Last October for our 25th wedding anniversary we took a river cruise on the Danube through Germany, Austria and Hungary. We really liked the experience and decided to do the Rhine this year. Unfortunately heat and drought depleted the river to record lows and turned the trip into a little bit of a bust with ship swaps and bus transfers through the most scenic part of the Rhine.
Rolling with the Rhine: Low Water, Industrial Quays, and the Great Autobahn Pivot
River cruising has a way of reminding you that the water always gets the final say.
Our plan sounded simple enough: board in Basel, cruise smoothly down the Rhine through Germany, and roll into Amsterdam a week later. But a bone-dry late summer had other ideas. When river levels bottom out, flat-bottom cruise ships don’t test their luck on the rocks—they pivot.
What started as a leisurely float turned into two ships, a fleet of motorcoaches, a hotel detour, and a much grittier, more authentic view of a working European river.
Here’s the unfiltered, day-by-day dispatch.
Day 1 (Friday, Sept 18): Boarding in Basel — Hot Tubs & Dockside Reality
We boarded the MS Monarch Princess tied up along the Rhine on the Swiss border. To kick off the trip, we headed straight up to the top sundeck to soak in the hot tub. Sitting in bubbling hot water as you get ready to cruise sounds pure luxury—until the ambient river breeze kicks in. Hmm… What’s that smell?
Looking down over the ship’s rail past the active cargo tracks, our dockside panorama featured an eclectic, tarp-draped encampment anchored by a tiny red microcar, a cooler, and a microwave sitting right in the dirt. Not exactly the Swiss Alps brochure shot, but it gave us a laugh and set the theme early: this was going to be a real, working European waterway. We unpacked our bags, handled the safety briefing, and quietly slipped into the current as dusk settled over the hills, pointed north.
Day 2 (Saturday, Sept 19): Breisach — Working Quays, Hilltop Views & The Saturday Market
We pulled back the stateroom curtain on morning one and got our second taste of working-river reality: zero storybook willows, just railroad tracks along the bulkhead, giant blue gravel silos, and a massive dock crane towering over the boat.
We skipped the organized tour buses, walked off the gangway past the gravel piles, and headed into Breisach on foot. Once you get past the industrial fringe, the town opens up. We climbed the steep cobblestones up to St. Stephen’s Cathedral (Stephansmünster), taking in a killer panoramic overlook across the tiled rooftops, river oxbows, and Black Forest hills—complete with some delightfully direct, spray-painted local commentary along the metal railing.
Back down in the town square, we hit the local Saturday morning market. We ordered cold drinks and a local beer, and sat in the sun listening to a high school band play through their set. Sitting with a cold drink while the brass echoed off the old buildings completely redeemed the view of the gravel yard. By early afternoon, we were back aboard and cruising north toward Strasbourg.
Day 3 (Sunday, Sept 20): Strasbourg — Border Polish & Concrete Walls
By Sunday morning, we were tied up at Quai des Belges on the French-German line. Riverboat brochures love to crop out the mooring berths, but looking across the canal water, our view was a long concrete seawall covered in layers of local tag graffiti beneath the tree line.
Beyond the docks, Strasbourg delivered. The contrast between French elegance and Alsatian timbered architecture is unmatched. We spent hours racking up miles on foot through the canal bends of La Petite France and craning our necks at the massive pink sandstone cathedral tower. The ship stayed tied up overnight, giving us plenty of time to take in the evening streets before the logistical shoe dropped.
Day 4 (Monday, Sept 21): The Low-Water Pivot — Speyer & Heidelberg to Frankfurt
The call came down: the Middle Rhine was running too shallow for the Princess to make the gorge run without scraping bottom. Gate 1 pulled the trigger on the ship-swap protocol.
Bags outside the stateroom door at 7:00 AM, Quietvox headsets slung over shoulders, and onto the coaches to bridge the gap. Crossing the bridge into Speyer, the reason became glaringly obvious. Looking down from the span, the Rhine looked like low tide—massive, exposed gravel sandbars stretched halfway across the riverbed, leaving a ridiculously narrow trickle for watercraft.
We spent the morning wandering Speyer’s quiet streets and standing inside the cavernous 11th-century Romanesque Kaiserdom, where Salian emperors are buried beneath cold red stone. Some coaches split off for Heidelberg’s castle ruins. By late afternoon, we pushed on to Frankfurt to check into the Marriott for the night while the logistics team sorted out our next vessel.
Day 5 (Tuesday, Sept 22): The Rhine Gorge by Autobahn & Boarding Ship #2
Instead of lounging on the sundeck watching medieval fortresses drift by, we got the high-speed version: spotting Rhine castles through the tinted windows of a motorcoach humming down the highway! Seeing a centuries-old cliffside stronghold framed by terraced vineyards while whipping past at 60 mph was absurd, but you take the views where you get them.
On the way, our bus driver clipped mirrors with a parked truck and kept right on going. The police eventually caught up with our bus caravan, stopped all of us in the middle of the road, and let him off with a fine.
The one real castle stop of the day made up for a lot. We toured Marksburg, perched high above the town of Braubach and the only hilltop castle on the Rhine that was never destroyed. Inside it’s all low doorways, steep stone stairs, suits of armor and old cannons aimed out over the valley, and the view from the ramparts showed just how low the river was running, with gravel bars stretching out into the channel.
We stopped in Koblenz for a walk through the squares and stood at Deutsches Eck (the German Corner), watching the Moselle merge into the depleted Rhine. From there, the buses crossed the border into the Netherlands at Venlo, where we checked into our new home: the MS Monarch Duchess. Same cabin category, same crew hustle, brand new ship.
Day 6 (Wednesday, Sept 23): Excursion to Cologne
With the Duchess berthed in Venlo, we took a morning coach hop back into Germany to tackle Cologne. Stepping out onto the plaza under the Kölner Dom will humble anyone—the Gothic twin spires look like black stone lace scraping the sky.
After wandering the interior and the Altstadt alleys, we hit the essential Rhineland stop: a traditional Brauhaus. The waiters keep dropping tall, cold, 0.2-liter glasses of Kölsch on your table without asking until you physically place your coaster on top of your glass to signal defeat. A plate of hearty local food, excellent cold beer, and back to Venlo to finally drop the lines and sail for the Dutch interior. We joined our new friends for Karaoke in the ship’s lounge. I think we killed it backing up Tim on Friends in low places but hopefully no video evidence to the contrary surfaces.
Day 7 (Thursday, Sept 24): Cruising the Flats to Amsterdam
The hills and castles gave way to pancake-flat green pastures, drainage canals, and heavy-duty Dutch locks. Cruising into Amsterdam by water felt like a proper reward after days of highway detours. We tied up for our final night on board, watching the city’s maritime traffic glide past. We spent the rest of our time exploring on foot and on a small canal boat tour that slipped under the low bridges and past the leaning canal houses, a much better way to see Amsterdam than from a big tour boat. We paused at the Anne Frank House and later wandered through the Red Light District (Jaime’s idea, not mine).
Day 8 (Friday, Sept 25): Off the Boat & On to Paris
Final breakfast on the Duchess, bags off the ship, and a straight walk over to Amsterdam Centraal. We bypassed the bus rides, grabbed a seat in the lounge on Platform 2A, and boarded the 15:10 Eurostar Premier for a smooth high-speed run straight into Paris Gare du Nord.
Was it the uninterrupted, tranquil cruise shown in the brochure? Not even close. But between industrial docks, roadside castle chasing, gravel-bar sightings, and market beers, rolling with the punches made it a far better story. The food and service onboard were very good. The crew did their best to make us happy. Gate 1 to their credit did give us a 50% discount on our next European river cruise if we book by November. Still pondering that one.