamermaid said, do take the chair lift up to the top of the mountain. There's a terrific view from there. It's been a long time for us, but when we were last there, there was a small cafe up there serving sandwich boards and refreshments. Take a table and pinch yourself - you're in one of the most beautiful spots on the Rhine! We're passing by in July on Viking - I always wave at the flower-draped balconies at the Belleview Hotel where we stayed!

Another fun moment onboard is when the boat passes the fabled Lorelei Rock. You'll probably get a song sheet to sing as you drift by. We did it years ago on a local KB boat - all the locals broke out in song as we passed and now we do as well! 

Have a great cruise!

[JerseyGem]

14 hours ago, loge23 said:

.....................

Boppard is indeed one of the most beautiful stops along the Rhine.

It's at a point called the Boppard Loop, where the Rhine takes a oxbow. As our local friend and guide notamermaid said, do take the chair lift up to the top of the mountain. There's a terrific view from there. It's been a long time for us, but when we were last there, there was a small cafe up there serving sandwich boards and refreshments. Take a table and pinch yourself - you're in one of the most beautiful spots on the Rhine! ......

If the chair lift is not operating (or you're thrifty, like we are), there was a short, somewhat steep,  trail up to the viewing point from where the river ships dock.  We hiked up the trail, enjoyed the view (with a beer), and walked down the access road (not scenic).   A lovely area and view.  

[notamermaid]

Boppard chair lift is a great experience, here is an older video to give you some idea:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ytRS6ATXdA

 

I have been busy at work with preparations for a special event, i.e. within my work schedule I sometimes am involved in events that are anything from concerts to markets, going beyond strict tourism. I mention this because it shows that life for me is getting more and more back to normal. Masks are now firmly in the minority, a few Covid testing centres have closed down, or have reduced hours. At work it is now something like "Please let us keep looking after each other. If you feel like it, wear a mask".

 

I still recommend taking a mask with you wherever you go as there may be just a few places where they have a house rule requiring it. Like - perhaps oddly - in the queue at the Boppard chairlift as per their website (of today): https://sesselbahn-boppard.de/

 

A trip out today meant that I was exposed to the sun quite a bit, it is hot and I got a bit of sunburn with my fair skin. The coming week will see the heatwave coming from Spain so temperatures on Friday are likely to be over 30 Celsius in the Upper and Middle Rhine valleys.

 

notamermaid

 

 

[CPT Trips]

Take a page from the CPT Trips & JerseyGem touring guide. After scaling the hill to Vierseenblick in Boppard.

 

 

n.b., not us. Not Boppard.