Danube water levels 2023 and similar topics - plus tips and info

[notamermaid]

Companies do say the vast, vast majority of river cruises run without problems. All in all that is most likely true, no question about that. With more ships of large size and standard high height having been put onto the rivers in the last ten years the problems have increased though.

 

For what it's worth: my river cruise was fantastic, without problems. A couple of weeks later my ship hit the bridge at Passau and was out of service for several weeks. Then the huge flood of June 2013 happened and nothing ran on the Danube for - my guess - two weeks.

 

The Seine does not seem to suffer from low water generally (it is relatively deep) and the flooding tends not to be severe -  but does happen for sure.

 

8 hours ago, CastleCritic said:

for what little good these datapoints are Ive done 5 Europe cruises with no changes due to water levels

That is good.

 

I know that people have been on river cruises and never heard of water level issues because all their cruises went fine.

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

9 hours ago, smithp7 said:

Wow that’s amazing. What would you attribute this to? Has it always been this way from time to time?  Someone we took a tour with from Passau blamed some of it on the use of Hydro power plants. Do you think that’s true? It’s very difficult to know the best time to take a cruise on the Danube or the Rhine. We have another river cruise on the Rhine in The beginning of June 2025. Hopefully that will be uneventful:) Thanks, Pat

June 2025, a long way to go. June is a really nice month for river cruising on the Rhine. It can get really warm; hot on a few days. Lovely, balmy sunsets on the sundeck.

 

I really do not know what the authorities do, but you are right of course, there are hydroelectric power plants. The locks I always mention are dams as well and the system uses the water flow to create electricity. Near Passau is the Kachlet lock.

 

notamermaid

 

[Izengolf]

I would be curious to know what percentage of cruises per river are affected by water levels (high and low) as well as issues with locks. Would the Danube and then the Rhine be dramatically higher than other rivers and impact sales if the companies did that instead of a blanket "only X% of sailing have itinerary changes"?

[notamermaid]

1 hour ago, Izengolf said:

I would be curious to know what percentage of cruises per river are affected by water levels (high and low) as well as issues with locks. Would the Danube and then the Rhine be dramatically higher than other rivers and impact sales if the companies did that instead of a blanket "only X% of sailing have itinerary changes"?

Would love to know this, also with the fact in mind that with low water it depends on the fleet as well. I know that CroisiEurope has a very good "track record" as they sail with only 110m ships (or smaller) on the rivers where other companies sail with a mixed or 135m-only fleet. A few of the French company's ships have one deck less as well, which is good for the issue of low bridges.

 

Apart from the flooding on the Rhine that is just passing now, the Rhine has been a good river to sail this year for all companies. The Elbe is tricky but the scheduled itineraries and special ships take that into consideration so the "only X percent" is quite good for the Elbe in comparison to the Danube. Tons of itineraries have been affected on the latter. Again, it would be nice to see a breakdown of figures. But I suspect it would deter some people from choosing certain companies. But overall the Danube low water hits all companies that operate 135m ships. We can now expect it every year just the time frame and the duration and extent are never known until shortly before a sailing date. Granted, one or two years have been kind of okay these last twenty years.

 

If a company says "96 percent of all our cruises in Europe run smoothly" then they may include the Douro, the Seine and the Rhone in the calculation as well as the canals of the Netherlands, which quite frankly does not help a prospective cruiser for the Danube...

 

notamermaid

 

 

[notamermaid]

Good news: Passau gauge has fallen to 620cm. More headroom under the bridge.

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

@Barb at Maple Lane here is the info for this year so far:

 

20 hours ago, notamermaid said:

I will get a bit more together as regards statistics but have had a look already at one aspect. How many days has the level at Pfelling fallen below the crucial 290cm this year? I have counted a staggering 85 days.

 

You asked me in the Rhine thread this specific question: "Not a Mermaid, what dates was the section from Passau to Regensberg closed this fall please?"

 

This is the graph to answer that:

 

It is too complicated to filter out of that the days that were fine. So I will direct you to the website. My search gives you this:

https://www.gkd.bayern.de/en/rivers/waterlevel/bayern/pfelling-10078000/year-figures?zr=jahr&addhr=hr_w_hw&beginn=10.09.2023&ende=27.10.2023

Now, underneath that graph are figures. Click on more data. That gives you the full list of figures in that time frame. Click on the arrow pointing down in the right column. The table should now have the figures appearing in order low to high, looking like this (screenshot):

 

All days that have a figure on the right below 290cm indicate a problem for river cruise ships.

Nota bene: This is not closure, this means a captain may have decided not to sail. The river in Germany is never closed to traffic in low water. There has been no closure due to flooding, the problem has only been the headroom under bridges.

 

You also asked: "Also, how long was Budapest unavailable for the ships to dock there?"

 

I cannot answer that question well, it will have depended on the individual itinerary and ship. However, the notion is that quite a few days were affected and many of the 135m ships. You can see the comments of cruisers and my confirmed water levels on those days on this page for example:

 

Do have a look at the corresponding pages in that time frame in the Viking river roll calls for the Danube. People have mentioned the problems around Budapest.

 

Hope this helps.

 

notamermaid

 

 

 

 

[Barb at Maple Lane]

1 hour ago, notamermaid said:

@Barb at Maple Lane here is the info for this year so far:

 

 

You asked me in the Rhine thread this specific question: "Not a Mermaid, what dates was the section from Passau to Regensberg closed this fall please?"

 

This is the graph to answer that:

 

It is too complicated to filter out of that the days that were fine. So I will direct you to the website. My search gives you this:

https://www.gkd.bayern.de/en/rivers/waterlevel/bayern/pfelling-10078000/year-figures?zr=jahr&addhr=hr_w_hw&beginn=10.09.2023&ende=27.10.2023

Now, underneath that graph are figures. Click on more data. That gives you the full list of figures in that time frame. Click on the arrow pointing down in the right column. The table should now have the figures appearing in order low to high, looking like this (screenshot):

 

All days that have a figure on the right below 290cm indicate a problem for river cruise ships.

Nota bene: This is not closure, this means a captain may have decided not to sail. The river in Germany is never closed to traffic in low water. There has been no closure due to flooding, the problem has only been the headroom under bridges.

 

You also asked: "Also, how long was Budapest unavailable for the ships to dock there?"

 

I cannot answer that question well, it will have depended on the individual itinerary and ship. However, the notion is that quite a few days were affected and many of the 135m ships. You can see the comments of cruisers and my confirmed water levels on those days on this page for example:

 

Do have a look at the corresponding pages in that time frame in the Viking river roll calls for the Danube. People have mentioned the problems around Budapest.

 

Hope this helps.

 

notamermaid

 

 

 

 

Thanks for the information!

[smithp7]

21 hours ago, CastleCritic said:

for what little good these datapoints are Ive done 5 Europe cruises with no changes due to water levels

 

rhine April 2019

Danube November 2019

Rhine-Main November 2021 (though this one gets an * because the starting point WAS changed due to dredging that happened due to flooding in the spring and THEN somewhat low water caused by sediment that the floods drug along causing some havoc the days right before I arrived but the actual water level was ok)

Seine May 2022

Danube (east) May 2023 (the next week..flooding)

 

Wow you’ve been very lucky!

[notamermaid]

Now for something a little bit different. When sailing from Regensburg to Passau or vice versa you pass a ship that is seemingly docked in a remote place away from towns at a beautiful spot near a castle and hill with monument. It is at Donaustauf and the ship is the MS Rossini. She is a former splendid classic river cruise ship but is now used to house refugees. The ship had been docked a bit further downstream at Bach but the local authorities have a coordinated plan for this and moved the ship in August. So you may have seen this on your past cruise at a different spot. It is still a "normal" ship technically and signals. Here:

 

It is somewhat sad to see the ship go down that way as it can easily be the end of the road before, you now, conversion to private or worse.

 

But to the small town of Donaustauf. Marked on marinetraffic is the Burgberg. Yes, a castle on a hill. Not bad, but what is a real draw there is the other landmark, Walhalla. Kind of weird, refugees on a ship underneath the hall of fame of Germans. https://www.schloesser.bayern.de/englisch/palace/objects/walhalla.htm

 

From Regensburg the Walhalla is a pleasant coach ride. It should be offered on excursions but Regensburg itself is certainly the grander experience so I would understand it if no company ever offers it.

 

You can go by boat from Regensburg: https://tourismus.regensburg.de/en/experience-discover/guided-tours-walks-and-round-trips/boat-trips

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

Where do ships go in winter? To a harbour naturally, but it needs to safe. There are industrial harbours and special winter harbours. On the Danube many river cruise ships dock in Linz:

 

Vienna has a winter harbour as well of course:

 

Look which is there - the old Viking Prestige! She is not that old actually but was replaced by the longships. Does the Prestige actually still sail?

 

Not much happening there yet, but see what the google image used reveals when we zoom in:

That is how many ships moored when the satellite image was taken.

 

There are other harbours. If you are completely bored some time in winter you can do some ship spotting of which ship docks where.

 

notamermaid

 

[rcaruso]

6 hours ago, notamermaid said:

Look which is there - the old Viking Prestige! She is not that old actually but was replaced by the longships. Does the Prestige actually still sail?

 

Not much happening there yet, but see what the google image used reveals when we zoom in:

That is how many ships moored when the satellite image was taken.

 

There are other harbours. If you are completely bored some time in winter you can do some ship spotting of which ship docks where.

 

notamermaid

 

The Prestige is used for training.  In July we met our restaurant manager from the Douro in Vienna.  He was training new hires on the Prestige and it does sail a bit for training.  We were supposed to be on it in 2020 which was changed to the Embla at that time.

[CastleCritic]

I remember finding an image one of the viking "winter" ports during covid..you think that pic looks tighly packed? thats nothing.

Edited November 25, 2023 by CastleCritic

[notamermaid]

7 hours ago, CastleCritic said:

I remember finding an image one of the viking "winter" ports during covid..you think that pic looks tighly packed? thats nothing.

Not sure which one you saw, but the one of Cologne Niehl drone image is striking. Tops the Vienna one for sure.

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

The Arosa Donna has had an accident. The company issued a statement saying that due to sudden strong currents the ship hit ground during a night sailing early on Wednesday. The damage was bad enough to cause the itinerary to end. The passengers were taken to Passau to make their journeys home and offered to repeat the cruise when the Arosa Donna returns to service after repairs. Next available itinerary is 11 December. These are all short Advent cruises typical for German companies to offer. They are three or four nights when Christmas markets are on.

 

Water levels continue to be good. Some rain over parts of the Danube. Bavaria, here I mean even towns along the Danube, will see a bit of snow during the evening and night.

 

notamermaid

 

[Canal archive]

Arosa has usually been one of the safest lines so very unusual for one of their ships to fall fowl of the river challenges.

[CastleCritic]

4 hours ago, notamermaid said:

Not sure which one you saw, but the one of Cologne Niehl drone image is striking. Tops the Vienna one for sure.

 

notamermaid

 

very likely was, bing still has a picture of a very full harbor

 

I know that most of the Danube AMA fleet ends up near Linz

 

 

 

Edited November 25, 2023 by CastleCritic

[SnowshoeCat]

Reporting from Vienna. It’s snowing 🙂  The river looks fast, but I have nothing to compare it to.

 

When I was looking at a sailing that stopped in Linz, I looked at Google Images to see what the city looked like. I noticed many river ships in the satellite photos. As I scanned, I saw many more. They seemed to be parked everywhere. Then I noticed that the images were from 2020. 

[notamermaid]

1 hour ago, SnowshoeCat said:

Reporting from Vienna. It’s snowing 🙂  The river looks fast, but I have nothing to compare it to.

Lovely. Thanks for saying hello from Austria. Enjoy the city and the snow.

 

Vienna is at a height between 151m and 544m above sea level. High enough for rain to turn into snow, weather report says it is one degree Celsius right now. And the first snow has certainly made the Austrian news this evening, I see online.

 

notamermaid

 

[gnome12]

7 hours ago, CastleCritic said:

very likely was, bing still has a picture of a very full harbor

 

I know that most of the Danube AMA fleet ends up near Linz

 

 

 

I'd sure hate to be responsible for getting the ships all out safely when the new season starts!

[Canal archive]

After you, no after you!

[notamermaid]

11 hours ago, Canal archive said:

After you, no after you!

If done the British polite way, it could take a week. 😁 That would be quite the video seeing all these leave in a concerted way one after the other.

 

Levels on the Danube continue to be good. Passau gauge at 561cm. Plenty of room under the bridge.

 

Snow in Passau: https://www.feratel.com/webcams/deutschland/passau.html

 

notamermaid

 

[SnowshoeCat]

The river does seem fast here in Vienna, and the wind is blowing strong in the same direction. There are even little whitecaps.  I’m watching two swans going nowhere as they try to swim upstream, while another two just swept past in the other direction.

[Canal archive]

It conjures up a wonderful picture of butlers all dressed exactly correctly and captain's being exquisitely polite. Just before the punch up for the lead position. 😆

Edited November 26, 2023 by Canal archive

[SnowshoeCat]

So the good news is they said the water levels are cooperating. The bad news is the boat’s broken and we can’t sail until an engineer arrives and hopefully fixes it.  So we’re stuck in Melk.  A bus trip to Salzburg was scheduled for tomorrow, anyway, so not a big inconvenience yet.

[CastleCritic]

sounds potentially annoying, but as you say, not yet Salzburg was a full day bus trip no matter where you started from (and if the weather is good...a rather nice trip too).

 

What ship broke this time?