Austria Tour Reviews — 781 to 810 of 936

The plan changed from recommending biking in Budapest...to it not being recommended - and therefore no briefing/description of the route was provided. While the stickers on signposts helped to guide the way, the book could have been more fully annotated. The boat was too full, there were not enough dishes for all passengers, dinner took 3 hours (2 hours too long). Bikes were generally in good repair and available when promised. Although the food was very good, bottled water was not provided every day as contracted.

The bike path signs were sometimes hard to follow and we got off course a few times.
The staff of the boat, The Normandie, was fabulous. The food was better than we expected and they were very accommodating with our lunches. The wifi was very disappointing.

A great adventure... We found the trail well marked throughout the journey; several times, at moments of confusion, we found discreet signs or stickers from a biking organization pointing the way. Budapest was exotic. Vienna was ultra-clean and organized. Bratislava had quaint, old-European, windy roads to explore. But my favorite parts of the trip were smaller towns and villages of Gyor, Bad Deutsch, the castle at Hainburg, the Hotel Bow Garden in Komarno, Slovakia (it is an old synagogue with a bowling lane at the reception desk!), and the jewels in the basilica in Esztergom. This is my third trip with Tripsite in 6 years; I am already seeking ideas for the fourth.

It was better than I could imagine! Thank you all.

We found this to be one of our best trips ever!

I know that there was a mid cruise change of cruise directors and neither were particularly helpful. We basically did the routes ourselves and there could have been better instructions. We had a wonderful trip though.

Really liked our trip director Andreas. The Theodor Koerner excellent boat with superb staff.

This has been one of the greatest vacations for my husband and I, due to the luxury quality of the ship-hotel and the superior quality of the staff/services. The "Very satisfied" has to have 5 more stars! Thank you very much! We fervently advertise it among friends and beyond!

Biking - generally excellent. There is one day - Budapest - that is described as a biking day in most of the material we saw but when we were on the boat the tour director tried to discourage us from biking that day. There was a good reason for that - the route was confusing and included a VERY busy road for a few km. It should be removed from the promotional material as a biking day,

Boat - another boat broke down and several people were transferred to empty cabins on our boat. I think as a result there was more people on board than could be handled at dinners. Dinners went on for 2-3 hours just because the staff couldn't deal with all the guests. The good itself was fine when it finally arrived.

We had a problem with sewage odor in our room - which they boat crew was unable to fix - Also room was hot and we had to use a fan. When we complained to Rad and Reisen about the temperature they denied that the AC was not working. We complained to Rad and Reisen and they issued us a 10% refund which Tripsite matched. We appreciated your concern attentiveness to these problems and you willingness to offer some compensation.

Despite these problems, overall the trip was great - good people, great rides and beautiful scenery and points of interest. We would definately book another trip with your company, but not with Rad and Reisen.

WOW!!!!
Everything was outstanding. All my fears were for naught...
Hotels knew to expect us, knew where to store our bikes, and knew our names!

Bratislava, as someone mentioned, was under construction, but should be ok by summer 2016.

18 thumbs up! Will do this exact trip again and again if I could!

This was the most amazing vacation we have had. For our 40th we decided to do a self- guided bike tour around Lake Constance. The first day was a struggle due to many hills, but that was by far the most difficult day. The hotels were clean and the breakfast was fantastic. When biking you see so much more of the countryside, the historical towns were simply breathtaking. On one day we needed to take a boat from point A to B due to an injury and it was very easy to access. I would definitely recommend this trip to anyone.

Only thing missing was quality wifi on the boat. The trip more than met our expectations

This adventure was more than we expected. The boat was very well equipped, and our cabin was comfortable and larger than we expected. The staff was very friendly and dealt with all of our needs, and the meals were fabulous. Our bikes were well maintained and were well suited for the route we rode. The scenery was amazing and we come home with a collection of pictures and memories.

The itinerary was excellent. A nice blend of bike routes and city site seeing along the way. We spent a couple days in Vienna before the trip and then used our Vienna day to bike on the island. Glad we didn't have to cram Vienna into a few hours. It was our cruise director's first trip and his enthusiasm was greater than his organizational skills in his presentations.

Our Normandie trip from Passau to Budapest was spectacular! The weather, the boat, the food, the fellow bikers, the countryside and the bikes were all a delight. We were also pleased to learn that our guide rode each day. He was very knowledgeable; however, under stress was verbally contentious and short with guests. It became almost comical and so we learned to stay out of his way during certain times of the day. Nevertheless, the trip was a dream and we thank-you!!

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.

Bicycling Passau to Vienna with the MS Normandie was a great experience. The bicycle route was mostly flat and in top condition. The views along the way were scenic and enjoyable. The small villages were charming and the larger cities were very beautiful. Our accommodations and meals on the boat were wonderful. One of my favorite experiences of the week was the optional trip to the opera house in Vienna. I am especially glad I didn't miss it. This was my third Tripsite tour and overall this adventure was everything and more that I had hoped for. I would highly recommend it to anyone that loves cycling. I think it is suitable for all skill levels. I will say that on this tour the guides daily instructions were minimal. His input was very basic and quite a disappointment compared to past guides. No photo slide show with instructions such as, "when you see this landmark or sign be sure to turn here." The guide books with maps that were provided were of great assistance, however, and we were able to compensate for the most part by carefully following these written instructions. There was also a small tourist guide book in each room from which you could read about points of interest in each city and village along the way. As I said, overall this was a fantastic week and my friend and I loved every minute!

Hice este viaje en septiembre de 2015 junto a mi marido. Fue un viaje inolvidable. Era el primer tour en bicicleta y nos encantó. El servicio de traslado de equipaje y los hoteles estupendos. Queremos repetir este año por otros paises.
Recomendaciones para futuros viajeros:
- La entrada a Zurich es un poco complicada, sí sería necesario un mayor detalle en las rutas.
- El trayecto en tren desde la estación de Gais se hace desde una estación que no está detallada en la ruta, sería necesario explicarlo mejor en las indicaciones.
- También sería necesario detallar la localización de salida del ferry desde Wessen.

Wonderful trip. Our room smelled really bad when we arrived. Mentioned it to the cleaning staff and they said it was the air conditioner. They were on the problem immediately and made sure we had no further problem. Bit of confusion with bike insurance, but on contacting Tripsite on our return this was dealt with immediately (thank you!). Might want to consider having a basic first aid kit onboard I fell in Vienna and badly sprained my ankle - no breaks fortunately. Had to get ice from he bar as there was nothing else available they couldn't give me much as it was needed for the drinks.

Great trip, through beautiful area. No problems with bikes or hotels. Staff at all hotels was helpful, accommodations great and all our luggage was always waiting for us.

Strongly recommend emailing pdf version of bike route maps and direction two weeks prior so they can be read and the directions studied. This is especially important in the city of Konstanz and suburbs due to lack of bike route signs in those areas. Had it not been for some friendly English speaking locals, we would have been seriously lost several times.

Also would be a good idea to provide directions to the next bike path segment from the each hotel as well as the from the end of each bike path segment to the next hotel.

Overall great trip, really loved it. Did feel the duration and arrival time in Vienna was disappointingly limited - nowhere near long enough to see sufficient in daylight hours.

Unfortunately one major problem became apparent. The tour director was charming and affable when presenting to an audience, but his manner often vacillated (changed) when talking with individuals. On many occasions he was rude and dismissive, including sometimes making derogattory comments. Due to his public persona (welcoming and friendly), I was really shocked by this. At times he gave the impression that he was putting on an act, that he really did not like or enjoy his job and the guests were an infuriating annoyance to him. Even allowing for tiredness and stress, I do not think there is any excuse for rudeness to friendly (and paying) customers. I was not the only one to observe his changeable attitude or bear the brunt of his dismissive rudeness. As it wasn't possible to pick what his response would be (ie positive or negative), I only spoke to him when spoken to. I shudder to think of his treatment of the genuinely lovely and diligent cleaners and kitchen staff. Perhaps it's time for Leslie to retire.

As this was our 1st bike and boat experience, we did not know what to expect. We are recreational cyclists, not cycling fanatics, and were very happy with this trip and look forward to saving up to do another similar adventure.

I do have 2 comments. The meal situation. It was disappointing not to have the opportunity to mix with more of the passengers as we were at a table by ourselves and had to stay at this table for every meal - even breakfast - every day. As it was a breakfast buffet and not everyone arrives for breakfast at the same time, being free to sit wherever, would definitely encourage more socializing amongst all passengers. Also, some nights, even though the staff was definitely hustling, it took more than 2 hours to be served our main course. It would seem that a few more staff members could help with this loooong wait after a long tiring day.

Also, there was a definite, obvious bias each day towards the larger group of German speaking passengers when it came to the briefing on the bike route. They were always briefed first and always went over the allotted time leaving the briefing for the English speaking passengers a very rushed affair, leaving no time for clarifications and a late start each day. This did result in some people getting lost. Alternating which group was briefed first might alleviate this problem.

Having said this, it was a tremendous trip and I would definitely recommend it to any recreational cyclist. Wonderful scenery with fantastic suggested rest stops made it an exceptional adventure. Thank you for all your help in making this a superb, memorable experience. Your service was outstanding. Thank you again.
Judy.

Food was not we are accustomed to on trips of this type.

The first day out, my e-bike had a low tire and faulty valve - not a great start, but the rest was very good. Sometimes, the route was to as clearly marked as we would have preferred. Nevertheless, I've told several friends about this trip and one is considering booking reservations! Thanks for everything.

Ship broke down and we were bused to Budapest vs cycling in, that was disappointing, but not to be helped. Jurgen our guide was very good.

Never brought it up to the bike staff, but gears on my bike were difficult to manage. I attributed it to my having small hands, but I also thought the gears should be replaced soon, for the next "small handed" guest.

It was a wonderful experience and we were fortunate to have beautiful weather the entire week.

I liked the ease of being in a larger boat vs a small barge. There was plenty of room in the lounge and other public places so we could get some quiet time. Also a little more anonymity on the larger boat and self guiding was fun.

Enjoyed the trip fully but thought there could have been a little better information on riding and expected timeline for rides, as we often rode faster than necessary and didn't know we could stop along the way for sight seeing etc. Our cycle guide was very nice but did not have all the information to answer our questions or help us to maximize our sight seeing experience.

We had a fantastic time it was a highlight of the trip; can't say about the bikes as we had our own.