Europe Bike + Boat Tour Reviews — 4321 to 4350 of 4940

When I first heard of a bike & barge trip, I thought I would be sleeping on a cot under the stars! After obtaining more info, I realized we would have a comfortable room but I was very impressed with our accommodations. It was like being on a mini cruise. Food was great, tour guide was personable and entertaining, friendly staff went out of their way to make this trip extra special. We had an arranged canal boat tour complete with champagne after arriving in Amsterdam! I would highly recommend the Magnifique and this crew, for an awesome way to experience Belgium and The Netherlands.

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.

Best week of food ever. Great bikes. Super helpful guides. Would like access to more detailed maps to know better where we were. Really enjoyed the bike barge combination.

Sorry, it rained the entire trip. Route and scenery would have been fine if not for that. Barge has seen better days. Staff (Stephan and Florence) are very pleasant.
Suggestion: Give the tour riders a sew-on patch to remember the tour.

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.

It would be good for the guides to have a bike calculator (a little device on the bike that shows distance and speed). The guides varied the speeds more than was necessary. It wasn't bad, but at times faster than "advertised" for the slow group and slower and faster than advertised for the faster group. This is not a big deal, but would be an improvement. Also we often biked a little longer than was in the route descriptions, so those could be looked at. Other than that, the trip was great. And less rain of course :-)

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

We had the time of our life and look forward to our next bike and boat tour. Thanks so much for everything!

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.

This trip gets a +10!! The staff (Tamy, Ilena, Luciano, Enrico, Guilio & Alberto) were amazing - fun, personable, knowledgable, friendly and engaging. They were truly a team and clearly enjoyed each other which ripples out to the experience of the guests. I loved that they gave a 'brief' the night before to let us know what to expect the next day. The food was creative, fresh and lovingly prepared. The accommodations on the AveMarie were great -- the cabins were well thought out with lots of storage so that the room felt spacious. The dining room was lovely with plenty of space to relax. The price of wine/beer was very reasonable and loved that we could keep a tab and pay it at the end, so easy.

Oh yea the bikes --- a good ride and comfy enough for the distances ridden. The routes were well planned, even the few times we had to ride in traffic. The trip leaders were excellent at managing the group and making it fun, no matter what we were doing.

For the whole week I felt well cared for :)
I am already dreaming of my next trip.
Kindly -- Victoria

P.S. The bad and the ugly -- honestly I don't have anything to contribute for improvement.

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

The crew were AMAZing! Every single one of them. Tami is an amazing guide - super friendly and helpful. All of the crew helpful and a delight. I would definitely go on this type of trip again because of my experience on this trip.

Our guide Felix, was fun, knowledgeable and intuitive. His attitude and ease of being with people made even a horrible weather day endurable. The BIGGEST bonus was having Astrid along as a trainee. She added so much to every aspect of our journey and was a treasure trove of regional information.

Had a fantastic time, would highly recommend it to others!

Exceptional staff, welcoming, friendly, informative, knowledgable. Perhaps on the rides having a buddy system so the guide doesn't need to count all the people to make sure everyone is present would be my only suggestion. I sometimes got the sense that people wanted to stop more often to take pictures and no one told them not to but then it can take time away from getting to visit town at the end of the day. Perhaps that needs to be discussed in more depth. Sometimes some of the breaks were longer than necessary. Again they were fine but took time from visiting a town at the end of the trip.

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!

We just completed this tour and enjoyed it BUT there are some caveats to be aware of. We did not follow the itinerary as described. We did not tour Nin even though it was listed in the itinerary. We rode on some very busy roads/thoroughfares which were not fun. The map was not an accurate depiction of what we actually did on the mainland. That part was very disappointing. The food was great... The e-bikes were very heavy but the only way to do this tour. There were some VERY long hills to climb. Our guides were good, especially Bjoran. Just be aware that the itinerary changes and that seems to be at the whim of the boat captain, guides and weather. I was really looking forward to seeing Nin and spending a little more time in Sibenik. The boat was very nice and generally comfortable. Igor, the bartender and waiter, was fabulous. I'd rate the trip as a 3.5-4 star.

We have been on 4 barge based bike trips plus 3 hotel based bike trips, all in Europe and this was the best. There are simply not enough superlatives to use to praise this trip. From the guide to the cook to the quality of the bikes and the barge we add the wonderful route and great scenery.

We loved our trip! Everything about it brought us delight. Southern Croatia is simply beautiful, the bike riding was perfect for us (we live in western North Carolina which is mountainous), we enjoyed our guides very much, & were taken care of extremely well by the crew on the boat. Look forward to the next bike trip!

For the most part the trip was wonderful, I would like to put most of my answers right in the middle of satisfied and not satisfied, I just thought the scenery and the landscape etc. was not what I expected. That is not your fault, enjoyed my trips to Italy and Germany were much more scenic

I would recommend this trip but only if a group of friends were going or if there was some way to know the mix of language of fellow travellers. I was the only person who did not speak the German language. I felt very isolated. A number of German people did try to speak English but it was hard work for them and they were on holidays. One English sailor on board as staff was very kind and attentive. The cook made wonderful gluten free dishes for me!! The guide did an excellent job of switching back and forth from German to English. The cycling and countryside was very pleasant. Sometimes the stops were a bit long but perhaps that was because I couldn't chat around with other travellers.

Nothing bad or ugly. Scenery got better as we moved north. Group on our trip (both crew and guests) were great. Enjoyed the Soleo.

The Merlijn is a very special barge full of character and charm, beautifully appointed and owned and operated by the delightful Jantine and Henk. They along with their crew spoiled us rotten with great food and hospitality. Our bike ride was thru beautiful countryside and expertly guided and interpreted by a delightful Dutch couple, Jack and Marianne. They gave us great local insight. We thoroughly recommend the Merlijn and can't wait to return.

The guide seemed lost most of the time. He didn't know where to stop for a picnic and one day we ate our lunches at a bus stop. I realize cafes mostly close in France between 12 and 2, but his lack of knowledge of where to find a toilet after lunch was a problem. He chastised us for being slow to re-organize, but then later we'd stop for no reason and wait for up to a half hour with no info from him. He was good at describing architecture.

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.

The trip was great! Mostly all positive. Tom and I would like to have the pace a bit faster....that was the only negative.