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Rain has arrived in Europe to the relief of river cruise lines, which have been forced to cancel dozens of cruises due to low water levels in recent weeks.
Several companies say the recent rains have partially filled some of Europe’s worst-affected rivers, enough water to resume normal shipping operations, and make for good conditions for fall cruises.
“The amount of rain that Europe has received in recent weeks has improved water levels and as a result the Avalon Waterways fleet is operating normally,” said Steve Bourne, chief marketing officer for the Globus family of brands. “The nature of rivers is to ebb and flow, and we are thrilled that our guests are enjoying their vacation as intended.”
River cruise lines began changing itineraries and canceling cruises as the Danube and Rhine were among the rivers hit by extremely low water levels.
Sneek, Emerald, Avalon Waterways, Amadeus River Cruises, Uniworld and Viking all had to cancel or change cruises this summer. It involves guests changing ships and using motorboats and train services to complete interrupted itineraries.
“We had to change a few cruises,” Born said, noting that three of the seven Rhine and Danube itineraries in mid-August required ship changes and four cruises were canceled. “In the event of occasional ship changes, guests will maintain their onboard experience regardless of the ship’s name, including state class – up to the number.
Some cruise lines offer guests the option to proceed with altered itineraries, rebook on different departures, or receive a partial or full refund for unused cruise dates.
Denise Koranek of Sunset Travel Vacations in Grapevine, Texas, said all three river cruises she had booked on her Scenic clients were disrupted. She said about a third of her customers chose to follow the proposed new itinerary.
“They are paid (up to $500) for train tickets from Amsterdam to Switzerland to catch their flight back home from Zurich,” Koranek said. “Two-thirds are canceled and rescheduled.”
Captain Arjan Leunis Amalusia cruises along the Rhine River in Mannheim, Germany. Photo credit: TW Photo by Nicole Edendo
Months of insufficient rainfall coupled with high temperatures have resulted in low water levels as the summer progresses. Shipping lines say the problems with ships started in late July and lasted until mid-August.
“In July, the inability to transfer ships between the Rhine and the Danube began to affect us,” said Markus Leskovar, executive vice president of Amadeus River Cruises. They are disturbed.
Uniworld chief executive Ellen Bettridge said the company’s larger fleet had reduced the impact of low water on operations in Europe.
“Overall, we’ve only had to cancel 7% of our cruises that we felt couldn’t be adjusted to our standards, and we’ve done 93% of our European cruises as planned without making any changes,” Bettridge said. Guests can usually be accommodated on other Uniworld ships sailing in Italy, France and Portugal.
So far, travel advisors have been waiting for the rain to arrive while fielding dozens of phone calls and emails from customers on affected cruises. Many were on edge as the river cruise they had booked for September could fall next.
“I have clients on a Rhine cruise with Avalon in September and I’m praying that the cruises don’t get canceled because of the low water levels,” said Tony Lanotte-Day, owner of Tony’s Tours in Levittown.
Susie Schreiner, owner of Azure Blue Vacations in Bothell, Wash., said a group she hosted on a recent Amwaterways cruise was one of the few ships on the river at the time.
We were one of the few ships that were able to complete our itinerary because the ship was a little smaller and had a cruise. [shallower] It’s more subtle than other Ama ships,” Schreiner said of the AmaStella.
AmaWaterways says it has had no cancellations this winter – but even with its line of shallow draft vessels, the company has not been completely unaffected by low water levels.
“Itineraries on the Rhine and Danube rivers have been adjusted where necessary,” said Rudy Schreiner, president and co-founder of AmaWaterways. “All of our ships will resume their original scheduled itineraries. Our experienced crews will continue to monitor the situation closely, but with a good mix of sun and rain for the coming weeks, our guests can expect to enjoy a wonderful spring river cruise season.”
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