River cruise lines had been forced to cancel dozens of sailings due to low water levels due to rain in Europe.
A number of companies say that recent rains have been enough to replenish parts of Europe's most severely affected rivers, and bode well for fall sailings.
According to Steve Born, chief marketing officer of the Globus family of brands, Avalon Waterways' cruises are operating normally because of the improved water levels. Guests are enjoying their vacations as they were intended, and the nature of the river ebbs and flows.
River cruise lines were forced to change itineraries and cancel cruises because of the low water levels on the Rhine and the Danube.
Scenic, Emerald, Avalon Waterways, Amadeus River Cruises, Uniworld and Viking all had to change or cancel cruises this summer. Guests were required to switch ships and use motorcoaches to complete disrupted itineraries.
Three out of seven itineraries sailing the Rhine and the Danube required ship swaps and four needed to be canceled by mid-August, according to Born. In rare instances, guests will maintain their ship experience, including stateroom, down to the number, regardless of the ship's name.
Guests were able to continue with altered itineraries, rebook on different departures or get partial or full refunds for unused cruise days.
Koranek said that her clients' river cruises had been disrupted. About one-third of her clients followed the new itineraries.
They will be reimbursed for their train tickets from Amsterdam to Switzerland to catch their flight back home. Only two-thirds canceled and will rebook.
The AmaLucia can be seen on the Rhine River. The photo was taken by NicoleEdenedo.
As the summer progressed, the already low water levels were caused by high temperatures and a lack of rain. The trouble for sailings began in July and ended in August.
Marcus Leskovar, executive vice president of Amadeus River Cruises, said that the problem began when they couldn't transfer vessels between the Rhine and Danube.
The impact of low water on operations was lessened by the large fleet in Europe.
"In total, we've only had to cancel 7% of our cruises that we felt could not be adjusted to our standards and have operated 98% of our European cruises as planned with little to no changes," Bettridge said.
Travel advisors had been waiting for rain to come so that they could get calls and emails from clients on impacted cruises. The river cruises they had booked for September were in danger of falling through.
"I have clients on Rhine cruises with Avalon in September and praying the cruises don't get canceled due to low water levels," said the owner of a tour company. Due to Covid, these people have been changed twice.
A group she hosted on an AmaWaterways cruise was one of the few on the river.
"We were one of the only ships that could complete our itinerary due to the fact that the ship is a bit smaller and has a slightly larger draft than other Ama ships," Schreiner said.
Even with the cruise line's shallow-draft ships, Ama Waterways was not completely unaffected by low water levels.
Alterations were made to theineraries on the Rhine and Danube rivers. Our ships are sailing their original itineraries again. With the good mix of sun and rain predicted for the weeks ahead, our guests can expect a spectacular fall river cruise season.
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