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Danube water levels 2022 and similar topics - plus tips and info


notamermaid
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Just now, Daisi said:

Hearing rumours that it's the Gefjon, which is showing as being at Forcheim.

I wasn't gonna say it...

 

Found the oddest track record I have ever seen on marinetraffic with the Gefjon going off at a tangent at Forchheim towards Bonn and reappearing hours later. Ships cannot go across land...

 

notamermaid

 

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I think the photo in the link above to the German news article has been updated. It shows a Viking longship and says it is the vessel in question (but no name). I was a bit shocked, it brings back memories of the tragic accident a few years ago at a bridge not too far from this one. And of course there is the recent Viking Aegir incident.

 

There was talk a few years ago of new technology to help at bridges, some kind of electronic device for the headroom problem (for all ships). But I have not followed up on that.

 

notamermaid

 

 

 

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19 minutes ago, Daisi said:

Yes, that was a tragic accident, and so glad that this time, no one was injured.

I was so glad to read that it went okay. Looks like the repairs were done quickly as well - presuming the tracking is correct.

 

1 hour ago, Canal archive said:

Evidently other maritime crews refer to the amount of blue tarpaulin used by that company.

You just do not want it to be another Viking ship and then it is. One could discuss the relative statistics of the company's incidents at length, which I am not going to do. Fact remains that as regards tragic incidents involving crew and passengers suffering Viking stands out. Sadly.

 

German has a good saying here, which is in the article: "Glück im Unglück". It means here "phew, that could have been much worse".

 

notamermaid

 

 

 

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On 6/1/2022 at 3:02 PM, notamermaid said:

Light rain is coming to the Danube on Friday and will continue with drizzle over the weekend, so this should help with keeping the level over 300cm.

Hmm, will it work? Currently at 311cm, Pfelling is still doing okay.

 

At Pfelling, there is no forecast that reaches more than 48 hours into the future, so we do not know yet when the rain is likely to make the river react with a rise.

 

It has heated up today and the atmosphere is ready to produce thunderstorms tonight or during tomorrow.

 

But now, ready to do some cooking and eating an Austrian delicacy over the weekend? Or alternatively just enjoy watching this short video about "Kaiserschmarrn": https://www.dw.com/en/kaiserschmarrn-an-imperial-dish/av-61561785

 

notamermaid

 

 

 

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On 6/4/2022 at 10:40 AM, Canal archive said:

ooh so much sugar, nearly made my teeth fall out

I have a sweet tooth but that portion would have been too much for me. And as a main course?? No!

 

Here is the proper main course, Wiener Schnitzel: https://www.dw.com/en/the-secret-of-the-bona-fide-wiener-schnitzel/av-60922517

 

notamermaid

 

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On 6/3/2022 at 5:28 PM, notamermaid said:

It has heated up today and the atmosphere is ready to produce thunderstorms tonight or during tomorrow.

 

The thunderstorns did come, just in time to keep the river level from dropping below 300cm for longer than an hour. And there has been so much rain that the level rose well over 400cm. With the surge gone, the level is done to 350cm. Right now, rain is only forecast for tomorrow, so during the coming week, we will see the river being reduced in volume. And it will get hot next weekend!

 

notamermaid

 

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I have been away from my computer for a few days and my smartphone gave up on me 😞. Another smartphone decided it would not let me log into cruise critic. Anyway, could not reach you folks to alert you to the drop of the river level at Pfelling. From 308cm on the 17th it went right down to 270cm yesterday. Daily fluctuation means it is currently at 276cm. The graph:

image.png.31a26d777b0f2545c2c27d07524326c8.png

 

MW is the statistical mean water level, MNW is the statistical mean low water level. The river is nearly down there. More important is the RNW at 290cm. It is a hydro-engineering term which is not of direct interest to river cruisers but in the case of the ships with that kind of draft, i.e. the 135m vessels, it is that they sit deep enough in the water to get problems with the passage from Straubing to Vilshofen (before the dock).

 

In essence: the river is too low in Bavaria for comfort. Docking in Vilshofen should be fine coming from Budapest due to a lock nearby. Your river cruise line will have the details and your captain and cruise director will know what is possible. River traffic in Germany is not halted in low water. Each captain decides for themselves on sailing or not. The situation is better in Austria in general but if that country has no rain like we do at the moment, a stretch in between two locks may in due course cause a problem. Again, your captain will know.

 

On 6/20/2022 at 7:00 PM, JPR said:

Everything look good for early July Danube cruises?

No way of knowing at this point in time, I am afraid.  It will depend on where you sail (Bavaria, Austria or further downstream). If it is the low stretch (see above) I get the feeling we may see more issues in the next two weeks. I will be happy to be proven otherwise by the substantial rain forecast for Friday!

 

notamermaid

 

 

 

 

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Hi @notamermaid- First, thank you for all of your posts on these boards! You do such a service! We actually are leaving the U.S. tonight for a Vienna - Nuremberg cruise - and wondering what you think our odds are of getting through Pfelling when we get there around Tuesday next week. Or if you see any other issues based on your note above.

 

We're on the Uniworld River Princess, which I believe is a 110 meter ship, so I hope that will help us. I've been monitoring this site: https://www.gkd.bayern.de/en/rivers/waterlevel/passau/pfelling-10078000/month-values, (Not sure if there is a better one).

 

As we keep an eye on it over the next few days, what is the minimum value, do you think, that would be safe? Because of Covid, this is our third try at doing this trip, so hoping it goes as planned!

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My pleasure br111.

 

32 minutes ago, br111 said:

Because of Covid, this is our third try at doing this trip, so hoping it goes as planned!

Oh, that would be a real bu**er if it went wrong!

 

The website is great, I tend to use this one a bit more: https://www.pegelonline.wsv.de/gast/stammdaten?pegelnr=10078000

but they are both fed the same data. Nice to see the fluctuation is pointing upwards slightly, hopefully tomorrow's rain will do the trick to get the level up a bit further.

 

32 minutes ago, br111 said:

wondering what you think our odds are of getting through Pfelling when we get there around Tuesday next week. Or if you see any other issues based on your note above.

Not sure for the 135m ships, it really depends on the captain of each individual one, it is centimetres that make the difference, sometimes reducing the water in the tanks and sailing without passengers gets the ship through shallows. 290cm is really just the official marker for potential problems. No idea which ship stops sailing at which figure. Which brings me to:

 

32 minutes ago, br111 said:

We're on the Uniworld River Princess, which I believe is a 110 meter ship, so I hope that will help us.

Yes, a shorter ship can give you crucial centimetres.

 

Have a great cruise.

 

notamermaid

 

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12 hours ago, JPR said:

We leave Regensburg on July 2. Sounds like the part of the Danube in Germany will not be a problem but the part in Austria July 4-6 might be.

is that correct?

Not quite. Here is a map:

image.thumb.png.83a56d8c4339304bc8f5cb896f1d5828.png

Regensburg should be fine. Straubing to Vilshofen is the problem stretch. Vilshofen has a lock and as far as I know the docking area at Vilshofen is already deeper in its navigation channel and the lock gives the area more water, so that should be okay. Passau and there onwards has the retained water from the locks also. But there are one or two stretches in Austria where the distance between locks is not able to give that effect. I only learnt this in 2018 when the ships could not pass that area in Austria. Where they are is something you would need to find out in detail from navigation maps or the crew on your ship. Generally speaking problems there appear to start later i.e. at lower respecitve figures than in Bavaria (Germany).

 

Timing, i.e. where you are on a certain date at a certain river level, can be crucial, but I would say that if you make it through at Pfelling, the chances are good you will make the other stretches as well.

 

Pfelling gauge now stands at 279cm but the rain has pushed the forecast up, 291cm tomorrow may be reached again late evening.

 

notamermaid

 

 

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On 6/24/2022 at 10:57 AM, notamermaid said:

Pfelling gauge now stands at 279cm but the rain has pushed the forecast up, 291cm tomorrow may be reached again late evening.

It is not quite evening yet, but the gauge is at 293cm now. Nice, but not high enough to relax about it. I recommend the link br111 has provided above, for keeping an eye on the figures. And I will, too.

 

notamermaid

 

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We're due to go from Bucharest to Budapest from July 10 to 17.

River Duchess is 110M long. (I think the draught is 1.6M)

Are water levels likely to be OK?

(Forgive me, but I don't understand the technical stuff!) 

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Basically the shallower the draught the better. I think I’ve said it before somewhere but at our port talk our Captain came to explain the situation and to ask us a question. We were approaching a very shallow area, the ship swap that had been available was taken, if he got the chance to proceed would we be confident in him to proceed - guess what to a man & woman we said yes. Off we went to dinner super evening as usual in the lounge and off to bed. Woke up in the morning with a moving boat and at breakfast discovered we had scrapped - evidently- over the shallow bit. The captain had conferred with two heavily laden barges and they made up a convoy, barge - us - barge so being boaters ourselves our ship was covered and we had a superb captain. Okay it doesn’t always work but when it does well all due to amazing sea or is it river man ship.

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3 minutes ago, Canal archive said:

Basically the shallower the draught the better. I think I’ve said it before somewhere but at our port talk our Captain came to explain the situation and to ask us a question. We were approaching a very shallow area, the ship swap that had been available was taken, if he got the chance to proceed would we be confident in him to proceed - guess what to a man & woman we said yes. Off we went to dinner super evening as usual in the lounge and off to bed. Woke up in the morning with a moving boat and at breakfast discovered we had scrapped - evidently- over the shallow bit. The captain had conferred with two heavily laden barges and they made up a convoy, barge - us - barge so being boaters ourselves our ship was covered and we had a superb captain. Okay it doesn’t always work but when it does well all due to amazing sea or is it river man ship.

Thanks for this.

Interesting though the story may be, it doesn't really answer the question I posted, which I repeat below:

We're due to go from Bucharest to Budapest from July 10 to 17.

River Duchess is 110M long. (I think the draught is 1.6M)

Are water levels likely to be OK?

(Forgive me, but I don't understand the technical stuff!) 

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Okay your in the hands of the Gods, will it rain locally or up in the hills will it rain upstream? Hopefully. It will all depend on the availability of water that is be added to the river from whatever source and this time of year you don’t get snow melt. It’s a case of ‘fingers crossed’.

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19 minutes ago, Canal archive said:

Okay your in the hands of the Gods, will it rain locally or up in the hills will it rain upstream? Hopefully. It will all depend on the availability of water that is be added to the river from whatever source and this time of year you don’t get snow melt. It’s a case of ‘fingers crossed’.

I can't say that this is very comforting. Are you saying that unless there is precipitation/additional water the levels are likely to be such that we won't be on the boat? 

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