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With so many rivers across Europe experiencing low water levels I was curious how The Rhône river is doing. I have not been able to find any mention of its condition relative to other rivers in Europe. Any news would be appreciated as well as other comments about this trip. Thanks and safe travels.
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I hope it is doing better than the Loire!
Mike, if it's not in the European news then there isn't a problem. Given how much low river levels affect commercial traffic, if there is a problem it will be in their news. A case of no news is good news.
Mike the Elder, we are on the September 17th Savoring France adventure. You?
This tour was one of our favorites. Fun-filled days every day. Enjoy.
Mike,
Bloomberg has an article on the low river levels. Above I’ve included a screen shot about the Rhine. This is talking primarily about the Rhine in the area of Germany, Netherlands etc. Remember though just because certain boats and barges cannot sail in one part of the river does not necessarily make the area where your boat may be impassable. The good news for us is that Tauck uses smaller riverboats than say Viking or others.
I thoughtTauck river boats were the same as all the other brands. It just had fewer cabins?
Tauck doesn’t necessarily use smaller river boats. I don’t know where that comes from. When we were able to sail through rivers that other river boats couldn’t, it was explained to us that Tauck river boats are flat-bottomed boats. Other river boats are deeper, and consequently, can’t navigate through shallow waters whereas Tauck can. Of course it depends on how shallow the rivers are. When we were on the Rhine/Moselle rivers, we were able to go through when the rivers were not deep enough for Viking and Uniworld river boats.
Generally width is pretty standard but length even for Tauck varies. The shortest is the new Andorinha at 263 ft long with a draft of 5 '. Its also a foot wider than the rest of the fleet. The oldest ships - Emerald, Sapphire, Treasures and Espirit are 361' long and a draft of 4'. Then the longest are the Inspire, Savor, Joy and Grace are 443' long and draft also 4'. All this is on Taucks website and brochure.
I didn't have any joy finding the details for other lines but maybe someone else can.
I was reading an article on CruiseCritic that discussed the draft and minimum depth for mostly Viking and river boats of a few other lines. There seem to be classes with different drafts. Unfortunately I don't have a link.
...and, the Andorinha was designed for the Duoro River where the locks, if any, may be wider. The width of pretty much every river cruise ship in Europe is the maximum which will fit through the Rhine and Danube locks. Not sure if the Rhone, which the OP asked about, has size-limiting locks.
We'll be on "Savoring France" in October 2023.
Portolan, yes the Rhone has size limiting locks. Per one website:
"There are 12 locks built by CNR to the European waterway standard, 195 by 12m. All except Vaugris are situated on diversion canals, and are adjacent to the hydropower plants."
Try to be on deck when your ship goes thru the Bollene which is the deepest in France - 23 m (75ft).
I found this on the Douro for those interested:
"The Douro's last five dams are in Portugal, and allow for navigation: Pocinho, Valeira, Régua, Carrapatelo, and Crestuma–Lever dams. Vessels with a maximum length of 83 metres (272 ft) and width of 11.4 metres (37 ft) can pass through the five locks." which explains why the Andorinha is only 80m (263 ft) and 11.45m (38ft) wide. Should be an interesting tight squeeze. I believe from what I've read that the dams/locks are the reason the Douro is as navigable as it is now though unlike the others they don't sail at night.
Thank you Ourtravels 34. You said exactly what I should have said. I assumed they were smaller because when we were on a previous cruise a few years ago our boat was able to navigate the Danube when others could not. Thank you for your explanation.
Claudia,
Thanks for the info and advice on the Rhone. Isn't the Andorinha taller? Maybe that's how they could compensate for the smaller length and width. Bridges keep the height low on the Rhine and Danube, hence the problem in other years of the water being too high.
The stats don't actually list the heights. It is wider and has a deeper draft than the others. I suspect it doesn't have the low bridge issue the others can have and why the Arthur's is on the sun deck though it does have a section like the wheel house than can raise and lower. I can't wait to see it.
It's fun to be on the sun deck going under a very low bridge watching the captain lower the wheel house and his head popping up from a roof hatch. We've been under some so low I could touch the bridge and I'm only 5'5".
Thank you Ourtravels 34. You said exactly what I should have said. I assumed they were smaller because when we were on a previous cruise a few years ago our boat was able to navigate the Danube when others could not. Thank you for your explanation.
Andorinha June 2022 - Crew lowers Arthurs and all umbrellas on the sun deck for each of the 5 lock passes.
Seems like yesterday! Thanks for sharing.
Brenda - You will love the Rhône next month. I enjoyed Tauck's "Savoring France" September of 2019. It is my favorite cruise so far. Alan & Claudia - Your posts about the ships are interesting. On a Viking cruise in 2015 the ship got stuck for about 3 hours. The captain kept attempting to back up and then go forward. It reminded me of learning how to get my car out of a snow drift!- rocking it back and forth. Lyon has a lovely, wide cycling/walking path along the riverfront. It was entertaining from the Emerald's sun deck to experience passing through the Rhône locks. I had breakfast al fresco most mornings. Arthurs' chef got to know me well.
Nice shot of the walking path Patrice. All the Rhone stops seemed to have nice areas to walk around when you weren't on the ship. One of the reasons it's been our favorite river cruise.
Thanks for all the comments. Keeping our fingers crossed for our Sept 10 cruise. Our only other river cruise was Amsterdam to Budapest with Viking a few years ago. The highlight for me was the castles along the Rhine. Unfortunately, one of the articles I found said that portion of the Rhine is not currently navigable due to water levels. That would have been a major disappointment for me.
Safe Travels all.
Very informative. Thank you everyone for your comments and photos. We got off the Rhine 1 week ago and had to have a bus tour for one day and then switch boats - on the Avalon river boats. It was ok-just one day and the excursion to Heidelberg was one that I chose anyway. I'm looking forward to this Tauck trip in May. It will be our 2nd Tauck trip.
Mike the Elder--We'll meet you on the Sept. 10 Savoring trip. Looking forward to the experience!
We go "Savoring" next May. This is our third try at it since it was postponed twice by the Covid nastiness. Thanks for sharing with us!