AmaWaterways??

[gentlemancruiser]

Has anyone on the Rhine or Danube sailing with AMA had an updates on changes/cancellations recently?     

I saw their website travel advisory shows updated Aug 16th but no new information.      Flying out next week and getting nervous.

[gentlemancruiser]

It looks like AMA have moved several ship to the Netherlands/Belgium region.    I  notice there are at least 3 ships "up there" now.   I guess they can still keep them sailing there.

 

Here's a posting from another group:

 

We were scheduled for the Enchanting Rhine, Basel to Amsterdam on 8/20, but nature had other plans. Water levels are too low, so Ama offered an alternate itinerary on the same ship from Brussels to Amsterdam (with no flight changes).

 

 

[notamermaid]

17 minutes ago, gentlemancruiser said:

 I guess they can still keep them sailing there.

Yes, that should be possible, the canals can be controlled and the Rhine has considerably more navigation channel depth from Duisburg downstream. Cologne is 250cm GlW, Düsseldorf is 250cm GlW, Duisburg is 280cm GlW, Emmerich is 280cm GlW. However, from Emmerich it is not far to Lobith, the next gauge and the first one in the Netherlands. Lobith is on a record low now as well a Emmerich. So sailing will likely be impeded, i.e. going slowly. I cannot say anymore about the Rhine/Waal in the Netherlands. Belgium also has strong control over the water level, the Albert Canal for example, so keeping to those areas is a good idea. *GlW is the reference point which is different at each gauge.

 

notamermaid

 

[CarolGS]

We are scheduled for the August 28 sailing on the Amalea on the Danube from Budapest to Vilshoffen.  We have not heard of any changes.  It looks like this week's sailing, which is identical, has been keeping to its schedule so far.

[notamermaid]

11 hours ago, CarolGS said:

Danube from Budapest to Vilshoffen.

It has been raining a little, in Austria that is. And it may rain more, on top of that more water is coming from Germany, i.e. the Danube in Bavaria should rise. As it is still one week to your cruise the company will likely be waiting before notifying you. Vilshofen to Komarno should be okay anyway and by the time you cruise the rain could well be in Budapest so no changes may by necessary. Fingers crossed.

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

14 hours ago, gentlemancruiser said:

I  notice there are at least 3 ships "up there" now. 

Up there in the North indeed. That has made me wonder: actually, what are the ships in the South doing? Such an itinerary is obviously not possible there but Amawaterways has one river available (the Neckar locks are too short) and that is the Main. I know German companies rerouted to Basel to Frankfurt.

 

notamermaid

 

[gentlemancruiser]

As far as the Rhine goes.  Looking at Marine Traffic, I saw there were 2 ships AMAMora and AMALucia between Strasbourg and Basel.  Not many ships are making to Mannheim, they appear to stay between Strasbourg and Basel.

There is 1 ship AMACerto on the Moselle which is supposed to be going to Nuremburg, which seems pretty unlikely

AMAMagna was reportedly docked back in Budapest.  Not sure how that happened.  

[notamermaid]

10 minutes ago, gentlemancruiser said:

Not many ships are making to Mannheim, they appear to stay between Strasbourg and Basel.

Now that you say it, I have not spotted any Ama ships at Rüdesheim in the last few days. They had done the ship swap from there before, when the river was at around 50cm. Perhaps I just missed them but all ships that I now still see are CroisiEurope or the small Dutch ones.

 

12 minutes ago, gentlemancruiser said:

There is 1 ship AMACerto on the Moselle which is supposed to be going to Nuremburg, which seems pretty unlikely

Yeaah, that is quite uncertain. I doubt Kaub gauge will go up enough in time for them to make the passage.

 

notamermaid

 

[marieps]

Just off AmaMagna on Aug 14 in Vilshoven.  There were times, according to the captain, that we had only a foot of water below what is a very large ship, but we made it w/o issue.  The trip, the ship and especially the food were fantastic.  We heard some  Rhine cruises were stuck and passengers had to get on buses.  Very sad for them if true.

Edited August 19, 2022 by marieps

[radiomom]

Just off the AmaLucia today.  We made the full transit - Basel to Amsterdam - without swapping ships. The crew had been preparing for a switch, but then it wasn’t necessary.  We were quite pleased not to have to pack midway through our trip.  

[Host Jazzbeau]

4 hours ago, radiomom said:

Just off the AmaLucia today.  We made the full transit - Basel to Amsterdam - without swapping ships. The crew had been preparing for a switch, but then it wasn’t necessary.  We were quite pleased not to have to pack midway through our trip.  

If anybody can sail 135m ships through a difficult spot, it will be AMA!

[Gretchendz]

On 8/25/2022 at 2:10 PM, Host Jazzbeau said:

If anybody can sail 135m ships through a difficult spot, it will be AMA!

 

For sure--they designed them to have a very shallow draft!