Too much rain turned my holiday into a cruise to nowhere

They are the words every river cruiser dreads: High and low water. When the former strikes, river levels rise and ships can’t get under the bridges and docks are submerged. If it’s the latter, ships are marooned, unable to sail because there’s not enough water under the keel.

If passengers are lucky, it might mean coaching back and forth between towns and cities on the itinerary for a day or two while waiting for the river level to rise or drop (the matter of inches can make all the difference).

However at times, as those who were supposed to be sailing the Main River in Germany over Christmas 2023 with Uniworld River Cruises discovered, the entire cruise can morph into a coach trip.

Cruise directors put a brave face on it (“don’t worry, you’ll still visit all the places you would have seen on the cruise”) but there’s nothing positive about being coached around when you’ve signed up for a cruise. Each day the drive gets longer, eating more and more into good sightseeing time.

As water levels are determined by weather – too much or too little rain, early or late snow melt, not enough snow – problems can occur any time and so fast companies don’t have time to cancel the trip.

If you are worried about your cruise being impacted by water levels, here are a few things to know.

Skip to the important questions...

Does high water happen often?
What’s the best time to avoid high water?
Is low water also an issue?
Rivers not affected by high or low water
What happens if the ship doesn’t sail at all?
Can I claim compensation if I don’t sail?
Can I claim anything?

Does high water happen often?

It’s certainly not unusual. In extreme situations, some companies might be able to get around the problem by swapping passengers between vessels (literally moving them from a vessel one side of the blockage to one on the other side), but more often than not they call into a different port and coach people to their destination.

On a Rhine cruise in 2012, we should have been in Strasbourg for Christmas Day but the river was too high for the ship to get under the bridges close to the city, so we were coached there from Mannheim instead. Our vessel was turning around in Strasbourg anyway, so only that day was disrupted.

The good news is that water levels can fall almost as fast as they rise so often it is simply a case of putting up with a couple of days of coach trips before the cruise can continue.

What’s the best time to avoid high water?

It can happen any time, but spring is always a gamble as rivers can be hit by the double whammy of melting snow in the Alps and rain. In the case of the non-cruise on the Main in 2023 mentioned above, Europe had had a lot of snow that December and that, combined with heavy rain before Christmas, caused the river to burst its banks.

Is low water also an issue?

Yes, but unlike floods, the situation can change in a matter of hours. One summer, an overnight storm meant that a transit through the Rhine Gorge that had been impossible just a few hours prior due to low water was suddenly back on.

Low water is more likely in summer, but it has been known to happen at Christmas. Most companies avoid the Elbe river in Germany altogether because it regularly runs out of water, whether summer or winter.

Which ships can handle high or low water?

Everyone is in the same boat (pun intended) if there is high water. However, not all drafts are equal, so some ships can operate in shallower waters than others. It is not unusual, for instance, for passengers on a ship unable to navigate the Rhine Gorge to see another vessel come through.

Incredibly, the flow of the river can make a difference. The Rhine flows from south to north and over the centuries has smoothed out rocks beneath the water line in the same direction. Sticking with the example of the Gorge, it means ships can often sail through if they are going downstream, especially if they have a shallower draft, while vessels heading upstream are stranded.

Rivers not affected by high or low water

Water levels on the Douro in northern Portugal are regulated by five locks, so flooding is not an issue. The Rhône and Saône in France are not immune to high water but it is very rare.

Canals are also regulated, so the Dutch and Belgian waterways are a safe bet. Most cruises there operate in spring, when the tulips are in bloom. Yet there’s a lot more to enjoy than flowers, so a few companies, such as Viva Cruises and Avalon Waterways, sail there in summer as well.

CroisiEurope and European Waterways offer barge holidays on canals across France and Germany. These vessels are a good bet. As they are so small, holding just eight to 24 passengers, they can visit more out-of-the-way places.

In Asia, river cruises on the Mekong in Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos, and on the Ganges and Brahmaputra in India are scheduled to avoid the monsoons and anyway there are very few, if any, low bridges to worry about.

Likewise the Nile in Egypt and Mississippi in the US (and all its tributaries) are almost 100 per cent free from water worries.

What happens if the ship doesn’t sail at all?

Passengers are coached each day to the towns and cities they would have visited if they were cruising. The journeys generally aren’t too long on the first two or three days, although they still eat into sightseeing time, but get longer and longer as the week progresses.

On the penultimate day of the Main cruise that never happened, the drive was to Frankfurt and took three hours each way. leaving just a couple of hours to race around the city. Not surprisingly, most people opted not to go.

The best cruise directors will swing into action and offer alternatives for those who can’t face the coach journey.

Can I claim compensation if I don’t sail?

River cruise lines will refund money (or offer an alternative cruise) if they have to cancel your holiday. They will also either offer a refund or compensation if they are unable to provide a “significant proportion” of your holiday or have to make a “significant change” to what was booked.

Unfortunately, changes as a result of water levels, including being coached everywhere rather than cruising, are not considered “significant”.

Uniworld said it makes every effort to keep itineraries as advertised, but reserves the right to make changes and substitutions as necessary to ensure the safety of guests and the vessels.

“Every possible effort will be made to alert guests in advance of boarding of any known changes,” a representative told Telegraph Travel. “Otherwise, all guests will be informed on board of amendments. Any changes to itineraries, including the addition of extensive motorcoach touring to affect delivery of the intended itinerary operation, will not result in eligibility for a refund.”

Can I claim anything?

Not according to the small print. However, there is no harm in contacting the company if you are not satisfied. The best ones know goodwill goes a long way to retaining customers.

Read our guide to what happens if your cruise gets cancelled