River Cruise Lines Monitor Low Water Levels in Europe

[notamermaid]

Article on CC: https://www.cruisecritic.co.uk/news/7042/?stay=1&posfrom=1

 

Rather than the so often dramatic context online news puts the low levels in, mostly because it is a valid concern for the transport of commodities on the Rhine and also on the Danube, here the context is river cruising. I like the fact that it quotes the agency: "Drought and high temperatures are straining Middle Europe's water balance," BfG said in a statement. "In many cases water yields in rivers are rather unusually low for July. As a consequence, navigation is facing increasing obstacles. While fairway depths are reduced at some stretches, Germany's complete waterway network is still navigable. ..." Text put into bold by me. The rivers are not drying up, not the navigable ones anyway.

 

One note: Since the article was written we have learnt that a few itineraries on the Rhine have indeed been altered.

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

From travelmarket report: https://www.travelmarketreport.com/NicheLuxury/articles/River-Cruise-Lines-Prepare-to-Deal-with-Low-Water-Levels-on-the-Rhine

 

So the Rhine and the Danube. Are they not preparing on the Elbe? Basically, they do not need to, or let us say, they have learnt the hard way on the Elbe and the tricky itineraries are not even scheduled for Summer anymore. But details of that can sporadically be found in the thread on the Elbe (this year and in past years).

 

notamermaid

 

[ural guy]

Notamermaid-  Is Viking one of the ones pulling off the Elbe in summer?  I asked as they had the special low water boats built for this river, that didn't seem to work out great.  No propeller, but more like a jet ski propulsion I thought.

 

I just wonder where those boats get sent to...

 

Just wondering, but have you ever been to Ferropolis, the big industrial mining open air museum?  We are arriving 10 nights early for a Danube cruise in November, and are going to spend 10 nights between Erfurt and Dresden, before we take a train to Prague, where our Vantage portion of trip starts.  Looking at places like Quedlinburg, Freiberg...we'll have a car for 5-6 days.

 

Thanks!  hope jazz doesn't get mad.

[notamermaid]

8 minutes ago, ural guy said:

Notamermaid-  Is Viking one of the ones pulling off the Elbe in summer?  I asked as they had the special low water boats built for this river, that didn't seem to work out great.  No propeller, but more like a jet ski propulsion I thought.

Jet propulsion correct. At least that is how I understood it. Don't really know where the ships are right now, not sailing in Summer.

 

As for that museum, etc.. I pull this over to the water cooler. Just a sec...

 

notamermaid

 

[AnhaltER1960]

9 hours ago, ural guy said:

Notamermaid-  Is Viking one of the ones pulling off the Elbe in summer?  I asked as they had the special low water boats built for this river, that didn't seem to work out great.  No propeller, but more like a jet ski propulsion I thought.

 

I just wonder where those boats get sent to...

 

Just wondering, but have you ever been to Ferropolis, the big industrial mining open air museum?  We are arriving 10 nights early for a Danube cruise in November, and are going to spend 10 nights between Erfurt and Dresden, before we take a train to Prague, where our Vantage portion of trip starts.  Looking at places like Quedlinburg, Freiberg...we'll have a car for 5-6 days.

 

Thanks!  hope jazz doesn't get mad.

Not notamermaid, but I dare to answer. Yes, Viking too do pause for two months on the Elbe this summer. The ships seem to stay in position (at least I have seen the Beyla in Wittenberg still berthed well after her last service July13th), or move to their winter haven in Tangermünde eventually, so far the water tables on the Elbe would allow sailing.

 

The specially designed low water ships do work much better than the old Fontane and Schumann with their 1,30 m draft did, but this does have limitations: The new ships are very long to place some more cabins. And since the river is flowing not only straight on, but also in curves, it is not only about the depth of the navigation channel, but also its width. Simple geometry: A longer ship needs a wider navigation channel in a curve. So the ship designers wanted a shorter ship, the controllers a longer one. Guess, who had won....

 

Ferropolis: It is a hybrid between a museum and an open air stage. The site was a maintenance site at the edge of an open lignite mine, now flooded to a lake. There they placed five large open-pit-dredgers around an arena for a 20.000 audience. Many concerts and festivals in summer, Metallica loved the setting. They have refurbished the dredgers (at least some of them) and you can climb and walk them. I did not find any hint on their website about opening during the off-season, as far as I remember they did close during winter in earlier years. This might have changed though. But you might want to check shortly before your visit. And be prepared for bad weather - it is on a peninsula and a VERY windy spot. With Wittenberg and the Luther sites and Dessau with the Bauhaus nearby there are bad weather alternatives though, and if you are in the region, Ferropolis is definitely worth a visit.

[notamermaid]

For your interest, this is the general info that Arosa has put on the website: https://www.arosa-*****/river-cruises/company/current-travel-information.html

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

Amawaterways is a bit in the focus of the river cruising news right now, seeing that the latest ship, the Amalucia, was christened at the weekend and the owners have been busy giving interviews at the event in Rüdesheim. One major topic naturally this July/August is the low water situation. So here is an article. The photo speaks volumes:

https://www.travelweekly.com/River-Cruising/AmaWaterways-is-prepared-to-navigate-low-water

 

A personal note from me: the description of the differing situations on the Rhine and Danube by Rudi Schreiner is a bit awkward, as it refers to certain sections of both rivers, so taken out of context this gives an inaccurate picture. Seen in their entirety, both rivers/waterways have a lock and dam system with hydro-electric power plants.

 

notamermaid

 

[CastleCritic]

Christening now? AmaLucia has been running for about a year at this point.  She was the other Ama ship we were playing hopscotch with all the way up the Main last year to Nuremberg.

 

And Ama (and probably every other line) wishes there were no locks on the Rhine...would be full of ships that looked more like AmaMagna than AmaLucia.

 

(on the downside with a deeper draft  Amamagna might not make it to Budapest again this week while everything else sails right past her we'll see ...she left Bratislava a few hours ago according to the tracker site).

[notamermaid]

3 minutes ago, CastleCritic said:

full of ships that looked more like AmaMagna than AmaLucia

One would need to look at the several different stretches and the geography on the Rhine but I will not go into details. A ship like AmaMagna cannot sail on the Rhine that easily, with or without locks. Case in point: the Arosa Sena. She is too wide for the locks so only sails on the Lower Rhine. Today I read that she cannot return to Cologne, her home port and starting point for her cruises, because of her deep draught and the docking situation. Were she a normal ship she could. So like right now in Budapest for the AmaMagna it is two sides of a coin on the Rhine as well albeit with different infrastructure reasons in the respective sections both ships sail.

 

Amalucia has indeed been sailing for a year. As it says in the US article, they wanted the young godfather to present at the christening, i.e. he had been chosen and they were going to stick with that.

 

notamermaid

 

[CastleCritic]

point taken, I guess what comes to mind when I remember the Rhine was going up on deck and seeing a river moving so fast the bouys had a wake and ships passing each other 4 wide, not the Rhine gorge and the tight bends.(though I do distinctly remember the traffic lights in those areas).  

 

Amamagna did make Budapest this time it looks like so I guess something improved over 2 weeks ago.

[notamermaid]

We have had Arosa, now here is the general info by Viva Cruises, another German company, about low water: https://www.viva-*****/en/information

 

This page is easily accessed from the home page of the company by clicking right at the top (health protocols and travel requirements).

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

A bit more from CC on the situation: https://www.cruisecritic.co.uk/news/7073/

 

Important to take away from it: "the Hungarian government could shut down sailings into Budapest, Schreiner told Cruise Critic." This is a fact I learnt in 2018. Budapest may do this in extreme conditions. German authorities/captains/other experts stress again and again that in Germany this will not happen.

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

Will this be the last report of this kind this year, seeing that the levels have risen? Probably not, like it says in the text, confidence for short-term bookings is low. I would be very careful about booking short-term myself now and look carefully at which canal and river plus which ship I could sail on that gives me the least risk of disruption.

https://travelweekly.co.uk/news/tourism/river-cruise-specialists-continue-to-contend-with-low-water-levels

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

US travel weekly's river cruise reporter was on the Amalucia christening sailing and not only wrote an article but also made a video, which I have only just found. Here it is:

https://www.travelweekly.com/Media/Low-water-levels-slow-river-cruising?ct=river

 

notamermaid