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Minimal Impact, So Far, From Low Rhine River Water Levels

Scenic Crystal on the Rhine River. Credit: Elliot Gillies

Low water levels on the Rhine River, particularly in Germany, are so far having a minimal impact on river cruising this summer, but that may change as levels are predicted to go down further.

According to Reuters , water levels rose earlier this month in some southern sections of the river after some much needed rain, but levels are still too low in northern parts including around Kaub and Cologne.

Near Kaub, water levels on July 10 were measured at somewhere between 1 and 1.25 meters (3.28 to 4.92 feet). By July 19, water levels are expected to be just above 0.75 meters (2.46 feet).

Low waters near Kaub are particularly problematic as that stretch of the river is an essential piece of the route for many Rhine River cruise itineraries, including those that sail from Amsterdam through Cologne and Rudesheim and on to Basel in Switzerland.

"Due to the ongoing high temperatures and low rainfall amounts across Europe, some stretches of the Rhine River in areas we sail are experiencing low water levels," said a spokesperson for Scenic and Emerald Waterways. "As river conditions can change relatively quickly, and to ensure as little disruption as possible to our guests' experience, we are closely monitoring the situation and proactively planning to revise the routes of some cruises.

Where possible, we will ensure the ports of call are not impacted by these changes, and our team is working hard to find the best possible solution for each individual cruise. Our guests are notified of any changes to their itinerary and/or sailings. "

At AmaWaterways, it's business as usual, said Rudi Schreiner, co-founder and president.

"Water levels on certain rivers can change quickly but we are well prepared and able to adapt quickly to any given situation to ensure our guests still have their long awaited vacation," he told Travel Market Report. "… our ships and itineraries have been purposely designed to minimize the impact on our guests' experience should a low water situation develop."

In addition to alternative ports of call, docking sites, and excursions on standby, AmaWaterways schedules ships to sail towards each other on the same (but reversed) itinerary, which allows for a "ship swap" should river authorities stop traffic at a critical point on the river.

River cruise operators faced sailing complications on the Rhine last summer after unusually dry weather and a heat wave led to record low water levels.

Danube River On the Danbue River, where water levels have mostly been okay, at least one river cruise line has had to make a small change.

"Our team is constantly monitoring water levels and we are not currently experiencing low water issues on the Rhine," Pam Hoffee, president of Avalon Waterways told TMR. "The only water challenge that Avalon is currently facing is at Pfelling on the Danube. It is affecting a very small number of cruises that sail to Nuremberg, so we are starting/ending in Vilshofen or Passau instead of Nuremberg.

With an entire fleet of new, Suite Ships, Avalon was built for low water conditions. Not only are our drafts extremely low, our ships are identical if a Ship Swap is ever needed, providing cruisers the same experience, down to the stateroom number."

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Weather tracker: Parts of Rhine closed to shipping as river levels rise

Heavy rain and melting snow force closure near chokepoint of Maxau and Speyer, says German navigation authority

Water levels on the Rhine were critically high last week, after heavy rain across the catchment area and the snow melt that followed.

Parts of the lower Rhine in southern Germany were closed to shipping on Friday near the chokepoint of Maxau and Speyer, the inland navigation authority said.

Water levels continued to rise across the middle and lower parts of the river at the weekend but no problems were reported away from the south.

The Rhine is an important shipping route in central Europe for transporting commodities. High levels mean ships and barges do not have enough space to sail under bridges.

On the opposite end of the scale, the river experienced such unusually low levels during recent dry summers that some vessels were unable to sail.

There are likely to be dry conditions for most of the catchment area on Monday and Tuesday but showers and persistent rain are expected in the far north. By Wednesday, rain will push across the whole of the catchment area, followed by showers, sleet and snow into the weekend, maintaining the high river levels into the Christmas period.

Meanwhile, the weather in China has swung from record-breaking warmth this summer to unprecedented cold, causing at least 30 stations to break minimum temperature records for December, and a further five smashing the lowest temperature record for the year. Datong and Yunzhou reached an all-time low of -31.9C.

Snowstorms last week and over the weekend, followed by an area of high pressure, have led to extreme cold across much of eastern Asia, and the low temperatures are expected to continue until at least Sunday, with signs of slightly warmer conditions into the Christmas period.

Queensland in Australia is experiencing one of the most severe flooding events in its history, caused by the lingering effects of Tropical Cyclone Jasper.

Exceptional amounts of rainfall have been deposited in the Cairns region of northern Queensland. In only 12 hours, two rain gauges measured an astounding 660mm (26in) of rain, surpassing the previous statewide record of 617mm set in 1972.

The relentless downpours have resulted in widespread and significant flooding along the North Tropical Coast, and the Barron River, Myola, has reached its highest flood level in more than a century.

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Low Water Levels Disrupt European River Cruises, a Favorite of U.S. Tourists

As the continent faces a severe drought, companies have had to use buses to transport passengers along parts of the Rhine and the Danube, where water levels have become too low for riverboats.

By Jenny Gross

• Aug. 29, 2022

Mark Farmer’s two-week river cruise from Amsterdam to Budapest got off to a bad start. For the first four days, there were no luxurious dinners overlooking the Rhine River or views from the top-deck balcony room that he and his wife had booked.

In fact, there was no boat at all. He and the other 150 or so passengers were shuttled around the Netherlands and Germany on buses, queuing up in long lines for bathrooms at highway rest stops and cramming into small restaurants.

“We were not happy,” said Mr. Farmer, a sales manager for a waste and recycling company. He and his wife, who live in Arizona, had booked the August trip, which had cost $18,000 including business-class flights, to celebrate their 35th wedding anniversary.

One of Europe’s worst droughts in decades has left the water level of parts of the Rhine and the Danube Rivers too low for ships to pass, paralyzing commerce and causing disruptions for companies that transport goods and commodities like oil and coal. The drought has also affected river cruises, forcing passengers to cope with last-minute changes to their itineraries, long bus rides and missed excursions.

River cruising is a multibillion-dollar industry, with 1.6 million travelers, many of whom were over the age of 55, cruising European rivers in 2018, a number that had nearly doubled from 2013, according to Statista , a provider of market and consumer data. Cruise Lines International Association, a trade group, said the largest group of passengers come from North America.

Nearly 65 percent of European Union territory is currently under some degree of drought warning, according to the European Drought Observatory , which aims to improve drought resilience. Droughts are likely to become more frequent, researchers say, even as hurricanes and other large storms bring flooding to other places around the globe. Climate change from the burning of fossil fuels and other human behavior can play out differently, according to scientists, but the common theme is that extreme weather is becoming more frequent and intense.

Rudi Schreiner, the president and co-owner of AmaWaterways, a river cruise company with a fleet of 26 ships, said that when water levels in the Lower Rhine are too low, cruise passengers are taken on an excursion to a nearby town by bus and then brought back to a spot on the river where water levels are higher. For each day that the cruise itinerary differs from what was scheduled, a passenger receives a voucher for 15 percent off the next seven-night cruise, he said.

Rainfall in Germany last week has provided relief, but the reprieve may be temporary. “The question is how long it will last,” Mr. Schreiner said. AmaWaterways is looking for new technologies to lower the draft of its ships so they can pass through shallower waters. “I don’t see any death of river cruising ,” he said. “I see adjustments.”

Even ships that are able to pass through the Rhine have had to reduce the capacity of their loads, since heavy cargo weighs down ships and causes difficulties in shallow waters.

For Mr. Farmer, the last straw came on day three of his trip, when Viking, the operator, arranged for the guests to stay in a hotel that Mr. Farmer described as subpar, with a man in a building next to the hotel staring into their room when he and his wife walked in.

“That night, my wife and I had had enough. I wanted to go home,” he said. But after two hours on hold with customer service, it became apparent that Viking wouldn’t be giving him a refund. So, he said, he and his wife decided they would change their attitudes. They boarded the ship the next day, and the trip improved significantly.

Viking, which offers trips in Europe, said the circumstances that affected that trip were “highly unusual,” with the Rhine and the Danube Rivers experiencing historically low levels. “We recognized that this was not the experience that our guests expected, which is why we provided all guests with a 15 percent credit toward their next Viking voyage, in the form of a voucher good for one year,” a spokesman said. Customer ratings during the dry period have been “highly satisfactory,” he added.

The company also said in a statement last week that the vast majority of its trips faced no interruptions, even though water levels on the Danube remained unusually low. “Our nautical team is continually monitoring the situation,” the company said. “Guests and their travel advisers will continue to be notified directly by Viking customer relations if we think that their itinerary might be impacted.”

Another passenger on a different Viking cruise this month, Scott Myers, said he and his wife loved their trip, despite viewing one of the most picturesque stretches of the Rhine from a bus.

“It wasn’t as good as if you were sitting on top of the boat as you were floating through, but we were still able to see all the castles,” said Mr. Myers, the director of a county park district in Troy, Ohio. He and his wife were able to spend all but one day of their trip on the cruise they had originally booked. That one day on land involved six or seven hours on a bus, traveling from Cologne, Germany, to Strasbourg, France, with stops, he said.

The pace of climate change has affected other aspects of summer tourism in Europe. With heat waves expected to intensify because of global warming, it is expected that travelers will shift their summer itineraries to destinations further north or on the coasts from destinations like Rome or Tuscany, according to travel agents.

Ellen Bettridge, the president and chief executive of Uniworld, a river cruise company, said that in response to the changing weather in Europe, the company last year expanded into luxury train travel, with itineraries that include both cruise and rail components.

“While we cannot predict future weather changes, we are preparing for it,” she said in a statement. “Our longstanding history and unparalleled relationships within the travel industry have allowed us to be flexible in creating alternate itineraries.” She said most trips had been unaffected, and that the company has had to cancel 7 percent of its cruises.

Lisa Wheeler-Pollington, who had booked a cruise from Amsterdam to Budapest with her husband, said low water levels in the Rhine caused Uniworld to cancel their trip nine days before they were scheduled to depart for Europe.

“My heart just fell,” said Ms. Wheeler-Pollington, a retired real estate worker, who lives in Sarasota, Fla. She and her husband could not reschedule because they had already arranged care for their two Labradors, Cruiser and Scooby-Doo, and contractors were scheduled to do repair work at the house. So Ms. Wheeler-Pollington and her husband accepted a refund and made their way from Amsterdam to Budapest by rail.

It ended up being the best trip of their lives. “Sometimes the unexpected is a lot more fun than things you’ve planned for a year,” she said.

Mr. Farmer, the sales manager from Arizona, said he wished that he and his wife had been offered a refund. On the second-to-last day of their trip, the cruise had to dock in a town far outside Budapest because of shallow waters in the Danube. Passengers then were back on the bus for a 90-minute drive to the city, he said.

The group toured the city by bus and then drove back to the boat for their final night, before waking up at 3 a.m. to get back on the bus to the Budapest airport for their departing flights.

Mr. Farmer and his wife received a $500 voucher each toward their next Viking cruise, but he said he was not rushing back for another river cruise any time soon. “I literally saw Budapest through a bus window.”

Jenny Gross is a general assignment reporter. Before joining The Times, she covered British politics for the The Wall Street Journal. More about Jenny Gross

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Potential Problems for European River Cruises in 2023

There was some discussion here about low water levels in the Rhine last fall, and the effects of that on various tourist river cruises. Regrettably the following appeared in the Economist in a recent issue:

"The Alps are Europe’s water tower. They provide 25-50% of the water running through the continent’s main rivers, the Danube, the Po, the Rhine and the Rhone. With so little snow to melt in the coming months, river levels are likely to be unusually low, and with them water supplies for the people and the plants along their banks."

This will be a major economic challenge for shipping as well as tourism.

Hope for the best.

Let's all pray for a rainy summer. We lucked out on our Danube trip last October. Going back in September 2023 with friends. Would rather not do the trip by bus!

I've considered doing a river cruise for several years. One problem's been that most go places I've already been. Another's been the lack of single supplement or other solo traveler pricing.

But the biggest issue has always been the uncertainty of being able to be on the boat for the whole trip. Whether there's too much water or too little water, it's off the boat and on the bus.

And different boats can handle lower water levels so some river cruise companies can sale when others, like Viking, can’t.

We were affected by low water for one day on our Rhine cruise from Basel to Amsterdam in 2015. It only affected us in Cologne where we could dock as expected and all get off the boat for the day tours, but for reboarding they had to bus us to Düsseldorf. We were told it was because not all the docks were usable due to the low water level and so our Uniworld boat couldn't just hang around as other boats needed to use the dock.

We did have a couple on our boat who had done a separate 8 day Budapest to Passau cruise on the Danube and had spent most of the time on a bus and in hotels. They were NOT pleased.

With the lack of snow in many places this past winter, I’d be concerned with water levels, especially in the autumn.

There are also waterways that are not dependant on the Alps. And I feel like I have to mention Göta Kanal, https://en.wikivoyage.org/wiki/Göta_Kanal , for those who want to see a bit of Sweden.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XnmCPRs6H3s

I took an aquatic engineering class and got a C+, so let me weigh in.

Unload the boat before traversing the shallow areas to make it more buoyant. Then, design the hull so air can be pumped into it. Embark the passengers and bus them up river. Problem solved.

I'd read the contract carefully. For me it's a no go unless I'm reimbursed for staying in hotels and riding buses. You never know and I'm not a riverboat gambler.

This topic has been automatically closed due to a period of inactivity.

• River Cruising

Rhine water levels 2023 and similar topics

By notamermaid , January 24, 2023 in River Cruising

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We are about seven weeks out from our cruise so I am beginning to watch the 6-Wochen-Vorhersage für den Pegel Kaub. At least the current prediction does show a probable increase from this week's level, but I would be relieved to see that climatological based bar in the middle move up a bit. Hopefully there is more precipitation over the next few weeks. I guess some snow melt, to the extent there is snow in the Rhein watershed, will probably help provide water in the river by then. Fingers crossed / Daumen drücken. 

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notamermaid

2 hours ago, RDVIK2016 said: Fingers crossed / Daumen drücken. 

Yes, I think that overall the river is a bit too low for comfort. In an unusual turn of events the Rhine is worse than both Danube and Elbe. I will have a look at the river at Kaub in detail later.

First: good news! The "Carl Straat" ship is allowed to keep its protected status on the basis of its national importance as a piece of engineering history, i.e. should be kept for the public to look at. The owner has one more shot at appeal with a higher court. Not clear yet if they will go down that route.

It is March and time to look at what the river did at Kaub in February. Here is the graph:

The month started with a pleasant, slightly low for this time of year, level and rain brought the figures up to just above the mean. A steady, relatively fast, decline followed promptly but stabled itself when reaching 125cm. The end of the month saw a further drop which has now resulted in a low level that should not be ignored in these now dry weather conditions. The cold keeps snow in the high mountains but further falling of the water level is also slow in the cold. However, without enough precipitation we need to anticipate levels that get the river to a low that could potentially affect river cruise ships - an unusual occurrence in March.

Looking ahead from the current level of 106cm into tomorrow and Sunday we see a further reduction in numbers but still keeping above 100cm. That is a little better than the chart had suggested 48 hours ago. This trend is expected to continue Monday and Tuesday. Tuesday into Wednesday are still considered to be the days with the lowest levels and the probability tells us that the figures are most likely to be below 97cm but keeping very likely quite a bit above 85cm. All in all this is a bit better than was suggested four days ago when the second week of March came closer into view in the computer calculations.

That was a longer close look at Kaub. In short, the first sailings are now a little less likely to experience any affect from the low water situation, especially as a fast return to levels above 100cm could happen on 10 March.

A quick look to see if anything has changed to what I posted on Friday. No, it basically still stands. We should get through that little low fine, current level is 102cm, drop to somewhere between 95cm and 85cm on 7/8 March, then a fast rise on the 10th. And that could be substantial, up to 300cm is likely and maybe further on the 13th. Which is a fast rise for the river but we have seen this kind of situation in previous years in winter.

Kaub is now at 98cm, so the forecast scenario has been very close to what the river is actually doing. The lowest level suggested is now 92cm, from there we should see the river rise late on Thursday.

Maxau in the Upper Rhine valley is a very good indicator of things to come. The tentative forecast suggests a sharp rise on the 12th with the peak on the 13th and it indicates that mild flooding status may be reached. This does not automatically translate into flooding at Kaub or further downstream but the rise will be substantial. In figures: Maxau is at 378cm and may well get to 620cm and a bit further. Which does not necessitate a ban on shipping, it is unlikely to get that high. Still, it is staying interesting. Especially as there may be late winter snow in the hills at an altitude as low as 200m..

As promised here is my little report on a trip to the Eifel region in Rhineland-Palatinate with a surprising find - Roman antiquities "in the middle of nowhere".

A trip to Nickenich village in the volcanic Eifel part 1

On Monday before Carnival I went to the area for a specific purpose but left myself enough time for a leisurely stroll to see a place I had not been to for many years. It turned out not to be the best day of the week for this but I will explain that later in my report. I went to the area not so long ago, but Nickenich has been only a vague memory from teenage years. This is deep German geography so I will give you an idea of what to expect. If you live in the forests of Canada with the next building five miles away you will find this place relatively populous, if you are visiting from Cologne this is countryside. On the map this is a 12 minute drive to west from Andernach and a 20 minute drive from Koblenz to the Northwest, right next to the "eye" - Laach lake. The volcanic lakes are nicknamed the "Eyes of the Eifel" and there are quite a few of them. We parked the car at the town hall and looked for a big town map display. Could not find one but found the plaque describing the impressive town hall building in German, English and French (!). A first surprise in such a small place. Either they get many tourists or they have a bit of money to just do it anyway...

The plaque:

Turns out Nickenich has quite a few plaques and the next one is just a few metres up the road

at the even more impressive Catholic Church Sankt Arnulf, which as you can read is another work of Lassaulx:

As the plaque says, the church tower is Romanesque, very old and the main church is from the 19th century. For a place that only had just over a thousand inhabitants when the church was built, this struck me as an expensive undertaking and a famous architect on top of that. And then the possible explanation came to me: the stone! This area is full of building material that can be quarried and you can tell that many houses, the town hall and the church are made of relatively local material or even the Eifel volcanic rocks. Quarries "just down the road"? Perfect! This is not a poor agricultural village. And it turns out a place inhabited for quite a bit more than the 950 years the town website says the village has celebrated to be in existence.

To be continued...

The forecast was almost spot on, very good computer modelling. Monday gave the lowest figure at Kaub as 92cm, the actual level dipped very briefly to 91cm (two 15-minute readings were 90cm, basically negligible) and is now around 100cm. Next few days will see that fast rise I mentioned but it looks as if it will not be as high as had been suggested on Monday. Maxau may well stay under 520cm, Kaub may well stay under 300cm. So no flooding.

Right, back to Nickenich.

Storm warning for the Southwest of Germany

This included Basel, Kehl for Strasbourg, and Breisach earlier but is easing. The Black Forest on storm warning level 3 is not a recommended place for walks. Other areas are on levels 1 and 2. The highest level we can have is 4. You can look this up here: https://www.dwd.de/DE/wetter/warnungen_landkreise/warnWetter_node.html

It looks as if this is getting better as the morning progresses.

Well, it did get better but late afternoon, early evening the storm gathered strength again. Most of Rhineland-Palatinate went to level 2 (Basel back on 3) and there was a warning for snow storms in the high hills of North Rhine-Westphalia. Too late in the night for me to check if it happened, but forecast suggested during the night even the low hills were going to get snow.

This morning it has brightened up, the sun has come out in the Middle Rhine valley.

The weather is quite eventful this week as well. It has been really warm, well into the double digits in some places. But it is stormy again (well, was during the day here) and today it has been chucking it down. As a result we see another fast rise of the river's water levels. Maxau has risen by 80cm since midnight, now at 547cm. The peak will be tomorrow, possibly before lunch. It should remain below 600cm, so again stay under a level that could have a significant impact on a river cruise itinerary.

The wave is forecast to reach Kaub during the early hours of tomorrow and peak Friday morning. No real flooding anticipated there either.

As expected, Maxau has peaked and is already a bit down again, now at 578cm. All looking good for several days to come. The next rise is not expected for over a week and as of now does not look substantial. We need to get closer to the 18th to see what the 24th to the 26th may realistically bring in the Upper Rhine valley as regards water levels.

Oh, and it has snowed in the hills again, down to an elevation of 200m in the Middle Rhine valley. The night was cold.

A trip to Nickenich village in the volcanic Eifel part 2

A churchyard, complete with cemetery or not, and church always need exploring. As one can expect in Germany anywhere in such a setting there was a war memorial for WWI. The archangel Michael slaying the dragon, as far as I can tell made of local stone:

The one for WWII was just a few steps away.

On the steps this pretty butterfly greeted us in the sunlight, it was an astonishingly warm day for February:

I had lost my bearings and was not sure which way to go to find a specific street so I asked the lady at the church door. She was leaving as we were about to go in. Question answered but then she added: “And if you want to see the tumulus, that is up the village on the main road”. A cheerful thank you from me and my brain puzzled: did she mean tumulus as in Romano-Celtic burial hill??

But first the church. As only the chapel was accessible and the main church interior locked with iron bars, I took a photo of the unusual iron spiral staircase:

and the hall through the gate's bars. The first floor above us there will likely hold the organ:

I had mentioned in my previous post that Monday was an unfortunate choice for a visit. The reason: the bakery was closed! Monday sees very few people in the village and both bakeries are closed in the afternoon, so that Monday only gave us the chance to try out the butchers in Nickenich. I can confirm that the Wiener Würstchen sausages from there are good.

While walking the village streets I was able to find out that Nickenich once had a castle (altogether now: nooo surprise, this is Germany), which has long gone as an edifice, but a Burgstrasse still leads to the former spot:

The building on the left there is a typical design in the area.

This gate is the old entrance to the working quarters of the castle:

I would have liked to also check out the farm shop but things were getting a little late. After all, there was that tumulus that we still wanted to see.

This is another farm building that apparently offers potatoes as the small sign under the road sign says:

Then it was back to the car and up the road to the Tumulus.

To be continued…

I will be traveling with my wife in October from Amsterdam to Budapest. Hopefully water levels will be high enough. I am glad that I found this site so we can keep track of the conditions. 

On 3/16/2023 at 11:43 PM, Rikboatman said: I will be traveling with my wife in October from Amsterdam to Budapest. Hopefully water levels will be high enough. I am glad that I found this site so we can keep track of the conditions. 

Welcome to CruiseCritic and thank you for saying hello here. Perhaps you have actually looked at this already but it is kind of customary for us here on CC to recommend the pinned threads at the the top of this page to new members. Great info compiled by our host.

Amsterdam to Budapest is one of the longest standard journeys along the magnificent rivers of Europe. And you also get to see that feat of engineering which is the Main Danube Canal. That canal we cover as a topic in the thread on the Danube. If you fancy reading a bit about the Main this is the thread: https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2670259-the-river-main-infos-and-river-cruising-experiences/

Things are quiet along the Rhine now, water levels are okay, and we have a bit of early Spring in the air, meaning the weather has calmed down. It is quite warm during the day.

Before I forget, I had mentioned we would look at the river at Maxau again to see what may happen on 24th to 26th March. Right now the most likely scenario is for the river level to be around 505cm on the 25th of March with the computer modelling giving a wide range of figures after that but looking favourable for the level to stay in a good range nevertheless, i.e. no extremes either way. This means Kaub looks good for the rest of the month.

spicedparrot

Greetings...

This is our first River Cruise and I just started reading about low water levels and concerns for this summer. 

Our cruise is from Amsterdam - Basel June 27 - July 2.   

Our final payment is due next week and I'm trying to get a sense of our chances of having issues with low water.   My thought is that I'll change our plans to some land-based options instead.  

I realize no one can predict the weather that far in advance.  However, I think there are those with good experience on this Board that might be able to help me assess our chances during that time of year. 

Will anyone care to share their insight? 

7 hours ago, spicedparrot said: Our cruise is from Amsterdam - Basel June 27 - July 2.   

Hello and welcome to CruiseCritic. You have chosen a very popular route for first time cruisers and I dare say a good date. Historically, flooding from Spring is through by then and low water not there yet. For the Rhine I am more confident than for the Danube to be able to stick to this for this year as well. We are starting on a bit of a low for this year but as we saw last week, the Rhine is able to get to a good level with just 24 hours of constant rain. This becomes a bit more difficult when the temperatures go up, i.e. needs a bit more rain. We cannot say what the weather will be in Summer but the real problems in the Rhine gorge tend to start in September. Last year saw an early start to problems at the end of July.

Also consider this: what is your company and ship? Viking with a 135m ship? Amawaterways with a 135m ship? Avalonwaterways with an older 110m ship? Or a different company entirely?

Also consider this: what will happen most likely when the water is too low? A ship swap? A cancellation? Do you know what your company's policy is?

Also consider this: where are you coming from, i.e. how do you need to travel to get to your cruise and what would a disruption do to your enjoyment?

All in all, companies do well, ship swaps are smooth on the Rhine - remember that they do not happen every year and I have not read of one being necessary during the time period you are travelling. Past cruisers please step forward if you have done a ship swap in the first half of July.

7 hours ago, spicedparrot said: Our final payment is due next week and I'm trying to get a sense of our chances of having issues with low water.   My thought is that I'll change our plans to some land-based options instead.  

What would you change to that could be similar to a river cruise in the area? A river cruise is a unique experience. A land tour can give you a great different insight into life along the Rhine of course.

Question is really, how much are you willing to accept a disruption to your river cruise? Again, overall it is unlikely to happen - by that I mean on a probability scale for a calendar year - and when it does, depending on ship and company, it is likely to be mild but will require being flexible with excursions and coach travel.

Wow...that was such a terrific response.   Thank you for taking the time to do so - that was just the sort of information I was hoping to learn.

We are sailing on Scenic - not sure how that play into things but its good to know that our chances during that time are promising.   We have pre and post cruise stays that we arranged on our own in Amsterdam and Switzerland.   So will have some flexibility if needed.

Thank you again!

CastleCritic

Also keep in mind (as NotaMermaid will inevitably go into at length if the need comes up)

"the river is a low" has a lot of various levels

-this isnt where it should be..but its ok

-its low and theyre not running barges at full capacity...cruise ships go through

-its REALLY low and they only running barges at the lowest possible loads...cruise ships probably go through

-I can see the bottom...everything stops.

And even then its not likely to be the entire river...at least not unless it REALLY gets bad, there are a few "pinch points" that will get too bad to cruise before most of the river, and thats where the ship swaps come in, one ship on either side of the problem..the passengers change ships and the ships go back the way they came to complete the itineraries.  This is where the larger lines have an easier time than some of the boutique lines because they probably had a ship scheduled in both those ports anyway pretty much every day.

Hi! We are traveling on the Rhine in a couple of weeks (April 2-9) on the Kara ship with Viking. Will the water level be ok then? Thank you!!

1 hour ago, CastleCritic said: -this isnt where it should be..but its ok -its low and theyre not running barges at full capacity...cruise ships go through -its REALLY low and they only running barges at the lowest possible loads...cruise ships probably go through -I can see the bottom...everything stops.  

That put a smile on my face - well put together. 🙂 It is indeed the case that barges and tankers run at reduced load before any river cruise ship is affected. The river may be low for the logistics of trade and it makes the headlines in the US, especially in business papers. It could be low for weeks before any river cruise ship passenger needs to worry. An example: Kaub could fall to 150cm, which triggers the low water surcharge for the shipping industry, on 2 August, then fall further to 95cm in the following two weeks, only to go up again to 105cm. This is all low in figures but not a problem for a river cruise ship. The 95cm has the potential to be a bit tricky on a shallow docking site, but is normally not a problem for any sailing (tiny details only known to captains along the way excepted). Which brings me to Kaub in the Rhine Gorge where the bottleneck is infamously located. This is a marinetraffic.com screenshot:

You can follow your ship along, see where it is at any given time, but here is the caveat: the Rhine Gorge has sketchy terrestrial signals due to the hills, so the ships' signals are lost. You cannot get real time data with the free version of this website. Between Ingelheim and Boppard little data comes through.

3 hours ago, spicedparrot said: Wow...that was such a terrific response.   Thank you for taking the time to do so - that was just the sort of information I was hoping to learn.  

My pleasure. I have a bit of time on my hands this weekend. You are sailing with Scenic. I have actually little recollection of scenarios of what the company has done over the years when the water was low. I think I should expand on my mention of river cruise ship sizes. Each ship is a tiny bit different but as a general rule, the shorter ships fare better when the river is low. As the standard is either 110m or 135m these days - few in between sizes remain - we can say that the difference in draft of those two sizes gives the smaller ships an advantage. It is not much but and not clear cut science. Your captain on your ship will know what is safest. I tend to give the figure of 90cm to look out for on the graph at Kaub on a downward trend. If the volume of water coming from the Upper Rhine valley is low and it does not rain, this could take the level at Kaub down to where you do not want it to be. Again, your ship counts, so you may be fine at 80cm, 70cm, 60cm. In most years, almost all 110m ships get through the Rhine Gorge fine.

1 hour ago, Penland said: Hi! We are traveling on the Rhine in a couple of weeks (April 2-9) on the Kara ship with Viking. Will the water level be ok then? Thank you!!

Welcome to CC. I mentioned the size of river cruise ships. Viking with the 135m ships tends to go for ship swaps before other companies, but that is a general rule and not carved in stone. The bottleneck is at Kaub, as I mentioned, but it is actually a stretch from near Rüdesheim to Braubach. Kaub gauge is the marker for shipping. When the level gets really low, this stretch naturally expands and can be quite long. In a bad year it has been from Worms to Koblenz. But for now all looks good, Kaub is at 270cm. Your dates are actually a bit too far into the future to give accurate data, the official forecast is only for 36 hours, after that we get a probability modelling. But the modelling puts any scenario well above 150cm and below 350cm so in all likelihood your river cruise will start on 2 April with perfect levels.

I will also say that I have been on amawaterways trips on the Rhine/moselle, Danube, Rhine/main and seine and never had any adjustments because of water levels high or low. That certainly not to saying can’t happen, there were a LOT of people on that danube cruise in 2019 who went through low Rhine 2018. But it’s not a perennial problem.   

(did have a schedule change on the Rhine/main trip because the river was being dredged after Viking and a cargo ship grounded themselves though). 

We have an end of July trip sailing on Avalon's Romantic Rhine itinerary.  I've been following this thread since January and find it very informative.  Thank you for sharing your knowledge.

16 hours ago, CastleCritic said: But it’s not a perennial problem. 

Indeed it isn't. You can go on several river cruises on the rivers and canals of Europe over the years and never encounter a problem. Or you can be just completely unlucky as you have to deal with the aftermath of an incident, like for you the grounding of the ships on the Rhine. The one thing that can happen that we have not mentioned yet is strikes. Yup, the French were at it again about two weeks ago. The lock times were affected by the people on the French side striking. And they mean business. Some of the locks up there on the Rhine are run by the French authorities. This being a very busy river a backlog of ships waiting to be locked can happen easily and is no fun at all for shipping companies. German report: https://www.swr.de/swraktuell/baden-wuerttemberg/suedbaden/schleuse-marckolsheim-blockiert-100.html

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Overview Captivating Rhine

7- night cruise, 7- night cruise with 2-nights amsterdam pre-cruise and 2 nights lake lucerne, 2 nights zurich post-cruise, 7-night cruise add pre- or post-cruise land program 7-night cruise with 2-nights amsterdam pre-cruise and 2 nights lake lucerne, 2 nights zurich post-cruise 7-night cruise with 2-nights amsterdam pre-cruise and 2 nights lake lucerne, 2 nights zurich post-cruise add pre- or post-cruise land program 7-night cruise, cruise from : amsterdam to basel, cruise from :, countries: france, germany, netherlands, switzerland france, germany, netherlands, switzerland, rivers: rhine, captivating rhine at a glance.

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