Boats & planes & automobiles

LOW RIVER LEVELS

For months, we have been updating readers on the low river levels in some parts of Europe, and the effect on river cruises.

We have warned readers to be cautious about booking river cruises in 2027 (as the El Nino weather pattern is still a feature), and advised to at least book the early part of the season, for example in April and May. There are predictions that the strong El Nino event will mean a wet autumn and early winter across north-western and western Europe, including the UK and France. That could also lead to good spring river levels.

We have even advised travellers who like to unpack once, and then be delivered day after day to interesting places, to consider a small-ship cruise in Europe in 2027.

ONE READER’S EXPERIENCE

Reader Annie Murtagh-Monks says she booked a 10-day Balkans river cruise for $13,750. It was due to depart on August 11, 2026.

Annie says the cruise was cancelled on August 5, 2026, while she was already in Europe. She says she was offered “no refund, no assistance in rescheduling flights, no future discount or voucher, only using ‘force majeure’ as the reason they were withholding all our money”.

The company offered a bus and boat tour, Annie says, but it involved moving accommodation regularly and was to an area she’d been to previously.

“I spent several days trying desperately to find alternative tours, flights, accommodation etc,” she adds.

Annie says travel insurance eventually covered their claim, minus a $1000 excess.

CALL FOR BACKUP

I have to point out that, even for what looks like simple holiday arrangements, booking through a travel agent gives you backup.

For example, if you book a cruise direct with some cruise companies, it is your responsibility to get to and board the ship on time. Simple as that.

How you get there, and any problems with that, is not their concern.

AIR DETOUR & CAR HIRE

A reader flying to the UK to meet a new grandchild got caught up in the recent London Heathrow Airport shutdown.

The reader, who wishes to remain anonymous, says: “As we were approaching the Thames, we were told we were diverting to Frankfurt. On arrival there were no landing slots, so we were off to Paris.”

He says they were kept on the plane for an hour or so there, then then loaded onto coaches to Calais to drive through the Channel Tunnel and finally be dropped off outside Victoria coach station at 4.30am to find their own way to Heathrow.

From leaving home to arriving at Heathrow took 42½ hours.

Our reader, calmly and rationally, says: “When you sit back and look at the situation they were put in, they did the best job in the timeframe they were presented with.”

But he then adds, as a warning to others: “Sadly, from one company doing their best to another taking advantage of two shattered 80-year-olds.”

He tells how, at the hire car desk, he was told that a lot of cars had gone out the day before: “So we were offered a seven-seater manual VW Caddy van or we could take an alternative option at extra cost. No way could we sensibly drive the van around, parking it etc. It was obvious what was going on, but we were ‘out on our feet’, so we had to pay.”

He feels that it “is almost policy now” to be told the car type you booked isn’t available, or your insurance doesn’t cover it.

“If this is the new norm, I wonder if you could make people aware this is going on.”