When all is said and done, there is no way to accurately predict whether your river cruise will be affected by low-water or high-water levels for river cruises in Europe. But in general, high water occurs in the spring while low water occurs in heat of the summer, usually August. The summer of 2018 saw record low water levels for river cruises in Europe on the Danube. However, contrary to the conventional wisdom, I saw record lows on the Rhine in November of 2015. While high or low water can impact your river cruise, in 50+ river cruises, I’ve never experienced a major disruption because of high water or low water. I should add that I did not river cruise in the summer of 2018. In the comments below, some readers say their dream vacations were disappointing because of low water levels for river cruises in Europe. Others had their trips scuttled altogether because the river cruise companies could not operate due to high or low water levels for river cruises in Europe. My hope is that this page will serve as a useful forum for sharing information about the conditions on the rivers and how the cruise companies are handling adverse water levels for river cruises in Europe.– Ralph Grizzle
Whether a river has high or low water levels is something you’re unlikely to consider when planning your river cruise – until it happens to you.
Unlike ocean cruising, river cruising is all about narrow margins. Low bridges make the air draft of a ship – how much of it sticks out of the water – critically important. Most river cruise ships have collapsible upper deck railings, removable furniture, and even navigation bridges that lower completely into the floor.
Being aware of water levels for river cruises in Europe can greatly enhance your travel experience.
Understanding water levels for river cruises in Europe is vital for ensuring a smooth and enjoyable journey.
Monitoring water levels for river cruises in Europe is essential for a trouble-free adventure.
What’s under the keel – or hull – of your river cruise ship also makes a difference. In some cases, there can be less than a foot of water under the keel. River cruise ships have incredibly shallow drafts to begin with, and river cruise operators construct their ships as efficiently as possible. They’re the high-performance sports cars of the cruising world.
Understanding Water Levels for River Cruises in Europe
Understanding the significance of water levels for river cruises in Europe can help travelers make informed decisions.
Unfortunately, low water and high water conditions can exist – and they can throw a real wrench into an otherwise flawless cruise.
For current updates from river cruisers currently on the rivers (or from those who have returned recently) be sure to see the comments at the bottom of this post.
In fact, keeping an eye on water levels for river cruises in Europe could save your trip.
The Rhine is perhaps the most dependable river when it comes to being able to continue navigation due to low water. I felt the boat scraping the bottom of the Rhine in Rudesheim in November of 2015, but we made it past. See Is AmaWaterways The Champion Of Low Water?
Water levels are unpredictable. In many cases, the cruise line may only find out on your actual sailing, or a few days beforehand, that a particular stretch of water isn’t navigable.
See related article: Low Water Levels Continue To Affect River Cruises; Plus Why This Happens In The First Place
Water levels aren’t uniform. That is to say, if there’s low water on the Danube, the entire Danube isn’t affected. In 2014, water levels were too low for many ships to pass between the German cities of Passau and Regensburg. In past years, the stretch heading across the Austria-Hungary border has been problematic.
History isn’t a good indicator of high or low water. In June of 2013, Passau was hit by the worst flooding – and the highest water levels – since the Middle Ages. In 2018, the Danube was so low that many cruise ships terminated their journeys in Passau.
What happens if high/low water levels affect my sailing? River cruise lines will typically attempt to keep your itinerary as operational as possible. Generally, when high/low water levels hit, three options are available to cruise lines:
- Continue the affected itinerary by having guests ‘swap ships’ – typically, being bussed from one town to the next, where you will embark a sister-ship or similar vessel to continue the rest of your journey. Read about our ship swap on Viking.
- Complete the itinerary as far as possible aboard your ship, and then transition to hotels (on the company’s expense) to complete the remainder of your itinerary.
- Outright cancellation. This is the rarest option, exercised when no other options are available.
I’m not sure if I should cancel my river cruise because of high/low water levels. What do I do?
Unless you have travel insurance that covers cancellation, do not cancel your river cruise over high/low water. Wait for the cruise line to either pull the plug or offer alternatives. If your sailing commences in a few weeks, cancelling your sailing will result in you losing all monies paid. If you wait for the cruise line to pull the plug, offers typically include the ability to switch to another sailing at no cost; the offer to complete your cruise as scheduled at a discount or rebate; or the offer to cancel with minimal or no penalties. Of course, such offers are determined by the cruise line, but typically favor the guest.
Curious as to what the current conditions on the rivers of Europe are? A reader has provided us with a map showing the water levels on rivers in Germany. From reader “Sabine” see this link: https://www.wetteronline.de/pegelstaende?gid=HES
We have found the Bundesanstalt für Gewässerkunde (BFG) to be helpful. The organization published maps like the one below and forecasts. Find BFG’s 14-day water levels forecasts here and the six-week forecasts here.
It’s advisable to check the latest updates regarding water levels for river cruises in Europe before you travel.
To see what our readers had to say about how their trips were impacted by low water levels, click here.
Additionally, understanding how different seasons affect water levels for river cruises in Europe will enhance your planning.
In summary, staying informed about water levels for river cruises in Europe is crucial for a rewarding travel experience.
Oct 29 tuesday just sailed nuremberg to regensberg. on the amazing viking atla. We will get update tonight on water level and was told if theres a problem we may expect a ship swap by thursday. Having an awesome time with an awesome staff! Thank you viking!
We are also on Viking Jarl leaving Budapest on 11/3 fir Nuremberg. Any more info as of today? Thank you!
Claire we just boarded viking atla in nuremberg. Awesome ship and staff. Today the Atla sails to Roth and then to the Main Danube River. Next water level update tomorrow tuesday then if water levels low may have to change ship thursday. Having a great time right now.
Many thanks to viking! Program director Paul is amazing!
The water levels on the Rhine are adequate at the moment. To see european levels per river, check out http://www.elwis.de
Oct 27 boarded Viking Atla in Nuremberg; great ship and staff! Next water level update in 2 days and if water levels are low then we may have to change ship on Thursday. Viking Atla Staff amazing specially Paul Lau the program director!!! Thank you Viking!
Hi Jeanette, I’ve read elsewhere that some ships have a better staff than others and I don’t have a lot to compare. One 4 night river cruise in Egypt and one 12 night ocean cruise. My agent confirmed that the cruise ships are getting through, as at last week because of the lower draft. Rain forecast so keeping my fingers crossed. I’ve got my travel documents now and have downloaded the APT App, so I’m watching the weather details. One disappointment before we get started is that their Signature Highlight Experience on the 1st class train to Salzburg is now a bus trip. The Danube Nightlight Dinner cruise has been cancelled to, but that’s due to new government regulations following the disaster that took the lives off many earlier this year……understandable and not their fault, but no replacement experience, just dinner on board I guess. Perhaps we’ll use the night to say goodbye to new found friends. I’m still hoping to have a remarkable experience.
Hi Cindy, I assumed the same as you, but my TA said they are not part of waterways, but do indeed have a lower draft and were getting through. Fingers crossed.
We are leaving Amsterdam to Basel on November 9th on MS Rhapsody (Grand Circle)
Interested in water levels in late October and early November
Went through ship swap on Viking at Nuremberg. Seamless transition. Didn’t miss out on anything but one night cruising.
Thanks so much for the input can’t wait to leave one week from Monday. Everyone be safe out there keep your eyes open and your head moving.
We sailed on the Viking Egil from Nuremberg to Budapest from 12 – 19 October 201. It had rained the 2 weeks before our cruise so water levels were good. Our trip was in sunshine and near 70 F all week. As another poster opined, Regensburg was also our favorite stop, followed by Budapest. Bring good walking shoes and be prepared to walk 10 – 12,000 steps everyday. Also bring some sunscreen just in case, and a spare battery for your camera.
Another commenter listed this website to track river levels.
https://www.wetteronline.de/?gid=BAY&iid=Donau&pcid=pc_pegel_data&sid=River
If the link doesnt work go to wetteronline and look at the tab Weather Data and then river level on the line below it. Nuremberg is not on the Danube, it is on the Eurocanal which links the Rhine, Main, and Danube rivers. The key city to montitor is Straubing and the website below currently shows Straubing has 117 cm of water; the Viking boats draw 170 cm of water so they would not be able to get through. As others noted the Viking boats are identical, and if they need to swap you woud disembark in Regensburg and then be driven to Passau to contine on another boat.
You can also see the position of your boat at this website. You will see there are not many boats between Regensburg and Passau right now.
https://www.marinetraffic.com/en/ais/home/centerx:12.7/centery:48.6/zoom:9
Hi, Jon;
We sailed on the Rhine from Amsterdam to Basel Switzerland from 10/15 to 10/22 (on Avalon’s Expression) and had no water issues. Wonderful experience. Top notch crew, service, food, excursions etc.
If we has to be taken by bus from Passau to Nuremberg, this will our second time, last time was Nov. 5, 2015 from Nuremberg to Passau. Hopefully there is enough rain in this next week to raise the water level.
I am supposed to get on Viking Skadi on Nov. 2. Looks like I will be getting on Braggi instead.
Hello everyone who travels are wonderful. I’m leaving from Amsterdam on the 6th of November going to Switzerland. I am just wondering if anyone has any problems with water levels on the Rhine River right now? Thank you
We are leaving November 6th from Amsterdam to Budapest. Interested in the river as well as the weather. Thanks
Please continue to post updates as we are a week behind you .
Please see posting 130am Oct 26 by Nancy on Viking Skadi; They Had to be bussed because of low water levels Passau to Nuremberg. And yet my numerous calls to Viking yesterday- they continue to deny problem on Danube River.
Thank you Nancy. Your update is much appreciated. Numerous calls to Viking yesterday including a call to the ship Viking Atla and were repeatedly told Danube River is sailable and yet ship’s course was changed and noted NOT to be in the Danube but in a canal from Regensberg to Nuremberg. Safe travels.
No APT is an Australian Co. My sister travelled late Sept with them and they had to change ships due to water level. No compensation. She had done this trip With APT a few years ago, and I did it the year before and I rated it as 10 out of 10 at that time, but she was very disappointed this time.
Food not as good as the first trip, no local food choices, Cheeses were only basic supermarket levelno drink service you had to go to the bar to get yourself, lousy coffee, ships needs updating.
one other cruiser had a breakdown of costs on what they had paid and this included $2000 (maybe euros) for tips per person. Regardless of this service was not good on the 1st boat and on 2nd Boat the staff were downright rude and had would refuse requests. From the sound of it they should have part of their tips refunded. I am very disappointed that an Australian Co have dropped their standards so much. I had always recommended APT but now…….
We are on the Danube. Viking Skadi October 19- November 2.. We will be taking coaches to our new ship Braggi in Nuremberg today due to low water levels. Unable to navigate Passau to Nuremberg. Guests on Braggi now will be taken by bus to Passau.
Will only miss morning excursions booked for today- moved to afternoon
Lots of bus trips the last 2 days. But all handled very smoothly. Will miss the Skadi staff. Looks like rain in the forecast so maybe better.
We are on the Danube. Viking Skadi October 19- November 2.. We will be taking coaches to our new ship Braggi in Nuremberg today due to low water levels. Unable to navigate Passau to Nuremberg. Guests on Braggi now will be taken by bus to Passau.
Will only miss morning excursions booked for today- moved to afternoon
Lots of bus trips the last 2 days. But all handled very smoothly. Will miss the Skadi staff. Looks like rain in the forecast so maybe better.
Just checked ship locations on web site cruisemapper.com and found no ships between regensberg and nuremberg. Found many ships on canal so i called the viking atla who confirmed they are on the canal. Called viking who claimed no water level
Problems on danube. Please if anyone is on Danube River cruise would appreciate water level updates. We r supposed to cruise Sunday Oct 27. Thank you
Kremlin, thought that was in Russia?
Thank you mike for your detailed account of your viking BUS cruise. Many postings agree with yours in the website of consumeraffairs.com. Many definitely outlined the negative aspects against viking. Trustworthiness will bring loyalty from travelers. Viking has failed in customer satisfaction in the many postings i read.
We cruised Nuremberg to Budapest September 17 to the 27th. We also did the three days in Prague. Some observations:
1. The hotel in Prague is a communist era dump named the Corinthia. The room first assigned did not have a closet nor a bureau so clothes stayed in luggage. Hotel is also poorly located and nowhere near the center of Prague. Hotel didn’t even have a small convenience store for sundries. Prague is nice but try to stay somewhere else.
2. Bus ride Nuremberg took four hours and left Prague at 2pm thus resulting in a complete lost day
3. Cruised to Regensburg which I found to be the best city on the trip. However, Vikings schedule brought there on Sunday and everything was closed.
4. Due to river levels being too low, took yet another bus ride to Passat.
5. From Passau a scheduled stop in Kremlin was skipped and yet another bus ride to Staubing, being deposited in an industrial park area to reboard a new ship. We were now a day behind thus skipping Kremlin.
6. As we were a day behind the day trip to Vienna, the most scenic part of the tour, was done overnight thus missed.
7. A final bus ride to Budapest got us to our ship.
Viking corporate will not be truthful about Danube levels. I spoke to several crew members/service staff who indicated certain sections of river had been closed for a few weeks.
Bottom line, get cancellation insurance that allows cancellation for any reason. Do not depend on Viking to be truthful. Do not believe all that you see in Vikings advertising.
Gail – any further changes with water levels ? Looks from here like rain is on the horizon next week – just not sure if that will be enough for our trip leaving Nov 3.
Update, we are one day away from Amsterdam, sailed all the way.
Water levels were touch and go in patches between Budapest and Passau but we made it through slowly. Weather has been warm and fine. Not a lot of rain around so can’t say if water level is still ok, best of luck.
We did the Danube from Budapest to Vilshofen, sailing Oct 9-16, and no problems with the water levels, were on the Joy, operated by Tauck.
Thanks for the info. No matter what happens we will enjoy it. I do not worry if a change, just more friendly staff to meet. It will be wonderful….. excited!!!!!
many thanks all! much appreciated. will post updates to share! I love this web site!!!!
Claire, I recommend you call Viking to ask what ship will you embark on because I called Viking and they told me we are on Atla Nuremberg all the way to Budapest arriving Nov. 3 in Budapest.
APT would be AmaWaterways. They have a lower draft and are able to get through areas that some of the other ships can’t. So far, I haven’t heard of any issues with them.
We completed the Viking Grand European tour from Amsterdam to Budapest in late September. Every Viking ship is identical so changing you departure ship is a non issue. We had a ship swap from Nuremberg to Passau and it was seamless. You should have nothing to worry about with Viking.
We just got home today from a 23 day cruise (Bucharest-Amsterdam). They swapped boats for week 1 (the Aegir couldn’t get from Budapest-Bucharest to pick us up—so started on the Embli). Our embarkation was about 1-1/2 further but Viking made it seamless—they added a guide on the bus with us and we got an informative trip to the ship. (We used packing pods as we knew a ship swap might happen so it only took 5 minutes to repack and step across to the new ship—highly recommend the pods).
Once we got to Budapest they put us on the Aegir. We had heard last night, the water wasn’t looking good (we barely got through). BUT do not let the ship swaps discourage you, the ships are identical and you go into the same room. There was a broken lock that caused us to miss a morning tour, but they reimbursed us.
All said, go in with the attitude your on a wonderful trip and roll with the changes. On land or on the river, you will still see some wonderful things…maybe even things you wouldn’t see on the river. But … I hope the water cooperates and you are able to do the full trip on the river!
Thank you all for your comments. One correction from me. AMA Viola leaves Vilshofen on Oct 27. Anyone sailing AMA right now on the Danube?
I just wanted to mention I’m leaving on November 3rd to go to Amsterdam to Switzerland once again on Viking Eir. Any info about the stretch down the Rhine River would be good for me too. I hope everyone’s having a great time.
hello everyone, I recently took a cruise from Amsterdam to Switzerland. Viking Cruise was phenomenal the ship swap was extremely smooth we had an absolutely wonderful time and there’s nothing to worry about.
Is anyone travelling with APT? We are in Australia and I don’t ever see comments about their fleet.
Sorry about the autocorrect typos.
Current on the Viking Jarl en route to Nuremberg. We have been informed that we will be doing a ship shop very early tomorrow morning. I’ll update afterwards if I can.
Viking just emailed us that water levels caused a change of ship for our cruise oct 27 nuremberg to budapest. How are your water levels now? Thx
The boats are the same, the only difference is the name and the picture at the top of the stairs.
We did Budapest to Amsterdam a couple years ago and had to do a boat swap. They did it seamlessly and it was not a problem.
That is concerning to me since we are supposed to sail from Nuremberg Nov 3 on the Alta . Already received our first water level email warning Monday .
Stuart, Christmas Market is on Vorosmarty Ter (square) shows as 6 minute walk on maps from where Viking shows the ship to be docked on their website. Docks are north and south of the Szechenyi Bridge on the east (Pest) side of the river.
See you onboard.
Hi Gary, I have just came across this website.
We plan to sail on the “Gems of the Danube” on the Scenic Amber next year at the same time and it sounds like Scenic didn’t have any delays or route changes although we have friends that sailed on Avalon and they were disappointed couldn’t continue on their cruise.
Can you pleaselet me know if you trip went as planned. We sailed on Scenic last year and loved it.
Thanks, CF
Just got email from Viking that due to water level problems our ship for Oct 27 has been changed to Viking Atla instead of Viking Jarl graveling Nuremberg to Budapest. This is very frustrating.
Just got email from Viking. Due to water level problems they changed our ship to Viking Atla for Oct 27 Nuremberg to Budapest. They said the original ship Viking Jarl cannot be in Nuremberg for us. This sounds ominous!
Viking just emailed us about water level problems on the Danube so our ship has been changed Oct 27 Nuremberg to Budapest. Very disconcerting!!! Seems like a bad omen for our cruise.
Just received an email from Viking that due to water level problems Viking Jarl will NOT be our ship on Oct. 27, 2019 Nuremberg to Budapest. Viking changed our ship to Viking Atla. I called Viking and was told that the duration of our cruise will be on Viking Atla unless another ship swap is warranted. I called the Viking Insurance Dept and was told full refund is NOT an option but by Friday we must decide if we want to cancel the cruise and receive a Viking Travel certificate for a future cruise for the amount that we already paid Viking. Many past comments posted by travelers are adamant about not going on the cruise due to bad bus rides/bad hotels/missed tours. Any comments or recommendations is appreciated. Thank you