Low Water Levels Continue to Plague European River Cruises into October

Recent rain in the Rhine valley isn’t doing enough to save the start of the fall river cruise season for those sailing on Europe’s most popular rivers.

The most recent data out of Europe, via Bespoke Amsterdam Experiences, which tracks the levels across the region, still shows danger spots on both the Rhine and the Danube, prolonging what became a nightmare summer for so many river cruise operators.

For the Rhine, there are still shallow points near Kaub, sitting at half a foot on the gauge, and Maxau, which will likely force ship swaps and more disruptions for river cruisers this week. While sailable, there are also some worrisome spots on the Upper Rhine near Basel, on the Lower Rhine near Cologne, and then on the Dutch Delta near Lobith.

For the Danube, according to tracking from River Water Watch, critical upper and middle stretches—including shallow checkpoints like Pfelling in Germany and Budapest—are running significantly below normal, with additional pinch points creating tough sailing conditions for itineraries running through Austria and Hungary.

The hopeful news right now is that the rest of October is expected to be rainy across the area, including along the Upper Danube and across the Rhine and Elbe catchments. Cooler temperatures are also on the way, which will help maintain high water levels as the calendar flips deeper into the fall and then the winter, a crucial period for the river industry with the Christmas Market cruises.

In the meantime, according to passenger forums, travelers this week are still routinely being ship-swapped during their sailings as ships encounter those pinch points along the Rhine and Danube. Some lines are changing full itineraries away from the danger areas-shifting an Amsterdam-to-Basel sailing to a Netherlands-Belgium cruise, for instance-and most continue to offer future cruise credits if passengers opt out of sailing or have their sailing heavily impacted.

The pain point for passengers and their travel advisors continues to be when their river sailing is switched from a cruise to a combination cruise-bus tour, with different start and finish destinations and, likely, a combination of different ships and hotel stays.

Compounding that is a communication lag: travelers on consumer boards say that the last-minute updates—often arriving just a week or two before departure—continue to create frustration. Because water levels can change quickly, river lines are often waiting until closer to departure in order to inform guests of a change in plans.