Spring weather and River Cruising

[jrowland]

Looking to make a reservation for a Spring 2008 Amsterdam - Budapest river cruise and wondered what kind of weather we might encounter if we took a early spring cruise.

 

Having researched the 2007 sailing dates from the various river cruise providers i.e. Amadeus, Globus, Viking etc noticed dates were available beginning as early as March.

 

We are interested perhaps taking advantage of the lower prices for the March/April period but got to thinking about the weather during that period , how cold it might be and what could expect weather wise.

 

Jeffro:rolleyes:

[steamboats]

Jeffro,

 

That´s hard to tell. 2006 we had an unusual amount of snow in early March (15 inches in 24 hours). This snow was still around in late March when we cruised the Danube river out of Passau. Then it melted and we got stuck in Vienna because of high water. We also had heavy rainfall that week.

 

End of March/early April are the start of the river cruise season. I realized that more and more companies try to start earlier to make more money. But I won´t advise to do so as spring floods can affect the cruises. Weather in March/April can be very mixed. Colder and more rain in March than in April. Temps in the mid 50ies - mid 60ies. Can be higher on a sunny day. But rain is very likely. April is also good for some snow (which won´t last) or thunderstorms with hail. But it can be sunny and warm the whole month through.

 

I´d suggest not to start before mid April. Sorry, that I can´t be more precise but that´s really impossible.

 

steamboats

[letsgo39]

Think about going the other direction,Budapest to Amsterdam. It has been posted on here that if you go Budapest to Amsterdam you will pass right through any bad weather rather than having it follow you the complete trip.

My DH and I are scheduled on the Avalon Tranquility Budapest to Amsterdam in July.I was concerned about all the rain in early spring.Therefore making the river levels to high to get under the bridges. I know that can be a problem but then there is no way to predict the weather at any time.Probably someone will respond that took a river cruise in early spring and it was wonderful.

There is a review on here of a Budapest to Amsterdam cruise in the late fall and the pictures were beautiful.

[jrowland]

I did remember seeing the advice to take the Budapest - Amsterdam route. I'm waiting until the 2008 sailing dates are released so can see what is available and make a final decision on date/route. My current preference for cruise provider is 1. Amadeus

2. Globus/Avalon

[EURiverCruiser]

I must agree with Steamboats that Europen river cruising in March and early April involves certain weather related risks. Obviously, no one can really give you any reliable weather forecast at the prospective time of your booking, and yet you would rightly wish to take only calculated risks.

 

If I were choosing between Amadeus and Avalon, I'd go for Avalon. Here are my reasons:

 

Avalon has 5 ships on European rivers in 2007. Amadeus has got only 2. If you encounter high or low water on the rivers, Avalon has a tactical reserve and its planning provides for sending a ship of the same class towards the end of the critical zone of high/low water, so that you can still continue your river cruise on a ship of the same class. (If you are travelling downstream, you simply switch the ship with the folks travelling upstream.) Amadeus does not have this capability due to the minimal size of its fleet. Your beautiful river cruise becomes a very massive 4 bus, bus tour:mad: :mad: :mad: :mad:

 

Avalon markets its cruises throughout the English-speaking world using powerful and well-seasoned Globus booking system. They are naturally geared towards serving individual passengers and tour/cruise groups.

 

Amadeus is a very small sales operation in Chatsworth, CA and the size of their sales force naturally gears them up towards primarily serving tour/cruise groups.

 

If you are not a part of such a private party, you may feel left out, in particular as you see the group leaders exercising every kind of pressure upon the Cruise Director in charge, in order to get whatever advantage there may be 'for their group members only'. Not a very pretty sight.

 

EURiver Cruiser

[steamboats]

EURiverCruiser,

 

Are you working for Avalon???

 

BTW the president of Amadeus Waterways has been with Viking, Uniworld and Avalon. So he really knows what he´s doing and business is going well. They started offering the Nile River for 2007 and will expand to Russia in 2008.

 

I doubt that Avalon is able to "send" a ship to the end of the critical zone as you are saying. This is only possible when they do have two ships doing the same route in opposite directions. I think they do so and that´s why they can simply "change" the boats but they are definitely not sending a ship out (if they are having an empty boats somewhere they are having an extreme economical problem!). Viking is doing the same thing, changing passengers.

 

The main problem is the Danube river near Straubing. Plans are up for years to solve this problem but politics is still fighting on that.

 

steamboats

[KeyOfSea]

What can we expect for the end of May and early June? I know there are no guarantees but what's the "usual"? Thanks!

[steamboats]

KeyOfSea,

 

That would be my preferred time of the year for a river cruise. Weather usually should be nice and warm but not too hot. Sure there´s always a chance of rain.

 

steamboats