Koblenz to Saarburg

Customer Feedback

• D. Valkenaar 2 months ago

  The boat staff were outstanding! The boat dinners were outstanding! The boat breakfasts and lunches were just okay.

  The biggest downside to the trip were the totally inadequate route guides. They were not written for new-to-the-route riders. On one hand, they assumed the user was familiar with the route and knew where they were going. On the other hand, they seemed to have been written by someone who had never ridden the route, who just looked at a paper (or electronic) map to write the guide.

  Finally, the on-boat guides were of minimal help. While they seem to have ridden the route, they did not explain the complexities a new rider would encounter along the way. They did, however, explain the highlights to look for on each route.

  With those two exceptions, the trip was wonderful! As for the most memorable, being dog people, we really liked having the captain's dogs on board.

  Boat: Patria

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• Shirley Correll 10 months ago

  Bicycle and boat are the best vacations ever! Can't wait for my next tour! Hope to make this an annual thing. :)

  Boat: Patria

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• Neil Webley 10 months ago

  Overall we enjoyed the Bike and Barge along the Mosel River. However it seemed to be too much effort for the guide to interact with the English speaking clients.
  Maybe he's been doing it too long.
  Thank You

  Boat: Patria

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• Leonidas Roussinos 10 months ago

  All of your staff at the office are fantastic! We love talking to you and we truly appreciate your efforts and quick response to our questions and requests. Looking forward to Bordeaux next September.

  Boat: Patria

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• Amy Rowland 10 months ago

  We had an absolute blast on this trip and made great friends with the other English-speakers. The route was beautiful and full of things to discover, and the biking was very manageable, even for my 75 year old mother. The downside was that our boat included a very large group that had booked together, so we felt slightly apart from the majority of the passengers and the separate language orientation sessions intensified this. I know you don't run these tours, but I wonder if having the sessions together and providing English language translation in writing on the Power Point would be another option? Encouraging switching up the seating at meals might also help. One last comment is that it would be helpful for the maps to include information on the location of public toilets along the route. We are not comfortable using the riverbank as our toilet as our guide recommended.

  Boat: Patria

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• Susan Roeterink 10 months ago

  Trip was excellent. the boat is really bare bones but that was okay. Wifi was spotty and difficult at times.

  Boat: Patria

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• Fred Veenbaas 10 months ago

  It was a great way to see the countryside.

  Boat: Patria

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• Sandra Wagner 10 months ago

  The bikes were new and serviced and washed daily to keep them in excellent condition. The boat staff were wonderful and very hard-working. Much time and skill went into meal preparation, and the meals were delicious and attractively presented, both breakfasts and dinners. There was plenty of food to package into lunches to take on the trail. Each day's ride along the Mosel was on flat hard-surfaced trails with beautiful scenery and easy to follow directions that took us through pretty little towns. We thoroughly enjoyed this trip and would definitely use Tripsite again.

  Boat: Patria

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• Lynn Farrell 10 months ago

  We had the most wonderful time on our bike/barge trip; the beautiful weather that week added to it. That was my first trip with Tripsite. The Mosel River was nothing short of spectacular. I have told anyone who would listen about this trip & have passed Tripsite's name & number along to many other people. Can't wait to do another trip!

  Boat: Patria

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• Shirley Elizabeth Correll 10 months ago

  I absolutely loved my Tripsite tours last year and this year. Bicycle and boat is my favorite way to travel! Can't wait for next years tour! (which I plan to book very soon)

  Boat: Patria

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• Amy Rowland 1 year ago

  My mom and two sisters and I did this trip last month to celebrate my mom turning 75 this summer. We had a blast! The boat was comfortable and food was delicious, including lots of healthy salads and fruit. The crew was top-notch; keeping things running smoothly and on-time. The riding was wonderful every day, even with a few rainy days. The routes were fun, and full of countless "photo-ops" with picturesque villages, castles, churches and vineyards. We rarely had to climb any hills or interact with cars, so the riding really was suitable for beginners or seniors. We werewith the smaller "English-speaking" group, so had our orientation to the next day's route the evening before. Somehow, despite the four of us thinking we were paying close attention, we always managed to forget something about the route instructions, but part of the fun challenge was finding our way back to the route when we took a wrong turn or crossed the wrong bridge. By the last few days, we started adding a few side trips and explorations to our routes, but still always managed to find our way back to the Patria in time for the coffee, tea and fancy cakes in the early evening. Though the majority of our fellow passengers spoke German, and we don't speak the language at all, we still felt very welcomed. Our only suggestion would be for someone to provide notation on the maps of the public w.c.'s available along the route. As an all-female group, we spent a little more time than we wanted to tracking those elusive locations along the route. Thanks for a great vacation!

  Boat: Patria

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• Joe Rine 2 years ago

  Wow, just finished the Koblenz to Saarburg on the Patria. The Patria and crew was great; meals were very good and plenty of food. Drinks were reasonable on board. Room was small, but enough storage and bunk was comfortable. Biking was very good, despite the three rainy days. Most important this is a cozy atmosphere where you can hang out at the Lounge at night, have a few drinks and socialize. We asked for a guitar and Gottfried, the tour guide found us one. Much to the enjoyment and maybe consternation...we did a sing along a couple nights. already planning next years trip!

  Boat: Patria

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• Shirley Lazurko 4 years ago

  We traveled with another couple from Saarburg to Koblenz and enjoyed every part of the trip, even biking in the rain during a couple of days! The bikes we used were better than our bikes at home, the gears changed easily and the bike was comfortable. We were provided with suitcases to put onto the bikes so we could easily store our lunch, water bottles, coat, camera etc. Every morning started with a clear and concise presentation on the route we were taking during the day. We received booklets that contained information on our route and descriptions on what we were going to see along the way. The bike paths were paved and we rarely had to worry about vehicle traffic along the way. We toured beside the Mosel River, past many kilometers of vineyards growing on steep slopes; we toured through small villages with castles overlooking the countryside. We took time to stop in villages along the way to enjoy some of the local wines and beer and apple strudel. The barge experience was excellent - the staff were very helpful and interested in helping you with any issues that arose. Our only recommendation would be to have WiFi available for the guests so we could easily keep in touch with families through email however most of the villages did have internet cafes. Overall the experience was excellent and we are already looking at booking our next bike trip through this site - Italy here we come!

  Boat: Patria

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• Chantal Pollock 4 years ago

  To the staff of Pack & Pedal Europe Inc,

  This e-mail is in reference of our booked Bike and Boat trip on the MS Patria from Saarburg to Koblenz on the Mosel River in Germany for the week of May 5, 2012. Overall, our experience was excellent.

  The staff was very professional, courteous and useful. Also, most of the staff dealing directly with the guests had a reasonable knowledge of English. The boat, the public rooms and the cabins were all in good shape and clean, The guide was very knowledgeable about the Mosel region, very accessible and useful. The bikes were in very good working order. The food was delicious, fresh, varied, on time and most of the time it was 5 to 4 courses for suppers. The Mosel River is very scenic with Roman ruins, medieval castles, many pretty little villages with fun and interesting market squares and many vineyards on slopped hills. There were many opportunities to taste Mosel Riesling wines from the various little villages. From now on, we will stock our personal bar at home with wines from the Mosel region.

  As a handicapped person with limited mobility, the overall experience was excellent. The staff was always available to offer their assistance as necessary. They soon understood that I required limited assistance. The captain and his wife both invited me to sit with them on the sun deck in the navigation room when the boat was travelling which was both interesting and very pleasant. It was a good thing that my cabin was on the main deck. Although doable, my cabin was at the far end of the hallway and sometimes a bit of a challenge because of the distance. However, I think it was the only accessible room on the boat. My cabin was roomier which was convenient to store the wheelchair out of the way when not in use. The bathroom was small but accessible with a stool in the shower. The lift chair to descend to the lower level to the dining area worked most of the time and temperamental for the last few days. When the chair lift was temperamental, the staff did their best to fix it or to bring the food of our party to the upper deck. The lift chair was bulky and an older model. A few grab bars on the boat such as in the public washrooms and in the cabin shower would of been useful. When boarding or exiting the boat to dry dock, the plank to walk on had rope hand rails which made it a bit tricky because it wasn't solid as opposed to solid hand rails.

  Again, I will reiterate that we had an excellent experience and would highly recommend it to our friends. Our bike and boat trip was a rich experience of history, geography, economy and culture about the Mosel region.

  Very sincerely,

  Chantal

  Ontario Canada

  Boat: Patria

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