AMSTERDAM -- A record hot, dry European summer has persisted
into fall, leaving river cruise lines scrambling to reroute ships and keep
customers sailing. That is particularly true on the Rhine, which is so low that
historical relics and a World War II bomb have been found along its dried-up
riverbed.
While high and low water levels are cyclical, causing river
ships at times to reroute or to temporarily bus passengers to different ships
or hotels to complete their itineraries, it is almost unheard of for such low
levels to carry into October and November.
Earlier in the season, the Danube and the Elbe were most
affected, and there are still scattered issues on those rivers. But last month,
the Rhine hit a record low, forcing river lines to abandon their popular
Basel-to-Amsterdam sailings when the port of Cologne, Germany, was shuttered.
Photos reveal that the river, which is a key commercial
shipping route, looks more like the southwestern U.S.'s perpetually dry Rio
Grande -- which many New Mexicans sarcastically refer to as the 'Rio Sand' --
than like one of Europe's main waterways, on which you can now see huge,
exposed sandbars; wide, dry banks; and exposed river bottoms.
In some places, the water is so low that you can practically
walk across, according to river cruise employees on recent sailings. Late last month, a bomb was found on the dry
riverbed in Cologne. And in Budapest, a ship from the 1600s with 2,000 gold
coins was discovered, according to news reports.
While this year's weather is extreme, high and low waters
are cyclical, much like snowfall for skiers or hurricanes for beach
vacationers. Because issues can pop up every few years, river lines always have
extensive backup plans that include everything from simple cancellations and
refunds to swapping passengers between ships at points that become impassable.
The river lines use motorcoaches and hotel stays to keep
tours moving on their scheduled routes, and they develop alternative
itineraries that keep passengers sailing, albeit to sometimes unexpected ports
of call.
How dramatic the impact is on guests, who have already paid
thousands of dollars for their vacation, depends largely on the cruise line.
Viking, which has the largest European river fleet, declined
repeated requests for information about how many cruises have been affected
this year and about how they handle refunds, changes and cancellations.
A spokesman for Tauck, which has eight ships on Europe's
rivers, said the company had been forced to cancel three sailings this year,
one on the Danube in August and two on the Rhine in October, as it prepared to
close out the season.
In the Hot Seat
AmaWaterways president and co-founder Rudi Schreiner discusses the ups and downs, highs and lows of Europe's rivers. Read More
Walter Littlejohn, head of Crystal River Cruises, which has
five vessels in Europe, said he had lost count of how many itinerary changes
Crystal had made this year in an effort to keep passengers off buses and on the
water.
AmaWaterways, with 16 ships on affected rivers, has had a
combination of ship swaps and slightly disrupted itineraries. The focus has
been on developing new itineraries to keep guests sailing.
CroisiEurope reported that it spent most of the summer
swapping passengers between ships running from opposite ends of the
unpredictable and extremely low Elbe.
And Avalon said it has used a combination of cancellations,
ship swaps and moves to land-based itineraries.
Cost to cruise lines
Steve Born, chief marketing officer for the Globus family of
brands, which owns Avalon, said, "When there are conditions that
compromise a portion of a river, we create an alternative on land that still
gives our guests all of the included destinations and experiences. In these
cases, our Globus operations base comes in very handy ... to allow us to
quickly react."
Born added, "If the conditions require that we are
forced to overnight in a hotel as opposed to the ship, we make those
arrangements and work out guest compensation at that moment with the guests
directly on the cruise."
James Hill, a U.K. agent who has been selling river cruises
for more than 12 years, said that low water is not a new problem. And the costs
to river lines are "not inconsiderable." Those costs include moving
or renting motorcoaches, hotel rooms and meals, putting together new excursions
on short notice and extra administrative and operations expenses for altering
itineraries and notifying guests.
Additionally, many companies offer customers compensation
for "lost days," either as a cash refund or as a future cruise
credit.
Hill said a cash refund "comes straight off the bottom
line," whereas a future cruise credit is "meant to get the client to
book a further cruise, albeit at a lower cost, thus deferring the cost to the
bottom line to later years."
"The hidden cost of a long season of low water is that
people looking to book their first river cruise may well read reports of
dissatisfaction on the various websites and decide not to book at all,"
Hill said. "Those who have had a couple of successful trips may well count
themselves as having been lucky and call it a day!"
Indeed, many companies are hesitant to share too many
details of their compensation policies with the news media for fear of scaring
off customers.
For example, when asked for details on the impact of low
water on their sailings, Uniworld Boutique River Cruise Collection CEO Ellen
Bettridge said simply, "We always proactively share updates with guests
and partners, and in most cases, for the limited number of cruises impacted,
are able to seamlessly alter small sections of the trip to offer an equally
rewarding itinerary."
Still, there is no end in sight as river cruise operators
head into the Christmas market season. AmaPrima captain Ron Schuegard said the
Rhine would need at least two weeks of nonstop rain for things to get back to
normal.
Alternative itineraries
But that doesn't mean the season is over. AmaWaterways,
Crystal and some others have restaged their Amsterdam-Basel routes to the
picturesque towns of the Netherlands and Belgium -- basically the spring tulip
route without the tulips -- and are prepared to continue altering itineraries
as the fast-changing rivers allow.
Passengers aboard a recent AmaPrima sailing that was
rerouted through the Netherlands seemed more than pleased, not only with the
company's generous compensation offers but also with the opportunity to visit
towns they might not ever otherwise have seen.
Heading into the holiday season, said Susan Robison, a
spokeswoman for Crystal, "We have multiple contingency plans if needed,
including a Moselle itinerary that features a number of picturesque villages
and cities that have some of the most charming and atmospheric Christmas
markets in Germany."