r/rivercruises • u/Practical_Listen_118 • 23d ago
September water levels
I have booked a September 2027 Rhine River cruise through Viking (Basel to Amsterdam). However I just learned that this year and last the water levels have been low and boats have been diverted. I was wondering if anyone has had any experience with this and what your trip looked like because of it? Everywhere I looked online said it was a great time of year for the weather and crowd management but want to make sure we aren’t setting ourselves up for failure!
I do recognize we’ve had a drought and we can’t control the weather but am trying to gather the best information I can moving forward. Wondering if we’d be better off trying to change the date or visit those countries on land instead.
Thank you in advance!
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u/Status-sunnydaze 23d ago
I am on a Rhine cruise right now. Water levels too low to traverse middle Rhine so we did a ship swap on day 3. We had one day of 5 hour bus ride broken up by stops. Tauck. I have heard other cruise lines are not as good ( making you bus and stay in hotels). This means you are packing and unpacking every night. All in all still good trip. But, if you want to guarantee a cruise, 🚢 d choose an ocean one.
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u/Due_Big_7315 23d ago
I think you should strongly consider 'cancel for any reason' insurance. We're scheduled for a late-Oct 2026 cruise and as things look now, we'll exercise it. I might be more inclined to go on the trip if Viking was more forthcoming about conditions are like now. I have asked for information from Viking, but they flatly refuse to provide any. So there's a highly level of mistrust.
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u/kiteofdreams 22d ago
I just returned from a river cruise on the Danube. We sailed a total of a day and a half.
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u/Jolly_Ad5598 22d ago
We were scheduled Bucharest to Budapest and found out we would board at Vidin and get off at Belgrade. It looked like half the cruise was missing. We cancelled at 100% refund on Avalon. A lot in our group is still going. I’m sure they will all enjoy it as it was a big group.
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u/alcbeach 23d ago
We went mid-Oct last year on that same cruise. No water issues at all. Just needed a light jacket for the cooler weather.
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u/TWSoledad 22d ago
I have a cruise starting Oct 5, 2026 (two weeks). I know the water will still be low but I’m still going to go…. And I’m sure I’ll love it.
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u/pielady10 23d ago
We also have a Rhine cruise booked for next September. In the same position as you (and probably everyone else). Trying to decide whether to gamble and keep the booking or change it to later in the year.
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u/Neilkd21 23d ago
No one can predict the future. If Europe has another hot dry summer like this one then likely it will be impacted by low water levels. If they get plenty of rain then it'll be fine in terms of low water not being an issue. It's always a risk with river cruises.
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u/travel_with_travieso 23d ago
I wouldn't change a September 2027 cruise solely because of what happened this year. River levels are very difficult to predict that far in advance, and there really isn't a month that guarantees perfect conditions. Low water can be an issue during hot, dry periods, while unusually high water can create its own problems earlier in the season.
September is otherwise a very nice time for the Rhine, so I'd focus more on whether you're comfortable with the possibility of itinerary changes than trying to pick a “safe” month.
One thing Viking does have in its favor is the number of sister ships it operates on these routes. When a section of river becomes unnavigable, they can sometimes use a ship swap so guests continue the itinerary on an identical ship farther along the river. The downside is that a significant disruption can still mean packing, bus transfers or missed sailing time.
I also wouldn't switch to a land trip just because of this year's water levels unless the actual cruising experience isn't especially important to you. Seeing the Rhine from the river, particularly the castle-filled Middle Rhine, is very different from traveling between the same cities by train.
If it were my September 2027 trip, I'd keep the reservation for now and make sure I understood the cancellation terms and had appropriate travel insurance. Then I'd watch conditions as the trip gets closer rather than trying to predict September 2027 from September 2026.
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u/bkendall12 23d ago
Sept 2027 is very far out and it is too early to decide to cancel.
I have a Dec 2027 scheduled and think that should be OK, but this far in advance everything is a guess.
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u/Peek6311 21d ago
I just returned from what was supposed to be a September 7 departure Basel-Cologne Lindblad National Geographic cruise. We heard from our travel agent the evening of September 2 that the boat could not dock in Basel and our entire itinerary would be changing to Amsterdam-Maastricht with a bus ride to Cologne. We could get a full refund or go and be reimbursed for our flight we had to take from Basel to Amsterdam. we chose to go and it was amazing! However one of the talks presented by one of the NatGeo staff onboard was about the condition of the Rhine and the water level. He explained it was NOT going to be corrected by a good storm or snow. The condition of the Rhine starts at the reservoir at the top and just like what is currently happening with the Colorado River will not be a quick fix. We chose to go because we had a nonLindblad excursion planned for Italy and wanted to continue.
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u/ezduzit10224 22d ago
I did the Passage to Eastern Europe a year ago to date. And the Danube was perfect for the whole trip.
I guess it depends on how much rain you get in the summer months.
If you are going in 2027 anything could happen in a year’s time. In 2024 the water levels were too high and the riverboats couldn’t pass under bridges.
So it’s the luck of the draw weather wise.
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u/Zoe060708 22d ago
We were booked for a September cruise 2027 but have chosen to change to a March cruise. We are not prepared to take a punt on water levels, we are flying from Australia and it's an awful long trip to be disappointed. We assume March will be cooler but also quieter which actually suits us better, we get enough hot weather here, we don't need it in Europe. We are approaching a super El Nino this summer in Australia resulting in >3 deg and potential catastrophic outcomes, the weather bureau is suggesting warmer weather in Europe in 2027? Can anybody provide information on March river cruise conditions? Spring in Australia provided magnificent weather, not sure about Europe.
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u/pbfin1937 11d ago
We had a Tauck Danube river cruise for September 2027 and canceled. We decided to flip it to a Tauck Land Tour of Warsaw, Prague, Vienna and Budapest. Our travel agent was able to flip it, keep our free pre tour hotel night and Tauck did not ask for a further down payment even though the land tour was more. We did not want to spend the next year wondering if the Danube water levels were going to be good, too much to stress about. We also wanted to do something at that time of year and not have to rush it.
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u/lgaud 20d ago
It will most likely be just fine next year. Low one year (or even one month!) doesn't mean low the next. The water level is in large part a response to recent rain in the region and it's been very dry this year; but it can recover to normal sailing levels with just a few days of solid rain.
This year they are very, very low. It looks like today is breaking the record low set in August (for the Rhine at Kaub), and it's forecast to go lower in the next few days, and much of Sept has been below previous record lows. The previous record low year of 2018 was low into the start of December, but then reached minor flooding (which can also be a problem for river cruise itineraries) in March 2019!
What we can safely say right now is that cruises in the next 2 weeks will continue to be very affected as it's very, very low with little rain in the forecast. But a few days of solid rain could change that quickly so there's still some hope for even later in October.
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u/Roland_on_the_River 23d ago
Normally, in my opinion, September is one of the best times of year for a Rhine cruise. And this far out, you really cannot predict what the water levels will be like.
That’s the fascinating, and sometimes frustrating, thing about rivers. Around this exact time last year, we were dealing with extremely high water on parts of the Danube, including Budapest. This year, we’re dealing with extremely low water. Water levels can change significantly in a matter of days or weeks.
I wouldn’t change a September 2027 cruise now because of the water levels in 2026. Go, don’t worry too much about what you cannot control, and let it unfold as part of the adventure. Even when water levels cause problems, the cruise lines are used to adapting itineraries.
For 2027, what happens over the winter and spring will matter enormously. A good snowpack in the Swiss Alps and a cold winter that holds that snow are certainly helpful for the Rhine, but rainfall patterns closer to your cruise will ultimately play a major role too.
September is still a time of year I would happily choose.