River Cruises through Europe

BSeabob

Forum Manager
Staff member
Recently found a piece directed at the problems of River Cruises throughout Europe and WATER LEVELS. Some too high for the boats to get under some bridges and others too low to actually pass through the area. Wondering if there are some specific areas and maybe even dates that if I was looking to go I might avoid. Similar to a general heads up for hurricanes over here in the caribbean during the Hurricane season. Not quite the same as generally the ship over here will take you somewhere....... but not enough water or too much means the boat won't go.
 

John

I'm on Island Time
Staff member
When we last cruised on the Danube, Viking River Cruises was dealing with this. They were unable to pass a certain point in the river. So they often took passengers to this spot and transferred everyone from one vessel to the other and the people on the other moved to the ones the people had just left on the other side of the low spot. I have also heard of people being bussed to the different ports of call but, still staying onboard the cruise ship over night. So they are very good at this.

Here are some article I found on this subject for more reading:

https://www.rivercruiseadvisor.com/water-levels/

https://www.cruisecritic.com/articles.cfm?ID=1522

http://riverboatratings.com/will-anyone-tell-us-when-to-avoid-river-cruises-in-europe/

http://www.travelweekly.com/Richard-Turen/River-cruisers-need-facts
 

BSeabob

Forum Manager
Staff member
Hey Captain...really great links and the info from those sites makes it clear that "Ship" often happens on the rivers as well as the oceans. Clearly there are some better times to go and for sure your expectations maybe should be higher for the overall chances of something happening that could affect your river trip.
 
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