2 star rated Comentários dos Tours 1 to 30 of 30
- 77% 5 star: 1899 avaliações
- 16% 4 star: 399 avaliações
- 5% 3 star: 112 avaliações
- 1% 2 star: 30 avaliações
- 1% 1 star: 22 avaliações
Jayne Allerton 5 days ago Verified Reviewer
Avoid trips on this barge!
Trip Name: Loire Valley rerouted to St. Mammés/Sens
We have new two lessons learned from this experience:
1. Never book on a boat that is not crewed by the owner; and
2. Never book accommodations that do not show you the state and size of the washroom.
After reading the mostly average reviews of the barge before booking, we decided to take a chance on booking the Loire Valley boat and bike itinerary on the Anna Maria IV. However, due to low water conditions on the Loire, the itinerary was changed to the Seine and the Yonne rivers. While disappointed in the change, the new route was more than fine with challenging rides and beautiful scenery.
John, the tour guide did a great job leading us through new territory.
The new bikes were excellent, and John was able to fix the odd flat tire along the way.
Unfortunately, no evening city walks were provided due to the itinerary change.
The boat captain was Read more… only on the barge for 4 days and 3 nights. While we had very little interaction with him, he was pleasant and got us from dock to dock with no problems- always a challenge with low water levels.
The barge. Well, we knew it would be small since this is our third bike barge on the same category of ship. But this was by far the smallest and least comfortable. The sinks are in the sleeping area and take up much of the non-bed space. One’s feet were actually in the shower when using the toilet. And, there was literally no room to unpack items - the small bins under the bed didn’t stay on their racks, making them useful for only the lightest of items.
But, the worst part of the entire week was the service provided by the crew/host. Unfortunately, there was only one crew member for 13 guests - thank goodness we were not at the 18 guest capacity.
Our feeling is that she did not like her job and found us an inconvenience to her social life. We felt like we had to fit into her schedule rather than her recognizing we were customers! And, boy, was she not a morning person!
While one can accept a person having a bad day or being a few minutes late once in a while, one should not have to experience the lack of organization and attention to detail that we received the entire week. If this was our first bike barge trip, I doubt we would ever do one again.
In summary, the captain was responsible for the movement of the ship. The guide was responsible for our cycling experience. The host was responsible for our on-board experience. But with no one in charge, there was no single person responsible for our overall experience.
While the on-board experience was extremely disappointing, the cycling was great, and the other passengers amazing. In fact, without the camaraderie of the other passengers this would have been a miserable week.MARIA JOSE R. 2 weeks ago Verified Reviewer
Trip with some room for improvement.
As positive:
1. Bike guides were kind and always trying to fulfill all of our requests.
2. Waiter was really helpful, efficient and nice with all of us
3. Meals on board were tasteful
As 'not so positive':
1. All the the bike routes run 100% by car roads
2. We just were able to take a swim from the boat 2 or 3 times during the full week
3. Captain had to change the itinerary, that initially it did not sound as a problem until we finally spent 24 hours with the ship docked beside the garbage containers in a city with absolutely nothing to visit or to do... while enduring flies and really unpleasant smell...
4. Captain and part of the crew far from 'nice behavior' during the full trip until the last moment that they started to open the tip envelopes and count the money in the dining room with all of us still on boardAs a summary, this National Park 'bike & Boat' trip Read more… was far from expectations.
Boat: Romantica
Mark H. 3 weeks ago Verified Reviewer
The general biking was above average , with some awesome sites visited.
As far as the accommodation was concerned this was below average.
Although the space was confined more emphasis could have been done to the quality and hospitality of stay.Boat: Zwaantje
Lia P. 1 month ago Verified Reviewer
Visiting Prague. What a magical city. The bikes on our trip were very nice. I rented an ebike and my husband had a regular bike. We love biking in Europe but I would not recommend this trip. Lots of the paths were dirt paths that were rough to ride on. The trails were not marked very making it easy to miss a road sign because you had to look where you were riding due to the rough terrain. The towns were small and poor. Not many places to stop for a lunch or beer. The villages were very boring to our group of 12. The MS Florentine was very nice and the food was good. The restaurant manager provided excellent service. Our tour guide Frank was very disappointing. His English skills were marginal (he is German) and he wasn’t very friendly. We hated to ask him questions, he always acted put out by us bothering him. The map and written description of the daily route needs improving making it easy to get lost. I was grateful we were traveling with 10 friends since most of the guests Read more… were German and we never connected with others on the ship. I will do another bike and barge trip but I will pick a more interesting itinerary.Boat: Florentina
Jeanne W. 2 months ago Verified Reviewer
Porto was extraordinary as was Aveiro. The bike routes were primitive or sand covered. Local company was extremely nice and accommodating. Portuguese people couldn’t have been friendlier.
Elizabeth C. 4 months ago Verified Reviewer
This was tour #6 for me and it was completely different than my former experiences. My previous tours were full of tourist sights and charming villages with little shops, coffee/tea/bakery cafes, and restaurants (with restrooms) to stop at along the way during the day and actual bicycle paths. Krakow to Warsaw (Warka) Poland tour was very unique. Positives: Krakow is absolutely charming and has some interesting day trips available to the salt mines and concentration camps. Once on tour the bicycles, hotels and food were excellent. The forests and farmlands were lovely. The birds were singing, roosters crowing, and the spring blooms were abundant. We saw wild boar in the woods the first day and wolf tracks another. The route maps were detailed and easy to read. The tour company was quick to work out any issues such as transporting us on day 2 of cycling due to severe weather and flood warnings. This being said, I must point out this was not a bicycle path but a bicycle route utilizing Read more… narrow roads with usually light traffic (but some sections were busy), logging roads, dirt and gravel (possibly rutted), and horror of all horrors...soft sand. The third day of cycling was bone jarring at times and though only 40km we were exhausted. The last day of cycling was 65 km instead of 55km listed. We traveled all week through extremely rural areas with no restrooms, restaurants, shops, or tourist sights during the whole cycling part of the day most days. (be sure to take snacks!) When a village appeared on the map it normally meant a group of houses and a church...but no commercial establishments. Friday we did see a few businesses but it was a holiday so they were closed. If there were castle ruins at the beginning we didn't see them. The bunker mentioned on day 6 was closed. The Abbey/Castle was closed for renovation which was a major selling point of interest when booking (we were put in a nice hotel as a substitute). The last hotel though nice was very crowded with young families and it was very noisy late into the night. It also required a taxi drive to town. This tour takes you through the former soviet block section of Poland. Overall my friend and I didn't mind doing this tour since we have experienced the other tours first, but feel you should be aware of what you are signing on for: remote cycling in non tourist/commercial type areas over possibly challenging surfaces.Kathryn K. 8 months ago Verified Reviewer
We had a great time touring the area. The hills were a challenge! The hotel food was varied and tasty.
Beth M. 8 months ago Verified Reviewer
I am commenting on the Bordeaux tour which I decided to go on last minute. If I had done my research on the boat & room size I wouldn’t have gone. My husband is 6’6” and the cabin was too small & very uncomfortable. I don’t know how it gets the Comfort Plus rating, all of the cabins on the lower level with the exception of one were all very small, & from other fellow pax comments, the upper level was not much better. This was our third trip with TripSite, we thoroughly enjoyed the 2 prior trips. We are sorry to say that the Bordeaux trip was underwhelming as far as scenery & bike routes.
Boat: Bordeaux
Susan G. 10 months ago Verified Reviewer
Two of the islands with national parks were removed due to weather concerns. High wind and rough seas evident with the first one, the second the weather did not happen and some of the guests thought we were taken to our final port of Zadar a day early (two nights there instead of one) perhaps for the convenience of the crew. Release the captain a day early, save on fuel? Food on the boat was institutional. Bikes were very comfortable and handled well, but should have rear-view mirrors. Guides Ivana and Kristofer have a lot of personality and were very engaging. Some of the scenery was spectacular. Guided walks provided for us at some of the ports were excellent. Tripsite should send trip info farther in advance of the trip. When it finally did arrive, it included info about flying to Dubrovnik, etc. By then, we and likely most other clients had made plans.
Boat: Harmonia
David F. 11 months ago Verified Reviewer
Breakfast good. Bagged lunches okay but not great and they only had sparkling water which I don't like and can't drink. No option to get still water without paying extra. Dinners good but not great. Only one meal very good. Most upset about not being able to drink the water from the room sink (which was announced over the PA system just before dinner after we had been onboard for a few hours)and then having to pay for still safe water for the cabin, breakfast, lunch and dinner.
Bike barge nightly talk about the following day was always the second talk of the evening (made for later evenings or no room in the bar). Would have liked to share the first time slot for half of the evenings.
Concierge staff outstanding and serving staff in the dinning room good.Boat: Primadonna
Mok L. 11 months ago Verified Reviewer
The Danube / bike path was wonderful , My bike was a red girls bike that clunked “hate it”, my wife’s ebike was great, the food was good except the hair in couple of dishes, the tour dir and the hotel mgr were friggen rude (not just us to about 14 others ) would Never take a SE tour again. The people we met on board were great, Austria was very nice. Omg Austria wine was fantastic. thx Mik
Ps
Still like Tripsite’sBoat: MS Normandie
Patti P. 11 months ago Verified Reviewer
The best part was traveling with friends. I would have enjoyed more information about the area and towns we were traveling through.
Boat: Anna Maria IV
Tim Devine 11 months ago Verified Reviewer
The biking itself was fabulous. The staff looked after the bikes well, and the routes were lovely. My problems are with the boat itself, and there are several significant issues. First, our room was next to some machinery near the bridge that woke us up frequently during the night. The bathroom smelled bad, and other guests on a lower floor had major issues with smells too. The boat broke down on one occasion, and we had the feeling that it was on its last legs. The food was okay, sometimes good, sometimes not so good. The staff were very good, although the music was mostly orientated to non-English speakers. I know that this is not a Viking riverboat, but I have a reasonable expectation of having a comfortable and fairly quiet room. Never again on this boat.
Boat: Theodor Körner
Faith S. 12 months ago Verified Reviewer
I was disappointed in this tour, the scenery was mostly uninteresting and much more difficult than expected due to high winds on 2 days. I am short and was given a crappy bike to ride, having been told I could not fit on the e-bike I wanted. However, after 2 days of suffering my tour guide was able to find me a bike that fit (even after the company itself said it could not accommodate). The ship itself was wonderful, with big bright cabins and excellent food. I was on the guided comfort relax package, and the tour guide was way too laid back for my taste. I thought we did not have much time in the big cities to explore.
Boat: MS Carissima
Ann B. 1 year ago Verified Reviewer
The time on the boat was fun and enjoyable. Your description of the bike ride being easy to moderate was way off. It should have been described as hard to difficult!! It was very misleading.
Boat: Fleur
Audrey F. 1 year ago Verified Reviewer
The quality of hybrid bike was a piece of junk compared with the bike I used in Amsterdam with a group was much better quality two years ago. I would have enjoyed cycling if the bike was in a better quality. The food was too heavy. Other than that, the scenery was beautiful.
Boat: Romantica
Tama L. 1 year ago Verified Reviewer
My dissatisfactions, two nights in the suburbs of Constance, out of the way, should not be used. Konono staff excellent, but cost us for taxi to get there and back to the train. Route book imprecise. What is the route sign we were supposed to follow? What good is a dotted line on a map when there are multiple routes? Which are more scenic? Less hilly? Passing by cafes? Unpaved in a forest? Exactly how do you get to the Rhein Falls ferry? Book never mentioned the three elevators that take you up and down. We had frustrations every day.
Is it a beautiful trip? Absolutely. The Mozart and Park Villa are beautiful hotels, although not air conditioned.Margaret J. 1 year ago Verified Reviewer
Difficulty not explained accurately. Bike not a hybrid. Definitely more a mountain bike. Please include fruit at meals and please provide laundry facility somewhere on trip.
Mary Beth R. 1 year ago Verified Reviewer
Scenery was gorgeous, food was superb. Accommodations good.
If you took Albert out of the equation I would give much higher ratings. He was inadequate with trail details. His info was hard to follow on the maps. Someone described him as a Peacock. Very apt. The rest of the staff was very good although you need another person in the dining room. Way to many people for the amount of people serving.
Don’t advertise that you have WiFi....you really don’t .....Boat: MS Carissima
Lisa S. 2 years ago Verified Reviewer
We traveled on the ship Bordeaux in France. The bike routes were beautiful, but the instructions provided by not so great. No worries, we had maps and a GPS, we made each day into an adventure!!!
Boat: Bordeaux
Andrea R. 2 years ago Verified Reviewer
Most Memorable Part: Riding through area of windmills.
We were frustrated by the slow pace of our group.Boat: Tijdgeest
Veronica H. 2 years ago Verified Reviewer
Bordeaux the best city on trip for us. Trip is not easy because of traffic and hills---scary!!!
Boat: Bordeaux
Laurie F. 2 years ago Verified Reviewer
The scenery along the Dalmatian Coast was spectacular. A young Croatian guide (Ben) was hired to replace the usual Dutch guide (Bernard) who had broken his hip seven weeks before in a bike accident. Ben was kind, knowledgeable and fun. Bernard and his girlfriend were along on the tour as we only had six members in our group and a cabin was available. Apparently Bernard has some "financial interest" in the boat as well as being the usual tour guide. Bernard seemed to have something to prove from the first day. He had a problem letting go of control and letting Ben do the job he was hired for. When Bernard was along on the days' excursions he was overbearing and sometimes suggested unsafe maneuvers on the bike. I overheard him say American women were wimps. His girlfriend suggested that it was not just American women but men as well who might not be comfortable with a particularly dangerous turn off a road and onto a bath along the sea. By the end of the week he Read more… had mellowed somewhat. I suspect mostly due to his American girlfriend.The captain was loud, drank too much and changed the itinerary to suit his needs. Yes, some of it was weather related. But, we were told the first day by other staff that the captain had a woman at every stop and expect our schedule to reflect it.
The food was awesome!! The gals doing the cooking, Ivana and Antonia were fun, very smart about Croatian history and funny. Without the Croatian staff the trip would have been a bust.
Boat: Odisej
Maureen B. 2 years ago Verified Reviewer
This was my third bike and barge with Tripsite, but it was not my favorite. The boat, crew and food were terrific. The route however was flat as advertised, but the night stops were not fun or interesting. Zelo had only a cemetery and an Irish pub. If I was asked by a friend which bike and barge to take for possibly a once in a lifetime trip, I would recommend Bruges to Amsterdam and the Mosul River trip first. We had a wonderful time and everyone on the boat and the guests were first rate. I would take another trip on The Ave Maria, but would want a more interesting route.
Boat: Ave Maria
Jeff B. 2 years ago Verified Reviewer
Konstance was very bike friendly, and interesting.
Cindy M. 2 years ago Verified Reviewer
Directions were terrible for Amsterdam and the last two days there were not the number routes we needed on the intersections so was confusing. All hotels were good but one was a dive and not nice. Hotel Piccard.
D. Miller 3 years ago Verified Reviewer
The ship, captain and crew were wonderful. Our guide was totally unacceptable!
My only complaint regarding the boat was due to the small cabins. The French locks are narrow, so the boat is narrow, making the rooms a bit to small for my comfort.
Our main concern was the unprepared tour group leader. She was constantly undecided on how to proceed. I think it was more trying to please the group than not knowing what to do. There should have been a route guide for each person (all we received was a large map with no route shown on it). She needed to be a leader rather than a friend!
Boat: Zwaantje
Fiorindo Sinibaldi 4 years ago Verified Reviewer
Holland is beautiful. The bike route goes through too many urban areas and not enough countryside. The groups are too large. Our group had 28 people and only 1 guide. It was impossible for him to keep an eye on all the people. As an example, it would take 3 or 4 light changes for the group to all cross a main road. Sometimes the group would be spread out as much as 1 kilometer. My wife fell off her bike and broke her hand because the group was always speeding up and slowing down. One day we even lost a rider for a while. The tour guide seemed very informative, but did not explain much, and seemed cold most of the time. That is my honest opinion. Thank you.
Boat: Tijdgeest
Marilyn McDowell 4 years ago Verified Reviewer
The Amalfi coast section of biking was along the main roads driven by large local buses and the other tourist traffic was very heavy - although the drivers were not mean or aggressive, it was very unnerving to be biking on such busy roads. The guide seemed to be surprised that the traffic was still so heavy the 2nd week of September.The boat anchored in Amalfi on the 3rd night, in an unprotected harbor - the boat rocked and banged all night long, no one including the crew was able to sleep, and apparently this was not an uncommon experience when in the Amalfi harbor.
On day 4, after an extremely hot day of biking we reached the boat in Cetara. For some reason, the boat was anchored along side the sister boat, not next to the pier. The crew made us wait in the hot sun until the bikes were hoisted on to the sister boat, then situated the bikes on our boat before allowing us to get on our boat to shower or get something to drink. AND since we were not next to the Read more… pier, to get from the sister boat to our boat the crew had us step up on the railing of the sister boat then step on the railing of our boat then down to the deck. Although they were assisting us, it was definitely an accident waiting to happen and totally unnecessary. On our Croatian trip in the Dalmation Islands, this type of parallel boat anchoring was common, but the boats utilized the openings in the railings to allow us to walk through the boats...
The captain fell and injured himself during this bike hoisting situation, and was certainly in pain when we finally got on the boat, but he was very rude to another passenger who commented about the inappropriateness of loading the bikes first and the ""rail balancing"" access to the boat.
Capri was a crowded disappointment, not worth the stop. Naples was also not worth the stop, large, dirty, crowded, the walking tour was not very interesting. On the positive side the Amalfi coast was absolutely beautiful and we really enjoyed the islands of Ischia and Procida with their quiet roads and small peaceful little towns.
Boat: Deriya Deniz
Claudia Abdinoor 4 years ago Verified Reviewer
Our group had the misfortune of 25mph+ headwinds for 4 consecutive days through barren landscape. My hesitation to recommend this trip is not however based on the weather but rather the lack of interesting terrain. I liken this biking to a trip thru Nebraska. Our stops in the villages were poorly timed, shops were closed and our short stop precluded investigating any historical attraction. The charming aspects of European villages, exploring the local cuisine were non existent. Every day we were advised to bring a sandwich. In complete contrast, the bike/barge trip in France visited medieval villages and provided enough time to enjoy a meal in a bistro. Understandably this trip along the Po might be selected by those not willing to bike the hills but biking for hours on an elevated levee and looking at clods of freshly tilled earth is hardly a huge endorsement for this option.
Boat: Vita Pugna