France River Cruise - Rivers drying in September or not?

[Retired888]

I remember seeing news about rivers in Europe drying up and many river cruises have turned into bus tours instead, despite paying huge dollars for river cruises.  

 

We are looking at Viking River cruise - 14-night France's Finest - from Paris to Avignon, in September 2023.  Is it going to be problematic wrt to dried out rivers?  If it is, does going in May solve the problem, presumably that they will get more water and snow in winter which would translate to water going into the rivers? September is our preferred travel month, otherwise we would have not hesitated to book in May.  I have never been to France, and hence I may be asking a stupid question here, but if I don't ask, I won't know. 🙂  

[milling73]

Unfortunately it is impossible to predict water levels for any month.  (We will book May/June for our next)

We were on 2 Viking cruises in July-Aug this year and ran out of water. on both the Rhine and Danube. And yes the cruises then become a bus tour either using boat as docked hotel, or leaving boat and staying in a hotel. We spent 4 nights in hotel on Grand European and 4 nights docked in an industrial container port at Strasbourg on  the Paris to Alps tour. (Photos of that docking station are no where on their ads!)

Daily Itinerary is met as much as possible by bus.
None of the cruise companies publish much about the possibility of not sailing in their ads. People see the commercials of beautiful river sailing and believe all river cruises to be that — and  they absolutely are IF water levels allow. But Too high of level and boats cannot clear bridges; too low and they cannot sail.
No cruise company can control river levels, they all cope the best they can. Many cancel and do not sail. But Viking seems to have policy of meet itinerary by bus. They do not give a heads up notification that it will be a bus trip, or give passengers the  option to cancel because of water levels. 
We have taken 8 river cruises and this summer was the first time we could not sail. Out of what should have been 22 days sailing - we spent 8 in hotel or docked. It became long days on the bus on mostly boring interstate drives to and from boat or hotel - to see that day stops. (leave at 8, back around 6) which affects meal choices, spirits package, and most of all leisurely  cruising time in lounge or deck chair. 

River cruises when conditions are good are simply wonderful. And why we have taken so many. But companies should be more upfront in their ads advising travelers what happens if river conditions will not allow that cruise to happen: —  The river cruise becomes a bus tour.
Furthermore If the company does not cancel the cruise - the passengers cannot cancel  last minute for refund because they dont want a bus trip. Claiming trip insurance does not apply either because the itinerary is being met by bus. (As we found out this summer) 

 

[notamermaid]

On 10/26/2022 at 11:00 PM, Retired888 said:

We are looking at Viking River cruise - 14-night France's Finest - from Paris to Avignon, in September 2023.  Is it going to be problematic wrt to dried out rivers?  

While I have not cruised in France, I will nevertheless say that it looks to be less problematic than on German rivers. 1. I read and hear almost nothing about low water on the Seine and Rhone. 2. Both rivers are generally speaking deeper than the Rhine and Danube, etc. and are also controlled by locks where river cruise ships sail. Details I will have to leave to experienced cruisers.

 

Perhaps this map may be of interest to you: https://unece.org/DAM/trans/main/sc3/AGN_map_2018.pdf

 

High water and real flooding can of course happen on all rivers and that is generally more in Spring than in autumn.

 

notamermaid

 

 

 

[Host Jazzbeau]

I agree that the Rhône has not been a source of low-water problem reports.  There is one bridge just north of Lyon [actually on the Saône] that can be problematic in high water, but that only affects a small part of most itineraries.

[Canal archive]

It’s most probably the one we had to wait at one year for the boat travelling upstream the clearance was in inches. Interesting experience.