MS Bolero, 4/13/07

[steamboats]

Picky,

 

I´m totally sorry that your cruise didn´t turn out as a cruise. But I also totally agree with mediaman. It is definitely not Gate1´s fault. And this is a usual risk with river cruises. Every cruise company has some sort of disclaimer regarding river conditions in their fine print. River levels are a subject of change. And even if there have been 3 out of 5 which had been shortened there is and was no need of Gate1 to contact you in advance. First the river conditions are no reason to cancel a cruise (and no insurance will pay for a cancellation because of the fine print). You can´t compare that to an unrest when maybe your State Department is giving out a travel warning. Second river levels can change very quickly and it´s a last minute decision by the captain whether the ship can continue its journey or not. So Gate1 really doesn´t know about the status of the ship and how a trip will turn out. There is no longterm forecast for river levels. River levels can drop within hours and the time you´re leaving the US you can have high water on the Danube river. And by the time you arrive in Germany the water levels are down again. Third how do you want to reschedule a river cruise?? The only thing you can do is going the other way round from Nuremberg to the Main and Rhine rivers. But that´ll cause other problems as the passengers of the following cruise will wait for the ship in Vienna.

 

Obviously Gate1 did their best to get you to all ports. Although it was by bus. Believe me, I know what I´m talking about. I had four cruises which were shortened. Last year on our first European river cruise we ended up in Vienna after 23 hours of crusing (including one shore stop). Deilmann did a perfect job on that and you can read the outcome in my review linked in my signature. The captain tried to at least get us back to Passau. This year our Elbe river cruise missed the most scenic part upriver of Dresden because of low water. I had two river cruises in the US which were shortened by high water (although I´m German I do know much more about rivers in the US than in Europe). In both cases I definitely knew that we won´t reach our final port prior to any official announcement. The only compensation we got was a free bus ride to our final destination. No onboard credit, no bus rides to the missed ports, no discount for a future cruise.

 

Although I´m not an expert on US law (but I´m a lawyer) but I doubt that any legal action against Gate1 would be more than spending your money.

 

BTW the Danube river between Regensburg and Passau is quite tricky. In the area around Straubing you can have problems with low water. Passau has a low bridge where high waters can force ships to stop. But anyway according to the Bavarian flood center there is no flood stage at any of the rivers currently. And I haven´t heard of any major problems during the last weeks. The Danube river is high but this shouldn´t be a problem. I have various friends who have just finished a cruise on the Danube river without any problems. The Rhine river was a bit up too in Cologne and the landings were flooded.

 

steamboats

[Picky]

If what some of you defending Gate1 is valid, then I suggest they be required to post the following when sending you an invoice for payment:

 

"Congratulations. You about to buy a cruise. You may have as good as a 50/50 chance that it will actually take place. Good luck."

[steamboats]

Picky,

 

I contacted a friend and he actually was on your ship at Regensburg visiting some crew. This friend told me that there´s a low bridge in Deggendorf which you weren´t able to pass. There wasn´t really high water but some sort of high water wave which went on quite slowly. IMHO it was better stopping at Regensburg which is a very pretty historic town than going on to Deggendorf where there´s nothing interesting all. According to my information the MS BOLERO was able to proceed to Passau and pick up the passengers for the following cruise there.

 

steamboats

[ltcTN]

My wife and I are on the December 26 Bolero cruise Vienna to Nuremburg. At this point I will Paddle the thing! Just happy to be getting away!

 

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all!