Danube water levels 2024 and similar topics - plus tips and info

[AMhappy]

16 hours ago, notamermaid said:

Passau river levels statistics part 2

 

Having looked at all dates from 1 August to 1 November of the years 1990 to 2023, the 8th of August is the date with the most problems. What does that mean? There are several years that go without any problems for river cruise ships at Passau. The authorities state that some river cruise ships find the passage difficult at a level of 630cm. So I assume for our purposes that most ships can still sail under the bridge at 639cm. Therefore I have looked at all figures of 640cm and above. So several years stay under that level in all three months. In the list the 8th of August appears six times. This means that from 1990 to 2023 that date has had a level of 640cm or above six times. As a consequence both the 7th (five times) and the 9th (four times) are unpleasant days for sailing. In fact, the period from 4th to 11th August is the worst on the river of August, September and October. Overall, August is the worst time with the 1st of September getting close to the 8th of August (five times). As we can expect then, September is a better month overall and October - with low water being the far greater risk upstream by then - shows few dates of levels of 640cm and above, also clearly being mostly featured in the bottom third of the list of figures.

 

In short: based on those statistics a river cruise itinerary leaving from Vilshofen is little impacted at Passau from 4th September till 1st November.

 

If you are travelling on a Grand European itinerary you need to get past Pfelling and Passau so finding the best days in autumn is a tricky one. Low levels at Passau mean low levels at Pfelling. An example: on 12th October 2018 the level at Passau went down to 390cm. On the same date, the level at Pfelling went down to 242cm. Far too low for river cruise ships. That means the "perfect" time frame is a narrow one. But remember, statistically out of the 34 8th of August we looked at 28 of them were good.

 

notamermaid

 

 

Amazing effort and information, thank you!

[notamermaid]

So for those embarking at Nuremberg and those doing the Grand European journeys we will need to look at Pfelling. Flooding is an issue but one that I will ignore for now. The much bigger issue, partly also because it persists longer when it happens, is low water. And that we will look at another time. Again it will be 1990 to 2023 but details will take longer to put together so will have to wait some days. One reason it takes a bit of time to get meaningful statistics is that I cannot just look at the worst, i.e. lost of lowest levels. Much of the top 50 is made up of just three years, yup, the abysmal 2018 and two others. So I will think of a more elaborate way of compiling this.

 

notamermaid

 

[ural guy]

Adventure continues.  Yesterday we had to bus about 1.5 hrs to get to Tulcea, previously we were slated to sail there but the situation in Ukraine forced a change. We boarded small boats there and cruised the delta area.   We saw some birds and everyone was happy.  

 

Today was a tour of Constanta.  Beautiful blue skies.  Happy to finally see this city, as low water prevented a visit in 2016.  Numerous Roman finds on display in parks:

 

 

I did climb the Mosque's minaret, great views:

 

 

 

A floating car:

 

After lunch, we had a 'special' dessert in the lounge.  I wasn't expecting much, but was blown away.  It didn't just look good, but was delicious as well.  Our pastry chief gets a huge atta-boy for this spread.

 

 

 

When we dock in Budapest, we will have cruised 2,960 kms!  So fortunate to have had great weather. and great crew, for this journey.

 

Around 1700:

 

and 2 hours later:

 

 

 

 

[littlek26]

Hello. I assume you were on the 9/21 sailing from Bratislava.  Did you receive a credit for future bookings from Viking because of the disruptions?

[notamermaid]

Pfelling river level statistics part 1

 

Pfelling gauge, situated near Bogen at the village called Pfelling, shows the levels in the shallowest section of the Danube between Kelheim and Budapest. The authorities give a level of 290cm as the figure that indicates the first problems for river cruise ships. With every centimetre less the problems with the passage increase until most river cruise ships cannot sail without running aground. The prohibitive figure is a little different for each ship. It depends on the draft, the hull structure, going upstream or downstream, etc. Note that 290cm is the reading on the gauge. Captains translate this into the actual depth of the navigation channel. The shallow section of river is not long but in the topography of the river it is basically from Straubing to Vilshofen, 69km. It is a little shorter than that but I leave the details to those actually sailing on the river.

 

The question is: does low water at Pfelling happen often? Simply: yes. It happens mostly in the second half of the year but is not confined to that. We will ignore the outliers in May and June. For now, we will just have a brief look at the worst levels recorded from 1990 to 2023. As I said earlier, these are showing up in just a few years, the three and a few others of less dramatic scenarios. Perhaps surprisingly, the top spot is not a figure of the year 2018. It is the 13th of August 2022 at 217cm! The worst day in 2018 was the 23rd of August joint with the 24th August as the lowest figure of 225cm (the former being just worse overall in the daily average). The low water situation was worse in 2018 overall as it lasted longer. And low water can be a long scenario, lasting anything from a day to a (consecutive) month and more.

 

And another thing I find striking is that in the years apart from 2018 and 2022 that show very low figures those are also often in August. Those years of note are 1998, 2003 and 2015.

 

notamermaid

 

[ural guy]

Today, there were two options: a full day visit to Veliko Tarnovo and Ivanova Rock Church, or half day to Ivanova and Ruse.  We have been to Veliko Tarnovo before, and didn't want long bus rides, so we went on the half day tour.

 

We were happy with our choice, the area where the rock church is pretty, and a nice break.  We trudge up a rough trail and are rewarded with great views.

 

 

The church's 'balcony'.

 

 

Inside paintings.

 

 

 

Ruse:  a nice pedestrian zone, had a very good lunch.  Enjoyable place to wander through.

 

 

 

 

Memorial to the Soviet liberators.  

 

 

 

This is from when we boarded...after this was taken, the Viva2 tied up to the Viking ship.  The first 4 raft I've been a part of.  It was a nice ballet when 3 of the 4 ships left.  A lot of coordination behind the scenes...the 3 lines had buses staggered for 0830/0845/0900  It worked.

 

 

Ama Verde and Viking Uller.

 

Still having a great time.  Many more km's to go to Budapest, but the weather and sailing have been fantastic.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Canal archive]

These river boat Captains are in the main absolute experts in the operation of their boats it’s a joy to watch them in action. 

[brian1]

Hi all,had a browse of the TUI cruises next year and Romania is not on their list.Have all cruises stopped going that far due to the proximity of the war or some other reason.Cheers,Brian.

[notamermaid]

Weather warnings in place for Germany:

https://www.dwd.de/EN/weather/warnings/warnings_node.html;jsessionid=7E2B4B81809ACE012E16FDADA7938198.live11052

 

The river is due to rise and passage under the Passau bridge may become difficult.

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

Passau gauge is now at 620cm and running below what the forecast has indicated. A bit better than thought but a rise is indicated after an initial drop. 660cm looks probable.

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

Passau gauge is at 659cm.

 

notamermaid

 

[erlinmeyer]

1 hour ago, notamermaid said:

Passau gauge is at 659cm.

 

notamermaid

 

back increasing after slight drop, in 2 hours it rose to 677. 

[notamermaid]

This time the clouds favour the West, sweeping through Germany via the Middle and leaving it towards the East-Northeast. That is good for the Danube of course although a higher volume of water will come towards Passau from the Upper Danube. All in all it will be much less than in the Rhine rive basin. The Moselle is flooding (mildly). Main river getting less rain than originally thought. Not looking too bad.

 

 

notamermaid

 

[notamermaid]

Situation improved. Passau gauge has fallen.

 

notamermaid

 

[ural guy]

Wednesday we were in Vidin, my back was acting weird so I took a rest day.

 

Thursday am we sailed through the Iron Gates again, and met our first fog.  So that part of scenic sailing wasn't the most scenic.

 

 

Until we exited the gates, leaving the fog behind and another great weather day starting.

 

 

We sailed until roughly 1130 and docked in Donji Milanovac. The Serbian authorities checked paperwork and we were clear to go ashore an hour later.  We were here in 2016 and Vantage took us to the local church, the elementary school for a meet/greet with the kids (we ducked out early), and time to wander the small town of 2,000 people.  It was underwhelming.  The town has only been here since the 60's; it was relocated as old location flooded when Iron Gate dam was built.

 

So we weren't expecting much...and were happily wrong.  There is a very interesting archaeological site only 20 minutes away, Lepenski Vir.  It was discovered by Belgrade University students and their professor when the dam was initially planned.  'Estimates of the age of this site range up to 9,000 BCE, which would make it Europe's earliest.'

 

The excavated findings were reconstructed above the area to be flooded, and a museum built.  I have no idea why we didn't go here on our first cruise.  The walk back to the place is about 1 km through nice woods.  Again, we had perfect weather.

 

 

 

 

The town of Donji Milanovac has had a serious glow up since 2016.  The area along the dock has all been reconstructed, the paver stones are various colors and layout, very attractive.  High speed playground really contrasted against the old tetanus inducing metal one at the other end of town.  The new trees species were well chosen, with their fall red and yellow leaves really setting the scene.  Murals of famous people and information signs with English were also added.  I liked this one:

 

 

 

 

I was a construction PM in old life, big tip of the cap for this projects execution, it has completely changed the look of the area along the waterside.  Wish I had better light for this one. 

 

 

To most, pavers are just something to walk on.  I have had enough onsite meetings with base officials, factory reps, distributors, and installers over damaged pavers, either through overzealous snowblower operator or poor installation practices to cause me to lose sleep.  Now I just get to enjoy a job well done.

 

The old promenade heading out of town only had a few fishermen enjoying the early evening.

 

 

A perfect end to another happy day.

 

[Canal archive]

Those pavers (wonderful word) look like bricks on end. Thanks again Ural Guy I know we won’t ever get to cruise that area so your insight is wonderful.

[General Agent]

Great to meet you on the penultimate day of the cruise. By the way throwing some great shapes!!

[General Agent]

Ural guy. Keep searching for the 🌹 

[notamermaid]

Passau gauge went up briefly again as had been expected, the peak figure was 678cm on the 11th at 2am. Fluctuating since then but better overall, now at 586cm. Rain over Germany, but a short interlude will see little to no rain over the Danube basin. More rain forecast for later on Monday.

 

notamermaid

 

[moonriver54]

Boarded the Avalon Illumination yesterday afternoon at Oltenita.  As soon as everyone was aboard we got underway and steamed east…downriver to Cernavoda, Romania.  We’re headed via bus to Constanta on the Black Sea this morning. Sorry about the upside down photo.

[ural guy]

General Agent:  Nice meeting you as well...you lived up to your name as an agent, tracking me down through the sunset pic of my spouse!

 

Novi Sad, Serbia's second largest city, was our next stop.  They have taken full advantage of their section of river with a wide pedestrian sidewalk, adjacent bike lanes, and rubberized running lane.  We stayed until 2200  so had plenty of time to enjoy.

 

We were lucky to catch the rehearsals for Serbian Fashion Week.  It was adjacent a park, and the music was wafting over, inviting gawkers.  Tyra Banks would have been proud of the ladies.

 

 

Pretty steeples:

 

Great street art:

 

 

A memorial to the past, which was well visited, to include school groups.  Petrovaradin Fortress is on the hill.

 

 

And a nice good by from Novi Sad to our ship.  The picture doesn't capture the techno music bouncing from the clubs lining the shores.  A nice visit.

 

[ural guy]

Moonriver-  Enjoy your cruise, you should be getting some great Fall colors on the river.

 

[Canal archive]

Moonriver54 I know the water levels have been erratic but! 
Sorry couldn’t resist its happened to more of us than you’d realise.

[brian1]

13 minutes ago, Canal archive said:

Moonriver54 I know the water levels have been erratic but! 
Sorry couldn’t resist its happened to more of us than you’d realise.

Well,he is sailing down river.

[ural guy]

Last stop, Vukovar.  The town has continued to recover since our 2016 visit.  The population is still about half what it was prior to the Homelands War (Croatia's name for conflict in 1990's).  A large factory that was the major employer never rebuilt, part of the reason for the decline.

 

 

The War's memorial, the stone for cross came from same quarry as the US White House.

 

 

Sticky toffee pudding on the top deck:

 

 

And another sunset:

 

 

Our last day in Budapest a marathon was being held, very nice to watch the runners as we did our sail in.  Captain took us around Margaret Island which was appreciated.  Unfortunately, musical fountain is down for the season.

 

At airport, waiting for flight.  Riviera exceed expectations, 3002 km's of sailing in total and it was wonderful.  Little touches were nice, but it was the consistent excellent service that helped deliver a relaxing trip.  The Scylla crew was friendly, anticipated needs, and were a tight knit bunch.  Moral was high.  Riviera's CD and Concierge were great, their genuine enthusiasm for this sailing being evident.  Great weather certainly helped.

 

 

Our sixth and best river cruise experience.  Mahalo, Riviera.