4 Star Along the Danube - Passau to Vienna Tour Reviews — 1 to 19 of 19

This was my first trip on the Merlijn Bike & Barge. I was with a group of 3 couples that had done this trip before on the Merlijn. I found it outstanding, the equipment was excellent,( my wife and I rented electric bikes ) the cabins were very nice and roomy. Our meals were breakfast and dinner, the breakfast was good but I believe it could have been better, The dinners were first class....The barge also had a nice coffee bar and Bar that were excellent too. The trip was memoriable and I highly recommend the Merjin...

The scenery was beautiful! The Merlijn was beautiful and very comfortable. But, the standout for the trip was the staff. Coen and Christina made our week so wonderful and kept us well informed. “Cat” at the bar and serving was very charming and fun! He knew all our names by day 2! Simone kept our cabins tidy and did a great job on our laundry. June was always tidying up the ship and keeping it looking great. Ilsa was a really good tour guide and was very knowledgeable about the history of Austria.

My sister and I bike and barge once a year on smaller barges with only about 12 staterooms. We opted to try a true, large river boat on this trip. Our trip was on the Swiss Crown. It started and ended in Passau Germany, with a destination of Vienna. We were impressed by the beauty of the boat and by our room, which had every amenity we could have asked for. The Danube bike trail was amazing despite epic flooding that had occurred little over a week prior. Our guide Carl was a delight. The meals were exceptional and well executed. The staff worked as a well oiled machine...always on cue. For those that are used to larger ships and river boats, this cruise is for you! It will not disappoint. As for my sister and I, although we loved this experience, we found we missed the intimacy that smaller barges provide. But the Swiss Crown was an elegant and lovely experience we will never forget!

The buildings in the towns, castles, and fortresses along the way were marvelous.

Almost missing it! You failed to keep in contact with Rad and Reisen - plans were shifting due to flooding and you did not keep us informed! Thanks to our hotel manager, we discovered the changes and got on the tour. Your lack of communication was unacceptable to me.

The crew was absolutly great the bikes were of good quality the food was also. We had a great time. The reason I gave a 4 was the fact that you couldn't drink the tap water and they charged you for bottled water. Water is a basic necessity and should be free.

So many memorable moments. Beautiful ship, quite luxurious, wonderful food, spectacular towns and villages along the Danube and Vienna! What a place. I loved the classical concert in L’Orangerie at Schönbrunn Castle and the scenery between Krems and Melk. I had to pinch myself several times as I was cycling through Austria along the Danube. I had done the tulip tour on the Iris the previous week which was great too but harder cycling and not such good weather. I also didn’t use an e-bike in the Netherlands and had some pretty strong winds and long days cycling. So the Swiss Crown tour was a more relaxed week and totally different. The e-bike made it pretty easy too and the self guided tours made it easy to stop at more places along the way.
I know the Swiss Crown tour director, Jurgens, aka Ding Dong!, had to deal with some staffing issues during my week on board but he made everything so easy in spite of working lots of extra hours. There was a much bigger group of German speaking passengers than English speaking and I felt that they got more attention than we did at times and so I’d suggest being a little more outgoing towards the non German passengers. But overall the whole thing lived up to and beyond my expectations. A trip of a lifetime!

Cycling along the River, crossing on the small ferries, stopping for coffee, kuchens or farmhouse meals was such fun.
We thoroughly enjoyed, probably more than the city, the cycling route through the wine valley and small villages. Absolutely breathtaking and the history! Small cobblestone streets that you push your bike through whilst checking out the local offerings. Spectacular.

Nature, food, organisation
Only BIG problem was engine trouble which delayed arrival in Passau by 5 hours and complicated the next part of our vacation

Our trip was changed as the boat had a broken rudder and not able to be fixed by the time we started. The people involved int he tour then changed it to a bike and hotel trip which was great.
Memorable part of the trip was seeing all the small towns along the way. The bigger towns were ok but the smaller ones were better

The entire trip was memorable. Great scenery, small towns and villages, very friendly people. It's great meeting new people from varied countries and backgrounds. Having a guide and local tours really enhanced the experience.

Our only complaint is that our travel agent was very unresponsive to our communications. We had to call the company several times to get information. We booked transportation from airport to the hotel through Tripsite and were taken the wrong hotel. We had to find the correct hotel and get there on our own.

The normandie boat and crew was well run and has a nice flow to the week. Most memorable moment was Vienna concert operetta

The bike and barge tour was great! The bike route along the Danube was easy to follow but sometimes the days seemed repetitive. We found the last day of riding the most picturesque. The boat crew was awesome- everyone spoke English well except for the tour guide who struggled with communicating the day to day instructions. The food was very good and plentiful.

We really loved going through the locks on the Danube and the rides everyday were fabulous with the detailed instructions. There was a castle, ruin, vineyard or cafe around every bend!

We would have like more written details of the areas we were seeing. We also would have liked a stronger wifi connection. Food and service was excellent.

Would be nice to sit with other people at meals. Everyone was great and it felt like we were on a camping trip.

Perfect weather, gorgeous scenery, wonderful riding--loved every minute of the trip.

Wonderful trip along the Danube. If you are biker you will find the bikes lacking. My wife with her spinal cord injury used an electric assist which worked very well.

Amazing scenery, great company, delicious food, kind staff and somewhere comfy to sleep - with no unpacking! However,the crux of these trips stems from the quality of the guides. Our first trip, to Vienna, Had a guide that knew the route well, but smoked at every stop, and wanted to always eat dinner at somewhere he could buy alcohol; we preferred to eat our rolls in the fresh air, which sometimes was tricky. He tended to ride off without checking we were all ready, leaving riders behind until someone caught him. Our second trip (Merzig to Koblenz) had a lady guide who was not at all familiar with the area, but used her GPS to locate landmarks and routes (sometimes taking the shortest, not the most scenic). She didn't give an initial safety talk, she changed the route from the easy one offered to a more scenic but quite difficult one, causing one older, inexperienced lady to fall (end of trip for her and her husband,, hospitalisation for almost a fortnight, skingraft). Our replacement guide tried hard, but couldn't seem to match the route to the one we'd booked, so we missed seeing things we'd looked forward to. So our last trip, Koblenz to Amsterdam, was not one we would recommend unless they sorted the route out. Apart from the above, we'd recommend this mode of travel.