Mark Farmer’s two-week river cruise from Amsterdam to Budapest got off to a bad start. For his first four days there was no fancy dinner overlooking the Rhine or the view from his room on the top floor balcony he and his wife had booked.
In fact, there were no boats at all. He and about 150 other passengers traveled by bus between Holland and Germany, waiting in long lines for toilets at highway rest stops and crammed into small restaurants.
“We weren’t satisfied,” said Farmer, sales manager for the waste and recycling company. He and his wife, who live in Arizona, booked a trip in August that cost $18,000, including business class flights, to celebrate their 35th wedding anniversary.
Europe’s worst drought in decades has caused water levels in parts of the Rhine and Danube rivers to become too low for ships to pass, paralyzing commerce and companies transporting commodities and commodities such as oil and coal. is causing confusion. The drought has also affected river cruises, forcing passengers to deal with last-minute changes to itineraries, long bus trips, and canceled excursions.
River cruising is a multi-billion dollar industry, with 1.6 million travelers (many over the age of 55) cruising European rivers in 2018, nearly doubling that number in 2013. did. Statista, market and consumer data providers. The largest group of passengers comes from North America, according to the Cruise Lines International Association, an industry group.
Nearly 65% of the EU now has some level of drought warning. According to the European Drought Observatory, intended to improve drought resilience. Even if hurricanes and other large storms flood other parts of the world, droughts are likely to become more frequent, researchers say. Scientists say climate change from burning fossil fuels and other human actions could play out in many different ways, but a common theme is that extreme weather is becoming more frequent and intense. .
Rudi Schreiner, president and co-owner of AmaWaterways, a river cruise company with a fleet of 26 vessels, says that if water levels in the Lower Rhine are too low, cruise passengers are bussed for excursions to nearby towns. and then returned to a place where the river level is high. For each day the cruise itinerary deviates from the schedule, the passenger receives a voucher that gives him a 15% discount on his next seven-night cruise, he said.
Rainfall in Germany last week brought some relief, but it may be temporary. AmaWaterways is looking for new technology to lower the draft of their vessels so they can pass through shallow water. “I can not see anything death of river cruising,” he said. “I see an adjustment.”
Even ships that could pass the Rhine had to be lightened, as heavy cargo would weigh on ships and cause difficulties in shallow waters.
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For Mr. Farmer, the final straw came on the third day of his trip. Viking, the operator, had arranged for guests to stay at a hotel that Farmer described as poor, with a man staring into the building next to the hotel. In their room when he and his wife came in.
“My wife and I were full that night. We wanted to go home,” he said. However, after making a customer wait his two hours for his service, it became clear that Viking would not refund him. So he and his wife decided to change their attitude, he said.
Viking, which offers travel in Europe, said the conditions that affected its trip were “highly unusual”, with the Rhine and Danube rivers experiencing historically low levels. , “We recognized that this was not the experience our guests were expecting, so we have provided all guests with a 15% credit towards their next Viking voyage in the form of a one-year voucher.” He added that customer ratings during the dry season were “very satisfied”.
the company also said A statement last week said the majority of that trip faced no disruptions, even though water levels on the Danube remained unusually low. ” said the company. “Guests and their travel advisors will continue to be notified directly by Viking Customer Relations if their itineraries are believed to be impacted.”
Another passenger on another Viking cruise this month, Scott Myers, said he and his wife loved their trip, even though they saw one of the most beautiful stretches of the Rhine from the bus. .
“It wasn’t as good as when you were sitting on the boat and floating, but you could still see all the castles,” said Myers, head of Troy’s County Parks District. . Ohio. He and his wife were able to spend all but his one day of travel on the originally booked cruise. His day on land, he said, took him six to seven hours by bus from Cologne, Germany, to Strasbourg, France, with stops along the way.
The pace of climate change is also affecting other aspects of summer tourism in Europe. With heat waves expected to intensify due to global warming, travelers may shift their summer itineraries from destinations such as Rome and Tuscany to destinations further north or along the coast, according to travel agents. expected.
Ellen Betridge, president and chief executive of river cruise company Uniworld, said in response to changing weather conditions in Europe, the company expanded to luxury train trips last year with itineraries that included both cruise and rail elements. said to have expanded.
“While we cannot predict future weather changes, we are prepared for them,” she said in a statement. “Our long history and unparalleled relationships in the travel industry have allowed us the flexibility to create alternative itineraries.” I had to cancel the %.
Lisa Wheeler-Pollington, who booked a cruise from Amsterdam to Budapest with her husband, said Uniworld canceled the trip nine days before she was scheduled to leave for Europe because of low water levels on the Rhine.
“It was heartbreaking,” said Wheeler Polington, a retired real estate worker in Sarasota, Florida. She and her husband had already arranged to care for two Labradors, Cruiser and Scooby-Doo, so they couldn’t reschedule. , a contractor was scheduled to perform repair work on the house. Wheeler-Pollington and her husband were then reimbursed and traveled from Amsterdam to Budapest by train.
It turned out to be the best trip of their lives. “Sometimes the unexpected can be a lot more fun than what you’ve planned for the year,” she said.
Farmer, a sales manager in Arizona, said he wished he and his wife had been refunded. had to anchor at The passenger then got back on the bus and it took him 90 minutes to drive to the city.
The group toured the city by bus, returned to the ship for their final night, and woke up at 3am to catch the bus to Budapest Airport.
Mr. Farmer and his wife each received a $500 voucher to use on their next Viking cruise, but said they were in no hurry to return for another river cruise. “I literally saw Budapest from the bus window.”