Tag Archives: Danube River

Gate 1 quietly enters river cruise fray

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Gate 1 Travel launched the 144-passenger Monarch Empress earlier this year.
Earlier this year, Gate 1 Travel did something few escorted tour operators do: It built its own river cruise ship.
While tour operator conglomerates, companies like The Travel Corporation and The Globus Family of Brands, long ago added river cruise lines to their brand mix, smaller tour operators have generally steered clear from investing in their own vessels.
But this past spring, Gate 1 Travel launched the 144-passenger Monarch Empress on the Danube River, the company’s first European river cruise ship which it built and is operated solely by Gate 1. Constructed in 2015, it embarked on its inaugural sailing on April 3, 2016.
The Monarch Empress has a subdued elegance to it, with some faux-antique furnishings alongside slightly more modern pops of color. The cabins range in size from 140 to 210 square fee each and 80% have French balconies. The public areas include a bar and lounge area, a sundeck with a putting green, a library, a dining room with floor-to-ceiling windows, a fitness center, and an elevator between the second and third decks. There is also WiFi throughout ship, an in-house musician and a 24/7 tea and coffee station.
And for 2017, Gate 1 is increasing its river cruise capacity by adding two privately chartered ships to is lineup, the 144-passenger Monarch Queen and 144-passenger Monarch Baroness. These sister ships were built in 2006 and 2007, respectively.
“We acknowledge that vessel ownership is a major investment in both capital and time,” said Marty Seslow, vice president of sales and marketing for Gate 1. “Therefore, we decided our best strategic approach was to build the Monarch Empress as our premier offering, while also offering itineraries aboard fully chartered ships.”
Seslow said that the Monarch Empress was built by the Teamco Shipyard in Heusden, Holland.
The Monarch Empress and the Monarch Baroness will sail along Holland’s waterways in spring 2017. After spring, the Monarch Empress and the Monarch Queen will sail the Danube River between Regensburg and Budapest, and the Monarch Baroness will sail Germany’s Rhine River between Basel and Amsterdam.
The two new charters represent a 50% increase in river cruise inventory for Gate 1 Travel and the company said that two-thirds of its river cruise inventory is already booked for next year. Consequently, Gate 1 Travel has already opened up its 2018 river bookings.

Low water levels plague Europe river cruises

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With a low water level, a large stretch of the Elbe’s riverbed was exposed in August near Magdeburg, Germany. Photo Credit: Shutterstock
 

A hot and dry summer in Europe has led to lower-than-normal water levels on portions of the Danube and Elbe rivers throughout the summer, and has forced river cruise lines to alter their itineraries during July, August and now into September.

“Water levels on the Elbe and Danube rivers are currently lower than normal and Viking has had to make adjustments to the cruise schedules of several ships sailing these rivers,” Viking River Cruises wrote on its website this week.

Five Viking cruises have been altered this week, four of which include a ship swap. Passengers will be transferred in order to avoid a low-water area of the Elbe River that ships cannot bypass.

Additionally, Viking’s Sept. 2 “Grand European Tour” from Budapest to Amsterdam, scheduled to depart on the Viking Aegir, will begin in Komarom, Hungary, on the Viking Embla. Viking will provide transfers from Budapest to Komarom.

“These are currently the only sailings we expect to be altered by the low water on the rivers,” Viking stated.

But low water levels have been a problem all summer. The low levels on the Elbe came during a year when Viking launched two new vessels on the river in eastern Germany. Other river cruise lines have avoided the Elbe in part because of the challenges presented when the water level is low.

The Danube River is one that all the major river cruise lines sail. The area on the Danube where the low waters have posed a problem is the 75-mile stretch between Regensburg and Passau in Germany.

Uniworld Boutique River Cruise Collection had to alter eight Danube River sailings in July and August, which included having guests swap ships from one side of the low waters to the other. The company canceled its Aug. 9 “European Jewels” cruise on the Maria Theresa, deciding that there wouldn’t be enough actual cruising in the trip to justify the departure.

“We sincerely appreciate the understanding and support our guests and travel industry partners have shown during this challenging time,” Uniworld wrote on its website.

Avalon Waterways wrote on its Facebook page last week that the river levels on the Danube had again begun to recede.

“Danube River waters receded over the weekend and early this week. Once again, the waters between Regensburg and Passau are beginning to delay and/or stall ship passage. We are fervently working to keep cruise itinerary disruptions to a minimum. If or when cruise itineraries are altered, however, we will provide affected travelers with alternate opportunities to see and explore the best Europe has to offer,” Avalon wrote on Facebook.

The post elicited a string of comments from passengers, some concerned about current and upcoming sailings, others with positive messages of support and kudos for how Avalon handled past sailings that were disrupted due to low water levels.

The forecast is calling for rain in the coming days, according to Rudi Schreiner, president of AmaWaterways, which has not had to alter any of its Danube itineraries yet this summer. Schreiner is hoping that some much-needed precipitation along the Danube will help bring the river’s water levels back up.