Low Water Woes Continue But Some Ships Sail Through – Others Soon To Follow?

Weather.com tells us it’s raining right now in Kaub, Germany. That’s good news for the German town in the picturesque Rhine Gorge. The Rhine is set to rise too, approaching 50 centimeters at the Kaub marker, after having dropped to 30 centimeters earlier this week. The low water levels disrupted most, but not all, river cruises.

Both Riviera and CroisiEurope have continued to sail through the Rhine Gorge without interruption. "On the Rhine, we've continued to operate our two main programs:  Amsterdam-Basel and Strasbourg-Remich,” says Michael DaCosta, general manager, North America for Strasbourg-based CroisiEurope. “There has been some rain this week, which helps a lot.  We're lucky that we have relatively small ships, designed with low water levels in mind."

“We’ve had no disruptions on the Rhine,” says Marilyn Conroy, Executive Vice President Sales & Marketing North America, Riviera River Cruises.

While the marker at Kaub is used for navigation purposes, the Rhine can run deeper on all sides of the marker, allowing ships with shallow drafts to safely navigate their way past the low parts of the river. In 2015, I cruised through the Rhine Gorge with only a few centimeters of water beneath AmaWaterways’ AmaSerena. We made it through, thanks in no small part to the captain’s skills.

Some companies have canceled cruises because of the low-water levels. Commenters on our water levels page have expressed disappointment about their cruises being interrupted by bus transfers and ship swaps, but the sentiment seems to skew toward folks realizing that the cruise companies doing the best they can given that Mother Nature is throwing a fit.

We’re rooting for all river cruise companies. They’ve had to survive a global pandemic, labor shortages, supply chain issues – much like the rest of us.

We understand people are disappointed at what Mother Nature is throwing at them, but we firmly believe the cruise companies are doing their best. We’re hoping for the Rhine to continue to rise and smooth sailing for everyone.

Article ID: ART4984

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