The highs and lows of River Cruising

High water, low water – not too long ago I was asked by a reporter if I warn my clients about the possibility that the water levels on the river could affect their river cruise. I replied honestly that I didn’t and it got me thinking about whether or not I should.

However I also book their airline tickets and does this mean that I should be warning them about the possibility of the flight being delayed or being re-routed or worst of all, cancelled ?

United Airlines has been in the news lately for a couple of unexpected re-routed flights where the passengers were stranded in foreign airports overnight, some having to sleep on the airport floor with no access to their baggage. The key here is “unexpected” because even if these people were told in advance that this could happen, no one thinks it will ever happen to them.
I believe it comes down to how the situation is treated as in the United’s case, most passengers were very angry about the lack of support and no communication.

This is where it differs from the river cruise lines (and I do realize the they are dealing with much smaller numbers) but our company had some passengers who were to get on a Rhine river cruise in Basel and due to high water, the ship was not able to get under the bridge into the city. The company had staff on hand to assist guests, they ordered extra coaches to bus people up the river to where the ship was located and generally tried to keep people informed and the disruption to a minimum. In speaking with our clients when they returned, they said they felt well taken care of.

Now I know that many will say, well the airlines could never be like that but I had a scenario with Singapore Airlines that I will never forget. I boarded a flight once in Bali and then the power went out in the terminal so we sat on the tarmac for quite a while before we were able to depart. I was supposed to connect in Singapore for a flight to Hong Kong, however after our delay, realized that I was going to miss my connection. So I was dreading getting off the plane not knowing when I could catch another flight. However, this is where superior customer service came into play as an airline representative was waiting with my name on a sign & when approached, was handed my new ticket for a flight three hours later, a meal voucher and offered an apology for missing my connection. I was absolutely astounded and kept looking around thinking I was on TV or something because I had never seen anything like it.

So instead of warning clients about the possibility of disruptions, will always try to book them with companies that will take care of them with some old fashioned customer service.

This was a picture that I took in Passau Germany in 2011 which shows the high and low water mark level from the Danube River. In 2013, they suffered the highest water levels in 500 years and it went up over the top mark shown by at least another foot, it was an unbelievable sight.