Check a sailing
Will your cruise be affected?
Tell us your river and your departure date. We'll check every day of your trip against the river's shallowest stretch and tell you what it means for your booking.
Score your sailing
Pick your river and your departure date. We'll check every day of your cruise and tell you, in plain words, what to expect.
Choose your departure date. We'll check every day of your trip against the river's shallowest stretch, using the live forecast and thirty years of records.
Common questions
What does the percentage mean?
It's the chance your cruise runs into low water at the shallowest stretch of your river. We check every day of your trip and score the worst one. The line for what counts as low comes from that stretch's own thirty-year record.
How accurate is the score months in advance?
Dates within about seven months use a live forecast that updates every morning. Further out, we use the thirty-year record for that time of year, plus what happened on your exact dates in each of the last five years. The score sharpens as your cruise gets closer.
What happens if low water hits my cruise?
Usually far less than people fear. Most often the ship just sails the shallow stretch carrying less weight, and you notice nothing. If the water keeps falling, the line moves you to a sister ship waiting on the other side, with a bus ride between the two. In a bad spell, the ship stays put and you visit the ports by bus. An actual canceled cruise is rare.
Can my cruise line avoid low water?
No line sails around low water. Newer ships sit shallower in the water and some companies reroute earlier than others, so the same river can treat two cruises differently, but the river sets the terms. We score the river, not the ship.
Which months are safest for a river cruise?
On the Rhine and Danube, May and June sail on Alpine snowmelt and are reliably the safest. Late summer and fall carry the most low-water risk, and the December Christmas market season runs on the year's lowest water. The Seine is the mirror image: its risk is high water, mostly in winter and spring.
The score uses the same figures as the month charts: the worst day of your window at the worst stretch of your river. Details: how it works.